In keeping with the manifesto of the site, I wanted to use this column space to try to unearth any possible positives from the Browns’ abysmal performance earlier today.
I’ve gotta be honest: it hasn’t been easy to come up with many.
As other writers have noted ad nauseam, not only do the Browns keep losing, but the size of the deficit has increased every game. (14 points vs. MIN, 21 points vs. DEN, 31 points today.) Meanwhile, Mark Sanchez has led the Jets to a 3-0 record and is rapidly shaping up to be The One Who Got Away for the current generation of Browns’ fans. Even the Lions managed to win a game this Sunday.
But now that we’re three weeks into the season, the 2009-2010 NFL is starting to take shape. In other words, teams are starting to provide enough evidence that fans and analysts can understand how the reality compares to what the perception of each of these teams was heading into the season.
Before the opener, the consensus opinion was that the Browns had a substantially easier schedule this year than last. Terry Pluto proclaimed before week 1 that the Browns had “2 winnable games” in their first four (vs. Denver and Cincinnati).
However, after 3 weeks, Denver is 3-0, in first place in the AFC West, and has the #1 defense in the league in total yards per game (214.7) and points per game (5.3). Cincinnati is 2-1, with both wins over quality teams (Green Bay and Pittsburgh), and their single loss came from Brandon Stokley’s miracle TD grab in the final seconds of the fourth quarter in the season opener.
Meanwhile, the two presumed “unwinnable” games in that opening quartet have lived up to the billing. Through 3 games, the Vikings and Ravens are both undefeated. Favre cast a little spell to pull out a victory in the Metrodome today, leading people to wonder if they really could be the “complete team” that Favre’s acquisition was supposed to make them. The Ravens have scored the second-most points in the league - only 17 fewer than the high-powered Saints - with an increasing sense around the punditocracy that they are the best team in the AFC.
In one light, this sounds depressing. But I bring it up to highlight the fact that the perception of the Browns’ opponents going into the season was based not on this year’s teams. They were based on last year’s teams. And so far, this year’s versions of the teams that the Browns have on their schedule in the first month are at least showing signs that they’re better than a lot of people wanted to give them credit for. So the Browns’ losses to these guys shouldn’t be viewed as collapses to inferior or equally bad opponents.
It also shouldn’t be overlooked that the Browns had to play the Ravens today without either their starting RB or their best offensive threat — Phil Dawson.
OK, I’m not serious about that last one. Barring a tear gas assault in the Ravens’ locker room, there was no way the Browns were winning this game, regardless of how much of their roster was active.
But despite three straight losses (two of which were utterly demoralizing), the players still seem to be talking like they’re buying into Alpha Dog’s system.
Safety Brodney Pool said, “[Mangini]’s our leader. Guys are responding. We respect him tremendously.”
[D’Qwell] Jackson said, “Coach Mangini is one of the smartest people I’ve ever known in terms of football knowledge. Being 0-3 isn’t because of him. This is just a very tough time. But I know coach Mangini will figure things out, and he will work as hard as he can to make us better. It seems like we practice well but then we have a hard time in the games.
“We’re just going to keep working at it.”
Now, you can say a couple of quotes from guys in the locker room after the game don’t mean much. Everyone knows what they’re supposed to say these days. But it would be really easy for those guys to take veiled shots at the coaching staff or to sound hopeless instead of making the token effort to support the brass. But they stuck to their guns, and to me, that’s probably the best positive omen I can find in all of this.
Obviously, there’s a lot of work to be done. And from the outside, there are a lot of reasons not to expect much. The Browns have shown no easily visible signs of improvement through three games. The sports media - especially locally - is salivating at the opportunity to guillotine Mangini. But we’re only three games into the season, and as we’ve noted before, the only people who have to buy into the system are the guys in the locker room.
Also, we’re still slated to play Detroit, KC, and Oakland before season’s end. And none of their performances either this year or historically give me a lot of reason to believe that it’s impossible for the Browns to win those three games. (If you want to instantly feel better about Alpha Dog’s capabilities, read this article from Mesa-fave Mike Lombardi on Todd Haley, the Chiefs’ head coach.)
Even if you don’t believe that, there’s one undeniably great thing for Cleveland fans to realize this morning: Cavs’ training camp starts today.
-T
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