Sports Then and Now

YES, Browns fans!

Trent Richardson Has Helped Put Bite In The Dawgs Bark.

You FINALLY have collection of players and coaches that are a REAL team.

There is HOPE.  SERIOUSLY, I REALLY MEAN IT this season.

The Cleveland Browns are turning what’s left of the sinking ship into port. Their decrepit vessel is getting repaired, the holes are getting PLUGGED. After a MADDENING 0-5 start (STANDARD procedure in Cleveland since ’99) which saw the Browns lose three games by 7 points or less,  fans were playing the COULDA, SHOULDA, WOULDA game in their heads.

Close YET AGAIN but no CIGAR for a very YOUNG team.

While most NFL teams play 1 or 2 rookies, the Browns play 12. Every team has to start over with young players at some point. #ibelieve — Katie Giovannucci (@Katiegio3) December 9, 2012

The Browns are maturing into a team that is INJECTING the Dawg Pound with HOPE FINALLY. Led by the “BEAST”better known as rookie running back, Trent Richardson, Cleveland’s running game is is a LEGITIMATE WEAPON & THREAT. Even when T-Rich has a sub-par game, he still contributes by finding the end zone.

Quarterback Brandon Weeden has got more and more comfortable in the offense. The “OLD MAN” rookie has cut down on costly turnovers that lost games for Browns earlier in the season. He is becoming the intelligent game manager that fans in Cleveland has CRAVED and has not seen since Bernie Kosar.

Yet ANOTHER offensive rookie, wide receiver  Josh Gordon has also grown leaps and bounds. Gordon has become Weeden’s long distance threat which the opposition has to pay attention to. It’s only up from here for the former Baylor Bear.

The Browns defense and special teams have GELLED and stats show it. Cleveland is currently ninth in the NFL in points allowed with 20.9 points. Due to a GREAT PASS rush, the defense have become a ball hawking unit as of late including EIGHT forced turnovers versus the HATED Steelers.  They currently are FOURTH in the AFC with a +8 takeaway/giveaway ratio.

The Browns Are Racing To Respectability.

These numbers indicate a team on the RISE.

And the Browns are RISING from the ashes like a brown & orange PHOENIX  in their last 8 games going 5-3. With this turnaround, head coach Pat Shurmur MAY have saved his job. But there are rumblings, that Alabama head coach Nick Saban may want to make a return to Cleveland.

If Shurmur finishes this season 8-8 after starting 0-5, it will make it very hard for new owner Jimmy Haslam to dismiss a coach that his players HAVE NOT given up on. With the Redskins, Broncos & division rival Pittsburgh left on the schedule, it may not be easy, but you NO LONGER can count out the “YOUNG BUCKS” of the Browns.

The FACTORY OF SADNESS has shut it’s doors for GOOD!

There is BITE in the Dawgs’ bark AGAIN!