NBA News: Cavaliers pick up Byron Scott option for 2013-14
October 24, 2012
Chargers vs. Browns – Reader Survey
October 25, 2012While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.
“Remember when there were fans who were upset that the Browns chose running back Trent Richardson over wide receiver Justin Blackmon in the first round of the 2012 draft. In fact, you might have been one of them. The Browns instead drafted Josh Gordon, a raw but talented receiver, in the second round of the supplemental draft. It looks like that was the right decision so far.
Gordon has been the NFL’s most explosive rookie receiver this season and has outplayed Blackmon through seven weeks. Gordon has 14 catches for 333 yards (23.8-yard average) and four touchdowns. Blackmon has 14 receptions for 126 yards (9.0-yard average) and no touchdowns.” [Hensley/AFC North Blog]
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“The entire befuddling sequence wasn’t appreciated by new Browns owner Jimmy Haslam. He was seen on television folding his legs in his suite and frowning in the video above. The two men exchanged texts Monday, but Shurmur was unaware of Haslam’s reaction. “I’d do that again. I think it worked out,” Shurmur said Monday of the punt.
There are so few times in football when fans and media truly are in position to say: “That’s a dumb move.” The coaches always have a massive advantage in information. But there is no reasonable way to explain Shurmur’s maddening reasoning.” [Rosenthall/NFL.com]
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“This is my third year here, and I spend the majority of my time in Cleveland. When I do go back to L.A., it’s normally right after the season for a couple of weeks. Then I come back and start getting prepared for the draft and the season. I love Cleveland. It’s a wonderful city, and the people are fantastic. Just like everywhere else, every city has a negative. Cleveland’s is the weather. But I’ve been dealing with that for years — I was in Jersey for five years — so it doesn’t bother me one bit.” [Grzegorek/Scene]
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A closer look at Sheldon Brown’s big sack and turnover. [Pokorny/Dawgs By Nature]
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Predictions on the Cavaliers’ season- “1. Kyrie Irving will be an All-Star. Easy prediction, right? It seems like Kyrie certainly has the skill set to become an All-Star at the NBA level, but the Eastern Conference point guard position is pretty stacked. Last season, Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo and Deron Williams all made the squad. I expect big years from both Rondo (now The Guy in Boston) and Williams (now caring for the first time in three years). And if Rose were healthy, I’m not so sure there’s spot on the roster for Irving. But with Rose recovering from ACL surgery, there should be enough room for Kyrie.
12. Austin Carr will have a new catchphrase. And it’ll be awful. I also predict that Fred McLeod will be the top Waiters Apologist. Every shot Waiters will miss will have “looked good as it left his hand” and Fred will have an excuse ready for every mistake. Which is fine, homer announcers are homer announcers. But still.” [Ben Cox/Fear the Sword]
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“So how do we create this buzz? To nobody’s surprise it begins and ends with winning more games and developing our biggest asset, Kyrie Irving. In the 2012 NBA nothing draws more interest, besides money, than having a player that other players envision themselves playing with. Kyrie turned everyone’s heads at the Team USA workouts to the point where people are penciling him in for the 2016 Olympics and are debating whether or not this kid is going to be an all star this year. Frankly, that question will be answered by the Cavs as a whole more so than Kyrie Irving individually. There’s little doubt in my mind he has All Star talent but we’ll need to be respectable record-wise for him to get the nod. Obviously Kyrie is going to be our catalyst when it comes to winning but the Cavs are going to need some other things to fall in line as well.” [Nagel/Stepien Rules]
21 Comments
not once does Hensely mention that Blackmon has Gabbert throwing to him instead of Weeden this year.
People complain (legitimately at times) about Weeden, but aren’t you glad we have him instead of Gabbert, Sanchez, Quinn/Cassel, etc.? I know I am.
85.6
82.5
Those are the only QB ratings above 80 by a Browns starting QB (who has started at least 8 games) since ’99.
Couch never did it.
Garcia never did it.
Kelly Holcomb is the first rating in 8 games.
Derek Anderson is the second one during his “magical” year.
So, yes, I can enjoy a rating of 83.4 if it continues (his QB rating after the week1 disaster).
Agree. This is such a “chicken/egg” and “cart/horse” statistic. It’s the same problem with saying that Saint Robert Griffin The Third, Merciful, Holy and Mighty, would be doing in Cleveland what he’s doing in Washington. And another reason that I am wary of raw statistics without context.
There is just no way to know how well Blackmon would be doing with Weeden throwing to him. For many reasons (not the least of which is the fact that they know each other – see Josh Cooper!), I would think that his stats would be better – but we’ll never know.
I was a big “draft Blackmon” guy, but all in all, I’m glad that we did what we did – even considering Richardson’s injuries. If Richardson plays as well over the long run as we have seen that he can, then Richardson + Gordon + Weeden is better than just Blackmon + Weeden.
Well, Weeden will never match Quinn’s pure dreaminess, but yes, you are right. I suppose. Even though, come to think of it, Weeden also didn’t grow up a Browns fan like Quinn did. That photo of little Brady Quinn in the Browns uniform was just so darn cute!
You know, on second thought, Brady, Brady, Brady!!!! Surely we can figure out a trade . . .
I’m not taking Quinn back unless we get Romeo, Daboll, and Hillis to come with him! all 4 are likely to be looking for work after this season anyway.
then, we can get Chud (likely to be fired from Carolina this year) back as well. maybe hire Savage away from Bama radio to be a lead scout, Butch from TB (senior advisor). not sure how we convince Seely to leave SF though it is HIS fault they didn’t make the SB last year (ST error falls on the coach, right?). and, of course, give Palmer another shot at HC and Kokinis a real shot at GM.
just bring every regime back to form one big dysfunctional family.
devil’s advocate: it “could” have been Blackmon + D.Martin + Weeden
(hard to know if Weeden lasts to #37, what we do with RT or if TB gets antsy knowing we need a RB and trades up though)
In that situation you’re grabbing D. Martin in the spot where we grabbed either Weeden or Schwartz correct, and then taking Weeden with the other pick? If we don’t think Schwartz lasts to the pick we used on John Hughes, then I think that should be factored into your thought process. Schwartz has looked very good, particularly for a rookie, and seems to have shored up a key position of perpetual failure for the Browns. So if it’s Richardson-Weeden-Schwartz-Gordon versus Blackmon-Martin-Weeden-Gordon… I would personally still take the former.
I was going to say what V_P just said, but he said it better.
(As for playing devil’s advocate, you really should be more selective with your clients. That billing arrangement can be hellish.)
the key is to never get into his debt. as long as he’s in mine, things are good (trying to build up enough credit to get a Browns’ Superbowl win, but the reward system is less effective than double miles from United).
Martin went before 37, so you have to use 22 on Martin. I also assume that we trade up from 37 using the ammo we gave Minnesota to make sure we don’t lose Weeden.
That means we are short at RT as I mentioned. Schwartz and Glenn are both proving to be solid 2nd round options, but we need to figure out a way to get one.
We can “sacrifice” a 2013 2nd round pick (the Gordon pick) to get Schwartz (along with the 3rd round pick). That still leaves us without Hughes (but we get Winn later). We think we are good to go on DT-rotations until Phil Taylor hurts himself and now we are panicking.
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amazing how well that draft + supplemental really ended up playing out for us. though Martin has been healthier/effective while T-Rich has not (though he’s proven he can score TDs)
How about Claiborne instead of Blackmon in the above example? A 2nd shutdown corner would have made a greater impact than Blackmon given that we now have Gordon.
To build up enough credit to get the Browns to the Super Bowl, I’m afraid that you might have to kill a lot of people – maybe even pursue a fascist dictatorship in order to get another holocaust of some sort going. And then to have them WIN the Super Bowl? I’m telling you, tread very carefully.
which we didn’t know at the time (Gordon being available). man, that would have made the comment sections “fun” (and the calls for overpaying on Gordon louder).
pure hindsight though, it would look pretty good.
Claiborne, Weeden, Schwartz, Gordon. Do we pass up Benjamin and get his teammate Lamar Miller instead? (personal favorite middle round RB from last draft – he’s in Miami backing up Reggie Bush right now)
how would you feel going into a season with B-Jax (coming off IR), Hardesty (coming off IR and injury risk in general) and a rookie middle-round RB? that might be our best real option, but it would not have been popular. which makes me like it more. well done 🙂
Agreed. I am a defense wins championships while offense sells tickets guy. Let’s just hope getting Rubin healthy and Taylor back helps us stop the run.
if that dictatorship is in Pittsburgh and/or Baltimore, then…
Good points. What’s funny to me is that I think most informed Browns fans (and I’m including myself there) do believe that we got better at a lot of positions due to our last draft (RB, QB, RT, DT, LB, and yes even WR), but that hasn’t resulted in winning games. I would say perception doesn’t match reality, but I just don’t believe that for whatever reason. I guess that’s why I’ve hopped on the “Blame Shurmur” bandwagon yesterday… seems like we’ve got a lot of talent, better than last year, so why can’t we win against a schedule that really hasn’t set up to be as difficult as originally thought?
honestly, the defense has let us down. either through injury, suspension, or just not playing well enough (really combo up all 3).
that with a sprinkling of rookie mistakes and such factors heavily into our current record.
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even noting that though, I will understand when we move on from this coaching staff. you need to find ways to win, and we are not doing it. that, and playing passive at the end of halves and games is something I truly hate.
i expect Haslam/Banner to put their mark on this team and I would be pretty shocked to see the coaching staff stay in place. again, Heckert has a better argument to stay, but Banner likely already knows if he wants to continue working with him or not.
This may be (*may be*) one of those defining moments in team history. Since ’99, until recently, we were saying things like “remember drafting Courtney Brown, Gerrard Warren, William Green, Jeff Faine, Winslow, Braylon, Wimbley…” etc. It always seems we should have drafted Player X over Player Y. Now it seems we may be on the flip side. Glad we got T-Rich instead of Blackmon. WAY too early to tell still, but it could be a draft where we look back and say that’s when it really turned around!
Quinn has got a Weeden Fathead in his bedroom.
on his ceiling, hey-o!