SIMPLY NOT ENOUGH OFFENSE

By STEVE KING

Here’s where I’m at as the Browns get ready to play the New Orleans Saints on Sunday at the Superdome: How can they possibly score enough points to keep up?

The Browns scored just 21 points last Sunday while playing to a tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers after forcing six turnovers. Pittsburgh tried to give the game to the Browns, and they couldn’t take advantage of it. New Orleans won’t do that. Its offense is too good. The Browns will have to manufacture their own points. Do you really think they will do it? Or that they even can do it?

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I don’t. I just don’t.

The Cleveland defense is good. It is really good. What you saw against Pittsburgh was not a mirage. It was a sign of things to come. OK, so the Browns won’t force all those turnovers again, but they will force their share.

So, then, the defense will do its part – and then some — to contribute to a win over the Saints. But the offense won’t do its part – simply not enough offense.

Oh, sure the Browns will be better offensively against New Orleans than they were against Pittsburgh, but they won’t be that much better – and they certainly won’t improve enough to keep pace with Drew Brees and Co.

I just don’t see it.

And on special teams? The Browns were also awful in that regard against Pittsburgh, so that part of the team will be of no help – even it those guys get a little better, which they should.

Does all this sound familiar?

It should.

For way too any seasons during the expansion era, the Browns have done enough – or more than enough – on offense to win games. But their defense didn’t, and so the team lost. And in the years since Phil Dawson was allowed to walk and Josh Cribbs had to retire, the special teams have been no help, either.

You can’t win that way in the NFL. It is an offensive game now, and the Browns offense is offensive.

TELL-THE-TRUTH TODD HALEY  

I have to be honest with regard to first-year Browns offensive coordinator Todd Haley in that I definitely did not like his performance in his Cleveland debut, the 21-21 tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday.

But I am confident – no, make that, I am sure – that he will improve dramatically – and the offense will improve some — over the coming weeks. It’s not going to come all at once like everybody wants it to, but it will come sooner rather than later.

What I have liked, though, right from the get-go is Haley’s frankness. He cuts through all the junk and coach-speak and gets right to the truth – at least the way he honestly sees it. And that’s all you can ask.

Too many coaches say a lot of words, but they don’t have any meat to them. It’s just gobbledygook.

Haley was at his best when he met wit the media on Thursday as the Browns continued to get ready for their road debut against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

Right off the bat, he was asked about Josh Gordon starting against Pittsburgh even though head coach Hue Jackson said emphatically that that the wide receiver would not do so. His answer:

“With the job that we are trying to get done here – no disrespect, I know that you have a job to do – but it is a silly question to me. We are now trying to get ready to play the New Orleans Saints, going into a lion’s den type of place down there. They are coming off of a loss. We are coming off of a tie, which is just as bad as [a loss]. It is a big, big game. We as an offense, the whole starter thing to me is comical because we have so many different personnel packages play in and play out that any one of our 22-25 guys could be starting on any play. We are going to continue to play the guys that on each particular play give us the best chance to succeed.”

Thank goodness he said that. For crying out loud, can we please move on from that? In the big picture, it is a complete non-story, especially by now. This team is 0-17-1 over its past 18 games and some media members are focusing on who was in for the first play? Really?

Come on, people! See the big picture here.

Haley was also asked on how the dynamics of the game went with Jackson, who transferred his play-calling duties to the coordinator. His answer was short, but extremely interesting, and telling.

“We did not win,” Haley said. “We had a chance to win. From a sideline aspect, I thought everything was fairly smooth.”

“Fairly” well? Not “very” well. Hmmm. Suffice to say after that comment, things are not smooth yet with those two men, and – who knows? – they might never be.

If the Browns struggle too much at the start of the season, that relationship will become a moot point because Jackson will get fired and Haley will be promoted to replace him. Then we’ll get to hear what Haley thinks a whole lot more.