A lot has happened in the past 5 days or so. First preseason game, uneventful as usual. But the fall-out from Bentley's injury and Hallen's retirement continues. Most notably, Phil Savage was quoted all over the place on the subject, and he didn't look good even if he spoke the truth. Then Savage reacted prickly to routine questions coming off the field from practice. It's all a legitimate cause for concern.
I'm disturbed by Savage's admission that when Hallen left Berea the team covered for him for two days. They said he'd gotten medical treatment from the Browns when he didn't. Why? Savage says it was to "save face" for Hallen, but would it really have been so bad to say that Hallen left camp for unrelated issues? Why make up a back injury? That loses the team a lot of credibility that it's earned during the past year. Not good.
And blowing up after practice? I really do appreciate Savage's intensity when it comes to player evaluation and building the roster. But sometimes things happen that are out of your control and you have to put on a brave face. You can do that without overanalyzing the team, without being dishonest, and still acknowledge the current challenges. Generally, I've thought savage has walked that line well. But he hasn't the past few days. In fact, he's sounded like me trying to manage my fantasy team, explaining how I had a great draft until some injuries and whatnot. That's acceptable for fantasy football, but won't get you far as a real GM. Savage's words and actions have an affect on the team and the rest of the FO, and the last few days can't be anything but negative.
I fear the result of all this will be Savage adopting a more defensive posture to the local media. Yes, he has to learn from this but he's gotta be careful. If things get adversarial, look out. There is just no reason to get all prickly about the 2006 season. Sure, we all expect some improvement and want the Browns to pleasantly suprise us. But if all we do is get marginally better I think most of us will be happy if it looks like the makings of a good roster are in place for '07.
I'm not gonna lie -- I'm more troubled by the events of the past week or so than anything else in the past couple years. Let's hope things calm down, Savage plays things a bit tighter to the vest, and the Browns find a way to field a decent team some September. And, most importantly, we can separate the wheat from the chaffe as far as the roster is concerned and be well positioned to move up in the AFC North in '07.
I think it's damn cool that Randy Lerner has purchased Aston Villa in the English Premiership. The PD is sure to question/criticize Lerner for going off to England and fiddling with his soccer team while the Browns have their ups and downs, but really those are the types of things that get written when there's nothing else to say in the paper. I mean, do people criticize Malcom Glazer for the same thing? As I recall he was trying to buy a soccer team when the Bucs won a Super Bowl, and now as owner of the Manchester United behemoth I don't think you can make much of a case that the Bucs are being neglected.
Anyway, I'm hoping Lerner overdoes it with his new socer team. I hope Aston Villa comes to Cleveland Browns Stadium for a yearly summer exhibition. I hope the Cleveland Browns cross the pond for a preseason game. I'm looking to buy the commemorative Cleveland Browns/Aston Villa t-shirt. Whether any of this comes to pass could be unlikely. But, hey, for a guy who's logged many hours playing both Madden and FIFA Playstation franchises, this could be very entertaining.
Browns pre-season notes:
- Baxter's injury worries me. You don't want a cornerback out there worrying about a pectoral -- that is going to make for a lot of lame tackle attempts.
- I'm getting a little anxious for Suggs or Green to get traded. It was dissappointing that neither of these guys busted out in the first preseason game, though Suggs looked decent.
- I still like Brodney Pool, and haven't seen Sean Jones do anything too impressive. Still looking though.
- Maurice carthon -- everyone is watching you.
- Seeing a guy like McMillan make some plays was cool.
- Jerome Harrison looked pretty comfortable on that little TD-catch.
- Watching Frye do pretty much nothing in game 1, I had two reactions: 1) he didn't look too sharp, and 2) preseason football sucks.
- Seeing Ephriham (sp?) not get blown up was nice. It at least told me the season is not over, merely damaged.
- Pray for a trade. I know savage loves his draft picks, but if a 2007 5th rounder secures decent play at center in '06, then I think it's worth it. I'll say it over an over -- our 2006 season is all about giving Frye the opportunity and determining whether he's gonne be the guy for the future. And we can't do that very well with a porous o-line. We've already been down that road.
Madden 2007 player ranking for the entire AFC North -- are attached to this post. The Browns got a reasonably fair shake. But the Ravens have some ridiculously inflated player rankings. Oh well.