Irrespective of venue, the surest way
to lose money in a high/low game of poker is to choose the middle
course, or worse to shift course once committed.
When the Cleveland Browns traded Trent
Richardson (20 carries, 60 yards on Sunday, a tidy 3 yards/carry,
again), it seemed that they had committed to go low to improve their
lot in next year's draft. But with another improbable win against a
supposedly improved Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday the Browns find
themselves tied for first in a poor division and probably pondering
whether to shift course and now go high.
I liked the version of the Browns that
had committed low because it met perfectly with overriding
expectations that the NFL universe had for them. Who but the Browns
keep building for a tomorrow that never comes? I mean who other than
nearly every Cleveland sports team of the last 30 years.
But there they were again, stodgy for
long periods of time on offense and stout on defense as they gave
another team a case of the Mondays. That makes an actual but modest
win streak for a team that looked not just lost but buried for its
first two games. Now fans are left to contemplate how a season that
was supposed to be spent planning for future seasons yet unplayed
went so horribly wrong. It is a shock to the system.
The Browns confound when they win
because even the fans can’t believe what’s happening. An
incredibly long and effective drive in the fourth quarter to seal a
win against what was supposed to be an otherwise formidable (and
favored) opponent is not how fans in these parts are used to spending
the run up to the 4 p.m. games. That time is usually reserved for a
quick bit of yard work or sandwich making before watching the
league’s better teams and players square off.
So now the Browns do face a dilemma of
sorts, don’t they? The first quarter of the season has all but
eliminated the Owen Steelers to jockeying for draft position. The
Baltimore Ravens gutted a Super Bowl team of most of its best
players, either by design or retirement, and now rely on a misplaced
faith in Joe Flacco to impersonate Tom Brady and make due with a cast
of rejects. Yesterday's loss proved that's a flawed approach. And
the Bengals, who knows what to make of them accept that they couldn't
solve a Browns team that hasn't been much of a puzzle to anyone
except their fans.
It really is a season the Browns, even
a 7-9 Browns, could make the playoffs if only somewhat by default.
The AFC North is that winnable at the moment. But doing so or even
getting close comes at the expense of the draft choices they coveted.
The answer, I suppose, lies in the fact that players and fans are in
it to win as much as they can now and let the future roll out as it’s
meant to when it’s meant to.
It’s the rare set of circumstances
that line up just as they should to yield a result that was too
speculative to contemplate. The Cleveland Indians of this season are
probably the best example of that in a generation. So holding the
eggs for a basket that might never come anyway isn't worth the
chance. The only advice though is if the Browns are now committed
high stick with it for awhile. Keep any further trade talk in check.
Clean out the deadwood if you must, but keep this crew more or less
in track and Brandon Weeden on the bench. Let at least another
quarter season take place. Tanking the last 8 games, which is easily
accomplished by re-inserting Weeden if/when necessary, can still
yield powerful results for the future.
Here’s what informs that decision and
admittedly it's a series of slender reeds. There’s the
aforementioned weakness of a division that is actually worse than the
American League Central was this year. But next and not
insignificantly it’s the team.
Whether quarterback Brian Hoyer is the
real deal or just Kelly Stouffer remains to be seen. What is far
clearer is that receiver Josh Gordon does make a distinct difference
and that Bill Belichick is somewhere today plotting exactly how to
wrest tight end Jordan Cameron from the Browns’ grip. Cameron is
the kind of talent that Belichick has built a career finding.
Players like that don’t usually fall into Cleveland’s lap, by
accident and especially not by design.
There’s also the defense, generally,
and the magnificently named Barkevious Mingo, in particular that
seems to have opposing teams rattled or at least caged in. Mingo has
had a sack in 3 straight games but his presence is even bigger than
that. Mingo just enhances a strong defensive line and the
linebackers, particularly but not exclusively D’Qwell Jackson, have
been so effective that they are covering up a really weak secondary.
Buster Skrine continues to underwhelm. Sure he had a key
interception yesterday but not to pick nits he was in position to
grab the deflection because he had lost sight of his assignment. Had
Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton given it a half second more there was
a longer completion to be made against the confused Skrine.
On the other side, though, is a running
game that will be hard pressed to get appreciably better. Willis
McGahee is simply too old in NFL terms to be consistently effective.
He’s Jamal Lewis in his last season, more or less. Chris Ogbonnoya
will never be anything more than a change of pace back.
It will eventually fall to Hoyer to buy
time, which he seems quite capable of doing, as he looks off Greg
Little and gets it to Gordon or Cameron or even Travis Benjamin. On
Sunday, Hoyer threw short to Benjamin and he turned an otherwise
pedestrian NFL stock plan into a 33-yard gain that eventually led to
the Browns’ first touchdown.
There were two other key points of note
in that series, though. First was the 17 yard pass to Devon Bess
from Hoyer that got the ball to the Cincinnati 2-yard line. That
followed by what is now becoming routine, the Hoyer to Cameron end
zone connection. Cameron simply has excellent style and skill in the
red zone. He’s difficult to cover or even account for.
Later in the second quarter came a
spectacular 33-yard completion from Hoyer to Gordon on a ball that
probably shouldn't have been thrown. But having decided to throw
it, Hoyer put it in a position, despite the double coverage and with
Adam “Arrested Again” Jones step for step, where only Gordon
could make the catch. It was a difficult leaping catch but had it
not been completed it wouldn't have been intercepted, either.
Kicker Billy Cundiff killed the
momentum of the moment by demonstrating why he was available to the
Browns at such a late date. His 37 yard miss on a field goal didn't
inspire much confidence. He’s safe for another week I suspect.
The Browns play again Thursday. After that, he ought to prepare to
watch others try out for his job.
Those were pretty decent highlights
among an otherwise yawn inducing display of football by both teams
for most of the game. But far better, far more fulfilling and far
more important to the overall direction of the club this season what
the drive that sucked up 6 and a half minutes of the fourth quarter
and ended up with the Hoyer to Ogbonoyya touchdown.
From the Browns’ 9 yard line the
drive started conservatively and predictably enough. Head coach Rob
Chudzinski had a lead to protect. A short pass to Cameron. Then
McGahee ran for 5 then 4 yards and suddenly a little life sparked.
Then Hoyer to Gordon for 13 yards and two plays later to Cameron for
31 yards. At the very least field position had been altered.
Then McGahee ran three straight for 23
yards total followed by a neat little pass to Ogbonnaya for a 1-yard
touchdown and suddenly an insurmountable lead emerged even though
just under 5 minutes remained. Cincinnati, unable to move the ball
all day, likely was banking on the Browns’ defense taking its usual
fourth quarter siesta. Instead they played as if they had plenty of
sleep the night before and shut the Bengals down once again.
It was a good fundamental example of
football by a team with whom the words good and fundamental rarely
crossed paths.
The question now that keeps popping up
is whether the Browns can demonstrate to a relatively large national
audience on Thursday against the Buffalo Bills that it’s new go
high strategy makes perfect sense. In a league where the Steelers
are Owen Four and so are the Giants, sure, why not?