Some thoughts on the Browns from someone who should know
By STEVE KING
I’ll never forget standing next to Doug Dieken on the first day of the 2007 Browns rookie mini camp at team headquarters in Berea.
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Less than a week earlier, the Browns had used the No. 3 overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft to select a left tackle from Wisconsin named Joe Thomas.
Everybody on the sideline was, not surprisingly, watching Thomas.
I, along with all the other media types, were fixated on Thomas from the waist up. However, Dieken, a long-ago Browns left tackle who wore No. 73, was concentrating on the new No. 73 from the knees down– actually from the ankles down.
Dieken remained silent while all of the media people were chattering about this and that — a lot of nonsense, really, Finally, he spoke.
“This kid has good feet,” Dieken said, “I think he has a chance to make it.”
Yeah, Thomas has a chance to make it, all right, all the way into the Pro Football Hall of Fame someday. It’s a very good chance, in fact, and a lot of it is because of those good feet that made him quick and mobile. Dieken was the first one — the only one that day, and for a long time — to notice that and say it.
It taught me a lesson. I, and all the media types, think we know football, and we do, to some degree. But we don’t — nor will we ever know — even one percent as much as someone like Dieken, who played for the Browns for 14 seasons and is in his 33rd year as the color analyst on the Browns radio team. That’s a combined total of 47 years, easily making him the longest-tenured employee in Browns history..
So when Dieken talks, I shut up and listen because I know I’ll learn something, as I did that day.
I have another friend who, like Dieken, knows a lot of football — again, a whole lot more than me — after having coached it and played it at a high level. I’ve referenced him before on Browns Daily Dose. I won’t divulge anymore about him other than to say he’s a Northeast Ohio native and a lifelong Browns fan who keeps a close eye on his team, never missing a game. But he — I will call him Someone Who Should Know — is not a homer, for when the Browns need to be criticized, he isn’t afraid to lay the wood to them.
Anyway, I thought you might be interested in what he told me following the Browns’ 22-17 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium:
“The Browns are 7-3 and now in second place in the AFC North! They’re also in the mix for a playoff spot as a wild card. It’s a great time to be a Browns fan, except for the myopic that seems to forget the many years of pain, and recent torturous seasons, it took to get here. Cleveland fans are the best and the worst.
“I get that we are starved dogs, but when the kibble gets flowing, we want the whole bag of Purina dumped onto the floor to fill our gullets. I love quarterback Baker Mayfield and wish his play was cleaner. But, I argue he is the perfect quarterback for what the Browns are going through. He has shown he can handle the local and national criticism and stay focused. He has continued to develop despite the carousel of coaches and systems. I don’t think anyone else in his 2018 draft class could take what he is going through mentally. The Shanahan system, when done right, takes time to master. Head coach Kevin Stefanski is installing it the right way … methodically.
“Here’s a good one for perspective: Re-watch the Browns’ 1986 AFC divisional playoff game against the New York Jets and count how many throws quarterback Bernie Kosar missed, and how many he hit to put the team into position to win. Baker missed some on Sunday, and that seems to be the focus over the big-time throws he hit.”
Well said, again.
