If You Build It…
September 11, 2008Jackson Can’t Capitalize, Still Winless
September 12, 2008Though the Browns are incredibly thin at wide receiver, cornerback and now the strong safety positions, fans of the Orange and Brown may want to give up on shouting out names like Ty Law or John Lynch. In an interview with WTAM, via James Walker, it appears Phil Savage is pulling his name out of the ring of possible acquirers of free agent talent.
“Quite honestly, we’re pretty much tapped out on our budget for this year,” Savage told WTAM. “There’s really not a lot of extra room to go grab another player, and at this point, there’s not a lot to pick from that’s on the street right now that’s going to come in and help you beat the Pittsburgh Steelers. That’s just not going to happen.”
While he has a point about getting a player geared up for the Steelers this week, I still disagree about the remainder of the season. We’re still under the salary cap, and are still in dire need of some defensive help. The entire world new what was going to happen in the fourth quarter against the Cowboys, and not even a 12th or 13th man would have helped bring the opposing yards per carry below four.
If Savage plans on using the lack of money as an excuse for this season, you have to wonder if there will be much of a backlash given the coin he tossed in the way of Derek Anderson given an ample back-up in Brady Quinn. While I do believe that Anderson is the better of the two, it is similar to our two-catcher situation with the Indians. You love to have two sources of production, but if only one can play, you have to capitalize on assets.
If Willie Parker puts up 250 and two scores, or Santonio Holmes torches Eric Wright for triple-digits, it could get really ugly, really fast. At least we have Baltimore and Cincinnati to look forward to…
(Update: Not to pile on, but the team’s site is listing Stallworth as likely out for this week’s game)
No help coming for Cleveland [ESPN]
11 Comments
2 months ago, if Savage told me I wouldn’t get hurt jumping off a cliff, I’d do it. I’m starting to wonder what’s going on with this team. I realize injuries happen, but haven’t they been taken in stride?
I guess the mad genius in New England has a reason for having a bag of footballs as Tom Brady’s backup QB. Who can waste that kind of money on a guy who isn’t going to get to play?
Tom Brady got hurt? The bag of footballs has to take snaps? Uh oh.
I just don’t know what to say. I have been in favor of almost every move Savage has made so far. Sometimes you make moves and they just don’t work out.
Still, I think the Browns are better off for making the Shaun Rogers deal. Plus, as long as Romeo Crennel is around to be blamed, I will go that route first. 🙂
Not to mention the lack of team depth we lost by giving up the 1st round pick for Brady. I’ve said it as long as I’ve been writing for both this site and my first site, you can’t throw away a 1st round pick on a backup QB. You have to make a decision and go with it, and I was sorely disappointed with the decision to lock up Anderson to a 3 year deal this year.
I love Phil Savage and I think he’s a great GM, but I also think he really messed this one up.
I agree with the idea that what we don’t need is some over-the-hill, overpaid band-aid for this season. I think signing Ty Law or even Lynch would be like milk on a hot day in San Diego–a bad choice. But I’m still not willing to give the front office a pass for not jumping on Foxworth, Manning Jr., O’Neal when we had the chance. The lack of depth is only made worse by absolutely gutless, plodding coaching by Romeo. I’ll say it again: if this team isn’t at least 2-2 at the bye, it’s time to say goodbye to playoff hopes–and maybe to Romey Smalls as well.
It’s a thin line between genius and fool, and Phil Savage is walking it.
As much as I disagree with some of the stuff these guys are and aren’t doing, you have to give them some slack in that they had no way of knowing that DA would be as good as he is and Brady would just end up being a really well paid back-up. As far as they, and all of us, knew at the time, they were drafting the qb that would take over later that year
I don’t care if the Browns went a lucky 10-6 last year. They didn’t make the playoffs, and they still suck. It was the worst thing EVER that they went 10-6 last year because everyone thought we were sitting pretty on candy mountain. Guess what…Browns still suck like they have every year since the return. I hate to sound so negative, but I just CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!
(And yes I watch and root my rear end off for the Browns each and every game, but this is getting to be a joke.)
I am not ready to jump off either the P. Savage nor the Browns playoff hopes bandwagons. Savage is right, none of the available DB’s will really help us for the price they want. If any of these available corners were starting material they just wouldnt be available.
As for DA and BQ, face the facts. One or the other will be gone before the time that DA’s contract is up. Savage did well to hold onto Derek and Jamal. There were just too much that we needed to upgrade to get to where we need to be.
@Bambino: I will watch the newpapers for the next few days to see if a Browns fan jumped out of a window somewhere! 🙂
tapped on the budget? they’re still under the cap, in a year where you’re trying to make a play off run and you don’t maximize your cap then you’re not utilizing all of the resources you could be. Playoff runs are not the time to be stingy, so either Savage doesn’t think we’re heading to the playoffs or hes trying to compete on a budget (bad move).
@ B-bo, I think you’re dead on about the DB situation, they should’ve gone after some of the decent players that were available. Hell with Stallworth being out these first few pursuing Joe Horn for a min deal plus incentives may have been worth it just to have another experienced WR for the first few weeks.
Hoy
I argue with the Bambino so much that it should be my full time job. One thing that he and I agree on is that the Browns didn’t make the playoffs last season. Still, they are head and shoulders above about 40-50% of the other teams in the NFL. Without a bunch of injuries taking place, the Browns appear to be playing too many of the teams that outclass them.
But I won’t mail it in because the NFL is a funny thing. Cold teams get hot. Healthy teams get hurt. Hurt teams get healthy. I think the Browns team that played against Dallas last week was awful, but we have seen the other side of that team. We have seen the healthy version with Cribbs running back kicks. We have seen the not-so-rusty version of Braylon who doesn’t drop 4 passes and stop any kind of potential offensive momentum.
Seriously, if he catches three out of those four, we are talking about three more offensive drives that might not have resulted in punts. We would be talking about potential punches to Dallas’ jaw that might have broken their confidence a bit. Put a bit of pressure on Tony Romo on the scoreboard and he is likely to fumble the field goal snap!
You don’t have to be an optimist, but it isn’t totally forbidden with this team.
It’s not a black-or-white issue for me. The Browns went 10-6 last year, when arguably almost EVERYTHING went their way: few, if any, injuries of significance; easy schedule, things like Dawson’s kick in Baltimore, even. They could easily have been 7-9.
While it sucks to see this team’s lack of depth exposed, it is a fact of life in the NFL. I’m not ready to run the whole crew out of town on a rail (not a huge RAC fan, but still…) just because four starters on defense (assuming Holly would have been a starter) got hurt this year. Defense was the side of the ball with the most question marks, and then to throw those four injuries in just made it that much worse.
Like Donald Rumsfeld once famously said, “You got to war with the army you have, not the army you wish you had.” And, sadly, teams don’t feel sorry for you when you have guys injured. A 7-9 or 6-10 season is a distinct possibility this year, but with that does come some benefit: higher draft pick, softer 2009 schedule, less expectation.
Sorry, just trying to look at the glass as half-full, even though I know it’s not. 🙂
One thing we are seeing, I think, is the result of Cleveland team owners’ seeming love of first-timers. When you have a first time general manager, or coach, you have to be willing to let him to get through his own learning curve, no matter how much responsibility he supposedly had at his previous job, what a “genius” he is, how much his players “love him” and “want to win for him,” etc. Shapiro/Wedge, Ferry/Brown, Savage/Romeo, they all might be talented and have the right skill set for their new positions, but all are going to make mistakes early on. For GMs, think Shapiro and the Roberto Alomar deal/Matt Lawton signing. Ferry had the Donyell Marshall/Damon Jones damaging salary cap hits.
Savage is clearly bright, but seems really cocky (speaking of Donald Rumsfeld, some of his smirky responses to reporters’ questions have always reminded me of that guy). This year’s depth issues at DB appears to be one of his early professional lessons. He is going to justify everything by saying, “we couldn’t fix everything at once,” which is true. Still, I think a grizzled, more experienced GM would have handled this differently. Savage dealt a starting DB, knew Pool’s next concussion would force him to sit longer, knew a major defensive line acquisition had not played in a 3-4 defense, etc.
In the mean time, looks to me already that we’ll again have to WFNY, wait for Savage to get a little gray in his hair and hope he doesn’t split town when he fully knows what he’s doing. Not trying to be a pessimist, just a very patient realist.