Patrick McManamon: Loyal Cleveland Frowns Reader?

Yesterday we wrote about how the Browns were all atwitter at the prospect of playing on Monday night against the Giants, and in Prime Time on several occasions in this upcoming season. We predicted that they would not cover against the Giants, partly because we believed that their excitement about these prime-time games seemed misdirected.

We wrote that:

"[W]e don’t think that this kind of excitement about Monday night games is helpful. First, we don’t think that Paul Brown would like it. He was the one who said that we should pretty much act the same way in victory and in defeat. . . . What Paul Brown would say to these guys is, you’re getting paid to play football for the Cleveland Browns and you should play your best g*ddam football no matter what time it is and no matter who’s watching whether it’s Sunday night, Monday night, Tuesday afternoon, or Thursday morning. . . . G*ddamit! That’s what Paul Brown would say."

In today’s Akron Beacon Journal, Patrick McManamon provides a detailed breakdown of the Browns’ many missteps in last evening’s eyesore of a performance (we really like the title of his piece). We’re glad to report that Mr. McManamon shares our concerns about the Browns' misdirected excitement. He wrote this:

"[H]ere's another thought: One thing that can really mess up the Browns this season would be if they approached the season as if they'd made it. It's not like they got five prime-time games after not making the playoffs, is it? It was kind of bothersome to hear some of the players talk before the game about how excited they were going to New York to play on Monday night. This could well have been a case of guys just pretty much answering questions in the most routine of ways. ''Are you excited about going to New York for Monday night?'' ''Sure I'm excited about going to New York for Monday night.'' But it seemed a little bit like the attention was on the wrong thing. . . .

"This was a preseason game, and the approach should have been on playing well, playing smart and competing — whether the game was in New York or New Carrollton. The players could have said that, too. The Browns played like buffoons. . . Most important, though, was the lack of maturity and proper attention. A team doesn't have to win in preseason, but it sure needs to give a good, smart effort. . . . They have many talented players, but if they don't approach the games like professionals, if they think they are better than they actually are, there will be problems. The effort Monday night was not professional or mature. The TV networks gave the Browns a lot of love, but the cart is before the horse. The love came on potential, not achievement."

We are glad that Mr. McManamon agrees with us about the Browns' misplaced focus going into last night's game, and we wonder if our preview of that game was the source of his “another thought” quoted above. If so, we are happy to help Mr. McManamon, and hope that he continues to visit Cleveland Frowns to find good things for him to write about in the Beacon Journal. We also hope that our Brownies get it together real soon. Less than three weeks until the Cowboys come to town . . .

NFL Preseason Kickoff: Working, Playing, and Picking

You might have heard that Brett Favre is in town today with his new employer, the New York Jets. You’ve undoubtedly heard the commotion over Favre’s decision to un-retire from the NFL after an offseason change of heart. You might have also noticed that there’s a significant amount of irrational hatred of Favre out there, a lot of which is probably due to the fact that Big Sports Media as a whole tends to act as his personal publicist/lapdog. Flowing from this is a substantial element that takes on a negative “enough already!” attitude toward Favre’s oscillating employment status. This is so much misplaced energy to us. We’re pulling for Favre. Not because of that real-man-recovering-painkiller-addict-aw-shucks-Wrangler-wearin-buy-ya’-a-beer way that he carries himself, but rather because it looks like he wants to keep playing until the wheels fall off.

We like what Favre is doing here so much because we've often wondered just what is so great about retiring before the wheels fall off. Everyone we know who’s retired has essentially pressed the fast forward button on their trip to the grave in doing so -- at least everyone we know who has retired without picking up something of equal or greater substance to work on. And this isn’t just the fate of ordinary Joes. John Elway had a tough time after he retired. And look at what happened to two of LeBron's heroes, each of whom had plenty left in the tank when he tried to retire “while he was on top,” only to re-enter the game after it was too late:

Ugh.

Let us digress further. We’re generally of the mind that life should get better every day. This should be so because after each day of experience, we should know that much more about ourselves and the universe that we live in. Put another way, we make progress by learning from our experience (we've touched on this before) and every day should have made more peace with what we cannot do, and should be better at what we can. Consider this in view of the idea that there’s something to be said for a healthy balance of work, rest, and play in one’s life. It could be argued that the entire concept of “play” is meaningless without the concept of “work,” and this argument goes a long way toward explaining why folks often become so miserable after they retire. So if one spends so much time on a life’s work, and is still physically able to perform that work, why would that person then want to abandon that work when he theoretically should be better at it than ever? To work on something else? A golf game? Is this not a great disrespect for one's talents and hard-earned experience, akin to slapping God and one's fellow man in their respective faces? Maybe. So Godspeed, Mr. Favre. You have our full support, as do your Jets tonight, + 3.5 against our Browns.

Another reason to pick the Jets tonight is that the Browns have made the seemingly impossibly stupid decision to name Derek “Lucky Stars” Anderson their starting quarterback for this season, thus foreclosing any meaningful pre-season competition between Anderson and Brady Quinn. (He’s “Lucky Stars” because he’s so lucky that he plays with so many stars -- except in a must-win-to-get-in-the-playoffs-game against the lowly Bengals. The lucky stars didn’t help there.) We’ve written at length about this in the past, and will continue to, because Lucky Stars Anderson scares the hell out of us. For now it’s enough to note that Quinn should rightly be depressed about this situation. Additionally, we should point out that Quinn will be playing with backups tonight, which should cause his value to be inflated due to the public's willingness to view a quarterback in isolation from his team. Note finally that 90% of Sportsbook.com players are backing the Brownies -3.5, which tells us that the irrational Quinn backers and Favre haters are in full force tonight. If we didn’t know how hard this business was, we’d say that this looks like an easy way to start the picking season.

The Pick: New York Jets +3.5 over the Cleveland Browns.

Update: Final Score -- Jets 24, Browns 20. Easy peasy.

The Working Man is a Sucker,

and the hibernating beast rises slowly. We walked past folks in Leroy Hoard and Brady Quinn jerseys on our way into the office this morning, glanced eastward at the Muni Lot, and saw scattered orange trailers and solo cups amidst the cars of us workaday suckers. Someone already has a speaker blaring. These people teach us that Braveheart was right -- every man dies, but not every man really lives.

We’ll be back before gametime with our preview and pick for tonight’s Browns/Jets tilt. Finally, Brett Favre is back in Cleveland.

Braylon Edwards -- Well Rounded Athlete or Starstruck Dandy?

We’re trying not to let ourselves be too depressed by this storyline that tells us that there will be no quarterback controversy in Cleveland this year. We assume that Phil Savage knows what he’s doing here -- that he couldn’t have just let Derek Anderson walk away for nothing in the off-season, that keeping him around will be good for Brady Quinn’s development and for the team, and will allow the Browns to make a better decision about their quarterback situation in 2009. But $14.5 million, the amount of guaranteed money in Anderson’s new deal, is a lot of coin. Especially considering his meltdown in the must-win week 17 match against the Bengals, and that our grandma would have made the Pro Bowl last year throwing to those receivers behind that offensive line.

The Anderson/Quinn “quandary” had us uneasy enough before we came across a couple of items that suggest that our star receiver Braylon Edwards might not have his priorities in order. First there’s this piece from Mike at WFNY about Braylon’s untied diamond studded bowtie look at last week’s ESPY awards (pictured above), which we might have let slide until we read this article from ESPN the Magazine that’s linked in the WFNY bowtie piece. Apparently Edwards has “big-screen dreams.” He wants to make it big in Hollywood. This doesn’t make Braylon much different from millions of LA residents, high school drama clubbers, and university drama majors from coast to coast -- except that Braylon has an NFL career to keep him busy, and has enough money and name recognition to allow him to pursue his Hollywood dream in a way that so many of these others may not. And it appears that Braylon is dedicating no small portion of his time and energy to doing this.

This doesn’t seem to bother Mike at WFNY, who says that “Braylon is fully aware that his game is what gets his foot in the door.” Easy for Braylon to say, but our question is, what happens to his game once his foot is in this door? Cliff Lee has shown us what a difference a properly focused off-season can make. Success in any major pro sport doesn’t seem like something that anyone could take for granted. And Hollywood stardom is something that only a tiny percentage of one percent who seek it achieve. Every minute spent chasing it is a minute not spent on football, or rest and recuperation. While it’s possible that Braylon’s pursuit could be viewed as “rest” of a certain kind, nothing more than a harmless hobby, a few quotes from the ESPN Mag piece trouble us here:

#1: “‘When I see LeBron having these huge posters all over Cleveland or doing Saturday Night Live—he deserves all the respect he gets,’ Edwards says. ‘I'd like to be the King of Cleveland because I'm doing the exact same things consistently, like he's been doing. I'm trying to get to that level.’”

The exact same things as LeBron? Consistently? ??? ????? The mind reels. At the very least this suggests that Braylon might not understand how much work there is to be done before he and the Browns achieve a fraction of the success that LeBron has with the Cavs. (The playoffs would be a good start, Bray.)

#2: “As Skall pulls out of the Film 44 parking lot and heads crosstown to meeting No. 2, Edwards whips out his iPhone and calls his tailor. Edwards has an idea for a suit, and he wants to brainstorm the concept.”

What happens if Braylon, inspired by the Dawg Pound faithful, gets ‘an idea for a suit’ in the middle of a game? Will this cloud his focus? Football is, after all, a game of inches. Can the Browns afford distractions like this?

#3: “‘The Entourage guys want to hang out while I'm in town,’ [Braylon] says with a megawatt smile. ‘I thought, Wow, they want to hang out! Okay, that's cool.’”

And if the Entourage guys want to hang out on a Saturday before a big game? Then what? Braylon himself believes that "[i]t's who you're shaking hands with, who you've been a friend to, who's been on your side forever. These are the people who get the roles." Based on how taken Braylon is with the Hollywood scene, how can we be sure that his Hollywood handshakes won't interfere with high fives in the Dawg Pound?

#4: “The 25-year-old Browns receiver's ensemble was carefully designed, he says, to show he's professional and fun. Even his fragrance, Bond No. 9, serves a higher purpose. ‘It's my war cologne,’ he says. ‘It's a strong, masculine scent. I wear it when I'm trying to show confidence or be dominant.’"

?!?!?!?! War cologne!?! Yikes. Here we’ll point out that Braylon is a Michigan grad. We’ll also point out that it’s hard for us to imagine Jerry Rice saying or doing any of these things. We don’t begrudge anyone for pursuing his dreams, but we hope that Braylon remembers that he has a great thing going with this NFL gig, and should have plenty of time and money with which to pursue his Hollywood dreams once the NFL gig is up. Until then, we hope that the ‘war cologne’ that Edwards most consistently applies is sweat.

Frownie Bytes

I agree with loyal Cleveland Frowns reader Big Dood, who said, “I think you’re due for a sports post now.” Currently in the works is an essay on why Roger Clemens is the most sympathetic figure in sports today. The piece will be titled “You Would Too” as in when Biggie Smalls said “you should too, if you knew, what this game would do to you.” Until then, some thoughts on the recent trades and free agent signings by the Browns and Cavs:

It was a busy week for the Browns, who signed quarterback Derek Anderson to a three-year deal and former Patriots receiver Donte Stallworth for seven years, and added defensive linemen Shaun Rogers and Corey Williams via a pair of trades. These moves in total demonstrate that GM Phil Savage knows that football teams win by controlling the line of scrimmage. As Marla Ridenour points out in today’s Beacon Journal, the Browns realized terrific results with last season’s offensive line upgrade, and hope for the same on the other side of the ball in 2008. Savage candidly proclaimed that Rogers and Williams will help the Browns more than any of the defensive linemen likely to be available with the draft picks that the Browns traded away. Time will tell if he is correct, but at the very least, both of the new defensive linemen will help some; as their performance for their previous teams was by all accounts better than any the Browns received from anyone on their d-line last season.

The primary area of concern with the new linemen is with Rogers’ character. According to Ridenour, Rogers has tremendous physical ability, but “his attitude, consistency and conditioning have often been questioned. He never speaks to the media. He once jokingly said at the Lions' complex, 'Cut me. I'm a cancer.' Last June, he allegedly groped a woman at a strip club. He served a four-game league suspension in 2006 for taking a banned dietary supplement and underwent knee surgery.” We have reason to be optimistic that Rogers won’t be nearly as much trouble in Cleveland. As Coach Romeo Crennel points out, “a lot of people need motivation to be at their best, and that’s part of coaching.” Further, the tone of any organization is set at the top. It can be argued that the Lions have the most incompetent managers of any team in recent NFL history, and that a change of scenery and better leadership in Cleveland will provide Rogers an environment in which he is more likely to settle down off the field, and thrive on it.

That the Browns did not overcommit to Derek Anderson further demonstrates that Savage understands the tremendous influence that the guys in the trenches have on the performance of the skill position players. A three year deal with $10 million guaranteed for Anderson is eminently reasonable and is nowhere close to the ridiculous deals like Matt Schaub’s that Anderson was pointing to as comparable to what he deserved. This gives Quinn another year to develop as an NFL quarterback, provides the Browns security in case of an injury, and creates a healthy competition for the Browns starting job. Anderson is no dummy. He almost certainly could have signed a longer term deal with more money elsewhere, but wherever he landed he was highly unlikely to end up on a team with as much offensive talent as the Browns. If he were to end up on another team it might easily have been proven that Anderson is much closer to a mediocre quarterback than a Pro Bowl quarterback. Of course, people can change. There’s a chance that Anderson gets hungry, realizes what’s at stake and what’s at his disposal, and elevates his game to another level next season. In any event, with Anderson and Quinn, the Browns are surely stronger at the quarterback position than they would have been with Quinn and whoever would have replaced Anderson.

One commentator has noted that the Anderson signing leaves the Browns with “one paranoid starter and one sulking backup,” a situation that could “throw a wrench” into the Browns ascent. But this signing will only play out in a negative way if the Browns are indecisive as to the results of what should be a healthy competition between the two quarterbacks. One last thing to consider regarding Anderson is that Savage likely realizes that Anderson’s value is generally overinflated, and for this reason is a trading chip that is more valuable than the late first and third round picks that the Browns would have received if they lost him in free agency. The Browns can get more for Anderson now that he’s signed to a relatively inexpensive three-year deal.

Donte Stallworth is a first-round talent with 1,000+ yard potential, and, coupled with Braylon Edwards gives the Browns a pair of deep threats who could end up in the end zone on any given play. Joe Jurevicius is a solid possession receiver, but does not have Stallworth’s game breaking potential. The concern with Stallworth is injury risk.

On the subject of injury risk, we’ll have to be patient in evaluating last week’s Cavs trade because injuries have kept the team from playing with all of its pieces in place. In addition to Ilgauskas and Boobie Gibson, who are both currently out with injuries, LeBron has been plagued with an ankle issue, Varejao has had problems, and Gooden and Hughes both missed significant time before being traded to the Bulls. At what point do we have to ask, who the hell is training these guys? The Cavs are one LeBron injury away from being a D-League squad, and LeBron’s duck-toed gait is a good recipe for future long term back problems. The obvious solution here is yoga. For now I will say that for all of the attention that athletes generally pay to their musculature, they pay shockingly little attention to the bones, tendons and ligaments that provide the underlying structure to this musculature. This will be a subject of a future post about Cleveland Frowns favorite, Kelvim Escobar. Stay tuned.

Super Bowl XLII: Why Tom Brady Is Not the Best Quarterback in NFL History and Why the Browns Should Let Derek Anderson Walk

Super Bowl Sunday, 2008: A Patriots victory over the Giants today and the volume will be turned up on the claim that Tom Brady is the best quarterback in NFL history. Leaving aside the obvious difficulties in evaluating whether this claim is true, the frequency with which this claim is made reflects just how easily people will overlook a fundamental reality about the game of football, and in doing so, over or underestimate the value of an individual quarterback. This willingness to view a quarterback in isolation from the rest of his team is also a primary contributing factor to the calls by Browns fans and sportswriters for the Browns to sign Derek Anderson to an expensive long-term deal. This would be a huge mistake. A quick look at the claim that Tom Brady is the best quarterback in NFL history helps to demonstrate why.

American football is the ultimate team game, requiring eleven different players to move in eleven different particular ways each time the football is snapped. It is quite often the case that an entire play is ruined if only one man misses his assignment. On a professional football field, at least six men are responsible for blocking defenders on any given play. If only one of these blockers fails, there is a good chance that a quarterback ends up eating dirt. If a receiver fails to run a precise route, cannot break free from a defender, or simply drops a ball, his quarterback’s statistics, likelihood of winning, and perceived performance will suffer in kind. Similarly, if a quarterback’s coaching staff is out-coached by the other side, a quarterback’s chances of winning and perceived performance will suffer. In many cases, the quarterback won’t ever have a chance to succeed. In sum, the quarterback’s performance will be a microcosm of his team’s offensive performance. This makes it difficult to evaluate the worth of an individual quarterback to his team’s success.

Anyone who wants to claim that Tom Brady is the best quarterback of all time has to separate his performance from that of his teammates and coaching staff. First, they must explain how Brady’s performance can be separated from the allegedly brilliant game plans of coaching “genius” (or inveterate cheater) Bill Belichick. Moreover, the Patriots front office is widely recognized as the best front office in football, having made a remarkable series of savvy moves that has left Brady surrounded by a terrific supporting cast of superstars, role players, and all around solid guys with a reputation for putting the team first. It’s no coincidence that Brady’s dream season comes in a year in which his offense received a dramatic upgrade, with superfreak All-Pro Hall of Fame lock Randy Moss joining his receiving corps, along with NFL receptions leader Wes Welker, and talented former Saints first round pick Donte Stallworth. Additionally, Matt Light and Logan Mankins, the left side of Brady’s offensive line, are both Pro Bowl starters this year. Brady’s entire offensive line has been starting together for three full years now, and are recognized as the best offensive line in football. When I watch Tom Brady play, what strikes me most is how much time he has to throw the ball. Brady’s individual success is certainly due in no small part to the performance of his teammates and his coaching staff. It is not difficult to imagine other quarterbacks having similar success if placed in a similar situation, and for my money, I’ll take John Elway over Brady any day of the week.

Which brings us to Derek Anderson, who like Brady, enjoyed a dream season in 2007. Like Brady, Anderson threw to two of the best receivers in football, Pro Bowler Braylon Edwards, and soon-to-be Pro Bowler Kellen Winslow Jr (who catches everything). Like Brady, Anderson threw behind a solid offensive line, with new additions Joe Thomas and Eric Steinbach both having Pro Bowl worthy seasons. Like Brady, Anderson’s success is due in no small part to the skill of his teammates and coaching staff, in Anderson’s case the play calling of new offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski. Finally, like Brady, people want to overinflate Anderson’s role in the success of his team. As great as this season was, and as much as Anderson got the job done -- for the most part -- the Browns should not overpay him for the success of his teammates and coaching staff, especially not with first round pick Brady Quinn waiting in the wings. Quinn comes in with a better collegiate track record and more physical ability than Anderson, who, let’s not forget, melted down completely in the Brownies’ must win game against Cincinnati in week 16. Patrick McManamon said in the January 10, 2008 Akron Beacon Journal that Matt Schaub’s six-year $48 million contract with the Falcons will be among the deals most discussed when talks with Anderson’s agents become serious. This is absolutely frightening. As Browns fans we can only hope that GM Phil Savage, who won a Superbowl in Baltimore with Trent Dilfer, knows Anderson’s true value to the team, and is committed to Quinn, his own draft pick. But, as Browns fans, we must be ready for anything -- and anything close to a Schaub-like deal for Anderson will be a tremendous waste of the team’s resources.

Speaking of resources, there is a game to pick today. Super Bowl 42. The Patriots are favored over the Giants by 12 points, which seems like a high number given that the majority of the betting public (according to sportsbook.com) is picking the Giants. This means that the wiseguys think that they know something about the Patriots. Even still, I cannot bring myself to ruin a perfectly good Super Bowl by picking the Pats today and thus can only hope that the wiseguys are wrong and that the Gambling Gods will bring one home for America on this most glorious of American holidays. One thing that might help is the recent revelation that the Patriots might have taped a Rams practice before Super Bowl 36. I’ve read Crime and Punishment, and thus know what sort of missteps a guilt-ridden mind is capable of. One time for the good guys. Giants +12.