CLE vs DET: The Showdowns That Built Three Rivalries
September 16, 2016The Browns home openerβwhat could go wrong?: WFNY Roundtable
September 16, 2016Hope dies last. It’s one thing to come into an NFL season knowing that your favorite team won’t be favored to win a single contest, all things normal. It’s another to be able to admit that, in a league like the NFL where a team can win on “any given Sunday,” it’s a fallacy for your team. Sure, we all watched them fail to execute anything resembling professional football in the pre-season, but that’s just the pre-season, right? Maybe the Browns were just holding back their real plays? You know they work on very specific things in the pre-season to get reps. It isn’t really about creating a cohesive gameplan for the opponent and trying to win. And then, with hope being at an all-time low for the Browns, they go out and do the most Browns thing they’ve ever done. They not only lose to a winnable opponent, quarterbacked by the guy they could have taken if they hadn’t made a trade, but their injury-prone QB reclamation project breaks his body so badly he hits IR instantaneously. All rational versions of hope are now, officially, completely, absolutely, and utterly dashed for 2016, and rightly so. This is what it feels like to start over for real.
After just one week of the 2016 NFL season, on the precipice of seeing Josh McCown – a 37-year-old also-injury-prone career backup – start for the Browns, most Browns fans seem to finally get it. This team was gutted when Sashi Brown took over, but there were some pieces that still provided Browns fans some glimmer of hope. The off-season of free agency dashed that infinitesimal shard of light for even more Browns fans. I’d like to think the light of hope for 2016 has been expunged completely after Robert Griffin III had his shoulder broken before the end of the first game. In a lot of ways things couldn’t be worse, but in other ways, this feels like a time when Browns fans can finally all get on the same page and stop fighting each other.
The real first step in arriving here was ending the reign of Johnny Manziel. Johnny kind of did that to himself, but some Browns fans could never completely let go of the former Heisman winner because of where he was drafted and the position he played. As long as the name “Browns” appeared next to Johnny Manziel’s, there was “a chance” that he could become a quality NFL starting quarterback, even in the face of all available evidence to the contrary.
I don’t blame Browns fans for their resilience. This is supposed to be entertainment. For many of us in this region with our shared history, it’s entertainment with a hint of religion, based on actual lifetimes of ritual, culture, and tradition. It’s hard to scale back even momentarily, let alone give up hope on a season so early. No matter who has been run out of town, we’ve always had at least a couple people to believe in. When all else failed, we banged the drum for special teamers like Phil Dawson, Josh Cribbs, or even punters like Chris Gardocki.
In 2016, after more than 15 years of disappointment, as we’re watching the most comprehensive teardown since Eric Mangini in 2009, I see sponsored Facebook posts from the Cleveland Browns begging fans to buy tickets to the home opener. That’s an indicator to me that we’ve finally reached that point. We’ve finally reached the point where the fan base is in such a malaise they’re not even bothering to protest as much as they’re just staying away. We’ll see for sure on Sunday in FirstEnergy Stadium, but I’m guessing we’re going to find out what it’s like when anger is replaced with apathy for the first time – for real – in modern Cleveland Browns history.
It’s almost better this way. Temper tantrums by the fans and also by management and ownership haven’t done any good anyway. Jimmy Haslam, Mike Holmgren, and Phil Savage can all attest. Impetuous, anger-driven decisions haven’t paid off for anyone. The apathy can finally give way to some breathing room in an attempt to execute a slow, methodical plan to try and build – not rebuild – this team into something resembling an NFL team.
None of this is to preach patience, or blindly tell you to “keep the faith,” with regard to the Browns. Sashi Brown, Paul DePodesta and the rest haven’t earned any kind of faith to this point, and there’s truly nothing to believe in at this moment in time given the current roster. The Browns are a science experiment in the setup phase before the key chemicals have been added. They are a recipe that none of us are allowed to read and we don’t even know what fresh inventory they will have at the market when we finally get our hands on the shopping cart. When people say “there’s nothing to see here,” they’re usually obfuscating, but with the 2016 Cleveland Browns, there’s truly nothing to see here.
The best-case scenario for the 2016 Cleveland Browns is that Corey Coleman, and some defenders like Danny Shelton, Carl Nassib, and Derek Kindred prove they’re NFL players. The Browns are looking for keepers who can make a real impact next year, and beyond. Nothing about this year is actually about this year. It’s all projecting forward.
We should have known that when the Browns traded down with Philly to get a first rounder in 2017 and their second-rounder in 2018. We should have known it more when the Browns let even young free agents like Tashaun Gipson and Mitchell Schwartz go without a fight. There was this little inkling of possibility left with Robert Griffin III and Hue Jackson, but even that should have been much fainter than it was for some Browns fans. Now that vast majority of RG3’s season is over, it’s almost a relief. We can all hang together and watch the Browns looking toward the future without pretending like there’s anything substantially important about the present.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t want the Browns to win games. You should. I’m not saying that it would be better for them to lose games or that they should lose them on purpose. I’m just saying that they didn’t set this team up to win the most number of games this year and they’re not anywhere near the point where you can hope they win with any realistic expectation. As I said, hope dies last, and at least for now, I think among all reasonable fans near-term hope is dead. It makes sense. It’s alright. It feels good to have us all mostly on the same page for once.
79 Comments
hi HARV … good post … *smile* … hey, man , i am what i am … at least i’m consistent. and i uptick on most posts out of respect for other people’s opinions , whether i agree or not.
You’re a good man and tolerate our foul language and snark in this smelly dive bar of ours:)
yeah , but i like it here … it takes all kinds … thanks, man.
We owe it to JT to do what he wants, and this may sound crazy, but I’m not entirely sure he wants out right now. I think he’s willing to give Hue and the HBT a little time to see what happens.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5e326e7bf03b34bda7c270c7aeeec5ed8e7e72ba1a26dad3c700429dee294c68.gif
The Browns owe JoeT the contractual dollar amount in his contract.
The Browns owe the fans a reason to tune in.
I’m running out of reasons to tune in but seeing JoeT is always worth the rest of the pain.
You cold Bode.
Stephen Paea making the transition to LT after the Pats trade for him. Gotta say, I’m intrigued.
There is nothing more warm-hearted, I assure you. He is ours to love forever and ever and ever and ever.
http://33.media.tumblr.com/f424a045b3c8232d3583e5716bf3be60/tumblr_inline_naix74PGda1skfo03.gif
Sounds like the plot to the movie Misery.
You are way too dark there. Was thinking Elvira from Animaniacs
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/PIKARAPTOR/Internet%20reactions/tumblr_lkjgfpdhje1qal9om.gif
That’s Tiny Toon Adventures, homey. π
Yes, why yes it is.
You don’t know how wrong you are.
But you will next week!
Trees? Where?
Ok. Our blind squirrels are on adrift raft in the Indian Ocean? Or stuck in a port o john in the Battle of Stalingrad? I’m not even sure anymore.
You could say the same about Ryan Leaf…Jamarcus Russell…both with arguably better pro skills than JFF.
Shhhhh, it’s ok…
http://i.makeagif.com/media/8-02-2015/m-1G-5.gif
So close, just a few misplaced words.
Blind squirrels adrift a raft inside a port-o-john filled with Indian food near the Battle of Stalingrad
Game. Set. Match. Bode.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-wF5MV34W-b8/Tq_zUiJa6dI/AAAAAAAABSA/BqDaZXsJH50/s249/LizLemonThumbsUp.gif
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Shamelessly stolen from deadspin comments:
“Hope springs eternal”
“So does mental illness”
Buy Indians Tickets!
http://i.imgur.com/5AqSJsK.gif
I am a trucker. I’m very much aware of what Jimmy did to take advantage of people who are underpaid and overworked. Are we seeing the NFL’s version of major league? Drive down attendance and claim the fans have lost interest. Please show up for the games. Jimmy is temporary. We go on forever, or until the next big Rock slams into the 3rd rock from the sun.
I think it’s a euphemism.
Or move the franchise…
Could have been good, but you can’t depend on junkies for anything serious, unfortunately.