Is It Over Yet?

 

The Browns have moved into their classic December "unwatchable piece of shit" phase, that part of the Browns season where the team ceases to even appear to be a professional organization.  It's unreal when you think about it.  There are tens of thousands of people that willingly give the team money for season tickets knowing deep in their hearts that they are buying at least three home games that will be utterly meaningless after the team is mired in a 2-8 hole.  In the last 30 years there have been four (4) seasons where games were played in December that counted for anything.  People ran out and bought PSLs for this team as if this was valuable real estate when it turned out that they were buying a leaning house with a leaky foundation next to a porno theater.  

What is there to say?  Winston is still fun.  Sure, he tossed three picks but what's the difference?  I maintain that it's still better than Watson getting sacked or tossing a dump off at the tight end's feet.  Like it or not, he is the franchise record holder for most passing yards in one game.  That's my guy.  Throwing DTR into the game wasn't going to turn things around because A) he's not very good and B) the offensive line was getting destroyed out there.  Winston can throw 9 INTs for all I care.  At least he's pushing the ball down the field.  It's almost impossible to win a game that way, but again, the Browns aren't going to win regardless, so who gives a fuck?    

You do have to hand it to Winston for singlehandedly reviving Jerry Jeudy's career and helping Berry not look like a dope for giving up a second round pick to bring him in.  Jeudy was the only legit receiving threat on the Browns on Sunday.  However, I think we can all say that the Elijah Moore experiment has been a failure and it is time to move on.  His yards per catch are down for the fourth consecutive year despite playing with a guy willing to chuck it around.  I have no clue why the Browns coaches keep trying to run jet sweeps and little isolation plays with him as he appears to have no ability to run away from or around anybody.  They gave up a second round pick for a guy that has delivered three touchdowns in two years.  Ouch.  

Chubb breaks his foot.  Myles almost lost his eye.  Things just didn't go very well out there.  You have to feel bad for Chubb who miraculously got back on the field this year.  He hasn't looked like the player he was, so maybe this injury getting him off the field will allow him to fully heal.  You'd love to see him come back to be at least 90% of the player he was prior to his 2023 injury.  Ford, despite his best run ever as a Brown, clearly isn't an every down back.  I think the Browns will sign Chubb to some incentive laden deal with a big chunk of signing bonus to make it work.  They obviously respect Chubb as a leader-by-example type and from a PR standpoint don't want to look like pricks by cutting him loose.  This is the Browns though, so anything can happen.

I liked how the team quietly sat Dustin Hopkins.  That dude must have the yips and missed everything in practice all week for them to have brought the practice squad guy up.  If they had been vindictive they would have cut him in Pittsburgh and made him take an Uber home.  It does feel like the team is in that "Whatever... Is this season over yet?  Let's just finish this thing" mode.   Cutting Kadarius Toney after that Pittsburgh game, now THAT was vindictive.  That was a full on "Get that fucking guy out of here" move.  I hope that Toney saved some money from his signing bonus as a first round pick with the Giants in 2021, because he is probably done in the NFL.  When your highlight reel is balls deflecting off your hands for INTs as a Chief and fumbling as a Brown, that's not a good look as a receiver.  Ah Kadarius, we hardly knew ye. Proche fumbling his first punt was a nice touch though.  Very Brownsy.  

The bad news for Browns fans is what is on the field now is basically what the Browns will be for the rest of this year and probably next.  There is no quick fix.  The offensive line has given up the most sacks in the league.  They can't reliably run the ball.  They don't have a quarterback.  The defense is so-so at best.  Following the team is a complete waste of time, but it's sort of like a poker game where you've tossed so much into the pot you have to see the damn thing through.  I don't really care at all about the last remaining games, and it doesn't seem like anyone else does either.  When people talk about "the rich tradition of the Cleveland Browns", that "this team sucks why am I watching this?" feeling towards the end of the season must be what they are talking about.  You're 3-11.  There are no answers for the dozens of problems.  The coaching staff and front office may or may not be here.  The team is facing yet another "rebuild".  It's the same old shit with these guys over and over and over.  Is it over yet? 

Go Browns.