Johnny Manziel: Swan Won't Return His Calls

[AZ_]

So, in other words, they'll have gotten lucky if he's good in 2016.

Pretty much, he was nowhere nearly in the plans to be hired when the search began. It took multiple people removing themselves from the search before he was hired.

We're all aware of how well we Browns fans like to revise history, but I wish you'd just call it what it is.

If he is good, yes, they still fell into Mike Pettine as head coach. There's simply not much evidence to declare it as anything else.

 

[Soda]

Here's the handful of things I can think of that we can safely say that the Browns have done well since they returned. I'm not counting guys that have a minimal sample size, regardless of how well they've played. If you want to be a team like the Patriots, Steelers or Ravens or more recently the Seahawks and 49ers you need people who are going to put consecutive good years together.

Finding Josh Cribbs
Drafting Joe Thomas
Drafting Joe Haden
Keeping Phil Dawson
Drafting Alex Mack
Hiring Norv Turner

Those were all awesome moves and had nothing to do with luck. Those were all savvy moves that made sense. Turner didn't pay off, because of course they fired him immediately.

Are there more things I'm forgetting about?

Depends who you ask, but I agree with each of those 100% except for maybe Norv.

Add in Rubin and maybe Armonty Bryant (still early), but I think you've hit the most significant.

 

[shoes22]

Tendency?

I'm all for the pessimistic view of the Browns' chances this season, but the current Browns ownership has been here a year.

I'd advise you look up what a tendency is. Unless you're discussing this in the cleveland.com tone of counting the past regimes, which makes sense going along with your posts in the Indians game thread last night.

Brutal take.

Yes, tendency. You don't even have your basic facts straight...Haslem bought the team in July 2012.
Tell me, which ownership group hired Rob Chudzinski? And subsequently fired him a year later?

 

[The Oi]

D'Qwell was a good grab too. So was Rubin, yes.

 

[Soda]

If he is good, yes, they still fell into Mike Pettine as head coach. There's simply not much evidence to declare it as anything else.

And there it is.

 

[The Oi]

And there it is.

How long do we think b00bie's gonna hang onto that legendary CavsFaninLA dig signature for?

 

[AZ_]

Yes, tendency. You don't even have your basic facts straight...Haslem bought the team in July 2012.
Tell me, which ownership group hired Rob Chudzinski? And subsequently fired him a year later?

A tendency would imply they've done this more than once.

Of course, there's something else to be said about the naivete for expecting such a scenario to be the norm.

 

[AZ_]

How long do we think b00bie's gonna hang onto that legendary CavsFaninLA dig signature for?

Until something tops it, perhaps.

 

[shoes22]

A tendency would imply they've done this more than once.

Of course, there's something else to be said about the naivete for expecting such a scenario to be the norm.

Given the amount of management upheaval this organization has gone through over the last 3 years, how could such a scenario possibly surprise you? If anything, you're downplaying that likelihood.

 

[CosmoKramer]

D'Qwell was a good grab too. So was Rubin, yes.

It's depressing that an early second round pick LB is one of the best draft picks we've seen in the last fifteen years. And D'Qwell wasn't even that good...

 

[The Oi]

It's depressing that an early second round pick LB is one of the best draft picks we've seen in the last fifteen years. And D'Qwell wasn't even that good...

Well, he got a lot of tackles. So there was that.

Of course, when a ton of tackles are happening deep in your secondary that's not usually a good sign of what he's surrounded by...

 

[Tornicade]

Kyle Shanahan was a good hire

 

[Randolphkeys]

Looking back at the gut wrenching cease pool that was Browns Offseason 2013 / 2014 is more important than you may think. It reflects back to the fans and ownership showing a lack of patience and the franchise suffering for it.

When fans were ready to fire Chudzinski by week six, the owner listened. That was a big mistake. Ownership needed to understand that rebooting every time the franchise goes through a rough patch will create a constant state of flux. The franchise has rarely been able to see a three year plan play out into the end game. So, when Norv and Ray Horton had some building blocks of success, they were wiped out by the promise of starting over with a new high profile coach, a newly drafted high profile QB prospect, basically the NFL fantasy written by Oliver Stone.

None of that really happened and its because the fans and ownership seem too fickle to stomach a long-term plan. So, as difficult as the losses may be this year, as brutal as a bad streak may seem... you have to give the management and coaches a chance to build something. The stigma of fickleness and impatience are a greater hindrance to the health of the franchise than the starting quarterback or the pass rush.

 

[Amherstcavsfan]

Looking back at the gut wrenching cease pool that was Browns Offseason 2013 / 2014 is more important than you may think. It reflects back to the fans and ownership showing a lack of patience and the franchise suffering for it.

When fans were ready to fire Chudzinski by week six, the owner listened. That was a big mistake. Ownership needed to understand that rebooting every time the franchise goes through a rough patch will create a constant state of flux. The franchise has rarely been able to see a three year plan play out into the end game. So, when Norv and Ray Horton had some building blocks of success, they were wiped out by the promise of starting over with a new high profile coach, a newly drafted high profile QB prospect, basically the NFL fantasy written by Oliver Stone.

None of that really happened and its because the fans and ownership seem too fickle to stomach a long-term plan. So, as difficult as the losses may be this year, as brutal as a bad streak may seem... you have to give the management and coaches a chance to build something. The stigma of fickleness and impatience are a greater hindrance to the health of the franchise than the starting quarterback or the pass rush.

There is a ton of revisionist history here to just blame Haslam for the offseason.

Most of the problems were caused because his front office sold him on a bill of goods that had failed. Whether you liked Chud or not, most of the fans didn't want him fired. But he did get fired because he said no to the front office and then Lombardi's backstabbing ways came to the forefront. Then Banner and Lombardi sold Haslam on them getting a big name guy, and the utterly failed, from a big name college coach to a big name coordinator or even Jim Harbaugh.

So when looking back at the offseason, the blame should mostly fall primarily on Banner and Lombardi running roughshod over the organization and then the owner realizing what was happening and rectifying the situation.

If you want to blame Haslam for the Manziel pick? Fine, whatever. But the long-term plan was set ablaze by the moron front office that was, thankfully, purged.

 

[Randolphkeys]

COACHING CRISIS? NFL Network's Ian Rapoport said of the Browns' head coaching search, "Part of the problem here is that, from what I'm told, candidates have been calling (former Browns coach Rob Chudzinski), who went one and out with the Browns. The reviews have not been favorable. He's an honest guy, he's been honest with them, and when you talk to people involved in these interviews, it doesn't sound like (CEO Joe Banner, GM Michael Lombardi) and (Owner Jimmy Haslam III) have all been on the same page" (NFL GameDay Morning," NFL Network, 1/12).

Here is a quote from Sports Business Daily. Look, I'm not going to make a scapegoat out of Haslam, or any other one person. I'm just saying that the road out of the reputation this franchise earned is trying some loyalty this time around, even when times get rough.

Winning fixes everything... but winning may not happen this season.