I promise... last post on the Browns

On the day that the news came out that our star-crossed center, LeCharles Bentley, will undergo more surgery and may be out for 2007 and beyond, I wanted to wrap up the NFL season with this final post on the Browns.

You can blame Derek for this. On a phone call last week, Derek asked what I thought about Romeo. I said "well, of course I want him gone", irked that he didn't know that already. He replied that he didn't see any such announcement on the blog -and he's right. I never posted my thoughts on our beloved buffet-seeker Crennel.

So let me entertain you with the three key incidents this season that caused me to turn against Romeo. Theoretically, I think 2 years is not enough time to evaluate a head coach. Too many factors are out of your control, and progress that may be made may not be visible just by the W-L record (see Belicheck, 1991-92). However, I am now convinced that things aren't going to get better next year with Romeo.

1. Strategy adjustments between weeks: The first Pittsburgh game really hurt. Seeing the inbreds rally from a 10-0 halftime deficit - and it should have been much better than that for the Browns - was a stake to my heart, and it hurt even more because I was in Vegas and had to hear all those damn illerates jump up and down like they won the Super Bowl. Dammit.

That game hurt - and it hurt bad. But those losses happen. Once you take a step back, it was easy to see what happened - the Pittsburgh line was able to block our 4-man rush, and they spread the field with 4 receivers. They found the openings in our zone, and Ben dinked and dunked down the field three times in the th quarter. We could not stop that kind of offense - especially if we rushed just 4.

The next week we had Cincinnati at home. Their offense was very similar to what Pittsburgh ran in the 2nd half - los of receivers, an accurate quarterback, and a fairly decent line.

The question was - what would Romeo and company do differently to avoid the opposing offense to move up and down the field, like Pittsburgh in the 2nd half the week before?

Answer: Absolutely nothing.

We rushed 4, played the same soft zone - and Palmer, TJ and Chad had a field day. We lost 30-0 to the Bengals at home in a game that wasn't even that close. It was unbelievably frustrating to watch that. I don't know how many times I screamed "DO SOMETHING!!!" at the TV.

Yes, we may have been battered in the secondary, and we don't have a great pass rush - but jees, throw in some blitzes or something. We seemed to be taking Bobby Knight' s advice regarding what the woman should do when confronted....

2) Play calling. The one play that did it for me was the 2nd Pittsburgh game. This was the freezing cold Thursday night game on NFL network (that, oh, about 5, 417 viewers watched). We got the ball to start, made 2 first downs, punted; Pit made a first down, punted, and we started to move. So here we are late in the 1st quarter, 0-0, and we have a 3rd and 7 at the Pit 37 or so. One more first down by a pass....

What do we call? A fullback draw up the middle. On 3rd and 7. Against Pittsburgh.

For God's sake, we are 4-8. Throw the damn ball! It made me really question if we are trying to win at all.

What happened next is pure Cleveland:

a- we punt, and it's a good one! We back Pit up on its own 2
b - NFL network throws up a graphic saying the Steelers have not had a 95 yard (or more) TD drive since 2000 or so
c- yes, of course, the Steelers go 8 plays, 98 yards for a TD.

(I've got another play call - the anti-game of the year, Cle (3-12) vs TB (4-11). TB kicked off, but was offsides; they rekicked and kicked the ball out of bounds. We get the ball at the 45! A couple of first downs gave us 1st and 10 at the 30.... after 3 more plays, we have 4th and 7 at the TB 27. We are moving into a slight wind.

What to call? What to call? Again, first drive of the game here...

Browns line up in FG formation....

Snap directly to the kicker Dawson! He punts the ball! The ball hits and rolls...and rolls.... to the 5...4...3...2...1...end zone. Touchback. )

3) Game management. Let's go to the TB game. We are in the game, down only 19-0 , early in the 4th quarter. We just can't stop the Tim Rattay juggernaut.
Anyway, TB has the ball - Rattay goes back to pass ... he's hit! The ball is loose! The Browns pick it up and run 54 yards for the touchdown!

14:00 left in the game... now it's 19-6. What to do?

Now I know this may be hindsight, but Romeo did NOT go for 2. Going for 2 would make it 19-8, and get within 11- a TD and a FG. Instead, he kicked the XP and were down 19-7, requiring 2 TDs.

I didn't pick that mistake up at the time -I was too busy cheering I think - but this is the head coaches' JOB to know these situations. C'mon Romeo - did you leave that chart at the Old Country Buffet?

These three examples were in games in November or later - this is now late in year 2 of the Romeo regime. Who would think that year 3 would be any different? Why would it change now?

He's not going to learn. In fact, I submit he's gotten worse. Time to cut ties now before we lose another season down the drain... which is most likely what 07 will bring us - another year of going down the drain.