Precedents Established in The CFP

By Kris Mead

Last night I had the pleasure to watch four men converse about nonsense for twenty-nine minutes. ESPN’s College Football Playoff Selection Committee Show (“CFP Show”) is a thirty-minute TV airing that could be better done without being a show all by itself. The TV program’s purpose is to provide the American people with the College Football Selection Committee’s Playoff Rankings for each week. The most important rankings are the last rankings – after all the conference championships are covered. ESPN would be better off simply posting the ranking online like a high school basketball coach posting the list of players who made the team does on the outside of his office door.

The first sixty seconds are worthwhile since that’s when America gets to see what America has been waiting for – the Committee’s revised top 25 ranking. More importantly, especially as the season gets near the end, America only cares about the top 6 – those who have a shot at making the College Football Playoffs. After this critical sixty seconds is up, the four commentators will then commence with their 29 minutes of slippery slope illogical fallacies. In this installment, the main discussion was whether number 6 Ohio State would make the playoff over number 5 Oklahoma. Jesse Palmer, a Canadian, turned University of Florida quarterback, turned star on ABC’s show The Bachelor, believed that Ohio State was the better team because of how they played against, at the time ranked number 4, Michigan. Palmer believed that that single game was enough for Ohio State to discredit all of Oklahoma’s accomplishments. However, Palmer wasn’t the only pearly white toothed, well groomed, fitted suit wearing, former SEC football player, mid thirty-year-old, who could muster an illogical fallacy as David Pollack wanted to give his take on the Oklahoma v. Ohio State debate too. Pollack believed, almost as if someone (possibly a producer??) told him to pick the opposite side of Palmer, stated that Oklahoma should beat out Ohio State as they have proven consistently that they can play effectively against good competition, albeit never played as complete a game as what Ohio State displayed against Michigan. Then the last commentator is the man who always seems upset with his “own” opinions, as if he might not really believe his own opinions but really takes the side that ESPN has instructed him to argue, in  Joey Galloway. I believe Galloway realizes that what he is about to say is either obvious or obviously stupid, but knowing ESPN writes his checks, Joey has no choice but to abide by their senseless nonsense (as an aside, Galloway resembles how most Americans feel at work). In this episode Joey decided to let everyone know that because Alabama is so good, and the fact that last year Alabama got into the playoffs without even being in the SEC conference championship game, that that was enough for Alabama to rightfully get in this year. As much as Joey’s opinion is obvious, as even Pollack and Palmer agreed with him, his reasoning is sound – as it rests upon past precedent or, stare decisis.

The CFP Show will become less and less necessary so long as (1) the College Football Playoffs stay at a relatively small number, such as 4 and (2) more past precedent is established. The very first College Football Playoff was, and as anticipated, unpredictable for the very fact that nothing like this had been tried in college football before. However, the same debate occurred then as is occurring now – a fight for the number 4 slot. In 2014 it was a three-way fight between Baylor, TCU, and Ohio State. The precedent that was established was that a conference championship game, which the Big Ten had and Ohio State won (handedly as they beat Wisconsin 59-0), and the Big 12 did not have, keeping TCU/Baylor out of the playoff. This precedent made sense as the other three playoff teams were conference champions as well – Alabama (SEC), Oregon (PAC-12), and Florida State (ACC). This precedent caused the Big 12 to apply for a conference championship game, which required the Big 12 to receive a waiver from the NCAA, since a conference must have at least 12 teams in order to have a conference championship.

In the 2015-2016 College Football Playoff year the “confusion” was minimal, but the results were dismal. The four teams to make the playoffs were all conference champions: Clemson (ACC), Alabama (SEC), Oklahoma (Big 12), and Michigan State (Big Ten). However, the semifinals were anything but eventful. Clemson devoured Oklahoma 31-17 and Alabama routed Michigan State 38-0. These games were so brutal that ESPN gave $20 million back to advertisers because viewership was so low. So, whether the NCAA wants to admit it or not, another precedent was set: make sure the playoffs are competitive. So, if conference champions don’t determine whether a team is competitive, what does? A la the 2016-2017 College Football Playoffs.

In the 2016-2017 College Football Playoffs there was unpredictability as one of the four playoffs team was not a conference champion – Ohio State. The playoff participants were: Clemson (ACC Champs), Alabama (SEC Champs), Washington (PAC-12 Champs), and Ohio State (Big Ten). Penn State, who won the Big Ten and beat Ohio State in the regular season, was left out of the playoffs. Ironically the Selection Committee noted that the choice was not between Ohio State and Penn State, but rather Washington and Penn State. The Committee noted that both Washington and Penn State had weak out of conference schedules, but because Penn State had a loss to Pittsburgh and Michigan, that that was the reason why they were left out. It’s still hard not to notice the elephant in the room – Ohio State. Ohio State was the anomaly.  The committee believed that although Ohio State failed to win its conference and its division, it was still more talented than its conference champion, and a team that beat Ohio State head to head, in Penn State. However, the semifinal results were still not inspiring – Alabama easily defeated Washington 24-7 and Clemson destroyed Ohio State 31-0. However, viewership was up, albeit not as much as it was for the first college football playoffs.  It did help that the semi-finals were not on Thursdays. Precedent: talent overtakes conference champions and head to head wins don’t matter.

So, if the 2015-2016 committee can be considered the most “conservative,” and 2016-2017 the most “extreme”, then the 2017-2018 committee can be considered the most “pragmatic.” In this playoff selection the committee would use precedents from the past to come to their conclusions. First the playoff teams were: Clemson (ACC Champs), Georgia (SEC Champs), Oklahoma (Big 12 Champs), and Alabama (SEC). Here the committee did two things. First it strictly picked the best four teams.  This is exemplified by the second factor – that the committee chose two teams from the same conference – the SEC champion, Georgia, and Alabama. Notice, that the runner-up in the SEC, or the team that lost to Georgia in the SEC championship, Auburn, was not included in the playoffs. The precedent was set: that past success in the playoffs, holds equity. This precedent would pay off as the semifinals and the championship were competitive. Alabama beat Georgia, in overtime, to win the national championship.

So, let’s turn to the present. Currently there are six teams in contention for the four playoff spots: Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Ohio State. The issue that the CFP Show focuses on is whether Ohio State or Oklahoma should get in. This argument assumes that Georgia will lose to Alabama in the SEC Championship game, however, it depends how close the loss is. For instance, if Georgia only loses to Alabama by less than seven points, would either Oklahoma or Ohio State be able to (1) beat Alabama but, more importantly, (2) keep it so competitive that they are within a score of beating Alabama? If the answer to either of these questions is no, then even with Georgia’s SEC championship loss they would still be the “best” team to play any of the other teams ahead of it. So the precedent would be: not all wins are created equally, neither are all losses.

2018 Browns' Chronicles: Week 12

This past weekend was a marvelous football weekend not only for myself, but for the majority of people in the great state of Ohio. The Ohio State Buckeyes not only defeated their arch nemesis, the Michigan Wolverines, but utterly routed them in what will become one of the best upsets in the historic rivalry. Then on Sunday the Cleveland Browns won their first away game since the 2015 season, by dominating their divisional rival, the Cincinnati Bengals. Both games were marvelous because they were overwhelming victories, they were upsets, and they absolutely silenced the critics.

Nothing has caused me more anguish this football season than watching Michigan roll past opponent after opponent and ascending the heights of college football excellence. The Wolverines named this season the “Revenge Tour” because throughout the year they were defeating each team who beat them the previous season – Michigan State, Penn State, and Wisconsin. Each of these wins were won handily by Michigan, and as Michigan’s talented defensive end, Chase Winovich, said, “The final stop on the Revenge Tour is Ohio State.”  To go one step further, Jim Harbaugh, Michigan’s head coach and who coming into the game was 0-3 coaching against Ohio State, guaranteed a Michigan victory.

On the other hand, Ohio State seemed like the most overrated team in college football after having difficulty defeating mediocre teams such as: TCU, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Maryland and then complete collapse in a blowout loss to Purdue. Ohio State also had to deal with the blow of its best player, not only on the team but in the entire country, in Nick Bosa having a season ending injury, causing him to recuse himself from school to prepare for the NFL Draft. Finally, the Buckeyes also had to deal with what became false allegations, that Urban Meyer’s former assistant coach, Zach Smith, who is no longer on the team, used racial slurs towards a former player. Those allegations were refuted but, suffice to say, it caused a distraction for the team.

Now take all the turmoil going on with Ohio State and juxtapose that against Michigan’s defense being ranked number one in the country, its offense humming with the likes of an efficient quarterback in Shea Patterson, and ESPN’s talking heads already writing them in as a College Football Playoff contender.   So it is no surprise that all of the College Gameday hosts picked Michigan to defeat Ohio State. However, they and the entire country, outside of Ohio, couldn’t have been more wrong. Ohio State played like the team that everyone knew they could be and Michigan was completely confused. Both talent wise and schematically Ohio State was the much better team throughout the entire game. In short, the “Revenge Tour” was cut short.

The Browns were similar in terms of knowing that they were a very young, but talented team. It just took a change in coaching, well really two changes as both Haley and Hue were let go, to fully release the talent on the field. At the end of the first half, the Browns were winning 28-7, holding the Bengals to less than twenty yards rushing. The Browns most likely could have egged on even more points if they did not go into protect mode on offense by just running the ball to preserve the lead. The final score was Cleveland topping Cincinnati 35-20 (the score makes the game look closer than it really was).

This game could be considered the Browns’ very own “Revenge Tour” as they were competing against their former head coach – Hue “Clueless” Jackson. That’s right after Hue got done doing his cross-country TV tour, in which he threw every Browns player and coach under the bus for his failure to win games, Hue was hired as a “special assistant” to Marvin Lewis, the Bengal’s head coach, whose only apparent talent is receiving contract extensions while not improving year after year. What Hue actually does lies somewhere between massaging Marvin Lewis’ feet to picking up Marvin’s Mercedes to making sure Marvin has a reservation at the local Chili’s after each game – win or lose. Needless to say, no matter what Hue’s actual duties consist of, the Browns wanted to beat their treasonous former head coach badly in the Bengal’s house. The Browns accomplished this goal with flying colors.

What has me very fired up, and this is most likely because I am a Browns fan, but live in Cincinnati, is the fact that the Bengals’ fans are shocked to have not only been beaten by the Browns, but utterly annihilated. Before the game started, one local radio announcer asked for prayers that the Bengals wouldn’t lose to the “helpless” Browns. Then once the Browns finished putting their final touches on an absolute beat down, another local radio show host stated, “that it is unbelievable that the Bengals lost to the Browns.” If anything both these comments reflect how naïve Cincinnati football fans are. They not only don’t realize that their team has absolutely no defense, but also the very fact that the Browns aren’t a bad team. They played surprisingly well against a much more talented Chiefs team, albeit still a loss, and then completely dominated the Atlanta Falcons the following week. So, like Ohio State, the only people who believed that the Browns were capable of completing such a feat were the Browns’ players, coaches, and of course, their steadfast fans.

So, I hope I stop receiving text messages from ex-girlfriends who are “congratulating” me on the Browns winning “a game.” As much as their congratulatory texts may appear to be thoughtful, they are nothing more than concealed pettiness.  These texts are an expression of “surprise” that the Browns could actually win a game. In reality I knew this team could win games. I predicted they’d win six. This Browns team is young, angry, and wants to do nothing more than beat every team on their schedule. They are a team that when they win, can no longer be patronizingly patted on the head and told, “good job winning a game.” Instead opposing teams’ fans must now be willing to accept that when they get beat by the Browns, it wasn’t a “fluke.” Their team was simply out maneuvered, out hustled, out played, and out manned in every facet of the game. So the next time a radio show hosts prays that his team beats the Browns to avoid the “embarrassment” of losing to the “Clowns,” he needs to start praying that his team doesn’t get “embarrassed” by the Browns.

 

On to Houston. Go Browns!

2018 Browns' Chronicles: Week 10

By Kris Mead

The Browns have increased their win total compared to last year by 300% after they decisively beat the Atlanta Falcons, 28-16. The second game in which Hue “Clueless” Jackson was not piloting the Browns into a direct nose dive, nor was Todd Haley calling wide-receiver reverses on 3^rd and ones, resulted in the Browns’ most complete win all season. Baker Mayfield commanded the field and had a near perfect QBR entering the second half. The defense played stellar, especially considering that the Falcons are one of the most proficient offensive teams in the League, holding Atlanta to 311 yards passing (their average is 319 yards passing per game) and 78 yards rushing (their average is 89.8 yards per game). So, should Greg Williams and/or Freddie Kitchens be crowned the lead candidate for the next Browns head coach? The answer is no.

Now understandably many Browns fans will be upset with my pessimism, especially after such a complete win, but this is my blog and I must complain about something.

The first reason that Williams and/or Kitchens should not be the lead contenders is because it is just one win, albeit a very good first win. Last week the Browns played “well” against the AFC leading Kansas City Chiefs, but, in the end, they were outmatched, and the loss would go down as one of the three “blowout” losses that the Browns have sustained (Chargers, second Pittsburgh game, and Kansas City) this year. Whereas this week the Browns competed against a “good,” but not outstanding team and whose defense is utterly atrocious. According to The Football Database, the Atlanta Falcon’s defense was ranked 30^th in yards given up per game (only in front of Cleveland and Cincinnati, respectively) at an average of 414.3yds/game. The Falcons also ranked 30^th in pass yards given up per game (only in front of New Orleans and Cincinnati, respectively) at 294.4yds/g. The Falcons are also in the lower half in terms of rush yards given up per game, at 119.9yds/g. Finally, the Falcons rank 25^th in most points allowed all season, at 254. In other words, the Atlanta Falcons would have trouble stopping the Columbus School for the Blind’s football team.

The second reason that Williams/Kitchens should not be the front runners is because it is easy to look like the smartest guys in the room when you replaced two complete knuckleheads. For instance, Duke Johnson received more carries and playing time than he previously did under the former regime. However, it was no surprise to any Browns fan that Johnson was receiving more carries, as the real surprise was the fact that he wasn’t ever receiving more carries under Jackson/Haley. Johnson had over 1,000 yards in total offense back in 2016.  Why that did not warrant him to get the ball more in the subsequent years baffles anyone with grey matter between his ears. So, it was nice to see, but no surprise, that Johnson could muster nine receptions (i.e. caught every pass thrown to him) for 78 yards against the Kansas City Chiefs. In the Atlanta game it was also nice to see that Kitchens utilized the wishbone formation to get his two most dynamic running backs on the field together – rookie Nick Chubb and Duke Johnson. By causing the defense to be unsure whether either running back would receive the ball, be a play action pass, or be a running back option play, it caused the defense to be unsure how to respond and line up. In turn, if Hue “Clueless” Jackson and Todd Haley both believed they were “innovators,” why was it so hard for them to visualize two running backs on the field together? The answer is because Jackson and Haley were both overrated offensive gurus, who were too consumed in a power struggle to think intelligently.

The last reason that Williams/Kitchens should not be the front runners is because we need a coach on the same page as the general manager, John Dorsey. Both Kitchens and Williams were not Dorsey’s hires. Since Dorsey seems to be the only person who has a brain in the Browns front office, I rather he vet all coaching options, even if Williams/Kitchens go on to win the majority of the remaining games. Further, Williams doesn’t fit with the current trend in the NFL – a young quarterback is to be coupled with a young offensive minded coach. Williams is a great defensive coordinator, but as a head coach he could only achieve 17 wins in three years with the Bills. In addition, Williams is plagued with the Bountygate he orchestrated in New Orleans. The last thing Cleveland needs is another embarrassment at head coach.

So, removing Hue/Haley has prevented the cancer from spreading further, but Williams/Kitchen are not the cure.

 

P.S. As of November 11, Hue “Clueless” Jackson has been named as the “Special Assistant” to Marvin Lewis. Not only is the title a joke, but Hue will be working on helping Lewis out with the defense! This is the man who constantly claimed he was an offensive guru and now he’s on defense …

TNF is a Reflection of America's Lack of Patients

By Kris Mead

Professional football is the epitome of a market economy. Demand drives everything and supply seems limitless. Americans’ thirst for grown men to charge into each other so badly that they have become addicts to the violence inflicted on the field. With the expansion of television and the cash that it has infused into the NFL, America’s addiction has exponentially gotten stronger. So much stronger that Americans demand football nearly every day of the week. The NFL recognized that demand and decided to move forward, at the expense and disagreement of its employees – the players, to have a nationally televised Thursday Night Football game during each week of the regular season.

The Thursday night games have been nothing more than unspectacular football. Just looking at the 2018 Thursday Night Football schedule, only 22% (through week 10 of the NFL season) have been decided by less than ten points. The average point differential is nineteen points. In a league in which everyone’s goal is to win a Super Bowl, it seems on Thursday nights only one team actually performs decently. That team is usually the home team, which has won 77% of all the 2018 Thursday night games. In the past, the excuse has been that there aren’t any good matchups on Thursday night. There are still bad matchups on Thursday night, but those bad matchups were typically between two pitiful teams, while other games were against two strong teams. Either way, the games were to be competitive and they have been anything but that. For instance, two extremely bad teams in the Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers, were picked by Vegas to be decided by 1.5 points. In the end, the 49ers won by thirty-one points. However, blow outs are still prevalent when good teams play each other. Look at the most recent Thursday night game where the Steelers crushed the Panthers by a differential of thirty-one points; never mind the fact that the Steelers were picked to win by less than 3.5 points.   

 

The blowouts should be no surprise, as the players expressed to the league their disdain for Thursday night games. The players warned that they would be too fatigued to perform at a high level during Thursday night game since they would have just played a full game a mere four day prior. Further, the away team is set at a further disadvantage as they only have two days to prepare for the home team, with Wednesday being a travel day. So, it is easy to see why the home team has the advantage and the away team tends to get blown out – more time to prepare and no traveling. Although Thursday night games aren’t statistically higher in rate of injuries, compared to Sunday or Monday games, the competitiveness of Thursday night games is far more skewed than compared to its Sunday or Monday companions.

Thursday Night Football will continue because the NFL wants it, the television networks want it, and, most importantly, the addicted fans want it. No matter how scathingly bad the football on Thursday nights is, Americans rather watch bad football than have to wait until, say, Sunday to watch good football.

On a larger note, maybe Thursday Night Football is nothing more than an indictment on the American psyche. From investors wanting to see double digit returns within eighteen months to high schoolers getting upset when their iPhones don’t load their Instagram photos quickly enough, all Americans have turned into these “instantaneous simpletons.” An instantaneous simpleton is nothing more than a person who gets more satisfaction from having quick results, than having good results. They rather be satisfied with having something quickly than having something good.

The main culprit of an instantaneous simpleton is the onset of technology today. Starting with Cable T.V. where Americans could find whichever news outlet best “agreed” with them, to high tech cell phones that humans have become glued to, rather to the living, breathing humans around them, to social media today, which seems to become more of an ego measurer than actually bringing people together. Although these forms of technologies, which have brought a lot of good, are the culprit to creating “instantaneous simpletons.” they are not what has caused this phenomenon to continue. What has caused this phenomenon to continue is two prong.

The first prong is the fact that capitalists have realized that speed, not quality, is what drives business. Look at corporations today. They have devised a sound business strategy of eliminating workers, rather than investing in innovation. It’s due to that stock price needing to be a certain amount by a certain time and the quickest way to make the balance sheet look good is to lower expenses – employees. Look at the iPhone, people want faster phones so that they can quickly scan their social media so they can see which “friends” are “living their best lives.” Capitalists have tapped into a market that wants things faster, and in doing so have created an addictive customer – because the customer will always want something faster. Nothing will ever be quick enough to an “instantaneous simpleton.”

The second prong is the “simpleton” side of things. Due to Americans’ addiction to quick results, Americans refuse to critically think. Critical thinking takes time and to take time goes against the instantaneous simpleton’s addiction, which is to have things instantaneously. For example, the investigation into Trump’s possible collusion with Russia is downplayed by many of his followers. His followers, who most likely are instantaneous simpletons, see things only in black and white. Because they claim to not have been influenced by Russia in the election, they conclude Trump did not conspire. Another example is Brett “Keganaugh” and how instantaneous simpletons made the claim that, if he really raped a woman, then the victim would have reported it when it happened, instead of waiting thirty-six years. However, these “instantaneous simpletons” refuse to critically think, or even seek an expert, to better understand the psychological scars, including repercussions, that a rape victim goes through. So long as instantaneous simpletons prefer expediency over critical analysis, this type of thinking will continue.

In turn, Thursday Night Football won’t go anywhere because instantaneous simpletons want it. No matter how much viewers may complain Friday morning that the game “sucked,” they will blame the players, rather than analyze the externalities which continue to cause the games to “suck.” The victims here are the NFL players and coaches who play with nonguaranteed contracts. Every missed tackle, fumble, or dropped pass just makes that player one step closer to the unemployment line. However, their only choice is to keep playing in order to satisfy the instantaneous simpleton’s addiction to have what he wants, when he wants, no matter how putrid the product continues to be.

2018 Browns' Chronicles: Week 9

By Kris Mead

Hue “Clueless” Jackson is no longer on the Browns’ sideline, but he is still on America’s televisions. Hue has committed to, what seems to be, a cross-country “tell all.” Hue has essentially made it his destiny to not take any responsibility for leading a team to a defeated season. For instance, Hue has stated that if it weren’t for his bosses, he would have drafted Patrick Mahomes, Carson Wentz, Jared Goff, Deshaun Watson, or any other halfway decent quarterback presently finding success in the NFL. As for the Browns’ former offensive coordinator, Todd Haley, he seems to have crawled under a rock until some desperate team exhausts all other offensive options and must make a deal with the “devil.” So, now the Browns are being stopgap led by a man more famous for being fired by the New Orleans Saints for instilling an immoral and illegal bounty system while acting as their defensive coordinator - Greg Williams. Therefore, the obvious question is who do the Browns hire as their new head coach?

Many have discussed hiring Lincoln Riley, the University of Oklahoma and Baker Mayfield’s former college coach, while others have suggested a more practical hire, but extremely contingent upon how the Packer’s do the rest of this season, in Mike McCarthy. Although the latter is more probable, neither represents the recent trend in NFL coach hiring NFL.

The trend in hiring NFL head coaches has consisted of four elements: (1) The coach is young (under 45) (2) has NFL coaching experience but (3) does not have NFL head coaching experience and (4) is offensively minded (more importantly, quarterback minded). These criteria represent the new head coaches who are finding success in the NFL – Sean McVay, Kyle Shannahan (granted his quarterback is out), and Matt Nagy.

The other item to note is who is doing the hiring. In this case it is John Dorsey, who studied under Ron Wolf. Wolf is famous for hiring Mike Holmgren to be the head coach of the Packers. In turn, look to see Dorsey go after a coach who has connections to Mike Holmgren’s coaching tree (i.e. people connected to Andy Reid, head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, or Mike McCarthy). There is also a chance that Dorsey goes after a coach who is tailored to coaching quarterbacks with similar skill sets as Baker Mayfield – short, mobile, strong arms and accurate. In other words, someone who coached Drew Brees could be the next Browns head coach. There is a greater chance that he will go for both.

The following coaches are likely candidates to become the next Browns’ head coach: Mike McCarthy, Bruce Arians, and Eric Bieniemy.  However, my dark horse pick to be the next Cleveland Browns head coach is Peter Edwards Carmichael Jr.

Carmichael has been with the New Orleans Saints since 2006 – the same year that Drew Brees arrived in New Orleans. Carmichael is credited with developing Drew Brees, after his dreadful injury with the Chargers, into the magnificent quarterback he is today. More importantly, Carmichael managed to take a shorter quarterback and make him into a future Hall of Famer. It is also important to mention Carmichael has always studied the offensive side of the ball and made New Orleans one of the most prolific offenses. The Saints led the league in offense both in 2008 and 2009 and have finished in the top six NFL offenses for the past twelve years. Finally, Carmichael has connections to the Mike Holmgren coaching tree. Carmichael coached under Ray Rhodes, Holmgren’s defensive coordinator (1992-1993) and eventually the Packers head coach (1999), as Rhodes’ Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterbacks coach (1997-1998). So, combine the fact that Carmichael meets the criteria (except for the age requirement) with the fact that Carmichael has links to Dorsey’s preferable coaching style, in Mike Holmgren, and it seems to be a good fit. More importantly, if Baker Mayfield is the Browns best quarterback in the last twenty years, it makes sense to find him a coach who was capable in developing the greatest “short” quarterback to ever step foot on the NFL gridiron.

The NFL is a copycat league.  If offensive minded coaches are the trend in the NFL, Carmichael is as good a pick as any. Hopefully Dorsey will agree.

Tennessee's Organizational Failure, Hurts Buckeyes

By Kris Mead

Although the Buckeyes are an 8-1 football team, it is obvious that they have not been playing up to their potential nor to the level of performance that is accustomed with previous Meyer Buckeye squads. The issues are on both sides of the ball, but the Buckeye defense, a staple component of all Buckeye teams from Woody to Tressel to Meyer, has been sleepwalking the entire season. There are ample reasons for this: large amount of new defensive position coaches, the loss of the likely number one overall NFL draft pick in Nick Bosa, and lastly, what has hardly been covered, the sense that the defensive coordinator, Greg Schiano, does not want to be coaching at Ohio State.

Greg Schiano, in late November of 2017, was to be named the head football coach of the University of Tennessee. However, within twenty-four hours after Schiano signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Tennessee, Tennessee alumni, donors, politicians and former athletes were screaming public outrage against the hiring. Most people were claiming the reasoning behind not wanting to hire Schiano was his potential knowledge of the sexual abuse scandal at Penn State, as Schiano was a defensive coach under Jerry Sandusky from 1990-1995. In all likelihood, the Tennessee fans were actually outraged against Schiano’s past head coaching record. It seems unlikely, for instance, if Nick Saban was in the same position as Schiano, that Tennessee would so vehemently deny Saban from coaching their team. Regardless of the reasoning, the Tennessee athletic director, John Currie, quickly withdrew Schiano’s hiring.

So Schiano went from thinking he was going to get back into the head coaching ranks, to not only realizing his head coaching dreams may be gone, but to now realizing his reputation was in question. The victim of all this turmoil explicitly directed at one man is Schiano, but to a greater sense towards the 2018 Ohio State defense. The Ohio State defense has been on the same rollercoaster of emotions as Schiano. The defense thought he’d be gone by the end of the 2017 season and as a result Meyer started looking for a new defensive coordinator. In January, Alex Grinch was hired to be a “co-defensive coordinator” alongside Greg Schiano.

On paper this should all seem fine. Schiano maintains his Ohio State role, while Grinch focuses on the secondary. But there has to be more to it. It’s hard not to believe that Schiano doesn’t feel as though he is in some sort of purgatory. Due to the strength of the outcry against him by Tennessee fans, he must be wondering if a big school head coaching position is beyond his grasp.  This may result in souring Schiano’s motivation to continue coaching at a high level.  On the flip side the players must be thinking that Schiano, deep down, does not want to be coaching them. After all, Schiano was about to address a press conference regarding his new Tennessee position in Knoxville on November 26, 2017, just before his hiring was abruptly negated. Essentially, it’s as if Schiano broke up with his significant other and was going to cohabitate with someone else before that new someone rejected him.  Having no place to sleep, Schiano dragged himself back to the old significant other – in this case, Ohio State. Factor in the issues this may have on recruiting, in which high school players who wished to be coached by Schiano may now be second guessing whether Schiano is really committed to coaching them or will even remain at the university to coach them. College athletics is the one league in which buying into a coach’s philosophy is half the battle in getting players to play at their highest potential. The Schiano fiasco not only calls into question Schiano’s coaching future, but also, to a larger extent, the Ohio State defense’s play.

2018 Browns' Chronicles: Week 8

By Kris Mead

 

The Hue Jackson and, to a lesser extent, the Todd Haley divorce was expected. Jackson was underperforming in all areas, specifically in player development, game management, and of course, the lack of wins. Todd Haley was let go for the similar reasons. However, what ultimately got both Jackson and Haley terminated was the simple fact that there was a constant power struggle and outright disregard for chain of command.

Many are reporting that the firings were in the best interest of the young quarterback – Baker Mayfield. Mayfield is like the child in a divorce proceeding, in which the judge must consider the child’s best interest when deciding custody. I agree with this thought, but I also believe that the entire team could be considered a child and was at risk of regressing, if the parents were not separated in a timely manner.

The Browns have the second youngest team in the NFL and have been in the top two youngest teams in the past three seasons. Like a child learning to speak his parents’ native tongue, it’s vital that these players are provided excellent coaching in their early NFL years. It becomes especially more vital when the Browns spend, not only the first-round draft pick, but the first overall draft pick on the most difficult position to play in the NFL – quarterback. It isn’t any quarterback though; Baker Mayfield has the potential of being the Browns’ answer to their long drought at that position. In turn, it is extremely important that the Browns do not squander this opportunity.

However, it’s ironic that focus has turned to Baker’s success. At the beginning of the season Jackson stated that Tyrod Taylor, the quarterback they traded for in exchange for a third-round pick, was to be the starting quarterback. So Browns’ fans were not initially expecting to see their number one draft choice start. Now that Taylor’s injuries forced Mayfield to start, Cleveland has seen sparks of life coming out of a position that has been typically occupied by mindless morons.  Cleveland’s only priority is (and should be) to prevent anything and anyone from tampering with Mayfield’s talent. Jackson implementing Mayfield casted Jackson’s own demise. Once it became clear that a quarterback with talent is not improving, the blame should be pointed at the man with a 3-36-1 record. Jackson had nowhere to run, and although he tried to use Haley’s offensive play calling as the culprit for the offenses’ failings, due to his lack of credibility, and his failure to manage a football team, there was no choice but for Hue to leave. Haley’s firing was more surprising. Yes, the offense was lacking, but there is also some logic in maintaining some source of consistency on the offensive side of the ball. Mayfield seemed to favor Haley’s play calling more than Hue’s, as Mayfield even hinted in a post-game interview, when Hue suggested he’d integrate himself more into the offense, by stating “we don’t need to reinvent the wheel.”

I think Haley was on a short leash (as he should be) due to his own power struggles with Hue. So, ownership suggested that Haley would be the interim head coach, but Haley, acting in his typical egomaniac manner, probably wanted to be named the head coach right then and there. Ownership, seeing that Haley was in no position to negotiate his employment status, let Haley go on the spot. Likely, Haley would have been let go at the end of the season. 

Regardless of what the discussions were like prior to either coach’s dismissal, it was obvious that the Browns were set up to be dysfunctional as soon as John Dorsey was hired. While It’s hard to imagine Dorsey not opting for a quarterback as his first overall draft pick, the only question was which quarterback.  So no matter what, the team’s main focus would have been developing the quarterback. Like the Haslams, Dorsey might have been hoodwinked into thinking that Jackson could develop a young quarterback.  After all, Jackson coached Joe Flacco in his first two years in Baltimore.  Still, that would be complete negligence on Dorsey’s part. Jackson has utterly failed as a head coach, not just royally in Cleveland, but he also struggled in Oakland. To make matters worse, it was thought a good idea to hire an offensive coordinator in combative personality Todd Haley to help solve the issues on offense, because the “offensive guru,” whom the Browns’ hired as head coach, could not fix them for the past two years.

In short let’s recap the Browns hiring in the past year. Haslam hires an extremely talented General Manager in John Dorsey (good hire). For some reason, Dorsey is not permitted to bring in his own head coach, like most general managers do, and must settle with the owner’s guy, who has consistently failed at his duties – Hue Jackson (bad management decision). The other option is that Dorsey has had zero experience in being the guy who hires a head coach. In his only other stint as a general manager, for the Kansas City Chiefs, Dorsey was hired AFTER Andy Reid, the head coach, was hired. So, the Browns hired a GM who is allowed to draft his preferred quarterback but IS NOT ALLOWED, or appears to be not allowed, to hire his preferred head coach who will be responsible for developing said quarterback.  However, Dorsey IS permitted to hire an offensive coordinator, who will only rub the egotistical head coach the wrong way. The hired offensive coordinator is also an egomaniac who believes he is the “ultimate offensive guru.”

The Browns’ owner, Jimmy Haslam, couldn’t have created a more perfect storm for dysfunction to thrive and his young quarterback to suffer. While it was good of Haslam to mitigate any more damage by getting rid of Haley and Jackson, considering he’s largely the source of Cleveland’s management mess, it’s the least the owner could do.  Haslam should pay more attention to his IRS scandal and the new soccer team he owns. Let the only smart guy in the room make decisions – John Dorsey. Maybe Haslam should take the Hippocratic Oath or more specifically, “primum non nocere” or “first do no harm.”