This was originally going to be a preview story of sorts for the Browns’ preseason home opener against the Atlanta Falcons tonight at 8 at FirstEnergy Stadium.
We were going to point out the need for the Browns starters, especially those on offense, to play at least a half after having just a cameo in last Thursday night’s 17-11 loss to the Green Bay Packers in the exhibition opener. With all the question marks and new players, many of them rookies, the Browns definitely need to stay on the field a whole heckuva lot longer. The more work, the better.
We were also going to talk about new Falcons and former Browns center Alex Mack, and whether he was a great player during this time here, or just a good one. I think the latter is true, and thus I am thinking that, with the kind of money the Browns would have had to shell out to keep him, it was a better decision to let him go elsewhere in free agency in the offseason and instead use that salary cap room to address any number of holes on the roster.
And finally, we were going to talk about wide receiver Terrelle Pryor and how he just might end up being the Browns’ biggest offensive weapon, and also how he might be head coach Hue Jackson’s version of the adage used by his predecessor, Mike Pettine, of “play like a Brown.” Everybody wrote off Pryor when he came to the Browns last year and then again when he was brought back again this season. But perhaps everybody was wrong. Maybe a former Ohio State quarterback can, through a lot of determination and hard work, indeed turn himself into a productive pass-catcher for the Browns.
But those stories will all have to wait for another time, for the best news for the Browns heading into tonight’s game is that defensive back K’Waun Williams on Wednesday morning was suspended for two weeks and fined for what is being described by the club as “multiple violations of team rules.”
We’ve got nothing against Williams. In fact, we like him and think he can help the Browns this year based on what he’s done the last two seasons after being signed as an undrafted rookie following a tryout.
What we like is the fact that the Browns had the backbone and fortitude to give a player the NFL version of an adult timeout for misbehaving. It could have been anyone, but it just happened to be Williams. He’s being used as an example, and while that’ss bad for him it’s good for the Browns because it sends a stern and direct message that Jackson and Vice President of Football Operations Sashi Brown, with the full backing of owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, aren’t going to put up anymore with players disrespecting the team.
It doesn’t matter what Williams did. I couldn’t care less. That’s not the point. Rather, it is that the Browns are letting every player on the roster know that the club can go 3-13 with them, and it can go 3-13 without them. So if a player doesn’t want to be here, they will gladly show him the door.
No exceptions.
Too many times in the past, the Browns, because they had a knucklehead head coach in Pettine and a knucklehead general manager in Ray Farmer, coddled knucklehead players. Johnny Manziel, where are you?
No longer are they going to do that. You don’t need to be a choir boy to play for the Browns, but at the same time, you can’t take the integrity of the team and drag it through the mud without paying a stiff price. The Browns simply won’t stand for that anymore. Josh Gordon, are you paying attention here?
I applaud that move with a loud, raucous standing ovation, and Browns fans should do the same.
The Browns can’t be great unless they first have great discipline. Apparently, that discipline is now there for the first time in who knows how long.
So without playing a game or signing any players, but rather suspending and fining one, the Browns got significantly better – took a major step forward – in my eyes.
If only they do the same thing tonight against Atlanta.
