In a preseason game, the Detroit Lions star rookie lineman Ndamukong Suh slams your quarterback to the ground by his facemask. What do you do? Nothing. No one even got up in his face about it.
Against the hated Pittsburgh Steelers, their linebacker James Harrison lays a crushing blow on your best offensive weapon, knocking him from the game. What do you do? Nothing.
In that same game, that very same linebacker throws another crushing hit on one of your other top offensive weapons. Again, what do you do? Nothing. In face one of your players childishly kicks the ball out of bounds.
How one sided has the matchup been with Pittsburgh? You've beaten them a whopping three times since 1999. It should have been four, but your team got extremely soft in an epic playoff match and you blew a nice comfortable lead.
Pushovers.
Quick. Name me one player on the Cleveland defense that intimidates anyone. People are afraid of Troy Polamalu, James Harrison, LaMar Woodley, Lawrence Timmons, Ryan Clark. They will all throw a major hit on you.
Your wide receivers are always afraid of taking big hits over the middle and often drop the ball. Massaquoi was already bracing for that hit early from Harrison.
The loudest and most noticeable opposition to what happened on the field Sunday comes from the fan base. Uninformed football fans crying for Harrison's head and begging that he gets suspended when all he did was play football. Quite a few former NFL players agree those hits by Harrison were just good, hard hits. It's a crime he got fined for it.
The Browns simply don't know what physical football is anymore. If they did, maybe they would have made the playoffs more than once since their 1999 return to the league. Heck, maybe they should try to finish somewhere other than last place as a stepping stone along the way to being even mediocre.
I'm willing to bet 99% of the Browns fan base is thrilled with all the threats to curtail physical play. I mean, it can't possibly hurt a team that doesn't play that way in the first place. In fact it might even the odds a bit and let the Browns start winning some football games again.
Mike Holmgren is the perfect hire for your organization. Someone with lots of experience whining after the Steelers beat him. He fired James Brown, the only person with any guts in your organization. It's pretty sad when the only person the Browns push around is arguably the team's greatest former player.
Oh well, get used to it. It's going to be a long time before the Browns change their philosophies and get back on the right path. Of course it would help if your team grew a pair first.
No comments:
Post a Comment