3-11

The Browns need to focus this week on going 8-0 vs the Bengals. 

Trust Us - We have done our homework!

Before the Browns traded for and signed Deshaun Watson they basically said, trust us, we have done our homework.  

That's the same message the Haslams are parroting now when they discuss the economics of building the Brook Park Dome.   Trust us, the dome will pay us all back.

Ok, sure.  Based on Deshaun, what the Haslam's mean when they say they've done their homework is that they convinced themselves, regardless of facts, that they are smarter than everyone else and an impulsive spend is a wise decision.

Now they want Ohio's Politicians to ante up $1,000,000,000 of our taxpayer dollars to subsidize their impulsive decision to build a dome?  What I question is whether or not the Haslams have spent more money paying the Public Relations firm leading their Brook Park Dome Campaign than they have spent studying the real economic benefits of building a dome.  

Trust the Haslam's homework?  Yeah, right.

Brown BLog: Game 14 vs Chiefs - Taylor Swift?

The most important story tomorrow will be whether Taylor Swift shows up and if she does not, would a nice expensive dome stadium paid 50% by the taxpayers of Ohio have been sufficient to get her to show up. 

Other than that, the actual game itself won't be much to talk about.

Brown BLog Predicts

Chiefs        30

Browns      10

The Brown BLog are 7-6 season to date. 

Brown BLog Predicts: Game 13 vs Steelers

I am looking more forward to Tuesday's edition of Hard Knocks than watching Sunday's Browns Steelers game because I am hoping to gather some insight into how Kevin Stefanski prepares his team this week.  That said, Stefanski apparently has editorial veto rights over everything he says, so my best guess is we will see a lot more of Mike Tomlin behind the scenes than we will of Kevin Stefanski.

Anyways, Sunday it's nearly impossible to imagine the Browns winning, albeit Jameis Winston has me sold.  He's possessed of a massive amount of heart and charisma, not to mention an arm that can make every throw.  But it won't be enough to beat a Steelers team looking for revenge and fighting for a high seed in the playoffs.

Brown BLog Predicts

Steelers        27

Browns        17

The Brown BLog is 6-6 season to date predicting Browns games. 

I AGREE!

99% of the Brown's problems start with the fact that Jimmy Haslam runs the team.

Examine the Detroit Lions org structure.  

Ownership has zero control over football operations.  Instead Chris Spielman serves as ownership's liaison to Football Operations.

Smart move!

Not only does Andrew Berry report to Jimmy Haslam but so does Kevin Stefanski.

Every stupid move the Browns have made in the last 10 years has Haslam's impulsive fingerprints on it, including the WORST trade / signing in NFL history, that of Deshaun Watson

Brown BLog Predicts: Game 12 - Monday Night Football at Denver

All signs point to a difficult evening on Monday for our Browns in the Mile High Altitude of Denver, Colorado.   The Browns are on the road against a well coached team but I have a feeling this week.   Why?

First Jim Schwartz will have a trick or two up his sleeve for Bronco's rookie QB Bo Nix.

Second, I believe the NFL would like nothing more than for the Browns to get hot while Hard Knocks is being filmed, so I would not be shocked if a referee happens to throw a flag or two in key moments against the Broncos.   Am I saying the NFL fixes games?   Not quite, I am saying in a well fought close game, the refs know which team the league is "rooting" for.   After all, ratings pay the bills.

Brown BLog Predicts

Browns 24

Bronco's 17

The Brown BLog are 6-5 season to date predicting Browns games. 

Brown BLog Predicts: Game 11 vs Steelers

I recall last season it was the Denver Bronco's game with Russell Wilson at QB where it first became apparent that NFL Offensive Coordinators were on to Jim Schwartz's defensive tactics and with a good QB at the command teams could take advantage of what the Browns were doing.   This season it feels like our Browns have mostly played good QB's and to make things worse, Jim Schwartz's curve ball and change up that have been added to his fastball, well, they ain't fooling nobody.

Look for Russell Wilson and the Steelers to make a few big plays even in the bad weather, while the Browns continue to struggle.

Brown BLog Predicts

Steelers 24

Browns  13

The Brown BLog are 6-4 season to date predicting Browns games.  

Brown BLog Predicts: Game 10 vs Saints

Forget about a win tomorrow, the Saints are not as bad as their 3-7 record and they still have a heartbeat in a weak division.  Meanwhile the Browns are every bit as bad as their 2-7 record, maybe even worse.  The Browns are an absolute train wreck and it's going to really derail tomorrow.  

Unfortunately the Browns have very few winnable games left this season and this is one of them.  I had a feeling a shit storm was coming this year when I predicted before the season started that the Browns would go 7-10.   Turns out that 4-13 might be closer to the final outcome.

Derek Carr has always done well against the Browns, who passed on Carr in the 2014 NFL Draft on the advice of the homeless guy.  Carr will continue the trend with an easy win vs the woeful Browns in the Big Easy.

Brown BLog Predicts

Saints        30

Browns     17

The Brown BLog are 5-4 season to date predicting Browns games.

2-7

It’s not complicated Browns fans, the Browns need to focus on this week and try to go 5-0 versus New Orleans

Haslam Sports Group: Consistency!

The Haslam Sports Group if nothing else, are consistent!

As of November 9

Milwaukee Bucks  2 - 7

Cleveland Browns 2 - 7

Paul DePodesta: Thought Partner!

Andrew Berry this week during his break week press availability referred to Paul DePodesta as his "thought partner".

Good work if you can get it.  Get paid 7 figures to work remote and do nothing more than encourage all your colleagues to question conventional NFL wisdom.

Result:  Be wrong far more than right, rinse, repeat!

The following analysis is tricky, because one of DePodesta's Guardrails he established before the brilliant 1-31 run he led, is "alignment" and "secrecy" which in addition to maintaining harmony, cushion him from accountability because nobody outside of Berea knows who decided what.   

But I will take a stab at this anyways:

DePo STRATEGY:   Go after Deshaun Watson at any price because 27 year old franchise QB's rarely come available.  

Result:  What Mr. DePodesta's recommendation on Deshaun Watson failed to weigh is that maybe, just maybe the Houston Texans are not idiots.   The reason they were willing to give up on a franchise QB is that they had 4 years to get to know Mr. Watson and knew his flaws.  Maybe that last 4-12 Watson put up, had a lot more to do with him than NFL folks realize.   Hats off to Houston for not letting the world know just how bad it was.

DePo STRATEGY:  Age is important, no wait age is not important.

Result:  The Browns have gone from the youngest roster in the NFL to one of the oldest.  Losing is a constant.

DePo STRATEGY:  Build your roster and use Free Agents less and less, no wait, use Free Agents more and more.

Result:   The above strategy was abandoned after another DePodesta strategy failed.  That would be use cheap defensive tackles because NFL defenses only need to defend against the pass.   Once teams ran all over the Browns in 2022, Jim Schwartz came in, turned the defense around but to get Schwartz to sign on they had to promise to abandon DePo's loony idea that small, young and cheap DT's are good enough.   Hence a new found love of free agents was embraced.

DePo STRATEGY:  Have a coordinator pipeline.

Result:  Fire Mike Priefer to punish and incentivize Kevin Stefanski into learning how to be a CEO Coach.   Hire Bubba Ventrone who I presume was on some list of future head coaches that the Browns analytics department keeps.   So far so good.   Ventrone's special teams have given up 4 touchdowns in less than 2 seasons while Priefer's special teams gave up 1 TD in 4 seasons.   Wonderful!  Meanwhile Ventrone has started to spread venom in his organization by not being in alignment.  How, by questioning the toughness of the Browns roster.   

Oops Paul, Bubba seems to need an alignment check in addition to needing help figuring out how to do his job.

Brown BLog Predicts: Game 9 vs Chargers - Play the Best Players

Kevin Stefanski has been searching for every edge possible over his last 4 years of coaching.   For instance, he will go to extraordinary pains not to reveal game details to the local press for fear of giving his opponent an edge.  He's doing it this week by not saying who the Left Tackle will be.  I am sure Jim Harbaugh knows perfectly well that Dawand Jones is playing Left Tackle.   Why?  Because he is better than Jed Wills!  

Coach, most NFL teams play the best player at every position.   You gain no edge trying to be coy.  It is a waste of time.

Along those same lines, let's hope that Coach Stefanski learned yet another lesson last week.   

PLAY THE BEST PLAYERS!!!!

Jameis Winston is a better QB than Deshaun Watson.  If Stefanski knows his football and I am sure he does, he knew this fact months ago.   It was obvious last Sunday that the 2-6 Browns would not be 2-6 if the best QB had played this season.

The Browns have more talent than the Chargers and they are at home.  That adds up to the Browns being 3-6 by Sunday evening. 

Brown BLog Predicts

Browns       30

Chargers     24

The Brown BLog are 5-3 season to date predicting Browns games. 

Brown BLog Predicts: Game 8 vs Ravens - Back to Basics

A few weeks ago Kevin Stefanski spoke of the need for his squad to get "back to basics" and it was at that point I knew the Browns season was likely finished.  

The Browns real problems started when Paul DePodesta and Jimmy Haslam decided to force Kevin Stefanski to uproot his entire offensive support structure with the goal of maximizing the teams ability to create "explosive plays."   I blame Stefanski too, because in the end, he went along with the lunacy.   After 4 years of working with Paul DePodesta I suspect Kevin Stefanski knows perfectly well that DePo is full of shit.   For Stefanski to agree to fire AVP and turnover most of his offensive staff shows that he was afraid to say what he really believes for fear of being seen as not in alignment.   

The problem is simple:  Paul DePodesta apparently got Jimmy Haslam and Andrew Berry to believe that explosive plays are driven primarily by scheme.  It's as stupid a strategy as a baseball fan can come up with.  

What was the result?

Stefanski loses his entire offensive support structure starting with the firing of his trusted assistant and during the off season, Stefanski was overwhelmed by how to implement a new scheme that will satisfy Jimmy and DePo.

Bill Walsh once stated that if you have to get back to basics, it's because you have not built the basics into your daily routine.   My guess is that Stefanski focused his team 100% on learning the new scheme, gave them far too much to digest and ignored the basics.

The outcome is 1-6 and it's going to get worse from here.

The Ravens are a team so focused on the basics, so stable that they are able to layer in sophistication with the due care required, over seasons of consistent effort.  This season Lamar Jackson has near complete control of the offense, he's adjusting his protection packages moments before each snap and changing plays whenever he needs to.  Could Lamar have handled that in his first few years with the Ravens?   No!   Ask Deshaun Watson how easy it is to develop a sophisticated understanding of a scheme.  The Browns force fed Watson and his entire offense too much, Watson paid, probably with his career for that mistake.  He took so many hits in a scheme he and his teammates were not ready to run that eventually he finally took one too many hits.   

 Lamar Jackson is in his 3rd year in Todd Monken's scheme and he has 7 years running the Ravens offense and That's why they are scoring over 30 points a game this season.

Browns fans, it is PICK YOUR POISON this week.   

Stop Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson will either run or kill you in the air.

Stop Lamar Jackson in the air and Derrick Henry will kill you on the ground.

I do believe that Jameis Winston will be able to get the ball accurately 20+ yards downfield and the Browns will move the ball for the first time this season, I even see the Browns surpassing that magical 20 point barrier for the first time this season, the definition of an average NFL offense.   A turnover or two might even help the Browns compete on Sunday, but the Ravens are going to win this game. 

The Brown BLog Predicts

Ravens   27

Browns  24

The Brown BLog are 5-2 season to date predicting Browns games.