Cleveland Browns Game Five: Winners and Losers
October 4, 2013
Early thoughts on the 2014 Indians: WFNY Roundtable
October 4, 2013
The Cleveland Browns won their third in a row last night. I covered the recap already, but I had some more random thoughts coming out of the game.
Are we jerks? Cleveland Browns fans needed Brandon Weeden after Brian Hoyer got hurt and yet booed him onto the field last night. I can’t blame anyone for having that opinion of Weeden and his slower than slow decision-making ability, but I’d be lying if I said hearing the chorus of boos over my TV didn’t make me a bit embarrassed. I also didn’t boo Chris Perez when he was announced before the Wild Card game. I haven’t come to a conclusion yet. I’m honestly asking a question here.
The referees’ pink flags have got to go. I think I speak for all of us when I say we hate breast cancer. I’m also here to tell you that I’m aware of it and everything involving it thanks to the NFL’s pink October. When the referees have to change their flag color to pink, it’s gone too far. Last night when Joe Haden was flagged for pass interference in the end zone, I thought maybe the two players had accidentally dropped the pink towels that they had in their waistbands. Nope. Those were the officials’ flags that looked like the towels, shoes, gloves, and everything else that was emblazoned pink for awareness. Referee flags are supposed to stand out and look different for a reason. The awareness campaign has gone overboard. Give the refs their yellow flags back.
The Browns went Brown on Brown with their uniforms last night. There were a whole host of opinions available on the fashion choice. I rarely express an opinion on sports fashion because it really doesn’t matter that much to me. I have to admit that I was a fan of the Brown on Brown last night. USA Today on the other hand went all Buzzfeed on the topic to repeatedly hammer home the point that they didn’t like them. Seems to me that they just don’t like the brown color in the Browns’ normal uniform anyway. Thumbs up or thumbs down? Would you prefer just to see the white pants back with the Brown jerseys?
At least one silly commenter at the Buffalo News thinks it was no “couinsident.” And by that I think he meant “no coincidence” that Tashaun Gipson went low on E.J. Manuel after Brian Hoyer was knocked out of the game. I’m going to preface this by saying the Buffalo News commentariat was very smart and reasonable other than this one guy who I’m picking out.
“If you watched the browns d aftet thier qb went out cuz of his own doing they started going low at ejs knees every cjance they got I don’t thinl that’s a couinsident I think dirty couch told them to go ater his legs to purposly knock ej out that just a desperate team playing dirty footballssame on the browns carma will show it ugly face to tjem”
LOL.
Hope your weeks are finishing well and the weekend is looking good. Regardless of how they did it, the Browns won so you are free to enjoy your Sunday however you prefer. Weigh in on these topics in the comments if you feel like it.
(AP Photo/David Richard)
95 Comments
A dirty couch is coaching our players? We must investigate this further.
I’m a Browns fan but I can’t stand the majority of the Browns fans that attend games. Classless, clueless, and delusional. I was not happy about the Hoyer injury/Weeden insert, but he was the only QB available. I’m ok with booing poor play but he was just coming into the game. Boo INT’s, bad sacks, poor throws, etc. So to answer your question, YES!, browns fans are absolute JERKS!
are we jerks? yes. pretty bad to boo that early in the game despite how absolutely horrid he looked on his first drive.
pink flags – I disagree (sort of). Get rid of everything else pink that doesn’t match the uniforms and let the referees keep the pink flags. that way they still stand out and you get the ‘awareness’ point across without it being so annoying.
brown pants – need stripes. would look a ton better with some piping on the sides
I agree 100%. Weeden will be needed the rest of the season because of Hoyer’s ACL. We need to get used to it.
Yeah, the fans definitely went overboard with the booing… but, let’s be honest here, how many of you honestly thought after Weeden came in on those first two drives, overthrowing receivers and holding on to the ball for too damn long, thought we weren’t heading back to the first two games of the season? I can understand both sides, why people booed and why we should kinda feel bad in hindsight.
Agreed with the pink flags. I dunno, I’m happy we can promote awareness for issues and such, but the flags are too much. We get it. There’s enough pink already.
It’s ok to boo him when he makes bad plays (and there will be plenty of chances for that), but don’t boo him when he comes into the game.
Tim Couch: The Return
1) I was embarrassed too, but I also let out a long “ugggggggggggggggh” when I saw him come on the field. Everyone at the bar was clamoring for Campbell instead of Weeden, myself included.
2) Those are horrible. Not to mention you couldn’t differentiate them from the pink towels the players were wearing.
3) Brown on Brown looked AWESOME!
Jerks – I felt the same way.
Flags – Totally agree on this one too. If they want to make it different, do yellow with a pink ribbon or something. Or just make them yellow and have the refs unis be black and pink.
Unis- Agree with mgbode. Needs something like maybe old school browns socks. I am thinking this minus the helmet logo
http://www.fansedge.com/Cleveland_Browns_Footwear_And_Socks/Cleveland_Browns_Orange_Super_Tube_Socks
I always thought the brown uniforms made it harder for the defense to identify who has the ball during play action. So, from a fashion sense, I couldn’t care less, from a tactical sense, I think they should always wear the brown jerseys.
First time I saw one of those flags last night I definitely thought it was a faded challenge flag.
I was also embarrassed to be a Browns fan last night when the crowd was booing. It sucks that Hoyer got hurt and I hope he can come back sooner rather than later, but that is no reason to boo the injury replacement.
The truth is if it weren’t for Weeden we’d likely be looking at a loss this morning. Boo the guy if he is stinking up the joint, that’s fine. Booing him entering the game as an injury replacement is ridiculous. As much as I hate Steelers and Ravens fans this wouldn’t happen there.
No, I am ok with booing Weeden.
We pay a price to watch this team, and its horrible with that concrete block (in both terms of movement and decision making) in there waiting 10 seconds to stare a WR down.
I also cheered in the stands when Gipson wrecked EJ’s knee. Although, his shot was a clean hit, and EJ should have went out of bounds much sooner.
Kiko’s hit on Brian, from my vantage in the stands, looked like a 15 yarder.
Booing before he screws up is simply classless. Could care less about the pink flags. The turd pants are horrible. Need the classic, clean look of the white pants with the broen jerseys.
Also, never cheer for a Cleveland player getting hurt….Even if it’s Derek Anderception
Completely agree on the flags. Take ALL the pink out of everywhere else. It’s too much. I don’t get the point of all of it. Do they think there is that big of a female audience who aren’t aware of breast cancer that it’s necessary to have it (as perfectly worded by Craig) emblazoned on every accessory? Or do they think a conversation might happen like, “Hey honey? I am just noticing the pink all of the players are wearing? Apparently it’s for breast cancer. Have you ever heard of it before?”
Just the pink flags and nothing else is a perfect idea.
Also, LOVED the all Brown everything! Really hoping they bring back the all orange.
1. First of all, we need to be reminded of the obvious—not all fans are jerks. Some are, some aren’t. There were not 72,000 people booing Weedie when he came in. I don’t know how many, but I would guess probably way less than half.
But booing his terrible performance, as much as I dislike booing your own guys, is understandable.
2. Agree about the flags. Too much pink. We get it already.
3. That costume party last night was very unfortunate. If they really really really need to change our uniforms, go back to the orange pants and leave the rest alone.
I have no problem with fans (who are paying for tickets) to boo a player after he made terrible plays. Especially after seeing what Brian Hoyer brought to the table. Some might call it being a Jerk. I say it’s within your 2nd Amendment rights as a fan (which, by the way, is short for FANatic.)
Pink Zebras with yellow flags would have been better…or have the teams towels be striped with pink. Agree wholeheartedly that we need to see a distinct difference between what the players are wearing and what the refs are throwing.
LOVE the Brown on Brown. I’ve been hoping they’d go to this for years. I was not the least bit disappointed. As for what USA Today says about the uniforms, I could care less what they think. They can root for Buffalo for all I care (thank you Heckert for that little nugget that will never die with me around.)
I don’t begrudge how Buffalo fans (again, short for FANatic) feel in regards to the EJ Manuel hit. That being said, it was a clean hit. They have to deal with it just like we have to deal with having no Hoyer.
I really dislike the brown-on-brown look. Reminds me too much of the Ravens’ black-on-black unitard look. Keep the brown pants with the white jerseys. (And bring back some orange pants too)
I’d take a dirty couch over stupid Brian Daboll all day long.
It was Savage that made the Buffalo comment.
Boon: 2nd?
Otter: Forget it, he’s rolling.
It’s worth pointing out that the NFL makes far more money off of breast cancer awareness than does any breast cancer charity. This article was written during last year’s awareness month, and while I don’t know how credible the magazine is, the description of how it works makes a lot of sense. http://www.businessinsider.com/why-is-the-nfl-profitting-off-of-breast-cancer-2012-10
While I actually liked the Brown on Brown, I’m always game for the orange pants!
I was also stunned at the immediate level of vitriol against Weeden before he even ran onto the field. It was close to the loudest crowd noise of the night and the fans around me – like, all of them, were screaming and holding their heads and yelling for Holcomb or Couch or Spergon. Thought maybe part of it was everyone’s immediate realization that the suddenly watchable football had just disappeared just as the baseball season did the night before.
Hated brown on brown. Blob of poo.
The pink thing is more about money than increasing awareness.
Like the brown pants, but they really need a stripe
Thanx for the correction!
Thanx for the correction boss!
I’m sorry, call me a jerk all you want, but we pay for our entertainment and have the right to voice out our concerns. If he doesn’t want us to boo, learn to get rid of the ball earlier, don’t leave our receivers out to dry on a 4 yard route, don’t throw the ball into the ground on a 5 yard cross pattern, don’t sail the ball a mile over the receiver, don’t stare down the receivers, don’t take too long to call the play, basically don’t do Brandon Weeden things.We’re booing cause we’re sick of dealing with the incompetent play. Weeden got bailed out yesterday by Gordon, the D and Travis Benjamin, you can’t bank on them to make up for you lackluster play. If he wants us to cheer for him, give us something to cheer for. If you’re going to give us the same quality non-sense that he refuses to learn from, then we’re going to let you know how we feel on your lack of work you’re putting in to evolve into a better QB.
BEFORE he screws up? How many Browns’ games have you watched last and this season?
I’m ok with the Brown pants but I’d like to see a stripe down the side. Probably white, but I’d be curious to see what an orange stripe looks like. Or maybe an orange/white/orange stripe .
Agreed on the pink flags too. If you’re going to go pink, make sure they don’t look identical to everything else that’s able to end up laying on the ground. I think last year they had a ceremonial pink flag for the first penalty of the game, then went back to yellow. I hope they do that again after this week.
I thought the booing was completely understandable: Weeden is a frustrating QB to watch to begin with, as we’ve seen his weaknesses and know them well. He proceeds to come out and sail a pass, hold the ball to long, stare down his WR–all his greatest hits. That’s frustrating. Add in that out newly-popular, successful QB who excels in many of the areas where Weeden struggles had just gone out less than five minutes into our only PRIMETIME showcase game of the season, and the frustration only multiplies. Fans don’t have many options for expressing frustration at the stadium besides booing, throwing things, or walking out. Would we have preferred either of the other two? So no, no issue with the booing.
We can’t forget Phil…until Joe Thomas is gone. 🙂
In terms of fashion, the brown on brown wasn’t bad–I’ve seen worse in the NFL (hello, Baltimore all-blacks and Cardinals all-reds). That said, a stripe of orange and white would have helped. Orange pants would have been the ideal.
The awareness campaign only needs to be one week.
I remember the good old days when October was about zombies, dracula and pumpkins.
I propose testicle cancer awareness month where all women should have to carry flesh colored purses for a month.
I thought the same thing about the flags last night. It’s a bit much when Benjamin’s towel flies off, as he flies off, and I think there’s a flag on the play. I don’t think anyone is on cancer’s side NFL, we can keep the flags yellow.
When’s national prostate cancer awareness anyways?
I love the Brown on Brown, at least we didn’t have a loud mouthed linebacker saying we were having a ‘Brown Out’. I would love to see orange pants or orange jerseys back.
agree with all of this. But some of the loudest boos for Weeden came before he did any of this last night, it was as he entered. He is as hated as much as any Browns QB – maybe any player -that I can remember, and he is hardly the worst.
Mom, sister, grandmother, close friend – all breast cancer survivors. No pink flags. Too much. Mom agrees.
Loved the brown and brown and I hope to see it much more often.
A 5’11 200 lb defensive back going low on a 6’4 240 lb mobile qb? You can see this any given Sunday. Nothing to see here.
Hopefully you weren’t booing an injury. It was a solid play by EJ. Kiko’s hit on Hoyer looks like it should get a fine only because of the helmet to helmet. Hoyer was sliding, yet dude still speared him. If that would have happened to Brady or Manning – think it wouldn’t have been 15?
People also get caught up in the moment, they hear other people boo and join in.
Don’t get me started on the facile, feel-good pink ribbon awareness thing that the NFL plops everywhere to soften its violent image (so, exactly who is no longer “aware,” and what percentage of breast cancer fatalities have any relationship to failure to early detect, and what kind of research does Komen do with all the money lavished upon it, and what is that pink ribbon supposed to mean to me, etc.).
I say rabies.
Not a fan of the monochrome look in general and definitely not the Brown-on-Brown look. If they are not going with the white pants, the only acceptable alternative should be orange pants.
Don’t mind the pink. I own several pink ties and a couple of pink shirts, so I like the color.
As for the booing. Interesting that when Hoyer overthrows (or badly misses) a receiver all we here is how quick his release is or how he avoided a sack. Weeden does the same and he’s the worst bum in the world.
Not advocating for Weeden, but the Browns have problems on offense that go beyond who is at QB. The running game is sub-expansion team level and there are still issues on the offensive line.
Weeden put up 23 points on offense last night, more than Hoyer did against Cincinnati and just one point less than Hoyer did against Minnesota.
This is really Tim Couch vs. Kelly Holcomb all over again.
had I seen your comment I wouldn’t have gone off on the same subject as I did above. Bravo.
I’ve long said Browns fans are among the most intelligent about the game, but last night made me seriously question that.
!) The classless booing of Weeden *before* he took a snap was idiotic. Boo all you want when he makes a bad play, but your now starting QB is coming in for an injured guy – show him your support! Geez. I was ashamed of Browns’ fans – it was reminiscent of cheering Couch getting hurt. It’s stupid and classless and definitely doesn’t get the players to like you very much.
2) On top of that, *shut your mouths* when your own team is nearing an endzone! I couldn’t believe that the Dawg Pound was at its loudest as *we* were trying to punch it in, and then they boo when (surprise, surprise!) the Browns get whistled for a false start?! In Indianapolis the fans are completely silent when first Manning and now Luck are in the huddle or coming to the line. Here? Fans don’t let their own O hear the plays. This happened Sunday as well, I saw the entire Browns huddle lean in further to hear plays when Hoyer was making calls. Sad.
3) When you are going to be loud when the other team has the ball, don’t wait until they come to the line. Make it hard for them to hear inside their own huddle so someone mishears a play call or a snap count call. It’s mind-boggling that the fans are louder when the Browns are in the huddle than the opposition.
4) None of that takes away from the emotion/passion of Browns’ fans, which is unparalleled outside of Seattle and a few other places. But don’t be stupid!! This isn’t Pittsburgh or Cincinnati! Ugh.
/rant
Agree 100% on the flags, never knew what was a flag or a towel from the stands. The brown/brown was especially interesting as they honored Brown. I did like it, and agree with the other comment that it’s great for play action as well.
I’ve always been a believer that a large segment (not all) of fans are jerks who think they are entitled to their boorish behavior, not just in Cleveland, but everywhere. Welcome to the dark side Craig, I won’t tattle on your to Raab.
Well, I started cheering cause I enjoyed the hit (being about 10 yds away from me) then I immediately felt bad when he was writhing in pain. So, I probably looked like a D word in front of some people haha.
The huddle is the easiest place to listen – if you don’t hear you step closer or repeat. But the bottom line on noise was fans cheered the defense when 1) The scoreboard said “Third. Down. Make. Noise” or 2) when Mingo started signalling the crowd to do so. On offense – hey, Weeden in the red zone is a sweet sight. He’s not going to read a defense and change a play anyway. He just calls time outs.
Isn’t 1-2 pretty sad?
And when Weeden’s headset wasn’t working and he was trying to hear Chud calling it out, they yelled so he couldn’t hear, delay, timeout.