NFL Week 17 - and thoughts on the Browns

I am stunned and devastated by the news coming out of Cleveland today. Nothing is official, but from all sorts of sources, here are the details with some opinions of mine thrown in:
- Randy Lerner (owner) and John Collins (President, muckety-muck from NY) are not/have not been happy with the negotiation styles of our GM, Phil Savage;
- Leigh Bodden, our stud young CB, was given a 4 years extension today; there is talk that Collins did not agree with the extension that Savage gave him;
- Collins finally confronted Lerner sometime recently saying that Savage needs help on the negotiation end; Lerner and Collins may have contacted someone from Atlanta (where Chris Mortensen's sources are from);
- Savage disagrees; and Collins and Lerner may have decided to get rid of Savage; that trial ballon may have been floated today.
- Lerner sees the HUGE backlash that such a move would cause. I would say that 96% of the fans would back Savage over Collins in this way. Lerner saw that - and now is backtracking on the firing. The official site is denying anything and the three are "renewing their vows" to make the Browns an elite team (quote from WTAM radio today, from Collins. Collins, for his part, has denied any firing).

So even though there is no official shakeup, this can't be good. The saying "where there's smoke, there's fire" certainly applies here. There is a whole lot of hatred in the FO; no one is sure who's going to win any sort of power play that may be going on.

I have not gotten any impression that Romeo is part of this way, although the front office (Lerner/Collins) may ask Romeo to fire a few assistants.

This is just bad bad bad. I am sick and tired of the ineptitude of this front office, especially at the inability of the FO to "get" Browns football. Collins - today - even admitted that he is finally realizing the fan's passion and the place that Browns football has in the civic heart of Cleveland. WHAT THE F*^#$^* took you so long, you ass?

Argh. I know most of you don't care, but I had to get this off my chest. A depresssing day in Browns world.

Picks for week 17:
SD 31, Den 20
NYG 20, Oak 10
Pit 24, Det 7
Ind 27, Az 13
TB 27, NO 10
Cle 10, Bal 9
GB 24, Sea 20
Buf 19, NYJ 13
NE 24, Mia 17
Cin 31, KC 24
SF 16, Hou 13
Jax 27, Ten 20
Chi 16, Min 10
Was 31, Phi 14
Dal 27, StL 10

Best bets: 19 of them (last week: 8-6-2; overall: 135-124-13)
SD/Den over 43
NYG/Oak under 41
Pit -13.5
Ind -6.5
TB -13.5
Buf -1.5
Mia/NE Over 37
Cin +7
Cin/KC Over 46
SF +1
SF/Hou Under 37
Jax -3.5
Jax/Hou Over 37
Chi +4
Chi/Min under 35
Was -7.5
Was/Phi Over 37
Dal -12.5
Dal/Stl Under 43