I’d like to key you in on two topics:
*THE KEY IS CONSISTENCY: The Browns got giddy when they played well – in the opinion of many, even controlled – their practices against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Tuesday and Wednesday. It appeared to be a definite step forward for a club that is trying to get back on track.
To be sure, the Bucs are not a great team. They’re not going to make anyone forget another Florida team, the 1972 Miami Dolphins. But they’re still an NFL club, and they have some good players.
Then came Friday night’s preseason game between the teams at Raymond James Stadium. This time, it was the Bucs who controlled it from start to finish, rolling to a 27-3 lead in the first half when the starters on both sides were playing en route to winning 30-13 in front of a national TV audience.
As they say, he who laughs last, laughs best. Advantage: Tampa Bay.
Sports, like life, are all about consistency, especially at the pro level. It’s not about being good one time or two times or even three times in a row. It’s about being good a lot of times – in fact, most every time. You can’t be a shooting star, rising quickly and majestically only to flame out in the next instant. Anyone can do that.
The good players are consistent. The good teams are consistent.
The not-so-great players and the not-so-great teams are consistency inconsistent.
Browns head coach Hue Jackson and his assistant coaches know that. So do the veteran players such as Joe Thomas, Robert Griffin III and Joe Haden. Now the many young, inexperienced players on the roster need to learn it as well.
In the meantime, instead of the Browns celebrating when they have two consecutive good days of work, they need to put it behind them and focus on getting the third one. It’s one of the keys in building a winner.
Plus it’s a much better – and much more mature – look.
*PUNTER ANDY LEE IS THE KEY: Jackson did not like it – and understandably so – when Lee failed to run after Adam Humphries as he was returning his punt 73 yards for a touchdown late in the first quarter. The coach said that was unacceptable.
Jackson told Lee that when he’s on the field, he’s a player and has to be part of all phases of the game, even tackling. Lee got the message and made a tackle on a return later in the game.
But there’s more – a lot more – to it than that. What is also unacceptable is that year in and year out since he was hired by the Browns in 2011, coordinator Chris Tabor’s special teams have been absolutely horrible. By the looks of things through three preseason games, there will be more of the same this year.
The Browns aren’t good enough on offense and defense to have terrible special teams. They need their special teams to make up for the shortcomings elsewhere. Instead, Tabor’s guys exacerbate those shortcomings.
Not good. Not good at all.
Lee is – by far, it isn’t even close – the best special teams player the Browns have. In his first season with the Browns in 2015, he had a 46.74 yards-per-punt average, breaking the 46.69 mark of Gary Collins set 50 years earlier.
As bad as the Browns special teams are with Lee, they’d be a whole heckuva lot worse without him.
With that in mind, then, does Jackson really, truly want Lee trying to make a tackle in a preseason game and perhaps suffering a season-ending injury, such as what happened when kicker Matt Bahr broke his leg while making a touchdown-saving tackle against Pittsburgh in a game the Browns eventually won in overtime in 1986?
I don’t think so.
Rather than coming down hard on Lee, Jackson would be better served by coming down hard on Tabor for his guys allowing a returner to go nearly three-quarters the length of the field for a score that turned the game around in Tampa Bay’s favor.
