We’ve been through this already, but we’ll repeat it: The Browns are a professional football team, and the performance they turned in on Sunday in their 31-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium was not of professional caliber in any way, shape or form.
It was dreadful.
Pitiful.
Embarrassing.
Putrid.
Horrible.
Sickening.
Distasteful.
Whatever you want to call it, it was totally and completely unacceptable.
So now the Browns are 0-7 as they near the halfway point of the season. They have any number of injury situations, including at quarterback, and as such they have no idea who their starter will be when they host the New York Jets on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Browns are honoring their 1986 team at the game. Perhaps somebody at Browns Headquarters ought to place a call to Bernie Kosar and ask him to bring his cleats with him, just in case.
Ah, we’re just joking – kind of, sort of.
Thank goodness for the Indians and Cavaliers.
In these darkest of the dark times, is there – can there possibly be — any good news at all concerning the Browns?
Yes, as a matter of fact, there is.
It involves left tackle Joe Thomas, one of the best the Browns – current franchise, original franchise, any franchise – in history. The 10th-year pro is a sure-fire Pro Football Hall of Famer someday, and because of his value to a contending team that needs that kind of talent protecting its quarterback’s blind side, just about everybody – including me – has been resigned to the likelihood that he would be traded sometime this year.
After all, the Browns probably aren’t going to be just decent, let alone good, for another two or three years, and Thomas could be nearing the end of his career by then, if he’s not already retired. So by dealing him sometime over the next two months, the Browns could get a another high draft pick to help with their rebuilding project.
It would be a win-win, except for the fact that watching Thomas perform at such a high level is about the only thing the fans have to cling onto right now. To take that away would seem like cruel and unusual punishment, along with the strong possibility that it would be s public relations disaster.
Perhaps, though, Thomas isn’t going anywhere.
“We are not going to trade Joe Thomas,” Browns head coach Hue Jackson said flatly when asked at his press conference on Monday about trade rumors regarding the nine-time Pro Bowler. “Joe Thomas has a lot to do with what we are trying to accomplish here in our future.
“Like you said, there are a lot of reports, but that is just what they are.”
Jackson seems like an honest and truthful guy. In fact, his most memorable quote since being hired in January was, “Trust me.” He was talking about the quarterbacks then. But I think we also have to trust him in this situation.
Another first-round draft pick would sure be nice, but watching Joe Thomas finish his career in Cleveland – however much of it there is left – would be a whole lot nicer.
