BROWNS, CAPTAIN JACK

“He often quoted from Robert Frost -- and said it applied to himself -- but we could apply it to the Democratic party and to all of us as individuals: The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep. And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.” -- Robert F. Kennedy, tribute to John F. Kennedy, Democratic National Convention, Atlantic City, N.J., Aug. 27, 1964

“Everyone sooner or later sits down to a banquet of consequences.” -- Robert Lewis Stevenson

“I dream my painting, then I paint my dream.” -- Vincent van Gogh


BROWNS

YO YO. See ya at the Super Bowl baby. The Cleveland Browns. Here we go. Very nice win over the Titans Saturday night. I am sure it was fun for the fans that were there. Alex Hall pick 6. Couple great goal line holds to 3. Some nice down field throws by both quarterbacks. Braylon's Touchdown dance. I actually tried to emulate that dance but couldn't. It's a lot harder to slide up on your toes and hold it then it looks. But all in all, I think there has been a lot of improvement from week 1 of the preseason til now. Guys are starting to buy in a little harder. Guys are starting to get a better feel for what they are trying to accomplish on both sides of the ball. Bottom line, guys are playing harder. You can't be happy with the rate of penalties they are have been getting. I know its the preseason, which means it's the preseason for the referees as well. They are trying to get their feel back too. But Mangini's Jets team have routinely been in the bottom 3 in penalties every year. So I am hoping that the Browns can become one of the least penalized teams in the league as well. That is a big part of why you like Mangini, hoping that he is gonna provide a much more disciplined football team and manage the game efficiently. The Browns are gonna need every advantage they can get.

Alex Hall made that nice play in the 2nd half. There was a couple good defensive holds in the red zone. But I think we would be fooling ourselves if we were not worried about the Browns defense. They have gotten shredded. Think about how many times Justin Gage and Alge Crumpler were running unimpeded down the field in the first half when Kerry Collins was in. Drags. Outs. Skinny posts. Sitting down in the Browns shit zone. It was a clinic when the Titans were on offense. They did a great job of stopping Chris Johnson. Atamba Rubin, #72, is a great player. They need to find a way to play him and Sean Rogers at the same time, assuming that Sean Rogers is going to come back and be effective. If they hadn't done up CJ it would have appeared much worse. But I am worried about back 7 depth and talent. It's really no one in partcular. It's everyone. The corners. The backers. The nickels that come in on 3rd down. I love Eric Wright and think he's an above average corner. But above average corners get beat in the NFL if the front 4 and blitzing linebackers aren't bringing heat. That's just a fact. Safety is also a big concern. Abe Elam has done some good things for the Jets, and is supposed to be a good player this year. He is gonna have to be very good this year and so far he has just been another guy. Let's hope Brodney Poole can get back healthy and start to make some plays. I wouldn't be surprised to see them go out and pick up a safety this week.

2 Sundays from now, the Vikings are coming to town and the Browns are gonna send them packing 0-1. The question is who is gonna be playing quarterback for the Browns. Another question is who is going to be playing running back for the Browns. And to be honest I don't know the answer to either question. Let's start with running back. I texted a couple buddies last week during the Lions game when we had huge momentum in the passing game. I said, "The Browns should be talking like hell to teams to try to get a quality running back." I didn't really have any realistic names. Giants aren't parting with Ahmad Bradshaw. Raiders aren't parting with Michael Bush. But I have since backed off that text a little bit, because I am becoming a little more comfortable with James Davis. I think he is beginning to get more comfortable being a Brown and a NFL running back. He is showing good signs and making some good hard runs. I in no way think that he's gonna be an all-pro this season. I just expect solid solid play and production. I dunno what they are going to do with Jamal. I think they may have to end up releasing him. As funny as that sounds.

I think the quarterback race is very close. A lot closer than most Browns fans think it is. I know the majority think that Brady Quinn made strides to make himself the favorite Saturday night, but I don't think that's the case. I think it is very very close. And I think, that the Browns have a lot invested in both guys. But they have more invested in Brady Quinn. Fucking Trent Dilfer has been all over ESPN banging on the table that Derek should be the starter. He cites the many times they hung out over the summer, stating that Derek is very relaxed and has learned from his mistakes of last season. That's probably right. I'm sure he has. I like the idea of starting Brady Quinn because the NFL doesn't have any film on Brady Quinn. They don't have enough to analyze on Brady. He is just as much of a mystery to the rest of the league as he is to our fan base. Derek Anderson, you kind of know. Good player. Big arm. Streaky player. Makes silly mistakes. Throws interceptions. 1 Pro Bowl caliber season to his credit. I don't expect Coach Mangini to make a decision for a long time. Possibly not until the Saturday before they play the Vikings. The thing you have to understand is Mangini doesn't give a shit what anyone thinks. He is gonna do things his way. And that might mean stretching this out for another 2 weeks. This might mean playing both of them in the first 4 regular season games. This might mean naming Derek the starter tonight for the 6pm Sportscenter. This might mean naming Brady the starter Thursday. We will just have to wait and see.

JAX

I was laughing the other night when the bottom line blurb said that Stephen Jackson wants to come to the Cavs. Of course he wants to come to the Cavs now. It's funny cause he was the only guy I wanted this off-season. I was banging on the table for him early in the process. Well, he was the number 1 guy I wanted. We of course needed to add 7 or 8 other guys if we wanted to give ourselves a chance to win the NBA championship. But I just thought it was funny that in late August he 1. came out and said he wanted to be moved and 2. later said he wants to come to Cleveland. I made the case early this summer in my June 16th blog writing. You can look at it if you want. It's kinda funny looking back at it. I talked about how he knows how to play, is a mean guy and takes the game very seriously. Exactly the kind of piece we need. Has been a pivotal player on a championship Spurs team. He's a clutch shooter and isn't afraid of the big moment. I also touched on that he's psychotic and crazy.

I am sure Danny Ferry is a little ticked off, cause this assertion by Captain Jack has probably screwed up his remaining golf schedule before he gets really busy getting ready for training camp. He had to come in and do a little due diligence to see if Jackson could possibly come to the Cavs. For all intents and purposes, you cannot bring Jax in. It's tempting and it's fun. And there are 100 reasons why it would be great. But I think at this point, there are alot more reasons why it wouldn't work. He's a great player. And I am sure you are gonna watch this season and see his box scores of 30, 10, 5 every other game. I am sure if he gets dealt to the Mavs or another contender he is gonna do a good job for them. I think it would be a tall order for him to exist on the Cavs though. And here's why:

You don't want to do this deal for the same reason that you're psyched as a Cavs fan that the Lakers and Celtics made their off-season deals. Cause I think you can lump Sheed, Ron Ron and Jax in the same boat. Those are 3 guys who are in that dangerous zone of "guys that used to be really really good, who are not as good now, but still think they are as good as they used to be." And when you are in that zone, you still think you can do things that you can no longer do. You are not a 43 % 3 point shooter anymore. Youre 36.5%. You can't go to the front of the rim and rise over 85% percent of the guys in this league anymore. Only 65%, and 0% of the guys who are gonna be defending you in the playoffs. Those kinda big things coupled with a bunch of other little things. And you can take this to the bank: Artest and Sheed are gonna take big shots that they shouldn't take for their new teams because they still think they are the guy who should be taking that shot. And I think Jackson is the same guy. Captain Jack is awesome. But I don't think the Cavs are gonna wanna go anywhere near him. The Cavs are plenty good enough to win a title. They just have to play like it. And get really really lucky.