Browns Progress, Gators too "Cute" to Win

The Cleveland Browns loss to the Baltimore Ravens could have been a lot worse. Giving up only 16 points is still progress. Scoring 3 is disappointing but to be expected against the leagues best defenses; at least Charlie Frye didn’t get hurt. A 2 and 3 record now is still ahead of schedule. When your own offense only scores 3 points then only giving up 16 is like a shutout for your defense.

My wife said “Don’t write anything bad about the Gators. We have to live here, in (Gainesville, FL).” That is like saying don’t mention the elephant trapping around in the back yard.

The Gators whole game against LSU was summed up on the broken pass play in the last few minutes of the game when QB Chris Leak got chased out of the pocket started to run, then crossed the line of scrimmage, then went back across it and threw a pass. The play took forever to happen and it was really not smart and resulted in a penalty. The Coach Urban Meyers sideways run-in-place shovel pass offense is just too “cute” for me to appreciate. Leak can’t seem to run Coach Meyers options or even his drop back offense.

Leak and Meyers appear to have let the arrogance of the Cover Boy images and press clippings overcome their common sense. I thought Zook was bad, but I have never seen such a confused offense as the Gators have had since the second half of the Kentucky game till now. Chris Leak looks totally disoriented. Perhaps the psychology department can spare a Deer in the Headlights Coach. Mississippi State lost their QB in the first quarter and the Gator defense and special teams won that game.

It isn’t like the LSU game was lost on one bad crucial call by an official, leaving you knowing in your heart you should have won the game. This loss was an embarrassment. This was an offense so bad that it overcame an outstanding effort by the Gator defense and special teams, and 5 LSU turnovers, and 12 LSU penalties to lose the game.

Lee Corso, ESPN announcer and one time FSU QB and also FSU Head Coach said after the Gators lost the Alabama game 31-3 “Let Josh Portis play.”

Think about it. The opponents might think Portis is going to run the ball most of the time so they won’t be rushing the passer so hard and perhaps he could throw it downfield and surprise them a few times.

Going into the season the Florida sports media sure carried a lot of quotes by Coach Meyer and the offensive players about how great the new offense was going to be, damned if I didn’t believe them too. I fell into that trap again like everyone else even though I did mention to my readers that I generally don’t like offenses that operate sideways.

Makes me feel a bit foolish, How about you?

Now what? Coach Meyer and Chris Leak are still in the same place and Georgia is anxiously waiting for the Cocktail Party in Jacksonville. South Carolina, the Ole Ball Coach’s team might want a piece of Leak too, not to mention FSU who will still be angry about losing to Miami and Virginia. Vanderbilt won’t give up 5 turnovers nor will they get 12 penalties, and they will put a surprisingly good pass rush on Leak. The Gator’s defense and special teams can’t save the day every week. There are probably a few NFL teams reconsidering their Quarterback draft charts and player rankings as well. I sure hope Coach Meyer gets all this….stuff straightened out pretty soon.

As I have said before if I were defensing the Gators I would have the defensive end or linebacker on the side that Leak takes the first step to run an option, put a helmet to helmet lick on him whether he keeps the ball or not. Leak is fair game once he starts to run with the ball.

I heard someone watching the game at Outback say they should have sent Leak to Iraq to get rid of the Sadam. “Heck, Leak can overthrow anybody.”

As far back as I can remember, and I grew up in Gainesville, the Gators have always had an overrated star player usually from a geographic area where a lot of Bull Gator donors live, while walk on’s come in and eventually beat them out. It is an old familiar Gator tale.

Press Clippings, Browns Trent Dilfer the Realist, Gators Chris Leak in Fantasy Land.

The Browns are ahead of schedule. Coach Crennel is either lucky or skillful, either way 2 and 2 is a good place to be about now. Scoring on turnovers while preventing the Bears from using the Browns turnovers to put the game out of reach should be a morale boost, a confidence builder. It is heartening to see Dilfer come through in the clutch with two terrific plays when they really counted. By all accounts he wasn't overcome by his own good fortune he knew the rest of the game didn't go so well for the offense. Trent seems to have his head on straight now. The offensive line needs to keep protecting him like they have in the first four games.

A victory over the Ravens could set the Browns up for a really good season, that could be great fun for everyone, but of course there is a long way to go yet.

Lee Corso said the Florida Gators should play Josh Portis at QB for the rest of the season. At first I thought cagey old Lee was trying to help his Seminoles whip up on the Gators. Then I watched several replays of Florida's Homecoming game against Mississipi State with Corso's thought in mind. I thought could "Portis" have made that play as well as Chris Leak. Portis is 100% better runner than Leak but is not supposed to be as good a passer not that Leak has been a particularly outstanding passer this season except against the early season door mats. I didn't see a play that Portis couldn't have made that Leak made and Portis is a running threat that Leak doesn't approach. Few reports on the game highlight the fact that Mississippi State lost their first team quarterback in the first quarter or the 31-3 score could have been real close. The Gator special teams made four or five crucial plays recovering a muffed punt and downing the ball on the 1 yard line twice and the Gators defense played an outstanding game. The Gators option offense remans an unused option. Now I believe that Lee Corso was serious about sitting Leak down and playing Portis being to the Gators advantage. Right again Lee.

I feel like LSU will stuff the Gators this week because Leak will probably play and LSU's rush will pressure him into mistakes. Eventually the SEC defenses will start to pound Leak every time he takes a step toward running an option whether he keeps the ball or not, especially since he is supposed to be playing hurt.

Alabama's fans "Over Rated, Over Rated" chant hit where it hurt, and sound still be ringing in a few ears, the truth hurts. When people start believing their press clippings...I'll bet the Georgia Bulldogs can't wait to get at Leak in the Gator Bowl Cocktail Party.

What does the average sportswriter get on his SAT's?

Drool.

I hate to say it but I feel like I am watching a sham, a Leak, Meyer, Option whatever that is about to come apart at the seams.

Bears a Must Win for the Browns?

The Browns held the best team in the NFL the Indianapolis Colts to a 13-6 game. That in my book is a large moral victory for the Browns. If they continue to play that well they will beat the Bears and start a win streak. This game takes on an unusual importance for the Browns. It is a must win to keep a solid grip on the mountain they are climbing.

The Patriots lost to a very good Chargers team. Losing Ted Johnson, Tedy Bruschi, Joe Andruzzi and Ty Law and Coaches Romeo Crennel and Charlie Wiese in the off-season, coupled with the losses of Matt Light, Kevin Faulk and Rodney Harrison this season will make it very difficult for the Patriots to repeat as World Champions. But then it is always difficult to win it all.

At this point I think the Browns have as good a shot as the Patriots to win their Division.

Homecoming for the Florida Gators this week end won’t be such a happy occasion if the Mississippi State Bulldogs put another pass rush whipping on Florida. Mississippi State beat the Gators last year in an upset. It won’t be that big an upset if they do it again this year.

Chris Leak and the coaching staff seem to lose their poise in the third quarter of the Kentucky game and never got it back through the end of the Alabama game.

I was particularly disappointed at the short dump off passing game that looked more like an effort to build Chris Leaks passing statistics than a real attempt to try to come back and beat Alabama. Tennessee came back from being down 20 points or so and won their game after it looked hopeless.

The Gators option offense is still an unused option going into their Homecoming game today. I expect the bulldogs to keep a linebacker spy on Leak to hammer him every time he runs the option whether he keeps the ball or not. I think there is a toughness issue. You have to be able to come back off the bench in the second half or anytime and attack the other team with all you’ve got. Letting the play clock run down to the last few ticks almost every play shows indecision and a lack of aggressiveness. I thought it was Ron Zook’s fault last year but Leak and the Gators are still doing it this year. Wasting that time between plays costs the Gators 10 to 15 plays a game. It is, to put it mildly, not very smart.

The Gators are so far from the run and gun that they don’t seem to have a clue. Is it possible for the Gators to wind up playing Tennessee again?

It is always frustrating to see your alma mater lose but I don’t like how they lost the last game and a half. I may be old as dirt but I remember getting the play called and getting to the line of scrimmage as quick as possible to run another play down the defense’s throat. We didn’t check off unless they happened to be stacked where we were going or we got an unusually good match-up on a coverage. I couldn’t help but be fired up every time I got to the line of scrimmage and I couldn’t wait to get there. We believed we could make every play work and we couldn’t wait to run it.

The Gators give the impression that somebody doesn’t want to run the play until he absolutely has to.

The chant of “Over-rated, Over-Rated” in Alabama’s stadium in the forth quarter was particularly biting because they were….right.

On the other hand the Cleveland Browns seem underrated. Trent Dilfer is on a roll and the offensive line is protecting much better than I expected them to. The defense held the Colts to 13 points and that should get you a win against any other NFL team. The Colts defensive end Freeney is one terrific football player.

The NFL officials seem flag happy on special team plays this season so self discipline is at a premium on those plays. Coach Romeo seems to have a good plan going and he is emphasizing discipline in it. Give Dennis Northcutt the legal blocking, the support he deserves. He is one hell of a kick returner. If the points he has scored had stayed on the board…if, if. At least now the if’s are about almost winning not why you got beaten so badly. You would think the Browns would be one of the last teams to be having a taunting problem but then the players doing it are one's who haven't been there before. If you are thinking of all the things you need to be thinking about to win you don't have time for stupid fouls like taunting.

My friend went to his Rabbi and told him, "My wife is poisoning me." The Rabbi said,"Oh no that couldn't be." My friend said," I'm sure she's poisoning me, I'm just sure of it." The Rabbi said," Let me talk to her." A couple days later the Rabbi called my friend and said, " I talked to your wife on the phone. In fact I talked to her for three hours. Do you want my advice?" "Of course I want your advice," my friend answered.

"Take the poison," the Rabbi said.

Whew…Rita missed my Galveston projects, Browns Won again.

Thank God, Rita missed Galveston, Texas where one eight story Holiday Inn hotel I built as a General Contractor sits on the infamous 17ft by 10 mile long seawall. Next door to the San Luis Hotel that FEMA used as command headquarters. “You’re doing a heck of a job, Brownie.”

Cleveland Browns quarterback Trent Dilfer and Coach Romeo are doing a heck of a job. The Browns are looking like a real football team for a change. The only bush league remnants are the stupid selfish taunting penalties and the dumb penalties on kick returns. The first time I heard Romeo’s comment about “Hand the ball to the official, look like you’ve been there before.” was from Paul Brown during a game against the Giants in 1959, that’s 46 years ago. I hope Braylon Edwards isn’t watching Randy Moss and Terrell Owens obnoxious marketing antics, but I think he may be, having already hired a personal marketing firm.

Romeo’s attitude is what it needs to be for the Browns to climb out of footballs purgatory but he is going to have his hands full. Without personal player self discipline you cannot win consistently. If you are thinking of all the things you need to be thinking about to win consistently you don’t have any time to show your ass our trash talk with opponents.

I was never thrown out of a game in my life. You can’t win if you are not in the game. I only got one score called back in my career because of a selfish or any other type penalty I committed. Bill Glass intercepted a Sonny Jurgenson pass against the Eagles and as he started to run it back I tried to clothes line Tommy McDonald’s head off. I got Tommy a tremendous lick but it wasn’t worth having Bill Glass’s only NFL touchdown called back. I still feel guilty about it; not the clothes line lick on McDonald but getting Bill’s TD called back was terrible. Bill Glass said he forgave me, so we must have won the game, and after all he is an ordained minister.

I was wrong when I said in my September 22, 2005 Blog that the Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney would sack Dilfer four times he only got to Dilfer twice, but the Colts did sack him four times. I was wrong also because I said Freeney would force Dilfer to throw interception(s) but he didn’t. Dilfer and the Browns can count that 13-6 loss to the Colts as a major victory on their way back up the mountain.

Overall Dilfer is having a terrific season and hope it continues but the best is yet to come. When Charlie Frye is forced into action the new Browns Era will begin.

The Florida Gators will get so much pressure on QB Chris Leak that Alabama will give Coach Urban Meyer his first real welcome to the SEC. Leak doesn’t handle pass rush pressure well and the sideways option offense will get blitzed out of sync. If Alabama is smart they will assign a linebacker to spy for Leak on the option and pound him whether he has the ball or not every time Leak runs it. Leak threw very well the first half against Kentucky. But when called back into action in the second half after the Gators second team showed the Gators have no depth and were getting romped on by Kentucky 21-0 Leak couldn’t get it together again. Seems a lack of toughness, I think Alabama will stop the option and win this one.