Charlie, Charlie, Charlie…

Paul Brown, who I thought at the time was the best coach in the history of football, said “You are my left cornerback until some one beats you out.” That was before the first pre-season game my rookie year during training camp in the hallway of a dorm at Hiram, Ohio. Paul moved All Pro Cornerback Warren Lahr to safety and a career later no one ever beat me out. I only gave up one touchdown that season and was one of the strengths of a damn good NFL defense. Some guys are warriors who come ready for battle, like Jim Brown, Don Fleming, Otto Graham and others the Browns have been blessed with over the years. Charlie Frye has that look and the fans sense it, and so do I.

Charlie Frye can’t learn anything significant from sitting behind Trent Dilfer or Doug Johnson. If, No, when given the chance Frye will show them how to win. Having been among and a major part of the Patriots winners Coach Crennel has the knowledge and intuition to recognize a real “player.” The way Crennel protected his injury riddled defensive backfield in the Super Bowl was a minor miracle.

NFL offenses aren’t brain surgery. I don’t care how they line up or go in motion every NFL team runs the same dozen plays. Don’t think that Frye takes the field to learn how to execute brilliant plays dreamed up by brilliant coaches. Frye plays to use whatever he is given for an arsenal to move the ball, to score and win every quarter of every football game he is in. When Frye lines up behind center he is looking at the defense finding a way to beat it and he keeps looking as he sets up in the pocket, if there is one, and he keeps looking as he runs to keep the play alive. Charlie Frye should be the Browns quarterback from the first play of the regular season until he gets beat out. Paul Brown was immersed in winners as Romeo Crennel has been immersed in winners and Paul recognized the real warriors and had guts enough to put them in the battle without hesitation. The few times he was wrong he pulled them and cut them or traded them and moved on. It appears that Coach Crennel has the experience and intelligence he needs to make the decisions it will take to bring the Browns back. Charlie Frye is his best weapon and biggest decision to date.

Trent Dilfer has been a back-up QB for most of his career and can do that specialized job as well as anyone in the NFL, if Frye gets hurt the Browns can still be in “it.” Dilfer should play only until Frye gets well enough and is put back in the “game.” Will the offensive line protect Frye? Better than anyone else I believe, they sense something special as well.

After the first preseason game I wrote in my Blog that Charlie Frye should be the Browns starting quarterback, I haven’t changed my mind. I also said Orlando Ruff is a real football player.

Frye’s confidence is not going to be shaken because one of his line men misses a block, he knows his line is mediocre, he is no fool. He won’t give up if he throws a couple of interceptions or loses a game. Unless I am getting senile Charlie has the look of some one who is after the Holy Grail and no one will stop him. Being “prudent managers” by holding Frye back, to “protect” him will only frustrate him and delay the return of the Browns as perennial contenders. This war is supposed to be fun, exhilarating, get on with it, take your best shot now.

CHARLIE, CHARLIE, CHARLIE

Browns 2-0 is a surprise but the big News is Charlie Frye and the defense

Browns 2-0-0 is very encouraging considering all the factors. 13 of 19 completions with the game winning TD is right on schedule, Charlie Frye is the Browns best bet to win games when the regular season arrives. A Trent Dilfer TD pass is encouraging too. Holding the Lions to 13 points is the next best news out of this game. The defense must be tackling some people. Usually defensive backs head injuries result from violent collisions with runners. Misfit ting mouth pieces can cause concussions whereas custom fitted (by a good dentist) mouth pieces will prevent them.

You should win 80% of the time when your defense holds the other team to 14 points or less.

Are the Giants and Lions that bad? I hope not. The Browns were big underdogs to Detroit.

I have really seen very little of Charlie Frye but I like how he stands in the pocket. His eye focus is downfield with good peripheral vision. From his demeanor from where I sit, when he comes to the line of scrimmage he is looking for something to take advantage of, some one commented they liked the look in his eyes behind the center, so do I. Some of us are football players and others are trying to be. Frye looks like a player to me. Keep him healthy, but you have to keep playing him and protect him, have him run lots of draw plays, screens, and play fake plays to slow the rush down. Throwing 13 passes averaging 5 yards means he can find his outlet man at the last second. Protect him through the preseason and put him in the fire on opening day. Frye looks like a winner and a leader to me, some thing the Browns have lacked in recent years.

When your GM thinks you only have 12 gamers (NFL starters) on your roster then you have a lot to overcome. In my day the talent was more concentrated because there were fewer teams with smaller rosters; winners (Packers, Colts, Browns, Giants…) had 17 or 18 gamers in their starting line ups. If he isn’t counting Frye or Orlando Ruff in his 12 then he can add them into the equation. He thinks Baltimore has 20 gamers on their roster, I doubt that they have that many. The Ravens quarterback Boller may not be one of them.

Oh yes, I saw Doug Johnson help the Florida Gators beat Florida State in rerun of their 1997 game in the Swamp. 28-25. I say helped because Ball Coach Steve Spurrier had him alternate with another quarterback throughout the game. Doug hit a key 40 yard completion to Jaquez Green in the last 2:00 minutes of a wild game to get the Gators to the Seminole 18 yard line. Florida’s Fred Taylor ran it in for the touchdown on two plays from there. It was a memorable victory for the Gators over Florida State when the Seminoles were ranked number one.

The NFL team that looks like it is going to be tough to beat is the Oakland Raiders if Randy Moss isn’t “Blue Mooning” it and causing morale problems too often.

Way to go Charlie Frye

I’ve barely seen Charlie Frye play QB for the Browns but 6 for 9 and a TD with no interceptions and no sacks in his first NFL action is damn good and he should be groomed to be the Browns starting quarterback when the season opens. That is if the offensive line is able to protect the passer adequately. If not they should go with the Dilfer, Johnson, Frye depth chart as they have now. Dilfer and Johnson are used to running for their lives and it won't matter a whole lot if they get caught. Young Frye has talent and a body to protect for a bright future.

Unless the Giants were picking on linebacker Orlando Ruff, he appears to want to tackle (5 tackles and a sack) and unless he missed a bunch of tackles that were not reported he earned a starting position.

I understand not wanting to get your players banged up in tackling drills but tackling drills should be re-installed at practice, even if they are very controlled form tackling drills at half speed. This time of season both Paul Brown and Blanton Collier had us warm up before practice with a tip drill and then some half speed form tackling practice so injury risk was minimized while balance, eye focus, and concentration the basic movements and fundamentals of tackling were honed. The great golf teacher Harvey Peneck had Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw practicing their swings in slow motion, a similar drill technique.

Coach Crennel said missed tackles were not the reason the Giants ran so easily on the Browns defense. He said not executing the new 3-4 defense was the reason. The 3-4 needs one extra large outstanding nose tackle, which the Browns don’t have, and two very aggressive defensive ends and four tough tackling, savvey linebackers like the Patriots have. You don’t find these types everywhere and it would be a miracle if there are four such players on the Browns new roster. When you don’t have them you adjust to what talent you have not complain they can’t play your system. Of course that is what training camp and exhibition season is all about.

I am not saying Coach Romeo is using the free pass time given new coaches to install their new systems to justify his players pedestrian performance. He is just getting started. The Browns did beat the Giants 17 to 14 and holding an NFL opponent to 14 points should be good enough to win 80% of the time. And the Browns defense held the Giants at the end of the game when they were trying to get into field goal range to tie it up.

Coach Crennel should get a little extra time because he did come from the World Champion Patriots and if any team has a winning system it is the Patriots. But today the in buzz words are “selling your system” and players “buying into the coaches new system.” If Crennel is installing the Patriots system then get those players who aren’t “buying into” his system out of the way quick.

As the Giants showed runners will run until you tackle them. Part of tackling is the skill of maneuvering, fighting off blockers to get into position to tackle. Players can also “get blocked” just enough to avoid having to tackle certain tough runners or avoid a collision late in a game that is already lost. Groin injuries and pulled hamstring muscles are good devices this time of year to miss a few practices for those who feel they have it made. Such thoughts bring Terrell Owens and a few others to mind.

I’d like to see the Browns try the Patriots all linebacker defense with a lot of blitz and zone blitz packages.

The Browns need a bonus system like $10,000 per tackle or sack and $3,000 per assist with a $10,000 fine for piling on or obvious late hits.

It is encouraging to hear a Browns head coach critique his players with an obvious understanding of defense.
I can hear the fans cheering "GO ROMEO" bringing to life the memories of Otto and Lou after the next victory, after he teaches his defense to tackle.

Gators lost 100 plays last season using the Zook Look delay before snapping the ball

New Florida Gator Coach Urban Meyer’s published red zone record of scoring 89.9% of the time is phenomenally high, unbelievably high. Utah won a lot of games under Meyer and his quarterback Alex Smith was a hell of a talent, better in my opinion than Chris Leak the Gators current QB. Coach Meyer is now playing in the SEC and he won’t be scoring 89.9% of the time he gets inside the other teams 20 yard line. After I saw Coach Meyer’s diagrams and pictures of his sideways offense published in the Gainesville Sun prior to Florida’s Orange and Blue spring game I was really discouraged about the Gators prospects. The quaint story was he and his assistant coach traveled all the way to Louisville to find that sideways offense, took it home and installed it at Utah.

To win in the SEC you have to move the ball North and South rushing and passing. SEC rushes and blitzes will disrupt any sideways featured offense. Fortunately for Gator fans a few weeks ago Coach Meyer changed his published sideways strategy and said he was tailoring his 2005 Gator offense to fit QB Chris Leak and now he will be in a drop back type passing offense. That was encouraging. If Coach Meyer can keep Leak studying opponent’s game films and then help him to recognize on the field, in the game, under fire what he has been looking at in the films, he will gain a 50% efficiency over last year. From years of experience I learned that a few people study film and get a lot out of it. But only a few can take it to the field and use it. Others just don’t have that ability. Leak throws the ball exceptionally well within his range. Leak has shown little ability to study film and use the information he should have gleaned to defeat his opponents. Although the Gators women’s basketball coach could win 7 games with any crop of University of Florida talent, Coach Meyer has his work cut out for him to win the other 3 or 4 games to make 2005 a successful season. Tennessee, Alabama, LSU, Georgia, FSU, and Gator Pope Steve Spurrier’s South Carolina should give the Gators all they can handle.

Last season Chris Leak spent what seemed like hours staring at the sideline after he had broken the huddle and was at the line of scrimmage under center before he ran the next play. It seemed like his eyes may have glazed over while doing the Zook Look. I never saw any other team waste so much time off the play clock. I assumed Leak was getting visual signals from the coaching staff as to what plays to check off to. This eye game between plays must have cost the Gators 100 offensive plays over the course of the season. Obviously the more plays you can run in a season the more points you will score. The coach’s vantage point in the press box allows them to see the field and the personnel in the opponent’s defensive line up, but so should Leak be able to see them and recognize them from his vantage point. The defense moves around before and during plays to confuse the offensive strategist. The QB needs to be looking at the defense recognizing its personnel and characteristics from before he breaks the huddle, on the way to the line of scrimmage, and to the last second adjusting right up to the snap of the ball and for about four seconds afterwards. The offense should be giving the defense the recognition problems not the other way around.

From a distance Coach Meyer seems to have a certain toughness about him. So far I like his prospects of solving whatever problems he faces. His no nonsense approach to campus alcohol abuse is also encouraging. He seems to want a physical aggressive team. They need to improve their pass coverage and tackling to win those extra 3 to 4 games the extra 100 or so plays they should run under Coach Meyer will also be a big factor in the won lost column.

Living and Learning

Does Braylon Edwards have a “Motorcycle Clause” in his contract? If not there should be, and there should also be a celebration clause in all contracts whereby any self-inflicted injury incurred while celebrating is cause to return all bonuses and take an IQ test. There should also be a clause that pays a bonus for picking up extra yards instead of running out of bounds. Running out of bounds to avoid a collision with a defensive player should be a 15 yard penalty. Running out of bounds should only be legal during the last minute of a half or a Game or an overtime period.

The new Terrell Owen’s Horse Collar Tackle rule is as ridiculous as T.O.’s big mouth. Oh, I keep forgetting, T.O. is just trying to feed his agent’s family. Eagles Coach Andy Reid needs a big round of applause for sending Owens home for a week. I get the idea it is about trade time. How about Winslow for T.O.?

Did the Browns trade Jeff Garcia because of a smart ass remark made by Terrell Owens?

Wonder how (Everybody’s H.O.F.) Chuck Bednarik feels about the Owens vs Eagles management arguments. I'll call Chuck and find out.

Speaking of Hall of Fame players there is at least one, a 10 year plus veteran, I played with, who tells me he receives less than $200 per month from his NFL Player Pension. Based on the new multi-billion dollar TV contracts the Player Pension benefits should be increased substantially.

I understand from my 1964 Browns teammates that Art Modell must be given much of the credit for the last increase of benefits under the player pension plan. Thanks, Art, the old guys (average age 70) need another one, before it is too late.

I heard a player on ESPN saying that player’s contracts are not really contracts since the players can be released at the whim of management. That is certainly the way a unilateral contract works. I am told that players almost always are allowed to keep their signing bonuses. But I suppose it depends on the wording of the contract which brings to mind the Dolphins Ricky Williams. It was obvious to me that during the sideline interviews at the Dolphin vs Bears game Ricky was letting the media get inside his head and push things around. Ricky should stop giving interviews for a good while and concentrate or rather dedicate himself to running with the football or he’ll get beat out by someone who wants it more than he does. Williams Media discussions about weed, massage, and Indian affairs do nothing but distract from the Dolphins football team and what it is trying to accomplish. Ricky should cut it off with the media right now for the sake of his teammates. Coach Saben ought to send Ricky home for a week too.

Learning to tackle and block should be top priority in Browns training camp.

With Trent Dilfer at QB the Ravens scored no touchdowns in four straight games down the stretch when the Ravens won the Super Bowl and a Cleveland sportswriter wrote PERHAPS it was Baltimore’s outstanding defense that won the Championship. PERHAPS?? PERHAPS?? Trent Dilfer’s statistics are rather sparse, except that out of 28 passes completed in 2002 and 2003 he threw 4 interceptions. Is interpolating 40 interceptions for each 280 completions unfair? Maybe so. People contend that Jeff Garcia had happy feet. Jeff Garcia also had the worst pass protection in the NFL and some of the worst pass plays to run. It is a modern marvel that he made it through the season without a major injury. I guess he didn’t. The knock was put on Garcia for trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Not giving up trying to make things happen under oppressive pressure?

Garcia is gone and Dilfer is the QB. I live in Florida and saw a lot of Trent on TV while he played for the Tampa Bay Buc’s. I haven’t heard any logical explanation as to why the Browns felt they could dump a pro-bowl caliber quarterback for one of the worst 2:00 minute drill quarterback’s ever according to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their followers. Garcia for Dilfer is not a trade I would have made. No matter now and I am not in charge of Browns trades or anything else.

The Florida Sun Network chose to show a re-run of the 1998 Florida vs. Florida State game twice this past week. Doug Johnson was the Gators quarterback. He overthrew a wide open Travis McGriff in the end zone and again when he was headed for the end zone wide open and the Seminoles cleaned Johnson’s clock 20 something to 13. I won’t go into other gory details of the Johnson’s performance. Being an old Gator I dislike Florida State intensely. Doug is from Gainesville, Florida, where I grew up. I want to write great things about Doug, another home town boy. As opposed to Doug’s performance I kicked FSU’s butts every opportunity I got. I took over the games and kicked Seminole ass. I’d like to say that about Doug, but…unless Doug Johnson’s got some fire in his belly I haven’t seen, the Brown’s quarterback position is in deep shit and that doesn’t leave the rest of the team in very optimistic shape.

Now, I have had my tantrum about the Browns Quarterback situation I am hoping for the best for Dilfer and Johnson because they quarterback my Browns. Maybe a few articles like this will move them enough to step up and kick some butt.

It is most discouraging to me not to hear a single comment from the Browns players, coaches, or management that there is an urgency to improve the Browns tackling. Without drastic improvement in their tackling alone they can’t win 5 games. No they can’t win three games.