2018 Browns' Chronicles: Week 17

By: Kris Mead

As this is the last installment of the 2018 Browns’ Chronicles, I think it would be wanton misconduct for me not to write in a more holistic view concerning the Browns’ season. The 2018 Browns Campaign was the most successful campaign that I have seen in over a decade. That’s right, a final record of 7-8-1 is considered not only the best record in over a decade, but the season was almost Shakespearian. The season was full of tragedy, heroism, at times comedic blunders (thank you Hue “Clueless” Jackson), but most importantly, the season exhibited an extremely young team that grew. That’s what was so important for this season and possibly more important than the final record.

The growth signaled change, not in a regressive sense, but in a progressive sense of change. For the 2018 Cleveland Browns are nothing more than a living example of the 19^th century philosopher, John Stuart Mills’ 1859 essay called, A Few Words on Non-Intervention. Mills argues that “when a people has had the misfortune to be ruled by a government under which the feeling and the virtues needful for maintaining freedom could not develop themselves, it is during an arduous struggle to become free by their own efforts that these feelings and virtues have the best chance of springing up.” This quote, although referencing the struggle for political sovereignty and not football, encapsulates what Mills’ entire essay is about - the Theory of Self-Determination.

So just as a country may have to wage war to achieve some sort of political freedom, whether that be dismantling an autocrat or revolting against a colonial power, it’s not the end of the fight that creates the values, but rather it is the struggle and all that comes along with it which makes the victory not only rejoiceful, but is the reason that virtues are founded.

Obviously, football does not have to do with political sovereignty or the establishment of basic rights, and so then what virtues did the Browns struggle to achieve? First, “virtues” may not be the right word, but it’ll be used anyhow. The very first virtue, and the ultimate virtue the Browns needed was simple, to win a game. In Mills’ above quote the Browns were a team that had the misfortune to be governed by both management and a coach that prevented the team from creating a winning atmosphere (literally we won zero games in 2017 and just one in 2016). The 2018 Browns season did not start with week 1, it started in March when the free agency period opened and Browns fans were able to see what the newly hired general manager, John Dorsey, would do. In the previous regime the Browns did very little, but Dorsey started obtaining guys who wanted to win and shipped off guys who lacked that compassion. The Browns received safety Darrius Randall from Green Bay and Green Bay received a draft pick and, beleaguered quarterback, Deshone Kizer. The Browns also signed energetic wide receiver Jarvis Landry from Miami. Both players would prove to not only be vital in the Browns campaign but solid team leaders. Dorsey had both the luck and the pressure to have two top four draft picks. In short, he hit on both – Baker Mayfield with the first overall pick and Denzel Ward with the fourth overall pick. Both players, and I’ll get to Mayfield later, have already paid dividends. The players to lead against the struggle were selected.  

The next virtue which goes hand in hand with winning was the fact that the Browns lacked a franchise quarterback. The last noteworthy quarterback the Browns had, and who played consistently, was Bernie Kosar (and he last played for the Browns in ’93). So, seeing how accurate Baker Mayfield threw the ball, led the offense and simply provided a competitive edge which had been lacking in Cleveland for decades all of a sudden inspired the entire team to play well. Now Baker Mayfield, even with his at times immature antics, is most likely going to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award, exemplifying how the Browns are “gaining their freedom” through their “arduous struggle.”

The next piece of the struggle was getting rid of the willfully incompetent coach – Hue “Clueless” Jackson. This man, in Mills’ terms, would be considered part of the government that prevented virtues needful of, in our case, winning. As stated in previous installments he at times looked clueless, unable to comprehend the game that was going on in front of him, and, most importantly, unable to make critical decisions when the game was on the line. Now, Hue’s dismissal was good, but there was also concern. How would such a newly put together team handle having their head coach fired midseason? They handled it as Mills’ predicted, the virtues of winning started to “spring up” through the arduous struggles.

Although 2018 is a season to initially celebrate, it has not been determined to be a season that Browns’ fans will want to remember. In 2007 the Browns went 10-6 and finished second in the AFC North. It appeared to be a changing of the guard. The Browns were thought to be competitive the following year. However, in 2008 the Browns finished 4-12 and last in the AFC North. The 2019 Browns cannot forget the success and arduous struggles that they overcame in their conquest to win games and earn respect throughout the NFL. The next coach, whether it be Greg Williams or someone new, must not turn his back to what this young team has accomplished and their will to fight and win, while all that goes on around them is in utter chaos. For the 2018 Cleveland Browns did not just plant the feelings of winning in the lives of its players, it planted the virtues of winning in the lives of all its fans. What makes the Cleveland Browns so unique, and more unique than any other franchise, is the pain, the misery, and the tragedies that its fans continue to endure. However, the reason we have stayed with this pain, with this team, is because we have been waiting for a season like 2018. We have been waiting to see a competitive team, which even to the last minute of the last game of the season, in a game that has zero playoff implications for us, kept on fighting through that “arduous struggle.” It’s because, in the words of Mills, “men become attached to that which they have long fought for and made sacrifices for; they learned to appreciate that on which their thoughts have been much engaged; and a contest in which many have been called on to devote themselves for their ‘team’, is a school in which they learn to value their ‘team’s ‘interest above their own.” The 2019 Cleveland Browns cannot lose that attachment for which the 2018 Cleveland Browns have fought for so valiantly.

GO BROWNS!

2018 Browns' Chronicles: Week 16

By: Kris Mead

It was the first time since 2002 that the Browns were able to sweep their in-state divisional rival, the Cincinnati Bengals. Baker Mayfield played lights out with statistics that propelled him to be the front runner for this year’s Offensive Rookie of The Year. The two aforementioned sentences are true, but they aren’t prevalent when one does a Google search under “Cleveland Browns” or “Baker Mayfield.” Instead the two most popular headlines deal with Baker’s in game antics (specifically staring down his former head coach, and now Bengals Special Assistant to The Head Coach, Hue Jackson) and the sale of the Cleveland Browns’ Quarterbacks RV, which was featured in this year’s HBO series called, Hardknocks.

The best way to sum up Baker Mayfield, from a Browns fan’s perspective is, “He is an asshole, but he is our asshole.” Baker’s stare down of Hue “Clueless” Jackson was conducted after Baker completed a pass to tight end (and drop expert), David Njoku. As Baker was running down the Bengals’ sideline he passed Hue “Clueless” Jackson and proceeded to stare him down as he ran by. This antic was not needed, but Baker’s press conference answers, as he was inevitably asked questions about his action, were not only chauvinistic, but economically stupid. Take this priceless gem from Baker:

  "I don't get why people have a problem with football being a competitive sport. You're supposed to play with emotion, you're supposed to play with passion. Quite honestly, if you don't like it, whatever. Football's not meant to be a soft game. Could care less."

Some would say Baker’s dismissive attitude and refusal to even consider how his antics could not only hurt his team, feed the competitive fire of other teams, and hurt his own future hiring prospects, is how he gets his team “fired up.” That’s a load of crap. If getting paid millions of dollars isn’t enough motivation to play well, but rather having a rookie quarterback create a circus act on the field is, then the priorities in the organization are at an all-time low. What is causing the team to play well isn’t Baker’s antics, but his ability to play extremely well. If Baker didn’t commit his silly antics, then the only topic that we would be discussing would be him being the favorite to win the Offensive Rookie of The Year. His on-field play should be what inspires other teammates to play well. Baker is correct that football is not a soft sport. So the question then becomes if football isn’t “a soft sport,” why is he acting like a child on the field? What is permitting him to act like a child is his play, but if his play were to decline then any antics he might commit would become an annoyance to not only the opposing team, but his own teammates. He then would become another cancer that has become all too common in the Browns’ locker-room (Johnny Manziel, Kellen Winslow Jr., etc).

Here is another gem from “my favorite asshole” Baker Mayfield:

"I don't have to make any friends outside of this locker room. I'm not trying to do that. Once they're in here, they know exactly what they're gonna get. And that's what really matters."

This is evidence that Baker has no idea that the NFL is a for-profit company. In short, Baker is correct in that he doesn’t have to “make friends” but, and more importantly, he needs to make sure he doesn’t make enemies. Every time he goes against another team, he is essentially going up against a possible future employer. For instance, look at Brett Farve. He destroyed the Vikings during his time in Green Bay, but he did not commit the antics that Mayfield has made us all so accustomed to. The Vikings had no issue signing Brett Farve as their quarterback, regardless of him previously and repeatedly whooping them. Another example would be the great cornerback, Darrelle Revis. Revis talked trash but he did not do the explicit and personal antics that Baker has committed himself to. Further Revis played for the Jets and then was signed by the Jets’ archrival, the Patriots.

Just today the NBA released an “Anti-tampering memo,” reminding teams to respect employment contracts and that team’s should be focused on this year’s competition. This all came after Lebron James admitted that he would enjoy playing with current New Orleans Pelicans center, Anthony Davis. Although not the NFL, this should put Baker on notice. Other people throughout the league observe other players. Those teams court those players, whether ethically or unethically, hoping to sign them. However, to be courted it behooves Baker not to antagonize every other franchise outside of Cleveland. It would do him well to remember that if he is approached by another team, it would be due to his successful play on the field, not his ability to act like a toddler.

If Mayfield thinks his play will absolve him of his poor sportsmanship, he may be right. But why chance it? The NFL, although legally not allowed to, will collude to black-ball certain players. For instance, look at Collin Kaepernick. He was a good quarterback and probably should be on a team (my finger is pointing towards the Redskins).  He wasn’t even making personal gestures towards the other team. He was black-balled due to his form of social justice protests. Kaepernick will go down as a martyr.  Mayfied, should he be black-balled, would go down as a, “spoiled rich kid who ran his mouth too much.”

 

2018 Browns' Chronicles: Week 15

By: Kris Mead

On Saturday, that’s right Saturday, the Browns were able to escape out of Denver with a 17-16 victory. It wasn’t a marvelously performed game, but hardly any Browns’ games are, nor was it an impressive win, but again, almost no Browns’ game is. The importance of achieving this win, however, was both impressive and marvelous. For if the Browns lost this game they would not only be eliminated from any playoff chance, but the loss would have been marked as another devastating defeat at the hands of the Denver Broncos.

 NFL Network was sure to promote, during both the pregame show and game itself,  all of the crushing defeats that the Browns have received from the Denver Broncos.  Of course, the NFL Network made sure to show clips, these can be seen on YouTube. The first famous defeat was called “The Drive.” For those that don’t know “The Drive” occurred in the 1986 AFC Championship Game. The Browns were leading 20-13 late in the fourth quarter. However, John Elway and his Denver Broncos would lead a 15 play drive that would span five minutes and two seconds and finish with a tying touchdown pass from Elway to receiver Mark Jackson. What makes “The Drive” so (unfortuantly) memorable is the fact that Denver muffed the kickoff, so Elway was forced to start from his own two-yard line.

The second soul crushing defeat that the Browns received from the Denver Broncos happened a year later in the 1987 AFC Championship Game. This nightmare would simply be remembered as “The Fumble.” In this horrid and tragic defeat the Browns’ running back, Earnest Byner, would fumble the ball when trying to score a touchdown, which would bring the Browns within one point of the Broncos (presumably, if Cleveland made the touchdown, they would then make the extra point and tie the game). What is so monumental about this moment of heartbreak is twofold. First, Byner would fumble the ball at the Broncos’ one-yard line. Secondly, Byner would fumble with a minute and twelve seconds left in regulation. After recovering the fumble, the Broncos would drown out the clock, which included taking an intentional safety.

It should be noted that if the Browns won either AFC Championship game, they would have gone on to play in that respective year’s Super Bowl.  In turn, Denver in both years went on to represent the AFC in both ’86 and ’87.  Furthermore, and as The NFL Network reminded everyone days leading up to the game, was that the Browns held the longest losing streak to any one team in the NFL. As you may have guessed that 11 game losing streak was at the hands of the Denver Broncos.

So suffice to say that the win in Denver on Saturday did more for the fans of the Browns than might have been thought to the average NFL fan. It wasn’t the fact that the win kept Cleveland’s chances of having its first winning season since 2007 alive, or, as mentioned above, the fact that the Browns still have a “chance” at making the playoffs, or even the simple fact that it was the Browns second game won on the road since the 2015 season. It was the way in which the game was won which was so rewarding.

“The Fumble” and “The Drive” represent victory being snatched away from the Browns. That same sort of feeling crept in during Saturday’s game. On fourth down, in Denver’s territory, Greg Williams elected to go for it on fourth and short. The Browns lined up and Baker Mayfield tried to lure the Broncos’ defenders into the neutral zone. At one moment a Denver defender jumped into the neutral zone and Browns’ offensive lineman, Greg Robinson, did what he was supposed to – react to the defender in the neutral zone. In any typical game this would result in a five yard penalty and provide the Browns with a new set of downs, which would likely allow them to run out the clock. However, there was no flag. Apparently prior to Robinson reacting, head coach, Greg Williams called a timeout. This negated any chance of their being a penalty. So again, the Browns lined up to try to gain the first down. The Browns failed miserably and memories of all the haunting Cleveland disappointments started to lurk in the back of every fan’s mind.

The nightmare became even more real as Denver was reaching field goal range, which would provide them the opportunity to, as they have done to Cleveland so many times in the past, thrust the stake in every Cleveland fan’s heart. However, there was a slight moment of hope. Denver was still out of field goal range and failed to reach the first down marker on three tries. So it now was facing a fourth down. In the past the Browns would allow Denver to convert, but as soon as Denver snapped the ball, Browns’ safety, and still developing first round draft pick, Jabrill Peppers, blitzed and took down Denver’s quarter back, Case Keenum. The game was over.

Although this game was not one Baker Mayfield would place on his highlight reel, it was marvelous due to the historical implications that seem to haunt Cleveland whenever they faced the Broncos. However, and as noted, the win was not without drama.  There were times when there was going to be a third installment to coincide with the likes of “The Drive” and “The Fumble.” The moment when Greg Williams called a timeout just before the Browns would have received a first down could have been called “The Timeout,” or when it appeared that Denver was about to make a game winning scoring drive could have been called, “The Drive II.” Luckily and through the Browns staunch defense not breaking, the Browns were able to prevent any of these cute wannabe headlines from making their way on sports websites and pages. Rather, this installment of the Browns against the Broncos should be titled, “The Stop.”

Beat Cincinnati!

Ohio State's New Odyssey: Part 2 and 3 of 3

By: Kris Mead

“Legacy” is a word that is both overused and hardly understood. Most people when referring to the word “legacy” immediately have a connotation with success, heroism, or greatness. This association is flawed in the same way that people believe they can form their legacy. A legacy is nothing more than a person’s history, which is nothing more than a story of their remembrance or, as James Joyce stated in his 1930’s work 1066 and All That, “history is not what you thought. It is what you remember. All other history defeats itself.” That is precisely how Urban Meyer’s legacy has been and will be crafted, albeit it has been written far too prematurely.

The first reason that Meyer’s legacy has been prematurely and, therefore inaccurately, written is because it hasn’t officially ended yet. He still has the Rose Bowl to coach. Secondly, although he announced his retirement from coaching it wouldn’t be surprising to see him jump back into coaching, as he has done previously. Furthermore, there is much speculation that his “retirement” wasn’t by choice but rather by persuasion. So his leaving football entirely seems even more farfetched.

Andrea Adelson of ESPN wrote a piece titled, Why Urban Meyer’s legacy is about more than his record, in which she revisited Urban’s coaching history and made sure to address all of his mishaps. In her final line of her scathing rebuke of Meyer Adelson states, “Meyer could have been remembered for the championships. But that is simply impossible. His pristine on-the-field legacy is damaged, and Meyer has only himself to blame for that.” This line could be the last line of any person’s biography. Take out “Meyer” insert “Thomas Jefferson”. Take out “championships” and insert any of the following: “Louisiana Purchase, author of the Declaration, Founding Father, or President.” This is simply because, outside of Jesus, no historically relevant person doesn’t have a tainted legacy. Here is another line from Adelson’s piece which could be invoked in any person’s memoir, “Meyer is a great coach, yes. He is also a flawed man, and no matter what he wants you to remember, his legacy is tagged with an asterisk.” The response to this generic line should be, “Who doesn’t have an asterisk next to their name?” Even Martin Luther King Jr., a pastor and civil rights leader, was caught on an FBI wire sleeping with a woman who wasn’t his wife.

I understand the logical fallacy that I am working with – I am trying to rationalize a person’s mishaps with someone else’s. I am in the same boat as those people who claim Kareem Hunt should be back in the NFL because he didn’t hit the woman as hard as Ray Rice punched his wife. However, there is a difference, and that is I am measuring Meyer’s entire career against his mishaps.

There is no doubt that Meyer was losing control of his team at University of Florida towards the end of his tenure in 2010. There is no doubt that he was more lenient on players than he should have been. However, Adelson tries to attribute, former Florida Gator football player, Aaron Hernandez’s murder conviction (2015) with Meyer’s lack of discipline.  That is a stretch, albeit Hernandez did have legal issues at Florida, and eventually Meyer did not welcome him back on the team for the start of the 2010 season. Actually, Meyer was going to kick Hernandez off the team sooner due to his marijuana use, but was convinced not to by Florida quarterback, and outstanding character person, Tim Tebow. If Adelson is willing to associate Meyer to Hernandez’s murder conviction, shouldn’t she also be willing to name Bill Belichick as well? Belichick drafted Hernandez and was his coach the year that the murder was committed.

However, what set the entire “legacy” question off was the Zach Smith domestic violence mismanagement. The entire investigation was murky, raising questions whether Meyer should have fired Smith or reported the allegations to the correct authorities. It seems fairly certain that Meyer did report these allegations to his boss, Athletic Director Gene Smith (as Smith was suspended for mismanaging the crisis). The fact that Zach Smith was not charged with any crime until 2018, warrants some speculation as to the extent that it would have been correct for Meyer to fire Smith. The issue that Meyer runs into is the fact that he refused to acknowledge, during a press conference, any awareness of domestic violence allegations against Smith in 2015 or that Meyer’s spouse had received text messages from Courtney Smith, Zach’s wife, alleging abuse.

It’s quite easy to pronounce Meyer should have fired Smith as soon as he was aware of the 2015 allegations and the text messages from Courtney Smith (presumably his wife showed him the text messages and pictures).  Some might even go as far as to say that Meyer had a “natural duty” to remove Smith from his job. So, in some sense Meyer’s legacy is being confused with an argument regarding what is justice.

In philosopher Michael Sandel’s book called, Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?, he argues that justice must be weighed with communal bonds over the matter. Sandel argues that there is some moral legitimacy in communal bonds, which are not contractual voluntary decisions but rather unavoidable moral obligations that don’t require individual consent. Of course, people believe that these communal bonds are nothing more than prejudice towards one’s own kind and that people who are seeking to do justice should overcome these bonds. Sandel examines this crisis by looking at General Robert E. Lee’s moral dilemma. Lee, who was both against the secession and slavery, was asked to lead the Union Army by President Lincoln. Lee turned down Lincoln’s request and decided to side with his home state – Virginia. So Sandel questions whether Lee deserves any credit for his loyalty in terms of moral weight. Is loyalty just an emotional tug that clouds our moral judgment or is loyalty also a moral fiber? Sandel argues that loyalty is the latter. “Here’s why: Unless we take loyalty seriously, as a claim with moral import, we can’t make sense of Lee’s dilemma as a moral dilemma at all. If loyalty is a sentiment with no genuine moral weight, then Lee’s predicament is simply a conflict between morality on the one hand and mere feeling or prejudice on the other.”

In other words, as much as people want to punish Meyer’s legacy and reflect on him as a man who lets wrong doers go (which is exaggerated), most people can sympathize with Meyer. Actually, many people may even admire the dilemma that Meyer went through due to “the quality of character their deliberation reflects.” Yes, Meyer failed to manage the Zach Smith situation well.  He also allowed players leniency off the field. However, like Lee, Meyer had a hard time doing the morally right thing because he felt some level of loyalty to both his players and his coaches. Smith, in a lot of respects, was like a brother to Meyer. They both studied in their younger years under Ohio State football coach, Earl Bruce, who was Zach’s grandfather, and have been attached ever since. To think that Meyer could easily break that relationship the moment he received word of Zach’s alleged behavior is similar to how William Whitey Bulger Jr., the younger brother and successful politician to, a mob boss, James Whitey Bulger, refused to turn his brother into the FBI. William was aware of his brother’s crimes and, his whereabouts, but his communal loyalty towards his brother made it impossible for him to do the morally right thing in turning his brother into the authorities. William’s lack of cooperation forced him to resign as the President of the University of Massachusetts. In a lot of respects William is admired for his loyalty to his brother, despite it being morally incorrect.

Urban Meyer may not have been the most morally upstanding coach. However, his legacy may be best understood as a man who should be admired for his loyalty, even if it caused him to pursue an unjust cause.  Sandel might state it best, “To have character is to live in recognition of one’s (sometime conflicting) encumbrances.”

Consistency, or Lack Thereof, Keeps Nick Foles Employed

By: Kris Mead

This blog is an anomaly, which is fitting considering the topic is about an anomaly. After watching another one of my bets go south, as the LA Rams lost their second straight game and are looking more like the St. Louis Rams than the Los Angeles Rams, I realized that Nicholas Edward Foles is the best “no stress” quarterback in the NFL.

By “no stress,” it’s not to imply he faces no stress. It is obvious that any quarterback who wins a Super Bowl is performing under stress, but what I mean is the fact that he performs exceptionally well when there aren’t high expectations set for him. In other words, he performs well when he is asked, like most backup quarterbacks, to not necessarily win the game but to just not lose the game. This is evident in the most recent case in the Sunday Night game in which Nicholas Foles was asked to start after the starting quarterback, Carson Wentz, went down last week with a back injury. Foles threw for 277 yards with 24 completions on 31 attempts and one interception, as the Eagles went on to beat the Rams 23-20. Now, maybe this heroic performance was enabled by Foles’ sense of betrayal by the L.A. Rams when they drafted Jared Goff, their current starting quarterback, with the number one pick in the 2016 NFL Draft; thus causing Foles, at the time the Rams starting quarterback, to “see the light” in his time with the Rams. Foles would be released by the Rams and would later sign with the Philadelphia Eagles. A more plausible reason for why Foles plays well when given the start is that he feels very little or no pressure to play well.

Foles’ best season was his second year in the league and his first stint with the Eagles, back in 2013. That year would end with him having a QBR of 71.5, winning eight of his ten starts, having a touchdown/interception ratio of 27/2 (which beat Tom Brady’s record touchdown/interception ratio of 36/4), and set the third highest single season passer rating of 119 (only to be behind Aaron Rodgers’ 2011 record and Peyton Manning’s record set in 2004, respectively) and even became the 2014 Pro Bowl Offensive MVP.

Even Foles’ rookie year was by no means a travesty and, measured against other rookies, looked to be a success. Although he only won one out of his six games, he was able to complete more than 60% of his passes and had touchdown/interception ratio of 6/5. Finally, Foles had a successful 2017 season when he was thrusted into the starting job after starting quarterback, Caron Wentz, tore his ACL. In those three postseason games (including the Super Bowl win) he completed more than 72% of his passes and had a touchdown/interception ratio of 6/1. So why is Foles an ongoing backup?

It’s because Foles has what a lot of young starting baseball pitchers have and that is the “yipps.” Sometimes the “yipps” are like a chronic disease in which the only cure is to hope that the person outgrows it, but other times the “yipps” are incurable and the highly touted player is kicked to the outskirts of obscurity.

The three seasons that I mentioned all have something in common – Foles was never the season starting quarterback. Furthermore, Foles never replaced a starting quarterback due to the starting quarterback’s lack of reputable play, but rather only replaced a quarterback when the starter became injured.  For instance, in 2012 Foles replaced Michael Vick, after Vick was overcoming concussion injuries. In 2013 Foles finished the last ten games after Vick had a season debilitating hamstring injury. Furthemore, in 2013 Foles was given the chance to compete against Vick for the starting position and lost. In 2014, the year after Foles was being written into the record books next to the likes of Manning and Rodgers, he was finally given his shot as the starter for Philadelphia in 2014.

2014 wasn’t a dismal year, but it wasn’t a great year for Foles. That’s not because it was cut short after he broke his collarbone in the eight game of the season against the Houston Texans. It was because of the epic drop off in terms of Foles’ production from 2013 to 2014. In just eight games, Foles had a quarterback rating of 81.9 and a touchdown/interception ratio of 13/10. Those statistics don’t produce Pro Bowl eligibility and they also don’t produce, throughout the organization, a sense of consistency at quarterback. Furthermore, Mr.Buttfumble himself, Mark Sanchez, would take the reins for the remainder of the 2014 season and eclipse all of Foles’ 2014 statistics. The fact that Mr.Buttfumble was able to outperform a one year out Pro Bowl quarterback doesn’t bode well in terms of an organization having faith in its starting quarterback.

Before the 2015 season started, Foles was traded to the then St. Louis Rams in exchange for their quarterback, Sam Bradford. Foles started out hot, but quickly nosedived. His dramatic decline came to its zenith against the Green Bay Packers, when he completed 11 for 30 passes for 141 yards, one touchdown and a career high 4 interceptions. It was no surprise that the newly acquired, for $24.5M, Foles would be benched the following week and Case Keenum, the backup, would receive the starting nod. Foles was, as stated above, granted a release from the Rams in 2016 and signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. With the Chiefs Foles was again relegated to backup.  When the Chiefs’ starter, Alex Smith, inevitably got hurt, Foles played as Foles always does when he is called up to play when the starter goes down – extremely well. In two games played as a Chief, Foles completed 65% of his passes for 410 yards, and a touchdown/interception ratio of 3/0. Finally, the Chiefs would not pick up Foles’ 2017 second year option and, as discussed prior, he would sign again with the Eagles.

Foles might be the best “sixth man” in the NFL. Where for some ironic reason when he is named the outright starter, 2014 with the Eagles or 2015 with the Rams, or is condemned to competing for the starting job, as he was in 2013, he fails. However, when the starter is incapable of surpassing him because, well, the starter got hurt while “starting,” Foles plays above average. It’s almost as though the secret to defeating the Eagles is to make sure that their starting season quarterback doesn’t get injured that year. For what that does is cause Foles to be relaxed, to know he can’t get surpassed because he is the last resort and with that sense of “expectation,” or lack thereof, Foles performs with the likes of Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers. Foles is like Invisible Boy, from the 1999 film, Mystery Men, in which his super power is to turn invisible … when no one is around. Foles’ lack of consistency is both the reason why he is still in the NFL, and the reason why he was nearly ousted from the NFL. A quote from the British philosopher Jeremy Bentham might best sum up the predicament that is Nick Foles, “in principle and in practice . . . the rarest of all human qualities is consistency.”

2018 Browns' Chronicles: Week 14

By: Kris Mead

This week’s installment of the 2018 Browns’ Chronicles is difficult for me to write because I can’t use my usual trusty lens for dissecting another Browns’ debacle.  Instead, I get to examine a healthy Browns team.  One that played solidly and decisively won against a “decent” team in the Carolina Panthers.  Now, that’s not to say there weren’t moments in which the Browns almost “Browned” themselves. Most notably was when kicker, Greg Joseph, missed a redone extra point, after the first attempt from the fifteen-yard line was waved off as the Panthers were called for encroachment. So logically it was assumed that an extra point from the ten yard line would be easier to make, but alas, Joseph squarely hit the left upright and the Browns came away with no extra point. Typically, this miscue would come back to haunt the Browns and Joseph would be out of a job, but the Browns defense held tall at their own goal line, late in the fourth quarter. The Panthers went for it on fourth and goal and failed. The rest was history. Browns went on to win 26-20 and improved by 500% compared to last year’s record.

Fittingly, many of the beat writers, mainly at ESPN, are now discussing the “unlikely” yet still mathematically possible chance that the Browns make the playoffs. However, I am not in the mood to discuss hypotheticals that are just there to patronize the Browns fans and remind them that they “still aren’t there yet, but to keep trying and maybe one day they will be!” I am in the mood to discuss what is vividly evident, that being the Browns are in an ascent when the rest of the AFC North appears to be either in a descent or plateauing.

I think what is most notably obvious is the fact that the Browns have “hit” on a quarterback.  There is a very strong chance that Mayfield will be determined to be the best quarterback the Browns have drafted since ’99, when they drafted Tim Couch with the first overall draft pick.  In Couch’s rookie year he played in 15 games. His passer rating averaged out to be 73.2. However, Baker, who has played in eleven games, and started ten, has a quarterback passer rating of 93.2. So let that sink in. It has been nearly 20 years for the Browns to have a quarterback who, in his rookie year and has played in ten or more games, to have a passer rating greater than 74. In those twenty years the Browns have drafted ten other quarterbacks and none of them in their rookie years could obtain a quarterback passer rating greater than 73.2. That’s amazing. Furthermore, no Browns fan has seen a quarterback like Mayfield to throw such beautiful passes since 2007 when Derek Anderson had his pro bowl year, which would later go down as a “one hit wonder” year.

It wouldn’t be fair to give credit to just Mayfield, as the Browns have “hit” on both free agents and other 2018 rookies. Rookie running back, Nick Chubb, has been a machine since Carlos Hyde was dealt to Jacksonville earlier in the year. It appears that Chubb is a running back who gets stronger as the game goes on and can use his agility to hit a hole quickly, but at the same time uses his strength to lower his shoulder against a linebacker. In turn, it is no surprise that Chubb is ranked the number one running back against his positional peers or that Denzel Ward, who has been injured, is ranked the 11^th best cornerback in the NFL. Combine the two rookies with the likes of young players like former number one draft pick, Myles Garrett, or wide received Rashad Higgins. Then add in the 2018 veteran pickups, who are all contributing, in the forms of Damarius Randall, Terrence Mitchell, and Jarvis Landry and the idea of playoffs isn’t all that farfetched. 

So as I was sitting in the lower bowl taking in all the great sites and sounds the NFL has to offer - fumes of copious amounts of alcohol, the sound of dip being spat into an empty Bud Lite can (I guess that is “technically” recycling), and the smell of puke that was deployed within minutes of the first quarter (I believe that’s an NFL record in of itself), a tear came to my eye.

 For once in my nearly two decades of watching the Browns I felt a sense of hope. Not in the typical “hope for next year’s draft,” which I will refer to as “irrational hope,” but rather a sense of what I’ll 

call “secure hope.” Irrational hope is simply hope that the Browns will draft right and things will turn around next year; whereas “secure hope” is, well, secure in that I can see the building blocks of the team being molded, improving, developing. In turn my hope in the future isn’t so much on the hope that next year’s team will somehow turn it around, without any rational basis for being able to turn it around.  Instead it is the fact that I know we can improve because we have consistently improved throughout the current year. With secure hope, I have not been Googling “2019 Mock Drafts” as I haven’t given up on the season, and neither has the team.

Let the beat writers and ESPN talking heads hypothesize how the “Browns have a 0.2 percent chance of making the playoffs” because they are missing the bigger picture. The Browns, an extremely young team with a rookie quarterback and an interim head coach, are improving. Come next year those talking fools won’t be telling us the unlikelihood the Browns have in making the playoffs, but will be talking about what seed they will have in the playoffs.

On to Denver!

2018 Browns' Chronicles: Week 13

Nearly every Sunday I go to my local Browns Backers Bar to watch, obviously, the Browns play. There is a lot of emotion spent at these games, no doubt amplified by the alcohol served at the establishment. There are the chants, the cries of celebration, the hugging of the slightly obese man sitting next to you who has been telling you about his ex-wife for the past forty-five minutes.  But most commonly are the moans of disappointment after the Browns snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  Other times, there are utterances of just complete stupidity from the various “armchair/barstool general managers.” At first, I tried to ignore these ridiculous expressions of thought and went with the logic found in a Jamie Foxx song, “blame it on the alcohol” (although I’m quite sure the Republican Senate used the same logic to ignore Brett Keganaugh’s sexual assault violations). However, there is one utterance of complete stupidity that I can no longer keep quiet about, the idea that Greg Williams, the interim coach, should be named the fulltime head coach.

These Bud Lite filled, nacho cheese dripping off the tongue, armchair general managers were inspired to hand Greg Williams the job right after he beat Atlanta; even more so after he devoured the Cincinnati Bengals. Little did these football Einstein’s realize that both the Bengals and the Falcons lack any sort of competent defense, with the Bengals last in total defense and the Falcons pulling in at 26th. The very fact that Greg Williams was able to beat teams like this, and Hue “Clueless” Jackson unable to beat teams like the Oakland Raiders or Tampa Bay Buccaneers, isn’t a notch on Williams’ belt, as much as it is an indictment on Jackson’s inability to create any sort of scheme to defeat inept defensive organizations. So that’s why I was delighted to see the Browns lose to the Houston Texans this past Sunday, December 2^nd.

Now before anyone nails me to a cross for being deemed a sacrilegious traitor, and after seeing some of the videos come out of the Monday Night game in Pittsburgh, I’m quite sure some NFL people would very well nail me to a cross, let me explain why I speak with such celebratory vigor. First, this quashes every fan out there who thought Greg Williams should be the next Browns head coach. Losing to the Texans was the ultimate test because it was the first decent team that the Browns could beat (Kansas City was out of our reach from the get go).  If Williams had won, I probably wouldn’t be writing this article right now. The very fact that Greg Williams not only permitted the “illegal bounty fund” to go on in New Orleans, but that he was the creator and motivator of the scandal, should preclude him from being the head coach. However, if that is not enough to prevent him from becoming the next head coach, then look no further than his uninspiring head coaching record.

Williams’ best season as a head coach was in 2002, during his second year, when he went 8-8 with the Buffalo Bills.  The year prior he went a meager 3-13 and in 2003, his last year as a fulltime head coach, he went 6-10. So, Williams’ head coaching record is dismal and history has shown that interim head coaches tend to not do well, when they are then promoted as that team’s full-time head coach. The Tennessee Titans did this when they promoted Mike Mularkey, in 2016, from interim head coach to full time head coach. Mike Mularkey illustrated all the reasons why interim head coaches should not be hired. Mularkey had an overall head coaching record of 18-39 prior to taking over a team who had been so atrocious that they earned a number one overall pick in 2016 NFL Draft. Williams is no better, as stated earlier his overall record is 19-32.  Williams would be taking over a team, that he led, which would most likely have a top eight pick in the NFL Draft. Second is “continuity.” Mularkey also was  an extension of the previous regime, he was nothing more than the “same coach, different day” mantra. Promoting from previous dismal regimes in order to keep the “continuity” has not panned out – Jim Caldwell (gone), Ben McAdoo (gone), Dirk Koetter (probably will be gone). All these guys were kept to keep “continuity” with their quarterbacks. However, if the team sucked while they were working for that head coach, on that same team, why would you want to continue any sense of “continuity?” in other words, if the past stunk, why would you want to continue stinking?

The Browns, keeping Greg Williams because it maintains “continuity” is nothing more than an admission of guilt that administrative convenience comes before winning. It’s nothing more than an organization admitting that they are in fact lazy and they don’t care. To go along with laziness is the very fact that by “settling” on the uninspiring interim head coach, the organization fails to hire the best person for the job. In the case of the Browns, they have all the makings of an up and coming team, which would inspire any prominent head coach to want to have a shot at leading them to the “promised land.” Baker Mayfield is looking like a talented franchise quarterback, the backfield is young and electric, the defense needs a defensive tackle, but overall is talented, and the receivers have gelled well.

So, me being “delighted” in seeing the Browns lose to the Texans isn’t an act of betrayal, it’s an act of loyalty. I believe I have a fiduciary duty to write in the best interest of the Browns fans. Williams is not in our best interest. If Cleveland were to hire Williams, they would be creating an act of betrayal against (1) themselves because they are admitting they couldn’t find a better hire; (2) an act of betrayal against their players because they believe their players don’t deserve better and (3) their fans because they believe their fans prefer mediocrity over winning.