AP1

Sandy Lyle was a great character. On the contrary, so was Gust Avrakotos, in Charlie Wilson's War. And that one man had the talent to play characters of such dichotomies is talent.

This is going to bring out the teenage girl in me, but I hate the Ravens for far pettier purposes. The 1995 Browns Front Office and Coaching staff laid the foundation for two NFL Dynasties, the greatest College Football Coach of all-time, one of the most tenured College Coaches of all time. None of the above were to the Browns benefit and we had our hearts ripped out. I despise all of our AFCN opponents, but I despise the Ravens the most.

I heard on the radio this morning that the Colts host the Rams Sunday. I remember the 49ers holing up at their Youngstown Complex a few years back to avoid cross country travel back to back weeks. With consecutive 4,000 mile round trip road trips, is it common practice the Rams would stay somewhere local to Cincinnati or Indianapolis? Especially given the deference to teams playing in London, it seems screwy the NFL would schedule, for a single team, two games, four business days apart with 8,000 miles of travel needed.

As much as I'd love to agree with you, I have a hard time thinking the NFL wants the game to slow down and would welcome the lower scores that come with that style of football. I enjoyed playing that kind of football. I enjoy watching that kind of football. But the casual fan that turned into the mega fan over the last 10-15 years probably would not welcome it.

I struggled to say the above. Thanks.

Even into the last decade, the NFL was still able to take pocket passers from the college game and mold them into viable starters. With each passing season, the college game has nearly fully evolved to athletic QBs coming from offenses running some variation of RPO and producing less pocket passers. The athleticism and ability of NFL defenders is starting to chew these guys up and spit them out faster than the college game can produce them. A couple decades ago, the color guys in the booth or the analysts on the pre-game or halftime show were in their 40s and 50s, at the youngest. Now it seems they are in their 30s. There was a time a QB was literally drafted to be a 10-12 year starter. The way the game is played now, that's not realistic. Guys are signing their second contract for dollars based on the next TV deal and aren't living up to the hype. Teams don't care because the next go 'round the figure will start at $275M. I feel like I've done a terrible job trying to explain this, I'm venting frustration about athletic QBs that don't stay athletic because they're too busy getting hit or running for their life.

The AFC Playoffs just got more interesting.

Thank you very much for sharing. The athletic performance of players has never been higher and football players, collectively, from high school up have never been bigger, faster, stronger and produced more force than they currently produce. I do sometimes wonder if concussions and contact injuries take place because players, for all of their performance and conditioning abilities have been de-conditioned to hits. Their hitting/contact is limited to a goal line series or two in training camp.

I don't recall there being this many off-days in years past. Is this part of the latest CBA and just now being administered or am I a few years late?

December 1989 vs the Colts in Indianapolis. The Brownies lost in OT, I kept my composure at the Hoosier Dome, but when we got back home and my Mom asked about the game, I just bawled. The Browns were everything. My most memorable game was the only game I've seen in Cleveland. We went to handful of Indians games, but only one Browns game. The Sunday after Thanksgiving in 1994 against the Oilers. It snowed during the second half. The Browns won 34-10. We sat in the third or fourth row behind the Browns bench. A family in front of us refused to stand for the National Anthem. The guys behind us were in orange hard hats and reached over and around us to pound the man on the back and on the head with their rolled up programs. That family got heckled so hard they got up and left before kickoff. Going to Browns games was always special because I was never around other Browns fans. Every time they came to Indianapolis we would go. We'd only get to see a couple of broadcasts a year so I immersed myself in the Browns' News/Illustrated subscription. Ever a man of adventure, my Dad found a way into the family area of the Hoosier Dome. After games we'd head down these serpentine hallways and find ourselves out by the locker rooms and loading docks where the visitors loaded onto buses. We were in heaven. We met Bernie many times, Eric Metcalf, Clay Matthews, Eric Turner, Tony Jones, Tommy Vardell, Michael Dean Perry, Kevin Mack, Leroy Hoard, Vinny, and Bill Belichick. While it was a dream to meet all of them, the most gracious player was always Steve Everett in his backwards ball cap, Guns N' Roses t-shirt and cut off shorts with flip flops. He'd give us a big high five and happily sign whatever we had on.

I'm kind of surprised the metrics guys haven't stumbled into onside kicks earlier in the game when they're not expected.

This may be sacrilege to some. I believe Joe Thomas to be the greatest Cleveland Brown.

One of you fine, enterprising Gentlemen was able to provide a YouTube link for broadcasts last year. I'm sure there is a difference between a broadcast and a stream. It is even possible to put an Amazon stream on YouTube?

No matter what any of us thinks about the look(s), this is all about money. Bring out concepts, wear them for a game, sell more apparel. Capitalism is a beautiful. Unlike the revenue sharing from the broadcast rights, I think there are different splits on apparel sales between the Teams and the NFL. Apparel sales and stadium ownership are the reasons the Cowboys are valued higher than all other Teams. I believe Jerry Jones gets all or the highest cut of the Cowboys apparel sales.

White on white is a classic look. I thought the 1946 Throwback uniforms, including gray facemask and number on the helmet, they wore last season were sharp. I would be a fan of those being in the rotation. I love the brown jersey as well. And have always been a big fan of the brown on white look. If they wanted to don the brown on orange look for a game, fine. But I have always appreciated the Browns' simple look. I prefer the white facemask over the brown facemask. It's an 80's Brownies thing.

It is tough comparing stats from 20 and 40 years ago. The thought processes of the game have changed. The offenses have changed. The protection of the QB have changed. I believe Baker should forever have a special place in the hearts of Browns' fans. He helped get the Browns back to playoff status. The high expectations of build now, win now have reached the NFL. Instant Conference Championships are expected; no more four year windows. I believe he reached his potential. Baker's weaknesses are significant. When it absolutely had to be done, most of the time it did not happen. He did not rise to the occasion in high pressure situations. Plus, the way the season unfolded last year did not help. After Week 5, many were thinking, the Browns were 2 plays, and a horrible DPI away from being 5-0 and considered the best team in the AFC. After Week 9, many were still thinking, 5-4 the ship has been righted, favorable second half schedule, win the Division, get a home playoff game, maybe two and take what's ours! The next month was a disaster. Getting drubbed by New England. Eeking out the win vs the Lions. Playing like garbage in Baltimore and still feeling the game should have been won. Then barely beating Baltimore but trying to be optimistic because a win vs the Raiders would be two in a row, 8-6, finish strong and win the Division. Instead, they piss away the Raider game, are at .500 and having to go to GB and Pittsburgh. I felt, after the Packer game, exactly how I felt after the first Ravens game. The big play can't be made, the comeback drive can't be put together and there was still a chance to win. There was never really a point in the season, where the hounds could be called off, the season could be cashed in and the decision could be made to get Baker surgery and prepare for 2022. I do not remember the tie-breakers needed to the inside straight but there was still a slim playoff chance going into Week 18. The Front Office fumbled this thing horribly and the lack of vetting the entire Watson situation is apparent. I'm no Baker fan boy, but he brought a level of long term excitement that Browns fans had no felt in 25 years, if only for a short period of time. His mouth and his antics write checks that his abilities cannot cash. I'll only root for him when the Browns need his opponent to lose, but I do think he has earned a quick standing ovation from the Browns fans in Carolina in Week 1.

Not much more frustrating than bad performances on the field followed by jack-assing around for Progessive during commercial breaks. Kudos to his agent, I guess, for pulling that one off.

My Mom stormed into 5th grade basketball practice in 1993 to let me know that the Browns cut Bernie. That's the day I learned the business of professional sports...I would never experience that heartbreak again, but Kenny Lofton to the Braves for David Justice and Marquise Grissom left me feeling a little empty. Baker is no Bernie, not even close, but I'm thankful for the pendulum swing, of which he was a part, that brought the Browns out of the cellar. He does not have the physical ability to overcome his head and his mouth, the mouth of his wife and, now, Dad. In my lifetime, the Clinton Administration ushered in the era of not looking to public figures for morality. I do admit, I did not know the specifics of Deshaun Watson until I spent a half hour reading Friday night. My initial thought was thinking many professional athletes probably patronize similar establishments looking for the same outcome sans the legal and civil issues, of course. I'm excited for the upcoming season. We all should have expectations of Conference Championships and the Super Bowl. I live in Colts' Country and local sports talk is always mocking Jim Irsay for a phrase he beats to death but never executes : "All In." Like him or not Jimmy Haslem went all in. I'm thankful for Baker and excited for Deshaun Watson.

Morality cannot be legislated.

Showing my NW PA Slavic Roots: There are few finer meals than Kielbasa (kielbossie) with fried cabbage and pierogies.

I don't want to get too far off topic. It would appear to me that the Mayfield Camp has been told or believes that the Browns FO questions whether or not he is the future Franchise QB. And if that were the case, then he would have to prove something this season. If there was confidence he was, unquestionably, the Franchise QB I assume he would have started whatever surgeries, procedures and processes that need to take place so that he could come back better in 2022. I only get to see the Browns' nationally broadcast games so I get my take from the Board and watch the game highlights. He has no business playing, I don't care how viable Case Keenum may or may not be. It's becoming apparent this is not their year so now it's time to finish strong and begin the necessary moves to make a run in 2022. As far as his contract goes, I don't understand why he thinks putting the Browns over the barrel is beneficial. I live in Colts' country and saw firsthand how Peyton Manning's $98M contract and $90M contract handicapped the Colts, especially their OL and defense. While Peyton Manning was getting paid, Tom Brady was winning Super Bowls. In hindsight, I bet Peyton would gladly trade $20M for a couple more Super Bowls. Thankfully, the Browns have solidified the OL, but it frustrates me that he thinks he's a $35M-$40M/year QB. He should tell his agent he'll take $25M/year. He should tell the Browns' FO to fill in the gaps with remaining money so a Championship Team can be built. If he wants more money, his agent needs to find some more endorsement deals or push Progressive to go the Castrol route ala John Force and make him and only him their man. I want Baker to be the man because the process of finding a Franchise QB is an awfully expensive, rarely lucrative craps shoot, and most Teams get lost in the wilderness. He's not a generational talent, but he's the best talent the Browns have had in a generation. Save the Packers, Favre to Rodgers, it's just not often that teams go from winning QB to winning QB. My greatest concern about Baker is that he'd go the route of Drew Brees and go have a second, more successful and Super Bowl-winning career elsewhere. I'm not being scared, I'm being pragmatic.

You didn't mention any of them. But step off the block and take a 5,000 ft view of things. In the calendar year 2021, the Browns are a touchdown turned fumble turned touchback away from the AFC Championship Game; this season, they're a dropped punt snap away from a Week 1 win in KC and a blown call on a horrendous OPI against the Chargers from being 6-1. The Browns are literally three plays from Stefanski going to the AFC Championship in his first season and being in the AFC Driver's seat in his second season. He's won the same number of games halfway into his second season as Hue Jackson, Gregg Williams and Freddie Kitchens did from 2016 through 2019. Does KS walk on water? NO. Can he turn water into wine? NO. Are there adjustments that need to be made? Certainly. Do I trust him to make those adjustments? I do. The title of your thread starts with "This is ALL Stefanski's fault." The Browns are winning, take a breath, put the pitchfork down, dunk the torch in water. They could have hired Matt Rhule or Joe Judge.

Hahahahaha...isn't it the truth? We were all so much better off as Browns' fans with the successes of such offensive revolutionaries as Freddie Kitchens, Hue Jackson, Rob Chudzinski, Pat Shurmur and Chris Palmer...

Spot on! "...but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened." I don't deal I hypotheticals because if my Aunt had balls she'd be my Uncle. The Brownies are a dropped punt snap and an egregiously and unforgivably called DPI away from being 6-1. If they're unbeaten do they beat the Cardinals. I don't know. It doesn't matter. Baker is the best QB the Browns have had in 35 years. Oddly, in his time, Bernie was the best QB the Browns had had in 35 years. I think Baker can be a productive, Championship-winning QB for the next decade. Is that AFCN Championships? AFC Championships? Super Bowl Championships? I hope all three. Take out the following: GB and Favre to Rodgers - each won Super Bowls What other Teams had starting QBs that were or could be considered one of the best in the history of the respective franchise and have, without skipping a beat, moved from that QB to their next franchise QB with nobody in between? From 19 Freaking 99 to Week 4 in 2018, the Browns had 30 starting QBs. Now some are ready to move on from the one QB, who is on his 3rd HC (plus one interim) in four years, who has a fractured humerus and torn labrum, that led the team to the playoffs and won a game.

My personal opinion, chopped up chicken livers put red beans and rice over the top. And Popeyes puts them in their dirty rice. Chopped up chicken livers in the ground beef and rice mixture are also the key to my Mom's cabbage rolls. And while we're on New Year's Day delicacies, from my Czech-Polish NW PA roots - kielbasa, fried onions and cabbage and pierogies.