This blog has missed the last two upset wins, predicting the Browns to lose against the favored Saints and Patriots. This week the Browns are still underdogs but they are playing at home and they are on a hot streak. The wins against the Saints and Pats both had large elements of surprise, as the Browns coaches used winning and often surprise tactics to take it to their favored opponents. My gut says that this week it's back to reality. There won't be surprises and perhaps young Colt might finally start to make some rookie mistakes. Other factors are that the emotional state of the team might be a bit down after the scary lockerroom collapse of Marcus Benard, and he likely won't play which will hurt the Browns ability to put heat on Mark Sanchez. It will probably be close but look for the Browns luck to run out this week.
Colt McCoy is 2-1 as a starter, and more importantly he has demonstrated leadership and good sense. Coach Mangini is maturing as a coach and the team is coming together. Two wins in a row against leading teams.
You have to take the good with the bad. Hillis is an imposing back who can wear out a D. But he also fumbles too much. Hopefully this fumble doesn't drain the early emotional advantage the Browns had gained.
It is difficult to imagine the Browns coming up with a gameplan that will allow the team to overcome the talent gap they have vs the Patriots.
Putting pressure on Tom Brady is the key but that won't be easy. The Browns have also had an extra week to prepare, and that may give young Colt McCoy the edge he needs to put the ball in the endzone a few times.
Hard to imagine a W no matter in spite of the afterglow of the Saints win and a long bye week.
Fat chance. The Browns have shown that they intend to build a team around character even if it means diluting the talent pool. The Brown Log has often disagreed with this Ted Stepien-like strategy of character over playing ability, because it's damn near impossible to find 53 choir boys even in relatively puritan professions, let alone pro-football. For example, trading Kellen Winslow as part of the Browns "character cleansing" program was clearly an error. All of that said, Moss is clearly a very troubled young man, whose personal problems could easily create a cancer inside what appears to be a rapidly improving Browns team.
So, there is no way Cleveland will sign Randy Moss, and that is exactly the right strategy.
With the Browns in an off week, the BL will start a new feature we've been thinking about from some time: The NFL Politburo, a regular feature that will explore the labor issues pending in 2011 between owners and players.
NFL owners are men who in private industry made fortunes for themselves in the free market system. However when they arrive to the NFL they morph into communists, in favor of imposing central controls and limits on the free market.
Most fans feel more anger towards the players, whom are very well paid. The Brown Log with this regular feature will dig into this issue point by point, trying to help fans understand the real villians in the pending labor issue. The problem rests firmly with the owners of today's NFL teams who wish to more deeply impose communist principles onto NFL players. Apparently NFL owners simply do not trust themselves to operate in a free market. They need rookie salary limits, salary caps and exemption from free markets. Pro football can be a brutal game in which the average player's career lasts 3 years. So please don't blame the players for fighting for the free market.
The real solution to the NFL's labor issues would be to remove anti-trust protection from the NFL and let the free market rule.
Which side is better positioned to withstand a work stoppage?
The owners, based on simple economics. In theory, they could reduce their operating expenses by 50 percent (an estimated $4.4 billion) via the elimination of player salaries and benefits and the temporary layoffs or salary reductions of various other employees. Meanwhile, thanks to the terms of the extensions to the lucrative TV deals the league has with DirecTV and several broadcast networks, the owners would continue to receive payments during a lockout – though the money would eventually have to be repaid via credits for future games. Still, that’s a serious cash-flow advantage that would, again in theory, allow the owners to realize more than 50 percent of their revenues (nearly $4 billion) and, therefore, to cover their operating expenses for an entire season if necessary. Players, meanwhile, would theoretically be much more financially stressed in the short term, and the relatively short career span of NFL players would make the prospect of missing games even more unpalatable.
Bottom line: The owners are going flaunt the free market, take advantage of their monopoly position that they have thanks to their anti trust exemption and crush the players, period. In a nation built on free market principals, it's astonishing that there is not outrage over the socialist behavior of NFL owners.
Finally, here is some insight from Browns linebacker Scott Fujita, who shared his dismay after meeting NFL commish Roger Goodell. Goodell has been brilliant as the leader of the league but in the labor issue he is stuck in the unenviable position of having to cowtow to the communists he answers to, aka the NFL Politburo....
