A few thoughts on a few things about the Browns:
NOT OVER BY A LONG SHOT: The Browns didn’t give up completely on moving most of their training camp to Columbus. They just put it on hold for a little while.
What likely happened is that owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, recognizing the fans’ disgust over all the losing, which was boldly and publicly pronounced with the number of empty seats at FirstEnergy Stadium in late-season games, decided to wait a little bit and fortify their foothold in Northeast Ohio with more winning over the next couple of years. When that happens and the team is a hot item again, camp will be moved to Columbus.
Browns Headquarters in Berea is a terrible place to hold camp. It is far from being fan-friendly. The viewing area is small, cramped, mostly far from the action and with obstructed sightlines, and is like an oven on hot days since there’s no air moving because of all the two- and three-story houses bordering on the west and south sides.
So don’t worry, Columbus, because you’ll still get Browns training camp sometime soon.
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DRESSED TO IMPRESS: Perhaps because it is the thrill of knowing it’s going to a much broader audience, NFL and college head coaches always like talking to the national media members more than the local guys and as such tend to give them more, and better, stuff. It’s just the way it is, and has been, for a long, long time, whether the coach is the Browns’ Hue Jackson or someone else. With that in mind, then, I was interested to read what Albert Breer of sportsillustrated.com’s Monday Morning Quarterback (MMQB) wrote about the Browns a couple days ago:
“Sunday’s win over San Diego was as good a sign as any — both in the way the game was played and how the team reacted afterwards — that Hue Jackson was able to find a way to keep his young group engaged through the torture of an 0-14 start. And that’s a good sign for the future, especially considering that he and his staff have developed some young talent along the way. Among the young guys who’ve impressed coaches of late: defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah, tight end Seth DeValve, guard Spencer Drango, and running backs Duke Johnson and Isaiah Crowell.”
Breer didn’t come to that conclusion on his own. He got that last part straight from Jackson.
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RIGHT TACKLE IS THE RIGHT MOVE: As we’ve said here several times, Cam Erving is not a center, or even a guard. At 6-foot-5, he’s just too tall. Every center in the history of football has been short and squatty, for in playing against nose tackles, that’s what the position demands. Much of the same can be said for guard, But as we’ve mentioned before as well, he’s the perfect height to be a tackle, and it was a good move that the Browns have had practicing at right tackle this week. If the No. 19 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft is ever going to make it with the Browns, then it will be at right tackle. He’s not quick enough to be a left tackle. I’m anxious to see how he plays there.
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AND FINALLY: Would this year’s Browns, now 1-14 heading into their season finale on Pittsburgh on Sunday, have beaten the 2008 Detroit Lions, the only team since the regular-season schedule was expanded to 16 games in 1978 to go 0-16? Who knows? And who cares? Thankfully, the Browns, by virtue of their 20-17 win over San Diego last Sunday, don’t have to carry that negative baggage into the offseason.
