Welcome Back To Reality

 

The way I am choosing to view the rest of the Browns season is through the lens of "At least I don't hate the face of the franchise anymore".  Jameis is the ultimate high variance quarterback.  You can get 400 yards and 4 TDs.  You can also get 200 yards and three INTs.  Either way is more fun than Watson's combo of "125 yards, no TDs and having to wash yourself with a wire brush crying in the shower because you were cheering for him".  Today was "Bad Jameis" and the team was doomed.

The first half of this game was one of the most confounding I have seen for a long time.  They sacked Herbert five times, held the Chargers in check, but had complete breakdowns in coverage that led to the type of long touchdown plays you normally see in backyard football games.  I am looking forward to tomorrow's press conference where Stefanski does his normal move of saying "we need to clean that up" again suggesting he has no opinion on anything.  I often think about what it must be for his wife when she asks him, "Kevin, let's take the kids out for dinner.  Where should we go?  Maybe get some wings?" and then has to stand in her kitchen and absorb his answer of "You know Michelle, that's a great question and appreciate you asking it.  While I think the suggestion of wings is great, and it's certainly something we will consider moving forward, I know that we, as an organization will look at all options that are a good fit for our family.  Wings, certainly an option that is on our radar, is something we will consider but we don't want to close out the other choices out there.  I know that we, as an organization, will look at all of them as we decide the best path forward in the days ahead."

Look, what are you going to do?  This is a below average football team.  They are going to finish with 5-6 wins, fuck up their #1 pick next April, and bungle along just like they have since 1999.  If you are age 65 or over, it's time to make peace with the idea that you will NEVER see your hometown team win a Super Bowl.  Maybe if things get chippy after the election and we decide to burn the stadium down in some sort of purge, we'll have a shot.  The way it looks now is Cleveland is stuck with the Haslams and their vision of some kind of super shitty truck stop stadium complex by the airport where they run out teams that will win 35% of their games forever.

You want Chubb to be who he was, but he's not right now and rationally it's hard to think he will be again.  The receiving corps really sucks, especially Tillman who cannot hold onto a pass when he knows he is going to get popped.  This isn't a shot at Tillman on a personal sense in that I wouldn't want to hold onto that pass either, but in his chosen profession it's fairly important.  It's why you get $1.5M a year, to hold onto a touchdown pass.  There's a lotta dudes that can have a ball richochet off their face for $100,000 per Sunday.  I can do that.  Granted, I'd go to the hospital after that hit, but the result would have been the same.

The Browns season was over when they decided the start Watson in Week 1.  Today's resounding loss doesn't mean shit.  There is a half season to go, and hopefully we get Good Jameis next week.  If not, whatever... He's still better than Watson.  Are both Mayfield and Flacco ripping it up better than Watson?  Of course.  The good news is that the organization will incomprehensibly fuck up their #1 draft pick in April.  I'm not telling you anything you don't know.  The Browns are doomed because they are owned by dipshits making poor decisions being advised by fools.  It has been this way for as long as any of us can remember and will be forever thus.  Amen.  

I suppose the real question is if they go Full Fire Sale.  There are some pieces parts here to sell, and you can likely get a good haul for Myles.  The problem becomes why would an organization trade a known commodity for future potential when they have shown little ability to spot talent?  Tillman and Ika in 2023?  Second round picks for Jeudy and Moore?  Ultimately the doomed Watson Deal will be the legacy of this front office, despite it being Haslam's call.  It will still be The Worst Trade In Football History, which is tough to scrub off your resume.  They still have two years left on Watson's contract, so they're sort of "fucking fucked" as they say in the trade.

The Browns are on a bye week next week, which probably doesn't matter one way or the other.  They'll probably discuss if they should start DTR to "see what they've got".  News flash.  He's a backup at best.  If I'm the Browns I take a breath, figure out how to score some points with what they've got, and see if they can win 7 games this year.  You're a shit team in a shit year with a shit future.  Do the best you can and don't embarass yourselves.  That's all you've got.

Go Browns.