Browns Reactions

What’s Being Said And What I Think

Just a couple follow up thoughts on the Browns. I’m going to the Ohio State basketball game tonight and then will be watching the Cavs first game tonight, so I wanted to make sure to post something on here today.

First things first, lets look at some power rankings. On his Hashmarks blog, ESPN writer Matt Mosley has his latest power rankings up. For those who aren’t familiar with Mr. Mosley, he writes the Hashmarks blog, which is supposed to be an entire league-wide blog about all 32 teams, similar to what Henry Abbott has done with his TrueHoop blog at ESPN. However, Mosley’s blog is primarily about the Dallas Cowboys as he seems to struggle getting away from the work he used to do covering the ‘Boys. Look, I understand that he’s going to have more contacts with the Cowboys than any other team, but he’s also being paid (presumably) to discuss what’s going on with all 32 teams in the league. I can’t remember the last time he had anything useful to say about the Browns or any other similar middle of the road teams. Furthermore, his initial power rankings had the Browns at #32. That’s right, he thought the Browns were going to be the worst team in the NFL. Not so much, Mr. Mosley. But in all honesty, that’s ok. His blog does have some interesting topics every now and then, and I still check it out on a daily basis. Anyway, in his latest power rankings, he now has the Browns all the way up to #12. In the words of Braylon Edwards, “whoop-de-doo”. I post these power rankings because I find them interesting to gauge what the analysts think of the team, but really, all I’m looking for in this team is steady improvement, and so far they’ve been more than delivering on that.

ESPN’s Power Rankings are similar to Mosley’s, with the Browns coming in at #13, up 6 spots from last week, and just one spot below our week 9 opponents, the Seattle Seahawks. According to Mike McAllister,

“The Browns’ last two wins have come against the league’s two winless teams, but who cares? It’s the first time since 2003 that Cleveland has won two straight games. At 4-3, the Browns are over .500 for the first time in Romeo Crennel’s tenure.”

Also, Yahoo’s Power Rankings are in this week. Jason Cole and Charles Robinson once again look favorably on our team, with Cole putting them at #9 and Robinson putting them at #10. Said Robinson of the team,

“No offense to Randy Moss, but Cleveland’s Braylon Edwards might be the best deep receiver in football right now.”

That’s incredibly high praise for Braylon. I’m not sure I agree, I still think Randy Moss (when he wants to be) is the greatest WR in the world, and maybe of all time (with all due respect to Jerry Rice, compare their numbers for their first 5 seasons….Moss stacks up to Rice better than you think). Regardless, lets not argue semantics. The point is what’s important, and the point is that Braylon has stepped out of his shell in a big time way this season. He is simply a force of nature that teams must respect and be accountable for, which only makes the rest of our offense flow that much better. To this point, Chris Mortensen tackled a similar question in his chat today,

Tim (Cleveland): Everyone in Cleveland is talking about Derek Anderson. I know he’s been good, but I think the real success has been coming from the respect defenses show for Jamal Lewis. Do you agree?

Chris Mortensen: No, teams are worried about Anderson, Edwards and Winslow, then Lewis. The O-line also is protecting exteremly well – LT Joe Thomas really does deserve mention with Adrian Peterson as the rookie of the year.

And that’s exactly the point I was trying to make. It’s a trickle down effect….Joe Thomas and Eric Steinbach make life easier for DA, and K2 makes life easier for the WRs, and Braylon makes life easier for everyone. That’s the definition of an offense running on all cylinders. Lets hope this momentum carries us through to a Week 9 victory vs Seattle. Check back later this week for my preview of that game.