WHICH ONE, BROWNS OR PITTSBURGH, WILL GET IT TOGETHER FIRST?
By STEVE KING
We all know what happened last Sunday to the Browns in their regular-season opener.
They got crushed by 30 big points, 43-13, by the Tennessee Titans, committing enough penalties to choke an elephant and completely falling apart in the second half.
A lot of the so-called “experts” had the Browns making the playoffs. If that is to happen, then the Browns are going to have to play about 200 percent better. They were pathetic – and that’s being extremely kind.
And the Pittsburgh Steelers had the same fate, also got crushed by 30 points, 33-3, by the defending Super champion New England Patriots on Sunday Night Football. And it wasn’t even that close. It was like watching the varsity against the junior varsity. No, make that the varsity against the seventh-grade team. It was indeed men against boys.
Some of the so-called “experts” have the Steelers making it to the AFC Championship Game. If that is to happen, then the Steelers are going to have to play about 200 percent better. They were pathetic – and that’s being extremely kind.
So, then, the Browns and Steelers, supposedly the two best teams in the North Division (the Baltimore Ravens beat the Miami Dolphins 59-10 in their opener, but I’m not beginning to even think of them in the same breath as Cleveland and Pittsburgh until they play a real NFL team and not one that belongs in NCAA Division III), are knee-deep in the same sewer. They have nowhere to go but up.
Understanding, that, then, which team – the Browns, who visit the 0-1 New York Jets on Monday night, or the Steelers, who host the 1-0 Seattle Seahawks on Sunday – will get their problems fixed first? Will both teams get them fixed? Or will neither one get them fixed?
We’ll find out.
But think about this: I still believe the Steelers are the team to beat in the division. They are the team the Browns are chasing. So if the Browns go into Monday night knowing the Steelers got it together and beat the Seahawks, then they had better get it together as well and beat the Jets if they want to get pace.
More BDD
FREDDIE COULD LEARN A LOT FROM TERRY
Some weeks back, just before his team began training camp, I wrote in this space that if Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens wanted to know how to be good at his new job, he would greatly benefit by getting to know Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona.
Yes, it is, of course, there are obviously significant differences between baseball and football, but at the same time, an NFL head coach, just like a major league manager, both deal in the handling of their players and getting the most out of them by putting them into situations in which they can be successful. It is, in a lot of ways, their most important job.
Considering that, then, as I pointed out, with there being so much crossover between the jobs in that respect, Kitchens, who has never previously been a head coach at any level, could indeed learn a lot from Francona, who is, in my opinion and that of a good deal of the so-called “experts,” the best manager in baseball.
Perhaps you agreed then with my contention, and now. Perhaps you didn’t, and don’t. But it at least deserves some consideration, especially with what’s going on with both teams, and men.
You saw the mess that was the Browns’ performance in their season-opening 43-13 beatdown at the hands of the Tennessee Titans last Sunday. The Titans are OK, but they’re certainly not a great team because they don’t have a great quarterback. Yet the Browns lost badly because they seemed completely ill-prepared to play, and also that they committed an obscene amount of penalties. It was, in short, a joke, and it has put the Browns – and Kitchen – behind the eight-ball with what could aptly be described as a must-win situation as they face the host New York Jets on Monday night.
At the same time, Francona has taken an Indians team beset by injuries to key personnel – former Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Corey Kluber has missed most of the season, and their best hitter, Jose Ramirez, is now out for the year – and kept it winning enough to stay in the playoff chase in the American League. Most teams would have collapsed under the weight of such issues. But the Indians didn’t, and that’s because of Francona.
Are you listening, Freddie?
