First off and I have always thought this,but I have never written about this,but Ozzie Newsome gets a free pass on all fronts.
I believe that Newsome has gotten a un-merited pass from Cleveland fans because he was a terrific player for the Cleveland Browns and of all the people involved in the crime that was the move to Baltimore,Ozzie Newsome gets no backlash at all.
Now,allow me to preface that statement with this-The Cleveland Browns move had nothing to do with Ozzie Newsome and he could not have stopped it,had he attempted to.
However,Ozzie Newsome put Art Modell above the Cleveland fans,the city of Cleveland and the right thing and for that-I do hold him accountable.
Another thought is what a staff that Bill Belichick had assembled in Cleveland!
Put the so called "Slappies" aside that were entry level employees and are now at coaching/general manager level in the league,just look at the coaching staff.
Nick Saban and his national titles at LSU and Alabama,Kirk Ferentz at Iowa (although as Ryan and I just discussed on Tuesday,his success is somewhat overrated)and Pat Hill,formerly of Fresno State,when Fresno was Boise State before there was a Boise State.
The staff did not seem so dazzling back then,I remember a offensive game plan that basically consisted of a small scat back (Eric Metcalf) running up the middle to be splattered.
Funny (not really) how the offensive coordinator (Steve Crosby) was not mentioned or even heard from since those days.
One thing that I did find interesting was Bill Belichick's animosity towards Art Modell.
In fact,I don't believe that Belichick referred to Modell by name in the program using "the owner" to address Modell.
Perhaps Modell's statement when he hired Belichick that he would "the last coach that he would ever hire" was taken to heart by the taciturn coach and there is a quite a bit of bitterness there?
Belichick's comment that "we turned to the owner and the owner wasn't there,he was in Baltimore" was pretty cutting and it is clear that Belichick never forgave "the owner" or the "hero of Baltimore" if you will.
Watching the program,Bill Belichick takes his name off my personal list for this fiasco as his passion for turning the Browns into what would later become the Patriots came across clearly to me.
Belichick's disappointment in how the 1995 season spiraled out of control following a playoff season that included a first round win,the last playoff win for the Browns is evident.
To me,it is clear that Belichick looks at the tenure in Cleveland as not just an opportunity lost,but as an opportunity yanked away by Art Modell and is the black (ok,maybe brown) mark on Belichick's resume'.
The final issue is the end of the program that discusses the Browns moving to Baltimore and the Ravens winning the Super Bowl.
I am not convinced that those Ravens would have won a Super Bowl in Cleveland,although Belichick's subsequent track record and his insistence that he might have won one.
The Browns were an 11-5 team in 1994 and had gotten off to a good start in 1995 before the news broke on the move to Baltimore and I doubt that had the team not moved,the Browns would have been bad enough to select a Hall of Famer in Jonathan Ogden with a top five pick to anchor an offensive line for years.
They did have San Francisco's number one from a trade,so Ray Lewis could have still have been picked with that pick.
Lewis could have been the star in Cleveland that he would become in Baltimore,but his act would have been the same,so bleech.
There it is Aunt Becky,My patented "Silver Lining"!
The move kept Ray Lewis out of Cleveland!
All and all,I recommend the show,although it could have added more on the move and less of the Belichick coaching staff as it would have been nice to counter some of the Baltimore propaganda side.
1995 was the beginning of the slide of the Browns as it was the forebearer of a team leaving town,a few years without football at all and plenty of bad football.
It all started with 1995......
No comments:
Post a Comment