Dawgbeat 05/18/2007
QUICK START ...OR ELSE QUICK EXIT
By Eric Brown
05/18/2007
The NFL did not do Romeo Crennel any favors when making its 2007 schedule. In two seasons as the Browns field general he has not fared very well against AFC North opponents, yet if you examine the first month's schedule, those teams are all there for the beating. The Baltimore Ravens are the only AFC North team to have lost a game against the Browns in the past two seasons. The 2006 off-season has been hard on Crennel, with Phil Savage putting his own offensive staff in place, and Todd Grantham having a more than generous hand in defensive personnel decisions. The Browns signed Kenny Wright, Robaire Smith, and Antwan Peek, all former Grantham disciples in Houston's 3-4 defense. Could those two factors alone be a hint of what is to come in 2007 ? Only time will tell, but this team is set up for a quick change if the losing continues.
A few suggestions for Crennel going into the 2007 season OTA'S and training camp. Evaluate your talent quickly and make personnel decisions and starting assignments as early as possible. If Charlie Frye is the guy you feel is the starter at quarterback, then name him the starter. If you want Kevin Shaffer as your right tackle then assign him the position, same goes for Antwan Peek and Shaun Smith over Willie McGinest and Ted Washington. Get the men you feel best ready to help this team into their positions and get comfortable with one another early on, you're going to need it if you’re to be able to compete against the AFC North in the first month of the season.
Make your game plans flexible according to the opponent you'll face. Too many times over the past eight seasons the fans have heard we're going to run the ball first. Winning teams don't go into seasons with one game plan against 16 teams, they adjust their game plan week to week to one that best gives them a chance to win the football game against that opponent. Last season, the Browns offense may have been better run by Barnum and Bailey than Mo Carthon as it resembled a circus. This season the offense will be commandeered by young Rob Chudzinski who spent the last two seasons helping fine tune the skills of Antonio Gates and the San Diego Charger offense. Hopefully some of what we've seen their offense do is able to translate here.
Lastly, let your emotions flow freely. Not that being an emotional coach is a prerequisite for a successful coach, but the players, I believe would follow your lead and get more emotional about the game and play fired up. It would sure be nice to see more fire on Sunday afternoons than seemingly forty or so players going through the motions and only six or seven playing like it matters. When a player makes a mistake get in his face a little and let him know that it's not acceptable. A new precedent for winning has to be set this season and it starts with you.
The first four games of the 2007 season will determine Romeo Crennel's fate. In my eyes the way the off-season has played out with personnel moves, the schedule, and staff influence it is very clear that this organization knows it needs to start winning now. The team is set up so that if Crennel struggles in the first quarter of the season a coaching change can quickly be made to a younger, more enthusiastic Todd Grantham leading the charge. Grantham's influence on personnel changes and the ability to slide Mel Tucker, a highly thought of, talented position coach into the defensive coordinator role makes the first four games of this season increasingly important. It's time to shape up or ship out Mr. Crennel, we're all behind you but we have to start winning football games, that's all that matters.