Browns fire Pettine and Farmer and who the hell is Sashi Brown?

I'm sure you know all about the firings of Mike Pettine and Ray Farmer by now and I hope that you have listened to my podcast from yesterday that involved me discussing the Browns' decisions on this and other issues.

Now that I have had a little time to go over things, here are my thoughts on the flotsam and jetsam that is the Cleveland Browns.
As I said yesterday-I'm as down as I have been in a long time.
I see little reason to feel confident in a management structure that flows through a person (Sashi Brown) that will have the final say on the roster, yet has never been involved on the football side of the organization with an NFL team and was part of the failed management structure that was somewhat cleaned out.

Give me one reason-ONE that makes any sense for ANYONE keeping their job, let alone getting a PROMOTION!
Hold on, I'll wait. Enjoy a musical interlude.



SO the Cleveland Browns now are being run by a lawyer that was involved in running the salary cap and negotiating contracts.

BREAKING NEWS-I started this earlier in the day and the Browns have made even more moves-considering a podcast tonight...

I just don't understand why a non-football person is suddenly in charge of personnel.

As far as Farmer goes, his abysmal record in drafting (Justin Gilbert and Johnny Manziel) and free agency (Dwayne Bowe) makes me fine with not bringing him back.
I want him nowhere near the draft or anything else.
As far as Pettine-I wouldn't have whined about him staying despite his awful 2015 when you consider the flotsam and jetsam that populated the roster-I don't know of anyone that could have won with this team.
Pettine's petulant attitude towards Johnny Manziel (not that he didn't deserve it) cost the team valuable evaluation time and he reminded you of the fast food boss that bullied you around because he could -not because of a real reason.
Combined with that and his devotion to his pal and defensive coordinator Jim O'Neill on the terrible defense and you could make an easy case for the firing of Pettine too.

All I know is this-After Jimmy Haslam's news conference,I felt as bad as I had for the Cleveland Browns in a long time.
And that is a lot of bad...

So YOU had a bad day-Browns fall to Pittsburgh 28-12

The Cleveland Browns finished off another sad season with a 28-12 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Travis Coons booted four field goals for the Browns points in a game that saw five trips to the red zone result in four field goals and an interception.
The Browns finish 3-13 (as we predicted) and will pick second in the NFL Draft in April...

Brownie Bits

1) I'm not going to get into the game too much,but I'll give the Browns this much and boy do I HATE using this term-they battled.
Outmanned and outgunned,they did play hard and didn't roll over in a game that meant nothing to them and everything to Pittsburgh.
Wow.

2) That said,the Browns forced three turnovers and came away with next to nothing to show for it.
You want to pull upsets? You need to take every advantage and they just didn't.

3) The one highlight was the terrific interception return by Craig Robertson,who made the Steelers look silly as he eluded them like Tanner Boyle making the cops miss in the Bad News Bears in Breaking Training.
Sadly,he only brought the ball to the Pittsburgh five and on this day,if the Browns were going to hit the endzone,the defense was going to have to do it...

4) Austin Davis didn't have much time to throw,but he still gets an F to me.

5) For all the B.S. about Mike Pettine throwing it all out there and becoming Riverboat Pettine in a desperate stand against a superior force,that became very apparent early on ( other than one first quarter fourth down attempt )that wasn't going to happen-nothing ventured,nothing gained...

6) Terrelle Pryor made one big play that likely got him a training camp spot from someone as he went over the top of a Pittsburgh corner for a 42 yard gain and just took the ball away.
That play will get him a contract somewhere next year.

Just a shorter version than normal-Check the Podcast for more thoughts and I'll be working another post for today or tomorrow on the firings of Mike Pettine and Ray Farmer with the ridiculous ideas of the process of rebuilding the front office.

Podcast-Guest Caitlyn Boron on the Indians and I am disgusted with the Browns.

We welcome guest Caitlyn Boron from Burning River Baseball to talk Indians and I express my disgust with the Browns.

Football notes-pre-game!

A few football notes with the rumor mill running wild before the Browns expected loss to the Steelers.

The Browns are now being reported to be firing both Mike Pettine and Ray Farmer following the Steelers game.
This comes a few days after the same reports had Farmer going,but Pettine staying.
This has legs though and the two names getting play are the just fired Chip Kelly from the Eagles and Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase.

Gase is interesting because he is offensively oriented and the Browns haven't hired a guy with that background (other than Rob Chudzinski's 1 year cameo) since Chris Palmer in 1999.
However,he's never been a head coach and being young (37) could be overwhelmed with such a huge job ahead....

Chip Kelly clearly doesn't know personnel and would need a strong GM ahead of him to rein in his demands,but as an on the field coach-I might buy in.
A motivated Kelly that learned from his mistakes in Philly could be quite a force,but did he take enough time away from the game to fully learn this lesson?

Hiring Gase would show me that the Browns are serious in trying to lure Peyton Manning to run things when his career is over with "his" guy installed as head coach instead having a coach forced on him.
Hiring Kelly looks like another forced coach/GM pairing as once again the coach would be hired first rather than the traditional other way around.

I'm open to either on the surface,but I'd also like to see the bigger picture....

Also with three teams trying to move to L.A. here is a scenario for how to make me a fan if one of the 3 moves there-the Rams.

The Rams would give me my longed for NFC West Coast team to watch every week after the Browns and have several players that I really like in Todd Gurley and James Laurinatis.
Keep Jeff Fisher as head coach (long time favorite) and change the colors back to the blue and yellow and the Los Angeles Rams just might have a new fan...

Podcast-Happy New Year and Football Talk

Happy New Year,college football talk,Browns mess and some upcoming plans for 2016 on the podcast.

Buckeyes hit the Fiesta!

Ezekiel Elliott rushed for a Fiesta Bowl record tying four touchdowns and 149 yards as the Ohio State Buckeyes bullied and ripped their way through the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on their way to a 44-26 Fiesta Bowl victory.
J.T.Barrett threw for over 200 yards and another touchdown in the win.
Ohio State finishes their season at 12-1 and next plays Bowling Green at the Horseshoe in September...

Olentangy Offerings

1) This game looks closer than it was.
As someone always looking for a way to find a way to lose as I watch-I never had that feeling that the Buckeyes were remotely challenged at all.

2) Ezekiel Elliott finished his OSU days by physically beating down Notre Dame.
You could clearly see the Irish wincing at bringing Elliott down and the Buckeyes dominated at the line of scrimmage.

3) Joey Bosa was ejected for targeting in the first quarter.
Had Bosa not been ejected (by the letter of the law,the ejection was warranted,but still a dumb rule),this game would have truly been a massacre.
Ohio State was up 14-0 when the play happened and it allowed a Vonn Bell interception to come off the board.
Between that and Bosa destroying off the line of scrimmage,OSU looked on the way to a huge win,if 16 isn't enough already...

4) Yes,the targeting rule is dumb.
Joey Bosa's helmet did hit the ND player-in the chest!
Add into that that the quarterback was on the move and you could argue that the targeting rule needs some revising.
All things considered,the rule should be revised for a 15 yard penalty (at best) for plays that did not involve helmet to helmet and no ejection.

5) Even with the Notre Dame scores,the defense still played pretty well considering that the Buckeyes played without three quarters of their defensive line.
Tommy Schutt (broken foot),Adolphus Washington (suspension) and Bosa weren't on the field by the end of first quarter,but Sam Hubbard took up some slack.
Ohio State still ended the game with four sacks,so imagine what could have been!

6) Braxton Miller touched the ball just four times,but I wanted to take a minute to thank a player that graduated early,always worked hard and never complained about his situation.
I'm not sure about Miller's NFL future,but he's a high character guy-someone should take a look..

7) Next season is a rebuilding one.
Now this is Ohio State,so it won't be that bad,but they go to Michigan State and Wisconsin next year,get underrated Bowling Green and add Oklahoma at Norman for non-conference,so a four loss season isn't out of the question.
However J.T. Barrett is back and Urban Meyer often does his best work when underestimated so one never knows,but the people that complained about schedules shouldn't have much to say next year.

8) The mass exodus of talent is part of a rebuild,but the recruiting class is supposed to be strong.
So strong that some analysts rate it as tops in the country.
I'm not a recruiting guru,so I'm taking the word of others,but the step back will be a small and fast one...

9) Finally,the what might have been.
Yes,the play calling still makes me wonder against Michigan State and yes,the Buckeyes would have been a better ratings draw and I think would have offered better competition in the final four.
Howevee,no matter how great they looked vs Michigan and Notre Dame,that loss meant they didn't deserve to be there.
Even if they might have been the best team...

10) Let the cries for 8 teams begin.
I plan on talking about this tonight on the podcast!
Yep,there will be a podcast tonight and another on Monday-Enjoy!

11) Anyone know just what Battlefrog is or does?
They sponsored the Fiesta Bowl and I have never heard of them or whatever they make/do etc..

Happy New Year

A quick note of Happy New Year to the readers and listeners.

I'll be around later with the Fiesta Bowl,but wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year with best wishes for all.

The blog will keep chugging along,but the podcast is coming along too with some cool guests coming up.

A phone issue has made things a little tougher at the road office,but hang in there-good things to come!