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.