3-1 is a Pretty Good Preseason Record, But it Won't Matter a Bit September 8th

As much as I would love to be able say that the Cleveland Browns 3-1 record, and the Pittsburgh Steelers 0-4 record could just carry over into the regular season could just carry over into the regular season, it won't.  September 8th the games start counting for real, and there will be no more questions of how many quarters to play anyone.

The true question today is who is going to be on the Browns come tonight at 6pm.  All rosters are required to be cut to the final 53 spots and quite a lot could happen in a short period of time.  It is my belief that the Browns will be on the prowl for a free agent running back and possibly some help at offensive guard within the free agent ranks.

Today is probably the toughest day to be a pro football player because it is the day that your job might not be safe.  Best of luck to all deserving prospects on final cutdown day.

Wipe the Slate Clean, Preseason is Officially Over

The Browns finished off the preseason squeaking out an 18-16 win in the final preseason game.  While the outcome of this one really didn't matter, what did matter was the production of the guys that are fighting for those last precious roster spots.

With roster cuts due by Saturday afternoon, the most meaningless game of the season will be the last for potentially two dozen Browns players.  And what a bizarre game it was.  First, both kickers on the roster were hurt leaving kicking duties to punter Spencer Lanning.  This led the Browns to mostly go for two point conversions and not try field goals.  Yet in the end Lanning drilled a 40 yard field goal.  Secondly, Jason Campbell has the flu, so Brian Hoyer went the distance at Quarterback, which is almost unheard of in a preseason game, but I don't think we are going to sign another QB for the flu so we didn't have much choice.  Hoyer threw for a respectable 307 yards with a touchdown.  But he didn't get much help from Josh Gordon and David Nelson on a couple poorly thrown balls for interceptions.

But CBM's pick for the player of the night was Tori Gurley.  Gurley showed some flash with 3 catches for 56 yards.  At 6'4" with descent speed Gurley is a dark horse for a roster spot.  Particularly with David Nelson still showing some rust after missing a year with a torn ACL and Gordon's upcoming suspension.    

Trash the Opponent Thursday: The Chicago Bears

When the Cleveland Browns interviewed Marc Trestman for the head coaching job this offseason it was already a tough time.  I believe that Jimmy Haslam was so certain that Chip Kelly would take the job that I'm not sure that there was much thought to who else they may have to interview.

Once I heard that Trestman was a candidate I really thought that the job was going to be his.  His resume is actually quite good.  He was Bernie Kosar's quarterback coach in Miami, and spend a good bit of time running offenses all over the NFL.  This includes a stint with the Browns where he was reunited with Kosar.  He is best known for his work with quarterbacks, and with Brandon Weeden still learning his trade as a pro I thought Trestman was the type of coach the Browns were looking for.

The issue is that Trestman has spent the past five seasons as the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes in the CFL.  When the word hit that the Browns were looking to the CFL for a coach the panic began to set in.  Although Trestman was also quite successful in his time north of the border as well.

All of Chicago's eyes will be on their new coach tonight as the preseason wraps up.  I wish Marc Trestman all the luck in the world... just not tonight.  Lets hope we can feel good about passing on him.

Owen Marecic Majored in Biology at Stanford, I Hope He Still Remembers What He Learned

Yesterday the sad tale that was Owen Marecic's Cleveland Browns career came to an end.  Marecic was drafted in the 4th round of the 2010 NFL draft, in hopes that he could become a versatile threat at fullback in Pat Shurmur's west coast offense.  Instead he may have had one of the most comical careers in NFL history.

He almost instantly struggled in the NFL game.  He was a below average blocker for a fullback, but he was picked up to be a viable option in the passing game which also wasn't going well.  Hoping that a year under his belt would help his game, Marecic was targeted 4 times early in the season only to drop each and every pass.  Soon tight end Alex Smith was placed at fullback just to keep Marecic off the field.  Marecic's lone highlight of the 2013 preseason came when he made a diving (more like flopping) catch, and then took about four minutes to realize that he was untouched and he could get up before being tackled well short of a first down.

Owen may be a nice kid, but here at Cleveland Browns Memes we don't have to be nice.  We haven't been this relieved to see a player leave this team since that Michigan piece of trash Braylon Edwards got shipped to football purgatory in New York.  Even so, at least Braylon caught a small percentage of passes that hit him in the hands.

It Has Been a Rough Week For Many of Our Old Friends

With rosters capped at 75 starting today at 4pm, and then 53 starting Saturday at 6pm it is becoming nervous time for many guys on the roster bubble for their respective teams.  It's already been a tough preseason for many of our old friends of the orange and brown.

Most notably was Sunday's release of Joshua Cribbs, the longtime Cleveland Brown kick returner by the Oakland Raiders.  I think the move shows how devalued the position of kick returner has become in today's NFL.

Colt McCoy also restructured his contract with the 49ers in order to either make his stock more appealing, or raise his trade value.  Mohammed Massaquoi was released by the Jaguars, then found himself where no football player wants to end up... the New York Jets.  And Peyton Hillis seems to be tumbling off the Buccaneer depth chart.  Perhaps Mr. Hillis should have actually tried to be a football player in 2011.    

Uh-Oh First Big Cut Day is Tomorrow

Well Tuesday at 4pm is the deadline for NFL teams to cut their rosters from 90 down to 75.  This marks the end of NFL dreams for many players doing their best to impress the coaching staffs.  With such a dismal performance by the Browns in the "Dress Rehearsal" game this past weekend, many players missed out on their last chances at playing time.

It's already been a rough weekend for some former Browns.  Most notably Joshua Cribbs was handed his walking papers by the Oakland Raiders, leaving his future in the league up in the air.  Also Colt McCoy was asked to take a paycut by the San Francisco 49ers in order to save his roster spot.

Regardless it will be a bad weekend for many young aspiring pro football players .

If This Was a Dress Rehearsal For a Play, It Would Be Cancelled: Colts 27 - Browns 6

The NFL Preseason is one of those terrible things that lingers for a long, agonizing month.  Usually by the third game of the preseason all hopes and dreams of a miracle Cleveland Browns run has been all but dashed.  But this team really showed a lot of promise in it's first two exhibitions, leaving Saturday night's game vs. the Colts an affair with some promise.

Instead the Browns came out in their dress rehearsal looking more like the Browns of last year.  Cleveland's defense looked over matched against the battery of Andrew Luck and Reggie Wayne.  Wayne who had 7 catches and over 70 yards in limited action, looked like he may have been invisible to Browns defenders.  It was certainly the first time that I have seen the Ray Horton defense out coached this preseason.

Unfortunately the offense wasn't any better.  After moving the ball in their opening drive, a Joe Thomas holding call stalled the drive.  After the stall it could not be restarted.  Browns starters played deep into the third quarter due to the fact that it couldn't keep itself on the field for more than three plays at a time.  Indy's defense was all over any attempts to throw the ball down the field.  Forcing the Browns into an offense that looked unfortunately familiar.

It's Gameday, I Bet Greg Little and Josh Gordon Will Be the First To Arrive

There hasn't been a ton of good news this week.  The news of the severity of some of the injuries sustained in the Lions game last week has been a big shadow on what was otherwise a glorious performance.

Then to add on to our troubles we find out that two of our wide receivers want to be added to the list of Kellen Winslow, Donte Stallworth, and Marcus Benard of guys who pretty much ended their time in Cleveland thanks to their motor vehicles.  Hopefully getting a little bad press can get these guys thinking better behind the wheel and they can resume focusing on becoming better football players and not better race car drivers.

Browns vs. Colts tonight at 7pm.  Expect starter all the way into the 2nd half tonight.  But it will the final time we get a significant look at the Browns 1st string until the regular season starts.

Jim Brown is Back in... Mike Holmgren Never Welcome Back

Mike Holmgren are bad words here in Cleveland.  That man is a horrible person, and what he did (or didn't do to be more accurate) to this franchise is appalling.  Three years of collecting a huge paycheck, to essentially hire his friends to do the job he was hired to do in the first place.

Cleveland legend Jim Brown was also a casualty of the Holmgren era of Browns football.  Brown was a long time consultant for the team, before Holmgren deemed his services no longer needed.  This created a rift that led to Brown actually not even attending his induction into the team's Ring of Honor.  After Holmgren's "resignation" Brown was asked to rejoin the team, and has been around ever since.

Trash the Opponent Thursday: The Indianapolis Colts

The Cleveland Browns will face off against the Indianapolis Colts this Saturday at 7:00pm.  This is the third preseason game, so this is the one that is being hailed at the "dress rehearsal."  This is considered the most important of the preseason matchups due to the large number of snaps that each of the first stringers will see.  Most of the veterans will be likely shut down until the regular season after tonight.

To me this is the game that if the Browns look solid in, will really raise my opinion of what to expect this season.  While I know that preseason isn't a great barometer for what to expect, it is nice to have seen the Browns first stringers outplay other team's first units so far.  Which brings me to the Colts.

While I have been pleasantly surprised that I haven't had to be very mean to my beloved Browns, it just makes it worse.  As on Thursdays I plan on having a bit of fun at our opponent's expense.  Today's target will be these Colts.

First off the Colts are coming off a 11-5 season, in which they were actually significantly outscored.  This has never happened before in the NFL.  What that stat means is that they never beat anyone convincingly last season.  And what do you need to win close games in the NFL?  You guessed it a little bit of Luck, which happens to be the name of their quarterback.

Andrew Luck was likely the most touted quarterback to come out of college since Peyton Manning.  For nearly three years NFL scouts have been salivating for this kid to make it to the pros.  Luck really had a lot of Luck in his first year, finding ways to squeak by opponents.  But eventually winning ugly goes away and in my opinion I think the 11 win season of a year ago was a bit of a fluke.  But after seeing Andrew Luck's first touchdown in week two of this preseason I can see that Luck is contagious.  I hope it runs out on Saturday.      

The Official Radio Home For Browns Football is Going to More National Programming

I heard sad news yesterday that WKNR had fired three of their on air personalities. The moves were made in order to allow for more national ESPN sports coverage.  Recently WKNR became the official radio home for Browns football, but anyone who knows anything about ESPN's coverage of football knows that it doesn't include the Cleveland Browns.  Generally now they only tend to focus on the New York Jets, and a certain third string QB that gets more press than about 2/3 of the teams in the league.  

T.J. Zuppe, Will Burge, and Kenny Roda were all surprised with walking papers yesterday.  All three were active in WKNR's rotation of on air personalities.  The most shocking was Roda, who has over two decades of service with the channel.  Good luck to all three of you and hopefully you will be back soon.

The Offense Doesn't Look Completely Inept, Like it Did Under Bill Belichick

In the days before Bill Belichick was considered the world's greatest living football coach, he was the coach of the Cleveland Browns.  Needless to say, his time in Cleveland hardly was a springboard for that current reputation.

Belichick's biggest issue in Cleveland was that he was a defensive minded coach, that was so concerned with not putting his defense in bad positions that he all but neutered his offensive units.  Lacking any type of creativity, or truly any care of what his offense was doing Belichick quickly became a villain in Cleveland.

The benchmark of his offense seemed to be, "Metcalf up the middle."  Which essentially meant if the first down would require a potentially intercepted forward pass, instead he sent his undersized running back Eric Metcalf slamming up the gut like a fullback.  It didn't work very often.

The worst part is the fact that Belichick is always credited with being innovative with utilizing the players he has.  A year after Metcalf got away from Belichick, he was converted to a wide receiver and had a 100 catch, 1000 yard season for the Atlanta Falcons.  Way to utilize that talent Bill.

Regardless the Browns offense picked up right where it left off with Belichick when the team returned in 1999, and has looked about the same since.  At least until this season, where the Brandon Weeden led first team offense has shown some spark.  Hopefully it will carry on, and the offense's "Curse of the Belichick" will finally end.  

Some Tough Injuries To Overcome

This week has been a busy one for the Cleveland Browns training staff.  The worst injury of the week belongs to RB Dion Lewis, who's broken leg suffered against the Lions required surgery.  With RB Monterio Hardesty having his knee scoped, Lewis was the front runner for the backup running back position.  His return is in question now for the entire season.

Another scary injury was suffered by first round draft pick Barkevious Mingo.  He suffered a bruised lung during a special teams play and spent a couple days in the hospital and looks to miss at least the rest of preseason with the injury.

TE Gary Barnidge suffered a shoulder injury, and G Jason Pinkston fell with a high ankle sprain.  Pinkston's injury is particularly troubling due to the fact that he was being penciled in as a starter due to an injury to the regular starter Shawn Lauvao.

Hopeful K Brandon Bogotay also suffered a minor groin injury, which is a bad sign due to the fact he himself has a big challenge in front of him to even make the final roster.

Hey Steelers Fan, The Cleveland Browns Have Won 8 Championships

If I had a nickle for everytime that some Steelers fan made a point to tell me about their majestic 6 championship rings I would be living it up on a private island somewhere.  I used to always retort with, "Well I miss the days of Bubby Brister and Mark Malone."  In most cases that would get me ridiculous stares and a quick, "Who's that."  This answer always amused me because no matter how diehard and dedicated most Steelers fans claim to be, most can't recall the prominent quarterbacks from the Steelers big lull in success in the late 80's and early 90's.  While not all Steelers fans fall under this category, most Steelers fans tend to be self absorbed front running douchebag fans that come out in droves when times are good.  But when times are tough are hard pressed to pay much attention.

Well it happened again, but this time I went somewhere completely different.  Although this Steelers fan understood his own teams history, he forgot a key components of the Browns history.  And that is that although it was before the game was called the Super Bowl it was simply called the NFL championship.  And the Browns won a lot of those, eight to be exact.  So I know many of the Steelers fans are simpleton mountain people, they still know 8 is bigger than 6 and it makes them mad.

Brandon Weeden Complimented on ESPN?

As a Browns fan it is extremely rare to hear the national media say anything about the Cleveland Browns.  Frankly the Browns haven't exactly played the role as exciting sports franchise.  However after two successful preseason starts under his belt several members of the ESPN football analysis team, including Mark Schlereth, has praised Weeden for his play.  Becoming the first quarterback not named Sanchez, Tebow, Manning, Griffin, or Brady to get a mention on the network.  

They Got Brandon Weeden Over His Flag Obsession

Brandon Weeden is off to a great start this preseason, but in his regular season debut aseason ago, things were a bit different.  It appeared that Weeden got lost underneath the giant field sized flag they use at Cleveland Browns Stadium.  However after further review it appears that Weeden may have been trying to wear the giant flag as an outfit.  The Browns responded by buying Weeden the getup that you see on the right, and you can see the happiness coming pouring from his face.

I Am Pretty Proud of Brandon Weeden

After two impressive showings within the new Rob Chudzinski / Norv Turner offense Brandon Weeden finally looks the part of a 1st round draft pick.  His improved play has received him praise from several national media outlets, getting called everything from "Preseason MVP" to "Legit Fantasy Option."  If it can last through the regular season we might finally have a fun football season in Cleveland.

Oh No the Browns Have Looked Good Twice Now

It's true though.  The Browns have outplayed both of their preseason opponents in nearly every facet of the game.  I guess it was the Rams and the Lions but still, this team looked head and shoulders better than both teams.  Browns fans are hungry, and there are some positive rumbles within the fan base that haven't existed here in a long, long time.

We Have a New Return Guy Who Looks Awesome

I really do like Josh Cribbs, and I hope that he gets his fantasy wish of being a highlighted member of an NFL offense.  I will admit for as hard as he could play the game at times I was getting frustrated with him towards the end of his time in Cleveland.  I won't get into the whole "Pay the Man" scenario, but I will say that the players who's return records he beat weren't extremely high on the pay scale in their time.  And his demands for a new contract came during an offseason where the kickoff line had moved up and the role of the kick returner was greatly diminished.

Travis Benjamin looks awesome as a punt returner, and I have a feeling that with the lack of kick returns in the league now I think we might easily forget about Joshua Cribbs.

Ndamukong Suh Isn't the Guy I Want To See This Preseason

In 2010 things were looking up.  Jake Delhomme looked like he may have some adequate passes left in him early in the preseason, then we went to Detroit.  Ndamukong Suh proved that just because he is well spoken and articulate off the field, doesn't mean he isn't a dirty piece of crap on it.  He spent his time on field successfully attempting to injure the new Browns starter.  Had Suh's display of filthy dirty football been done versus Tom Brady, Roger Goodell would have bypassed the fines and immediately called for Suh's execution.  But since it was the Browns they slapped Suh on the wrist, and we went about our business losing as usual.

All I have to say is that if Suh attempts any crap tonight I hope the Browns have good enough sense to make him pay.

Preseason is a Time For Injury

Reports are that Monterio Hardesty is getting beat up all over camp.  I heard that he hurt his thumb taking a direct snap, then now will have his knee scoped.  Look out Lions here comes Dion Lewis.

Jimmy Haslam Knows He Still Has His Players By the Balls

I don't care how much trouble Browns owner Jimmy Haslam may be in, he still has this entire team by the balls.  I'm sure after such a crappy year he has had a few wins would be kinda nice.

Trent Richardson is Rewriting the NFL Rule Book

It was bad enough the second the Browns restructured Josh Cribbs contract, and the NFL changed the rules on kickoffs, rendering Cribbs a useless lower tier wide receiver.  This offseason apparently the league found a new and fun way to screw the Cleveland Browns, by rendering everything Trent Richardson has done on a football field illegal.  Now apparantly the "T-Rich Rule" would have made the best highlight the Browns has all decade a penalty (does that sound familiar Turkey Jones?)

Joe Thomas: Hungry Man

Memes are supposed to be fun, but Joe Thomas is a hard guy to make fun of (if you don't count the porn stache I have on the header).  He's widely considered one of the best left tackles in all of football, and has been one of the few truly great draft pickups the Browns have made.  In addition to his great on the field play, he has also been considered one of the game's class acts off the field.  That is why some of the recent photos of Joe have me concerned, it appears he has developed the appetite for small children.

Barkavious Mingo is Faster Than Joe Flacco, Andy Dalton, and Ben Roethlisberger

I hope when he chases Joe Flacco around he has this exact face.

The Browns Knocking the Steelers From the Playoffs

Normally I don't like seeing players get injured.  But in this case it is that scumbag Ben Roethlisberger so I don't mind at all.

Bernie's Apology

I'm sorry Bernie Kosar spent a career being told he wasn't fast enough, his technique was flawed, and he wasn't a good enough athlete.  Ultimately Bill Belichick threw him away citing Bernie's "diminishing skills," for his departure.  Bernie doesn't owe anybody anything.

Frankly the Browns haven't given Bernie many opportunities to focus his ire onto our opponents since he began announcing preseason games.  However last Thursday Jeff Fisher's Rams looked far inferior to the Browns.  Bernie may have apologized, but he still thinks your receivers and your receiver coach sucks.  And he doesn't think very highly of Kellen Clemens.  And that you will have to deal with.