I'm Happy With Where the Browns Are At

[ClevelandFanForLife]

A lot of people have been saying how upset they are with the way the season is going and how we should fire everybody on the coaching staff. However, I think that we need to look back at our season predictions. I for one said that as long as the Browns are competitive I will be happy. They are being competitive and I am pleased with how the season is going. Everyone just needs to calm down. We all knew that playoffs were a long shot before the season started. We can't just change our expectations mid-season after we knock off a couple of first-place teams. Is the on field product perfect? No. Is it better than last year? Hell yes. Should it give us hope for years to come? Absolutely.

 

We're 3-6. I understand that people are upset that we can't finish games. If we could, we would at least be 6-3. However, let's not get caught up on shoulda-woulda-coulda stuff. Let's look at the possitives:

1. Our defense looks much better than it did in previous years and offenses have a reason to start taking Rob Ryan's boys seriously.

2. We have a plus ratio in the turnover margin for the first time in a long time.

3. We have a solid running game for the first time in an entire season since 2004.

4. Although our play-calling is not perfect, there are times when Daboll looks like a legit coordinator and nobody can argue with the results in the New Orleans and New England games.

5. I will go on record as saying that I may have been the person who was most outspoken about hiring Mangini in the first place. I thought he was a flat-out bum. When people on this board said give him a chance, I didn't want to listen and thought they were wrong. Turns out, I was the one who was wrong. I believe in Mangini and think we are on the right path.

6. Finally, and most importantly, we have a competent quarterback. He may not light up the board with stats, but you cannot argue with his results. McCoy looks legit and is can be the leader of this team for years to come. Hopefully he is the real McCoy (cheesy pun intended).

 

I know that there are improvements to be made, but let's not cloud progress. Could we have been this good last year? No. Do I expect them to have a winning record next year? Yup. We're not the Cowboys or Vikings guys. We didn't have huge expectations for this season. Let's stop acting like the sky is falling because we have lost a couple of close games. Let's just enjoy the Holgren/Mangini ride for the rest of the season and beyond. And as always, GO BROWNS!

[Super_Sundays]

I agree. The coaches had us in the right defenses throughout the game, the players just missed some key opprotunities to make plays. Hope none of the injuries Cribbs, Brown, Fajita are serious.

[shepwrite]

There are plenty of positives and a few negatives to take from the game. We're a team on the brink of being very, very good... if we could finish. The pieces we're missing are the pieces keeping us from being 6-3 right now (easily).

 

The biggest plusses are clearly McCoy, Hillis, the offensive line, and a competent (but not dominant) defense. The minuses are the pass coverage, which is still shaky, and our absence of a dominant outside WR. The latter showed up with McCoy having to make absolutely amazing throws to covered tight ends before the Massoquoi TD.

 

Add one WR who makes a defense rotate, and you have something special. I can't say whether it should be a Dez Bryant type (Michael Floyd, if he can stay healthy)... or a burner like Oklahoma's Broyles. You could make the case that our best 4-WR set next year would actually be two TEs (Moore and Watson) and two WRs (say, Broyles and Massoquoi).

 

Robiskie is toast. The guy just can't get open. He's neither fast nor physical. Stuckey may have fumbled, but he gets open and makes plays. He can stay as the slot.

 

Right now, after watching Haden's up and down day (good coverage followed by playing off a guy who only needs 8 for a key first down), I'm still in that place where I wish we'd taken Dez Bryant. HOWEVER... then you'd be trading up a little to get McCourty (who looks very good so far), and that loses you Ward and so on. Don't know that there's a corner you could just take instead of Hardesty. It's not so simple as just replacing Haden with Bryant. If it were, I'd do it in a minute.

[Gips]

A lot of people have been saying how upset they are with the way the season is going and how we should fire everybody on the coaching staff. However, I think that we need to look back at our season predictions. I for one said that as long as the Browns are competitive I will be happy. They are being competitive and I am pleased with how the season is going. Everyone just needs to calm down. We all knew that playoffs were a long shot before the season started. We can't just change our expectations mid-season after we knock off a couple of first-place teams. Is the on field product perfect? No. Is it better than last year? Hell yes. Should it give us hope for years to come? Absolutely.

 

We're 3-6. I understand that people are upset that we can't finish games. If we could, we would at least be 6-3. However, let's not get caught up on shoulda-woulda-coulda stuff. Let's look at the possitives:

1. Our defense looks much better than it did in previous years and offenses have a reason to start taking Rob Ryan's boys seriously.

2. We have a plus ratio in the turnover margin for the first time in a long time.

3. We have a solid running game for the first time in an entire season since 2004.

4. Although our play-calling is not perfect, there are times when Daboll looks like a legit coordinator and nobody can argue with the results in the New Orleans and New England games.

5. I will go on record as saying that I may have been the person who was most outspoken about hiring Mangini in the first place. I thought he was a flat-out bum. When people on this board said give him a chance, I didn't want to listen and thought they were wrong. Turns out, I was the one who was wrong. I believe in Mangini and think we are on the right path.

6. Finally, and most importantly, we have a competent quarterback. He may not light up the board with stats, but you cannot argue with his results. McCoy looks legit and is can be the leader of this team for years to come. Hopefully he is the real McCoy (cheesy pun intended).

 

I know that there are improvements to be made, but let's not cloud progress. Could we have been this good last year? No. Do I expect them to have a winning record next year? Yup. We're not the Cowboys or Vikings guys. We didn't have huge expectations for this season. Let's stop acting like the sky is falling because we have lost a couple of close games. Let's just enjoy the Holgren/Mangini ride for the rest of the season and beyond. And as always, GO BROWNS!

 

I couldnt agree more!

And i was vocal about hiring mangini and then vocal about firing mangini and now i think we should keep mangini, you can see him growing as a coach and a human being now he needs to keep the belichick snakeskin off and listen to his bosses advise and accept his mentoring and he will become the NFLs next greatest coach!

 

Mangini needs to shed himself completely of his ex-mentors darth vader image and accept the fact that he is more the jedi type than he wants to realize...