Displaced Cleveland Fan

Phil Savage isn’t giving up on the Browns season yet. So I guess we shouldn’t either?

You know, he’s probably right. Even though the Browns were dangerously close to starting 0-4, they did manage to get an ugly win in Cincinnati and now have the bye week to try and get their act together.

So what’s going to change? Apparently not the quarterback. Or the head coach. At least not yet according to the GM on Monday:

“I’ve talked to people around the league, people who have been in this business for a long time, coaches, front-office types, and you don’t go blowing things up after a couple games,”

“It’s not been any thought of changing quarterbacks, changing the coach, or any of that. That’s not the thing to do at this juncture of the season. You just don’t do that. You’ve got to give the people a chance to pull themselves out of the situation. We all put ourselves in this spot and we’re the ones who have got to pull us out of it.”

So no changes. Just do better.

If the Browns had lost this last game, I think it would be time for a change - at least at quarterback. But Derek Anderson showed enough improvement in the second half to delay his demotion, at least in my opinion. After all, he did somehow manage to put together a Pro Bowl season last year. Was that a fluke? Probably. But he can probably at least be a decent quarterback. If our O-line and WR’s can start playing like they did last year, maybe D.A. will improve. I say give him at least a couple more weeks. Maybe this week off will help him.

As for the head coach, there is no arguing that Romeo is on the hot seat. If this team doesn’t come together soon, he may not make it much longer. Without marked improvement (and without a playoff bid), he could be done once the season is over.

As it turns out, this bye week may have come at the perfect time. It’s still early in the season. The Browns can still make the playoffs, even with their brutal schedule. So what needs to happen before the next game?

• Derek Anderson needs to figure out how to pretend to be a Pro Bowl caliber quarterback again.
• And Brady Quinn needs to be ready to take over soon if D.A. can’t get back to form. Really, Brady is the QB of the future for the Browns. But as much as I’d like to see him play, I’d like for D.A. to improve and finish out this season and then have Quinn take over next season.
• O-line: You guys were awesome last year. Be awesome again.
• Overall, surprisingly, the defense hasn’t been too bad. It wouldn’t hurt to see a better pass rush though.
• Romeo Crennel needs to do some reading.
• Hopefully we can get some injuries healed up. (I heard a rumor that the Browns signed a big name WR in the offseason. Some guy named Donte Stallworth. Until he actually plays this year though, that may just be a myth.)

So, hopefully week 4 marks the end of the Browns mediocrity and they start playing like a good football team in two weeks.

Tags: Brady Quinn, Derek Anderson, football, Phil Savage, Romeo Crennel

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 12:43 am and is filed under Cleveland Browns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.