Browns ink Joel Bitonio to Extension

   One day after the Cleveland Browns signed right guard Wyatt Teller to a contract extension, Andrew Berry answered the questions of some (including me) about the future of the left guard, veteran Joel Bitonio as the Browns quickly extended Bitonio's contract for three additional years worth a total of forty-eight million dollars.

Bitonio was taken by the Browns in the second round of the 2014 draft from Nevada and has been a foundation piece of the offensive line ever since.

The thirty-year-old Bitonio was selected to the Pro Bowl in each of the previous three seasons and continues to play well as part of arguably the best offensive line in football. 

Bitonio's sixteen million per year contract places him ahead of both Teller and Kansas City's Joe Varney as the highest-paid guard in the league if you go by yearly salary.

The Browns continue to lock up key pieces of the team's recent rise in the standings and are committed to three of the five members of the offensive line (Bitonio, Teller, with extensions, and Jedrick Wills remains on his rookie contract) for the next few seasons with veterans Jack Conklin and J.C Tretter both signed through the end of the 2022 season.

The Browns will still have to make a decision on new contracts/extensions past 2022 for quarterback Baker Mayfield and cornerback Denzel Ward and as far as Mayfield goes, I can see Andrew Berry thinking one of two ways.

Berry could have decided that he would like to keep Mayfield and it would be best to do so by continuing to protect him well and make him comfortable behind a veteran offensive line that he is familiar with.

However, it's not out of the question that Berry may be leaning towards not signing Mayfield to a larger extension and could be hedging his bets with a new and cheaper quarterback with the same strong veteran offensive line that in theory, the new quarterback (in 2023) could come straight into the lineup behind three top-notch performers (at least) and not have to worry about his protection.

Either way, you cannot find much to complain about when you lock up a three-time Pro Bowler for three more seasons and deep into his thirties. 

Browns sign Wyatt Teller to extension

   On a day that the Cleveland Browns received bad news on the Covid-19 front with Nick Chubb and Demetric Felton testing positive and may miss Sunday's game against New England, the Browns took a step forward for the future as they signed guard Wyatt Teller to a four-year contract extension.

Teller signed a contract worth 14.2 million a year for a total of 56.8 million of which 28 million is guaranteed.

Teller becomes the second-highest salaried guard in the league behind only Kansas City's Joe Varney and gives the Browns two young anchors on the offensive line alongside 2020 first-round tackle Jedrick Wills.

The 26-year-old Teller was drafted from Virginia Tech by Buffalo in 2018 and spent that season with the Bills before then-Cleveland general manager John Dorsey traded 2020 fifth and sixth-round draft picks to Buffalo for Teller and the Bills seventh-rounder in 2021 during the 2019 training camp when Dorsey's 2018 second-round pick Austin Corbett was busting at guard and the Browns were in desperate need of help at the position.

Teller was nothing special in his first season as a Brown but was behind the eight ball learning the system on the fly at the end of camp and during the season.

Teller fit perfectly into the blocking scheme used by Bill Callahan and despite having to win the starting spot in 2020 in training camp, Teller dominated and was named to the All-Pro second team.

Teller is having another All-Pro level season this year and despite his elite play, Teller was thought to be the player that may have been left out in the cold among the players that the Browns were going to have to extend their contracts or allow them to test free agency.

However, the Browns will have to find the money for other players now with Teller (and earlier extensions signed by Nick Chubb and Myles Garrett) taking up more cap space.

The Browns will have Baker Mayfield and Denzel Ward coming up on their second contracts and veterans such as Joel Bitonio, Jarvis Landry, and Kareem Hunt all eligible for free agency after the 2022 season. 

Cleveland won't be able to afford them all and the players that they are able to retain could be the difference in keeping the winning team of late around a little longer.

Browns Rewind: Bopping the Bengals

     The Cleveland Browns received three touchdowns longer than sixty yards from rushing, receiving, and defensively and pounded the Cincinnati Bengals 41-16 by the Ohio River in Southern Ohio.

Denzel Ward grabbed a Joe Burrow pass and ran 99 yards for the first Browns touchdown, Baker Mayfield threw a sixty-yard pass to Donovan People-Jones for another, and Nick Chubb ran seventy yards for the final long-distance Cleveland score in the win.

Nick Chubb finished with 137 yards rushing and two touchdowns while Baker Mayfield threw for two touchdowns with 218 yards passing to lead the Browns offense.

The badly needed win improved the Browns to 5-4 and are only a game and a half behind first-place Baltimore at 6-2 and a half-game behind second-place Pittsburgh at 5-3.

I watched this game later as I was away for the day.

Brownie Bits

1) The Browns season may have been saved by Denzel Ward in the first quarter as the Bengals marched down the field and appeared to be ready to score the first touchdown.

Ward's 99-yard romp flipped the script from 7-0 Bengals to 7-0 Browns and allowed the Browns to settle a bit into the game after a tumultuous week.

2) What if the Bengals had scored on that first drive?

Well, it's hard to say but for a team struggling on the field and with questions about them in the locker room, it may not be hyperbole to say that the play by Denzel Ward may have saved the Browns from beginning to finger point or beginning to look for the sky to begin falling.

3) Baker Mayfield threw the ball down the field!

And it was a good throw too- to Donovan Peoples-Jones for a sixty-yard second-quarter score that broke the Bengals then and there as they would never again seriously challenge the Browns.

4) Baker Mayfield doesn't have to turn into Justin Herbert as far as throwing the football deep but cranking a few up over the course of a game will keep defenses honest.

As the final season of Drew Brees in New Orleans showed the importance of being able to keep defenses from cheating in and the ageless Tom Brady doesn't throw a lot downfield but he does make sure to crank it up a few times a game to show defenses that he is willing to try those types of throws.

5) Donovan Peoples-Jones finished the game with one other catch other than his touchdown catch but it still was a 26 yard gain and Peoples-Jones is the one wide receiver on this team that has the capabilities of being a deep threat that can change games.

6) And there was Nick Chubb, who gained 70 of his 137 yards on his touchdown run but still carried the football only thirteen times on the day.

You can make the argument that Chubb may be the top running back in the game if he isn't then the line ahead of him isn't very long!

7) I've been critical of Baker Mayfield's high throws that result in the pass-catcher not being able to catch the ball but on his throw to Donovan Peoples-Jones, DPJ didn't have to reach for the ball, it was where it needed to be and the Browns made a big play.

Amazing how that happens.

8) The defense deserves plenty of credit too with five sacks and three turnovers (two interceptions and a fumble) against the Bengals with John Johnson, who I criticized a few weeks back about his slow start after a big-money signing, intercepting a pass, and recovering a fumble.

Perhaps Johnson is starting to feel comfortable in the Joe Woods scheme now?

9) The pass rush overwhelmed Cincinnati with cornerback Troy Hill sacking Burrow twice and just missing a third.

When a cornerback rolls up numbers like that in one game, you have to wonder just what the Browns saw on tape to send Hill after Joe Burrow so often from his position in the slot.

10) Myles Garrett finished with 1.5 sacks against Burrow to move his total for the season to twelve to lead the league.

There is still a half-season to play but at this point, Myles Garrett would be the defensive player of the year.

11) Nick Chubb and Demetric Felton tested positive for Covid-19 as I was writing this but both players could play if they pass two tests before Sunday's game in Foxboro.

Both players are vaccinated so they have an easier path to playing than a non-vaccinated player. 

Texas Tech hires Joey McGuire

    Texas Tech moved early to name their next head football coach and after firing Matt Wells in the middle of the season, the surprise was the Red Raiders hiring their permanent coach with games remaining in the season.

Texas Tech announced the hiring of Baylor associate head coach and linebackers coach Joey McGuire to their head coaching position effective immediately.

McGuire will not coach in any of Texas Tech's final three games (Iowa State, Oklahoma State, and Baylor) as interim coach Sonny Cumbie will finish the season, and should the Red Raiders reach a bowl game, it is Cumbie that would lead them in that game.

Texas Tech is 5-4 and will need to win one of those three games in order to reach bowl eligibility.

The 51-year-old McGuire has never been a head coach above the high school level or served as a coordinator at the college level, so this is somewhat of a risky hire.

McGuire took Cedar Hill high school to three state titles and a runner-up position during his time there from 2003-2016 before moving to Baylor when Matt Rhule was hired as the Bears head coach.

When Rhule moved to the Carolina Panthers, McGuire was one of the finalists for the Baylor job but lost out to Dave Aranda and decided to stay on board with Aranda until his hiring at Tech,

McGuire is noted for his extensive ties with the Texas high school community and part of the reason that McGuire is starting so early in the position is so that he can try to salvage a recruiting class that currently is rated last in the Big 12.

McGuire's ability to recruit Texas and specifically the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area (where Cedar Hill High School is located) was a plus in his candidacy and his popularity with high school coaches is a major plus as Texas Tech attempts to rebuild its recruiting that had lessened significantly from the Mike Leach era through the three coaches in Lubbock since Leach.

McGuire's resume is similar to UTSA coach Jeff Traylor, who has turned the Roadrunners into a Group of Five power and was interviewed by Texas Tech for this job before signing a long-term extension with UTSA.

McGuire could be a home run hire as McGuire brings the type of people skills that will make him a force in recruiting and brings high energy that has been lacking in Lubbock for years.

However, there are always questions when you hire a head coach without experience as the boss and McGuire brings them as well.

No matter how skilled a coach is and no matter how many accolades that you come with, any coach without college head coaching experience is going to have a learning curve- especially if that leap to a  power five job.

It's more than coaching, teaching, and recruiting at any college, but particularly at the highest level the overwhelming amount of administrative work as well dealing with boosters and the public demands can make any job of this level immensely frustrating for a coach that has never dealt with these demands before.

This is a gamble on the part of Texas Tech with the inexperience of Joey McGuire at the Division I head coaching level but with McGuire's connections within the state to bolster a program with disadvantages in recruiting already, I can see how this could turn out very well.

It better turn out for the Red Raiders as Tech has turned from a solid program that made bowls every season and was good for seven or eight wins a season into one that has been passed on the Big 12 highway by TCU, Baylor, and perhaps even by future member Houston.

I have a feeling that Lubbock and West Texas may have gotten themselves the energy jolt that the Red Raiders and a desperate fan base needed.

Ohio State nips Nebraska 26-17

     Jaxon Smith-Njigba finished with a shocking 240 yards receiving and included a seventy-five-yard touchdown score to aid C.J. Stroud's 405 yards passing yards to help Ohio State defeat Nebraska 26-17 in Lincoln.

Ohio State moved to 8-1 with the win and 6-0 in the Big Ten and will hos Purdue next week at the Horseshoe.

This will be shorter than usual as I've had a busy weekend and only was able to watch the first half of this due to a personal engagement..

Olentangy Offerings

1)  What a game from Jaxon Smith-Nijgba, who not only finished with stunning numbers in place of an injured Garrett Wilson but watching his touchdown took what should have been a short gain and turned it into a spectacular score.

Smith-Nijgba will be a preseason All-American next season and pure talent-Ohio State will not miss a beat from losing Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson.

2) Noah Ruggles was four for four on field goals and his late fourth-quarter boot allowed the Buckeyes to relax a bit before the final drive of the Cornhuskers.

The North Carolina transfer has been very steady since his arrival in a year that field goals have become more valuable than usual with a young team with...

3) With the rise of Niah Ruggles, it did show the continued struggles in the red zone for the second week in a row.

Ohio State leaned on Ruggles against Penn State which was acceptable as Penn State is a top 25 team and for all of the woes of Nebraska and Scott Frost, they really do have a strong defense.

It's an interesting thing to watch as the season hits the home stretch.

4) I would not say that the Buckeyes are struggling to run the football but again the last two weeks have seen the Ohio State struggle to run and as a result, hurt themselves in the red zone.

TreVeyon Henderson finished with 92 yards on twenty-one carries and my answer to this may surprise you.

5) Ohio State isn't running the ball enough.

Ryan Day isn't pounding the football early and therefore TreVeyon Henderson isn't wearing down defenses to take advantage in the fourth quarter.

The two go hand and hand.

Sorry, so short but I haven't actually had time to watch the second half.

I haven't watched the Browns win over the Bengals at all but plan on watching tonight for a review after.

Boxing Challenge: Canelo Cuts Down Plant

    Canelo Alvarez knocked out Caleb Plant in the eleventh round to add the IBF title to the other three titles that he already held entering the fight and become the undisputed super middleweight champion.

Plant, like Billy Joe Saunders before him, did have some early success boxing off his back foot as Alvarez started in his usual slow manner against world-class opponents.

But I didn't think the fight was as close as some did (on Twitter, I saw some that had the fight very close and even an occasional person that had Plant leading into the eleventh) and with Alvarez continuing to attack and pound Plant to the body, it appeared that the biggest question would be could Plant make it to the final bell.

Canelo knocked Plant down with a snapping right uppercut and after Plant rose courageously but hurt, Canelo chased Plant around the ring with Plant running away with a hop that brought to mind the hop of Joe Frazier just before he was stopped by George Foreman in 1973 and fired a volley of shots that sent Plant tumbling to the floor where the fight was then stopped.

I had Alvarez ahead 97-93 at the time of the stoppage.

For Canelo, he has several options for his next fights and all are of interest.

Should Canelo decide to work with PBC, a fight with David Benavidez would be a guaranteed crowd-pleaser and Benavidez has the size of Plant combined with the power Plantt lacks, so that would be a fight I'd love to see.

PBC also could offer a match with WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo, but Charlo has been more interested in talking about strong competition than actually fighting them.

Still, the cash-in for a Canelo fight would likely be too much for Charlo to turn away.

Canelo seems to like Eddie Hearn and Matchroom but their top option would be a third fight with IBF middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin and Canelo seems to have next to no interest in that.

WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade would love a shot but he's a mover and Canelo may want to face someone that will exchange with him after fighting boxers in Saunders and Plant in his last two fights.

Matchroom could also offer WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol but Bivol isn't the most exciting fighter and unless Bivol wants to drop to 168 or Canelo wants to rise to light heavyweight, that's unlikely.

Should Canelo be willing to work with ESPN/Top Rank, the fight that many fans would love to see is a fight against WBC and IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and might be the biggest test of all-a naturally larger man and the best puncher in the division.

This may be the most unlikely fight to make as Canelo's track record shows that while he is willing to fight everyone, he will do so when at his best advantage as he did making Golovkin wait for both their first fight and second affair.

WBO light heavyweight champion Joe Smith is another big puncher that might make a fun fight against Canelo and wouldn't run from him but Canelo's boxing skills would likely be too much for Smith.

As for Plant, while he proved he did have world-class skills, his lack of competition didn't prepare him well for a fight of this magnitude and I would guess he will go back to PBC for lopsided affairs.

Plant against David Benavidez would make sense with two talented young fighters but Plant wasn't interested in putting his fight with Canelo in jeopardy so I can't imagine Benavidez putting his chance in peril now.

My best bet would be almost used up veteran Anthony Dirrell, who scored an undercard win against journeyman Marcos Hernandez, for Plant's next foe.

Dirrell likely won't catch Plant, would give him a few lessons that Plant should have already learned, has a recognizable name, and someone Plant would likely defeat. 

Boxing Challenge

     The boxing challenge is very light this week as the only fight is the world super-middleweight title unification between WBA/WBC/WBO champion Canelo Alvarez and IBF champion Caleb Plant.

The Alvarez-Plant fight is the only fight because the promoter (PBC ) has put on arguably the worst undercard for a PPV event in years and none of those are challenge-level fights.

I've been critical of Caleb Plant, not due to his boxing skills but because of his poor level of competition and his less than exciting style.

Plant's one victory of note, his title-winning effort over Jose Uzcategui, hasn't aged well with Uzcategui losing his fight following his loss to Plant and in that fight, while I thought Plant won clearly (7-5 and scored two flash knockdowns) Plant tired badly and lost the final five rounds to Uzcategui.

Plant then defended his titles against three of the softer challengers you will ever see (Mike Lee, Vincent Feigenbutz, and a badly faded Caleb Truax) and didn't seem interested in facing anyone that was a threat (David Benavidez fights for PBC and a win over Benavidez would have taken the weak competition factor off the board).

In other words, it seemed that Plant didn't want to fight anyone that had a chance to beat him because he wanted to keep his belt because the end game was that Canelo Alvarez was going to eventually need his title and Plant would cash in.

If that was the strategy, it paid off with a ten million dollar purse, but what it didn't do was prepare Plant to win that fight.

Here are the problems for Plant- Canelo is the bigger puncher, a comparable boxer (in his own style), has faced far tougher competition, is familiar with the big fight atmosphere, has a proven chin (Not saying Plant has a bad chin, just that we still don't know yet), proven stamina, and has been given the benefit of the doubt in every close fight of his career.

And Plant will have to fight off the back foot, hope he has improved his stamina, win seven rounds backing up, and then pray that the judges give him the benefit of the doubt.

Add it all up and it seems impossible.

Still, they fight the fights for a reason and anything can happen but the most likely scenario sees Plant moving from the start, winning a few of the early rounds and the fight is close at the halfway point.

Then Canelo Alvarez begins to stem the tide and Plant begins to tire as Canelo begins to hammer the taller fighter to the body and finishes him in the second half of the fight.

Remember another rule in boxing that rarely has an exception- If you aren't interested in fighting anyone of quality, someone has a reason to avoid them and it's usually that the fighter in question is being protected because their team has a good reason to fear.

In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 142-123

Unification WBA/WBC/WBO- IBF Super Middleweight Titles. 12 Rds 

Canelo Alvarez vs Caleb Plant

R.L:  Alvarez KO 3
TRS: Alvarez KO 9