Carson Palmer to the Raiders: Bad For The Browns
October 19, 2011Holmgren Speaks… to Seattle Radio Station
October 19, 2011
Who knew that all it took for the Cleveland Browns to be favorites this Sunday – despite not winning a game in what will be almost a month’s time – was a team traveling across the country with their reserve quarterback at the helm if their “starter” continues to suffer from a strained pectoral?
Such is the case when Pete Carrol’s Seattle Seahawks pay visit to Cleveland on Sunday, coming into town as a 2.5-point underdog despite facing the 26th-ranked offense of the Browns. The Orange and Brown have found themselves on the favorable side of the pregame ledger several times this season, including a double-digit point spread against the Cincinnati Bengals during Opening Day. Subsequently facing the bottom tier of the NFL (Miami, Indianapolis) also had Vegas taking a few points away from Pat Shurmur’s crew. With Tavaris Jackson dinged up and Charlie Whitehurst potentially being under center, the city of bright lights feels that the Seahawks are more Miami than they are Oakland.
However, the last time the Seahawks traveled across America, they upset the heavily-favored New York Giants in East Rutherford. The quarterback at the end of said game? Charlie Whitehurst. The Browns are losers of two straight and will head on a road trip that will provide the likes of the red-hot San Francisco 49ers and the sexy playoff pick Houston Texans.
A 2.5-point favorite from the home team essentially states that these two squads are evenly matched. It was just a month ago when many among the media were crowning the ‘Hawks as the worst team in the NFL. If A equals B and B equals C, this game is shaping up to be very, very ugly – but one that the Browns most certainly need to win over Mike Holgmren’s former employer if this team is to have any morale before heading on the road to close out October.
19 Comments
“2.5-point underdog”
that’s a very slight slant towards the Seahawks, right? isn’t the standard home team edge 3pts?
that means a west coast team traveling across the country and playing at 10am (body clock time) with their backup QB is considered a slightly better than average to win against our Browns? ouch.
well, at least I get to watch the game at home. Love Colt McCoy and his influence on Austin, TX television sets.
the good news is that Charlie Whitehurst has been terrible. he was terrible last year and he may have “led” the 2nd half against the Giants, but he was merely 11/19 for 149yds 1TD and 0INT. not bad, but not great.
let’s hope that we are the Lucy to Seattle’s Charlie this week 🙂
The Browns have been favored by Vegas in every single game this year, except for last week. The Tennesssee line ended up in a Pick by kickoff, but opened with Cleveland favored.
I guess the number four times can be dubbed “several” or “every single time but last week.” And there’s a reason why the TEN lined moved.
I’m all about being patient and developing the team through the draft, blah, blah, blah. But if the Browns don’t win this one pretty easily I am going to be disappointed.
I mean, sometimes you just have to win games you should win. It’s already been mentioned. At home, west coast team, backup QB.
i’m not picky. i’ll take a Miami-game-style 4th quarter drive with a jump-ball for the win.
as long as the team looks like it’s actually playing football again and we come out with the ‘W’, then I’m good.
@mgbode i wish he had as much pull an hour south! San Antonio is barely out of reach. And noone wants to watch browns games in bars down here haha
@ 5 – I feel the same way. For the last year or so, I have had the feeling that we are moving in the right direction, and that while we are a long way from contending, we are clearly not the worst team in the league. Even with what has happened this year, I still mostly believe that.
Lose this game, and we are back at square 1…and I will be readily questioning everything that I believed about this team, where it is, and where it is headed.
Perhaps I should clarify…they should definitely win. If they clearly out play Seattle and find a fluky way to still lose, that would be one thing. If they are clearly out played and soundly beaten, at home, by a pretty bad Seattle team playing their backup QB, we will be back at square 1 in my eyes…
I think everyone knows what I mean. it’s one thing to play it close with the elite teams in the league for 3 quarters and then get beat because there’s just not enough depth and talent.
But the Browns have more depth and talent then Seattle and they are at home. This is the game where I just want a noce, easy, 31-14 win (seattle’s second TD late in the 4th).
After this week, then the Browns can go back to battling and developing depth and seeing the process through, etc.
The Browns have lost their last 3 games I’ve attended. I will be at the game this Sunday. My apologies in advance.
The narrative usually goes: team turns the corner and buys into the program after some signature event, a team meeting, a confrontation between coach and player or player and player, this is a team/leave your personal agenda at home, etc., etc., followed by a huge win and huggies all around. Maybe this is the week.
Or maybe next week.
@7 – it is strange that he doesn’t. you’d think that SA would be over-filled with UTx grads that would want to watch Colt.
Why do people want the Browns to win?
@Jack – is that a trick question?
Maybe?
An honest question, really. For the remainder of the season, why do we want them to win? I just wish someone could articulate it for me.
It does nothing to improve our chances of “returning” to contention.
I mean, aren’t we among the 2-3 worst teams in football? Could we be the worst team that has all of the players we expected to?
first, on to how bad we are:
we are better than the Dolphins and the Colts. we have beaten them on the field, and they have not beaten anyone else. so, we are, at worst, the 3rd worst team in the NFL.
there are 6 other teams in the NFL with 0 or 1 win on the season. Of those, Denver/JAX/Minn have all made a change at QB by choice. StL may be making one due to Bradford’s ailing ankle. AZ & CAR believe they are set at the QB position. There is a very good chance we are better than some of these teams and we can at least find out against AZ and JAX whom we play.
of the teams with 2 wins, we play the Seahawks this week, so we can put that question to rest. the Eagles and Cowboys are supposed to have a ton more talent than us and could put it all together (but OL issues are a concern for both + defensive issues in Philly). The Chiefs are the other 2 win team in the AFC.
i’ll leave out the teams with more wins than us (for now).
——
from what I have seen, the only teams above that I would definitely rank above the Browns are the Eagles, Cowboys, Panthers and Chiefs (going forward: accounting for Charles and Berry returning next season). the only teams I would definitely put the Browns ahead of are the Dolphins, Colts, and Rams.
that puts us somewhere from the #19-28 team in the NFL right now. just putting us in the middle would be #23 (and the 9th pick in the upcoming draft if the record works out that way too).
ok, now to why we want to win. there are alot of reasons.
1. it is more enjoyable to watch a win than to watch a loss. it is more enjoyable for the people we are all around during and after the game if we win.
2. we all want to see progress. even if the team is rebuilding this year, we want to see the hints that we are rebuilding the right way this time and the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t another oncoming train. getting a win against another struggling team is one way of showing it.
3. wins do matter. it helps players buy into the system, it makes practices go easier, it builds confidence for the players developing, it makes the media’s questions easier to answer.
4. we have a tough road ahead. the 49ers and Texans are a couple of young teams that are a stage or two ahead of our efforts. ‘any given sunday’ and all (as we saw last season), but it is much more likely that we win this week than the next two.
5. because if I want to cheer for the Browns to get a high draft pick, then I’ll cheer against atlanta 🙂
@17 – oops, i messed up. puts us #23-29. so, about 26 (7th pick)