Tom Kuhman

Time for some real football…finally.

The Cleveland Browns play host to the vaunted Dallas Cowboys for what should be a fantastic game to open the regular season.  Let’s break it down.

The Cowboys high powered offense should enjoy success against the Browns defense.  Even though I am from Cleveland, I must have roots in Missouri, the Show Me state.  The Browns spent some money and some draft pics in the off season to bolster their woeful defense.  To put it lightly, they’ve had issues putting pressure on the quarterback and stopping the run with their 3-4 D.  The Browns are hoping that Shaun Rogers and Corey Williams can help Robaire Smith plug some running lanes.  In theory, this should help Andra Davis, D’Qwell Jackson, Willie McGinest, and Kamerion Wimbley wrap up the running backs and take away the offenses running threat.  I didn’t see much improvement from last year during the pre-season and while they may water down the schemes for pre-season, there is not as much to water down on defense.  While I believe Marion Barber is a good running back, I don’t think he is great, nor do I think the Dallas running game is that good.  However, the Browns seem as inept as ever in stopping the run.  Therefore, Dallas will have enough success running the ball to make their passing game effective.  “But, Tom, what about the pressure we’ll be able to put on Tony Romo to disrupt the passing attack?”, you ask.  Again, in theory, by stopping the run, we should be able to focus some attention to the passing game and put some pressure on Romo.  I didn’t see a lot of pressure on the QB from the Browns in the pre-season either.  I don’t remember seeing McGinest and Wimbley in the backfield too often.  With Antwan Peek out, I know we will miss his talent as well, even though I didn’t see him putting pressure on the QB either.  Without the pressure on Romo, I see a long day ahead for Eric Wright and Brandon McDonald.  T.O. is too good for them to cover alone.  Whoever is covering him will be getting some help from Sean Jones and Brodney Pool.  I expect Patrick Crayton and Jason Witten will have big days, and T.O. will have a normal T.O. day.  The big picture has Dallas taking the ball up the field nearly at will against the Browns new, and improved D.

I have to mention this now, penalties.  The Browns showed a complete lack of discipline in the pre-season with bone headed penalties.  It was a problem last year as well.  If Romeo can’t stop these guys from making stupid mistakes at critical times, the Browns will give up first downs and extend drives for the offense.  This only exposes the Browns lack of depth as the game wears on and the defenders wear down.

While defending punts and kickoffs, the Browns special teams have shown that lack of discipline as well.  Guys leaving their lanes to make a tackle and missing is opening up huge holes for the returner to expoit and get great field position for the opposition.  If the Browns don’t learn the basic discipline of tackling, both on special teams and defense, we are in for a long season.

Derek Anderson, Braylon Edwards, Kellen Winslow, and Jamal Lewis had great success last year in putting a lot of points on the board.  I expect to see much of the same this year.  Anderson should be maturing to not make force passes and make bad decisions.  In our final five games last year, those poor decisions cost us a couple games.  Anderson made bad decisions against the Bengals and Cardinals that helped to remove us from the playoffs.  I expect he’ll grow this year and make less mistakes.  The O-line should still be able to open huge holes for Lewis against the Dallas defense.  The Cowboys are good against the run, but the Browns should be able to move the ball effectively against them.  The O-line has shown they are an excellent pass blocking unit and should allow time for Edwards and Winslow to make some catches and move the chains.  Donte Stallworth, well, you all know how I feel about him.  I hope he decides this year, that he wants to play on the field instead of sitting in the trainers room.

The Browns special teams will be without Joshua Cribbs.  You will probably see a lot of Syndric Steptoe on returns, but the roster has him returning punts and Jason Wright returning kickoffs.  I hope that is a misprint, as I really enjoyed seeing Gerard Lawson returning kicks and punts as well.  Steptoe and Lawson have some big shoes to fill to replace Cribbs, but both guys are fully capable of breaking one open.

It will be a fantastic game to watch and I am jacked for the new season.

Unfortunately, Browns fans, I see this one going to Dallas, 27-24, but I don’t think it will be as close as the final score indicates as Dallas takes a halftime lead and the Browns play catch up.

As always, I will be rooting my ass off for the Browns.

Go BROWNS!

Tom Kuhman

Cliff Lee is having a spectacular year and has a full month to add to it.  The Indians lefty has a record of 20-2 and an ERA of 2.32.  He is the front runner for the AL Cy Young and barring a major disappointment in September should win.

Lee looked like a deer in the headlights in 2007.  He was expected to be a strong competitor on the Indians roster only to be sent down to the minors mid-season with an ERA of 6.29.  Reports are that he worked his butt off in the off-season and improved his mental attitude.  Pitching is one of those things that is 90% mental.  You need to be confident and control your emotions on the mound.  C.C. Sabathia may want to remember that next time he is all amped up for a playoff game.

Lee is the first 20 game winner for the Indians since Gaylord Perry in 1974.  Perry only played for the Indians for 3 and half years, but had a great year for a losing team in ‘74 going 21-13 with a 2.51 ERA.  He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991, despite his cheating efforts on the mound.  Perry was known throughout the league for his “greaseballs”.  He had fun with it and was even quoted as saying, “The day before I’d pitch, I’d put grease on my hands and go shake their hands just to get them thinking, sometimes I’d roll a ball covered with grease into their dugout.”

Cliff Lee doesn’t do any of that stuff, but you can bet he’s in the minds of the hitters even before the game.  Lee uses speed changes and impeccable location to strike fear into the opposing batters.

Lee came up in 2002 and pitched well in only a couple of appearances for the Tribe, our first year of rebuilding.  Ahhhh, the memories.  In 2003, Lee got 9 more chances to prove his stuff and once again, delivered for a team that couldn’t support the pitcher with runs of their own.  In 2004, Lee got a full time gig with the Tribe and was able to win some games, but his ERA wasn’t stellar.

In 2005, I jumped on the Cliff Lee bandwagon.  Lee went 18-5 with a 3.79 ERA.  I thought, “With Lee and Sabathia, we’ve got 2 solid starters that could take us to the post season!  Mark Shapiro said this would be the year, right?!”  Not so much.  In 2006, Lee had was 14-11 with a 4.40 ERA.  Good thing we could hit the ball and get some runs.

In 2007, Lee imploded.  Maybe it was the pressure of wanting to be better and not controlling that emotion.  Let’s face it, Lee has had one great season in 2005.  He has not been great since.

This year, with some positive thinking, hard work, and mental control, Lee has fully emerged as the pitcher we were hoping for in 2005.  It took a couple more years, but my hat is off to him for figuring it out.

He deserves the 2008 AL Cy Young and I hope he gets it.  The bigger award will be the mental one he carries from year to year and pitch to pitch, “one pitch, I can already envision the trajectory and it landing in the catchers glove…right where he wants it.”

Congratulations to Cliff Lee and keep it coming.

Go TRIBE!

Tom Kuhman

The Browns took the loss 16-10, but that’s not the point.  The key to the final pre-season game, keep the starters in rhythm, evaluate the guys on the bubble, and DON’T GET HURT.  The Browns were able to achieve one and a half of those three.

The offensive line was finally an oxymoron.  They were unoffensive and, actually, really good.  The holes they were opening for Jerome Harrison and Jason Wright were huge!  The offense was able to drive down the field and put up 10 points in the first quarter before being pulled for the 2nd and 3rd stringers.

There was plenty of time to evaluate talent and the Browns even held their kicking units off the field a couple of times to run plays instead.

Syndric Steptoe, Darnell Dinkins, and Rex Hadnot had to be helped off the field, but I don’t think any of their injuries were serious.

There are still a few issues to resolve if the Browns want to make the playoffs.  The team needs to learn how to tackle.  The defense and special teams missed tackles all over the field last night.  The defense has got to put more pressure on the QB.  The DB’s are too weak to cover the receivers for an extended period of time.  If we don’t get pressure, they will get eaten alive.

I was talkin smack about Nick Sorenson the other day.  I take some of it back.  He is playing hard on every down and looked confident out there last night.

Bring on the Cowboys!

Go BROWNS and O-H!