A little bit of this and a little bit of that as the Browns prepare to face the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday morning in London:
- Man Cave Decor on Amazon – Team signs, flags, framed prints, or “Best Dad” Browns wall plaques.
- Cleveland Browns Throw Blanket or Pillow on Amazon – Adds warmth and spirit to the couch.
Note: We are compensated for purchases made through links on this website. Thank you
TAKING ONE LAST SWING AT IT:?Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski swung and missed with his mishandling of Baker Mayfield, tossing a great player out the door like a bag of garbage.
Boy, wouldn’t he have looked great in a plain orange helmet in the years since, including now?
Strike one.
Stefanski swung and missed with his full participation in the misguided pursuit of, and the stubborn insistance to keep, and pay a king’s ransom to, Deshaun Watson, carrying out the worst acquisition in pro football history.
Strike two.
If Stefanski really is “The Quarterback Whisperer,” as he was alleged to be when he came to Cleveland in 2020, then he will nurture and develop rookie Dillon Gabriel, promoted to the starting job several days ago, into the franchise quarterback the club so desperately needs, and has searched so long and hard to find.
If he locates that man in Gabriel, or perhaps in the another rookie, Shadeur Sanders, which is certainly possible as well, then Stefanski could save his job. The Browns won’t come out and say it, but Stefanski is definitely on thin ice. It’s what happens when your record over the last 22 games is an abysmal 4-18.
But if the supposed QB guru also swings and misses on these two guys for strike three, then he will be out, literally and figuratively.
It’s up to Stefanski. We’ll see if he can fix it, or if he’s a fraud.
Before you think I’m jumping the gun with Stefanski and being a little too harsh, let me point out that, with his track record here, he would already be out of a job with every other NFL team.
SPEAKING OF JUMPING THE GUN: There are some in the local media who have stated that if Gabriel can spark the lousy offense enough to get a win over Minnesota, then it might allow the Browns to start on a little run. It could happen, sure, but I highly doubt it because the offensive line is putrid. It may play well here and there, but it won’t do so consistently. Let’s wait and see if they can string two wins in a row before we seriously entertain those kind of thoughts.
THEY SAW THIS COMING: I was going to write that Paul Brown would be amazed to see the team he founded 79 years ago playing a regular-season game in London. Then I got to thinking sbout it. Brown’s early Cleveland teams played preseason in a lot of out-of-the-way places, like Akron, Toledo and Buffalo, to grow the game, which is what these forays overseas are meant to do. Plus, two years before Brown died, in 1989, the Browns and Philadelphia Eagles practiced against each other in London and then met in a preseason game there. Regular-season games in foreign countries will grow dramatically in the years to come.
NOT CATCHING ON: Two former Browns greats, left tackle Dick Schafrath and outside linebacker Clay Mathews, are among the 52 players still alive after the Pro Football Hall of Fame trimmed its list of seniors category players from 162. That’s great, because both are worthy of induction. Schafrath blocked for three HOF runners in Jim Brown, Leroy Kelly and Bobby Mitchell, and protected the blind side of the most productive quarterback of the mid-1960s in Frank Ryan. Matthews was a three- down player — he could rush the passer, defend the run and handle pass coverage — and performed at a high level for 19 seasons, 16 of which were with the Browns. But one of Schafrath’s teammates, wide receiver Gary Collins, did not make the list, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why. He checks all the requisite boxes. He had a team-record 72 touchdown receptions in an era when defenders could mug pass-catchers in coverage. In the biggest game of his career, he caught three TD passes from Ryan to key a 27-0 win over the Baltimore Colts to win the NFL championship. In the following year’s title game, in 1965, he scored the team’s lone TD on another reception in a loss to the Green Bay Packers. What more could he — should he — have done?
AND FINALLY: There are those fans who are happy that the Browns are playing in the morning so they won’t feel compelled to sit inside the house and watch the game on what is supposed to be another warm, beautiful day in Northeast Ohio on Sunday. In the past, fans didn’t think twice about giving up the sunshine to watch the Browns. But losing has changed that somewhat. Only the Browns can change that — with winning.
READ NEXT: Huntington Bank Field and Stadium Overview
Recommended Gear
Note: We are compensated for purchases made through links on this website
