Today's Cleveland Sports Conversation - 10/18/2005

Here is today's sports conversation between your resident pundits. I started things off today.

According to an article today in the Plain Dealer, Browns coach Romeo Crennel hasn't ruled out a change at QB. If you read the quote more carefully, it pretty much says that Crennel doesn't care who has to be substituted from the lineup. He needs a better offensive performance. I don't think he really had a finger pointed at Trent Dilfer, but at the same time, anything is possible.

So, how do you feel about a change at QB this early in the season and this early in the career of Charlie Frye? I am sure many people will start pointing to the failures of Tim Couch when he was thrust into the action so quickly in his rookie season.

First of all, I think I would be happy to see Trent Dilfer continue to build up a momentum with this team. I think he is a solid enough QB that he could really help this team do some things despite his record over the last two weeks.

At the same time, I wouldn't be miserable to see Charlie Frye get some experience. And I don't think there are many similarities between this season and when Tim Couch got his face beat in during his rookie year.

Reuben Droughns is way better than Terry Kirby.
The offensive line is much better.
These receivers and tight ends are much better than the 1999 receivers.

So, while I think it is still hard for a rookie QB to come in and be successful, and while I know that this Browns team can't support a rookie QB the way that the Steelers supported Roethlisberger last year, but it might be good for Frye to get some experience handing the ball to Reuben Droughns and throwing slants to Northcutt.

I am still in the lets wait and give him a year to learn the offense and pick up the pace of the game mind set. Roethlisberger was never asked to win games for the Steelers last year, that is why he thrived in a low risk, low accountability system. The Browns run a similar system, but do rely on their QB to check off more, and make big throws. The Steelers o-line is also so accomplished and has such great cohesion that they can win games only throwing the ball 12 times. The Browns have a much better o-line than 99, but they have yet to develop a lot of cohesiveness as a unit. They also are still waiting for a clear cut option to emerge at running back. For these reasons they rely on their QB to stretch the field and make big throws in pressure situations.

I think Charlie Frye could probably do a decent job as the Browns starting QB, but why risk getting him injured, or hurting his confidence in a rebuilding season when we are not challenging for the division. Trent Dilfer on the other hand can teach Charlie Frye by example all the preparation and checks that a QB coach may not be able to show him. Also Dilfer is near the end of his career, so an injury like a torn ligament or broken bone would not set the Browns back years and years. However if Frye were to get the nod and be injured we could potentially be setting the maturation of our offense back 2-3 years. Maybe I am being like Kanish in Rounders here, but the smart play is not to gamble with what we don’t want to lose.

Fair enough. Like I said, I could go either way on that one.

Regardless of who is playing QB there needs to be better offensive play this week against Detroit. I think the key (and it was one of my keys that the Browns didn't listen to last week) is to really pound the ball and give the running backs at least 25 snaps. I think this team's offensive line is capable of helping the backs average 3-5 yards per carry and with each additional running play we increase the odds that one of these guys is going to break a big one.

Am I delusional, or do you also think that there is some serious potential in this running game that we might not be seeing due to a lack of commitment from the play calling?

Finally, do you think this defense can do anything to increase the pass rush? I am not dissatisfied with the defense as a whole. They aren't giving up huge points per game, but at the same time they aren't really forcing a bunch of turnovers either. One of the ways that this team could really put some points on the board is by turning some of those field goal drives into turnovers.

I think The Browns are a lot like Ohio State in the fact that they have talent on the line in the backfield and at wide out, they just don’t have a team identity yet to really hang their hat on. I think if we committed to getting Ruben Droughns 25-30 carries per game he would be a 1000 yard rusher this season. Instead we pound Droughns on 1st, try a short pass on 2nd down, and end up with hard to manage 3rd down situations were we are forced to throw down field. I think with our o-line we should make teams commit to stopping Droughns, and then go down field to D-Cutt, Bryant, and Braylon (when he recovers from his staph infection). I don’t know if we are impatient or if we get behind and need to start throwing, but the Browns need to commit to the run and then build a passing game off of it, not vice versa.

I am not sure what they can do to beef up the pass rush. I think they may need to gamble more with their OLB’s, or put their corners in more man to man situations while bringing heat up the middle. Either way they need to figure something out to get heat on the passer, because any quarterback with 15 seconds to throw will look like a perennial probowler...case and point Anthony Freaking Wright.

Mediocre teams can be really dangerous when they have a tenacious defense. I am not sure if the Browns by design can attack like they need to in order to cause turnovers and long yardage situations, while also staying in football games. I think this comes back to not having a team identity, if we are going to live and die by the blitz, then we should be bringing heat 75% of the time, if we are going to be a bend or don’t break unit, then we need to be able to come up with the big turnover when needed, and stay away from costly penalties that keep drives alive. Attacking usually means gambling in coverage, and frankly this group of DB’s may not be good enough for that just yet.