DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Haslam Says Team Will Improve Significantly

As I'm sure that, under that same exact breath we're hoping - we all predict/assume him wrong lmfao.

Shouldn't it be:

He's always firing everyone. He should be committed.(?)

I agree. I missed this thread the first go around.

I am not as down on things as most seem to be. I like this front office structure. As much as many make fun of them, you can bet they are going to works their butt's off and check ego's at the door and make it work.

We aren't going to be a playoff team, but last year was a total disaster. It's pretty clear our football people didn't have a clue how to do things. Both the coaching staff and Ray Farmer. Not having those guys around is bound to add 2-3 wins. Jackson is going to add another, and the new team is going to add 1-2....I will call it 7.5 wins...round up, we win 8 games.

I like your spirit...even if it's a little optimistic. I'm looking for somewhere between 2-4 wins, but the beginnings of a better core to build on. If we see that, I will be encouraged.

You said we were going to be 11 and 5 last year.

You pimped those in place. Now, they are trash. Hmmmmmmmmm........

Alot of people here pimped Ray Farmer and this roster
Last season only to see how out of touch they were
With the Browns
This team might win 4 games in 2016.
It's the most talent depleted roster in the NFL

It is a bit odd that a lot of the people who praised Farmer the most and got upset if anyone questioned him are now blaming him for all of the Brown's problems.

I am guilty of this somewhat, but I blame him more for not re-signing people when the team had some leverage than for the people he did sign/draft. I'm not sure what the disconnect was between Farmer and Pettine. I think many of the players on the roster are/could be better than they showed last year. I'm not sure why the D seemed to regress so much.

I am not positive, but I think many are underestimating the role that Haslam, Sashi, and Scheiner played in things.

The defense? I complained about it last summer, but got shot down as being a Negative Nancy, illogical, and a hater who should go root for another team, but........think about it?

We lost:

--Sheard
--Skrine
--Haden
--Winn
--Taylor
--Kitchen
--Gipson played injured
--Rubin

Am I missing anyone?

And replaced them w/what?

In retrospect, I really don't think that myself and some others were off-base. It would be nice if some of those guys who were so insulting apologized for their hateful comments. Heck, several of the guys quit posting because of all the attacks.

But, the aggressors are just starting anew.

We didn't lose Haden, Taylor was garbage, so was Kitchen. Kitchen may have been the worst defensive tackle I've seen at the NFL level in a long time.

Your point is well taken, but Taylor and Kitchen were horrible.

We did lose Haden. He played how many games?

I always thought Taylor was overrated. I said so many times. But, was Meder better than him?

Kitchen was not terrible. He was very stout in the middle. I thought more stout than Taylor.

The fact is that the Brown's defense lost quite a few players. Some of us questioned those moves. We were ridiculed. Of course, those same posters said it was "all about scheme," even though we had the same freaking scheme the previous year.

The personnel decisions were poor, in my somewhat humble opinion. LOL

Kitchens body of work was well below even backup NFL standards. I remember the 1st start for Manziel, he was getting pushed 10 yards off the LOS on a combo and he was supposed to be our NT. 10 freaking yards dude. Meder wasn't better but he wasn't worse!

You're spot on, scheme and personnel were laughably mismatched. The Mingo situation was a horrendous disaster. As much as I like Pettine as a person, he let Oneil be a complete horses ass.

Haden and Gipson we didn't know would be hurt, same for Solomon.

Losing Skrine did hurt. I expected better play from Tramon Williams.

I would have liked to have kept Sheard, but think he was in the wanted to play for a winner group. Solomon was supposed to fill his shoes.

Winn, Taylor, Kitchen, and Rubin play a position where we were deep. I'd have kept Winn over Meder.


You say you expected us to be bad, but Did you expect us to be that bad?

I thought the D would be about the same as the year before. We lost some talent, but the draft and time in the system would even things out. That obviously didn't happen. Hopefully we can go the right direction this year. Honestly I'm a bit skeptical at this point.

As far as being off-base, I think a lot of people have been, both of us included.

I don't think you can fairly label one side the aggressors. It's been pretty mutual. Then there are some people who just seem to like to stir things up. I've contemplated quitting a few times myself. Heck, this morning.

We get it Jerry...it's April Fool's Day. Well...that...or you're on crack.

Amazing. Simply amazing.

I expected them last year, counting on D to keep 'em close. But we got a D that couldn't prevent scoring, an offense that seldom produced, and a secondary with whom no lead proved to be safe. Yeah, significant improvement for me, please. Two honking' scoops, please.

Shut up & show me.

Thank God we have snappy unis! Without them, I don't know if I could face the upcoming season. No Bowe and no Manziel helps, though. Going to go make a fresh pitcher of Kool-aid.

0-16 is now actually a real possibility. I do think we'll luck into a couple of wins, but looking at the 08 Lions compared to this squad, I think this roster is less talented.

The number sounds right, though I don't remember, but that isn't the point.

I was high on Pettine. That is until it was very clear to me his lap dog Defensive Coordinator was a total joke. Add in continued goofy coaching decisions, you bet, I changed my mind.

liar if I was the owner of this team I would make him a gunner on the special teams

I agree losing some of these bigger guys really hurt us. I was especially bummed with Sheard and Skrine. Skrine received a lot of criticism in here his first year but, his second we saw the improvements and he turned into a fiery, nippy dawg always at the heels of his opponent. He got called too many times on PI but, half of those calls were seriously weak. Huge loss that bit us hard. Sheard too....Pettine and O'Neil didn't play him in the right spot nor get his strengths out. We let him walk and he now is a key figure stone on NE's D.

Bryant too never seemed 100%. Mingo never seemed 100%, Shelton never developed, Haden was a shadow of his former self until he got hurt and then was lost completely. Gipson continuously hurt, K'Waun far too many concussions so young. Gilbert in and out of the doghouse, and Tramon, who I was excited about, seemed to get exposed on several big game killing plays. And whatever happened to Kruger? Horton brought him over and Pettine and co. made him virtually invisible. In the middle we kept getting exposed for 5-10 yards as LB's dropped back, shifted to the edge or blitzed. Given the money spent and the focus on the draft - the defense was frustratingly awful. Teams continuously destroyed us by running on the wing and we couldn't adjust and stop it. Making matters worse was when 3rd string RB's notched up loads of yards...the hemorrhaging just kept happening. The talent, I believe was there but, for whatever reason the scheme was terrible, it was never adjusted to fit the players talents or the obvious weaknesses. That is a coaching issue and Pettine's biggest downfall was first, hiring his buddy and putting him in a position where he was over his head and second, not firing his buddy when it was obvious we were going from bad to worse. Thirdly, his ego in believing the system works and the failures of recognizing the defensive scheme was shoddy and not working.

Our bright spots on defense: I think Shelton will show considerable improvement. I like that we saw some improvement in Desir and Poyer but, that is grasping at straws.

Offensively, we lost our O-Line coach and nobody was hired. On reflection that was huge. Mack wasn't 100%, Bitonio was hurt/in and out, although Pastzor played decently when he was in. Erving was being played in several spots on the line inc. on ST. No wonder he never developed. Benji started strong but, was then shut down by mid-season. Our other WR's were in and out of injury and our biggest threat was suspended. Add to it our QB issues. Manziel doesn't deserve highlighting. McCown though played admirably, I thought. Shame on Pettine for allowing him to get beat to death.

Our bright spots offensively were: Duke and Barnidge.

I will admit I was initially excited with Farmer's appointment. I looked at KC and thought maybe he could turn us into that young, exciting team. When he refused to address an obvious weakness (WR) I started to get a bit worried. When the squad went from young to middle-aged/old in a year I became seriously worried. My blind optimism however kept me hoping. On reflection, he was the worst thing for us. His drafting in the 1st round and his FA signings/no signings killed us and got us into the mess we are now in. Couple that with Pettine and the whole thing went belly up. I do think there is a good coach there in Pettine but, he made serious mistakes, chiefly with O'Neil and he and his staff failed to develop their young talent or use the vets to their strength. A year off for Pett will be good but, I can't see him being a HC soon. Probably DC. Maybe in SF after they fire O'Neil!

Am I hopeful for this season? I like the RG3 signing. I think if we can get him to where he was in 2012 or better we will have a serious threat. We need to get him to be more like Wilson who learned to adjust his game. Use the scramble and run sparingly or when a play breaks down. When he does he learns to slide to help protect him from injury. Personally, I think it would also make sense to keep McCown as our #2 to work with whoever we draft. There is a lot of focus on Goff and Wentz who would not go this early in a normal draft class...so, I wont be surprised if we trade down from 2...or we take our QB at 32 (Lynch, Hogan?).

I am realistic that they probably need a couple good drafts. I am preparing myself for another bad season but, I am *hopeful* we can at least show some improvement. As Swish said, 6-10 isn't anything to be excited about but, it will be an improvement. If our defense notches into the mid-teens that will be a big improvement. Of course, I hope for immediate turn around like Reid to KC but, I don't know if it will happen.

I do like the idea of the new mentality in our FO and I want to see how it plays out with this draft. I also LOVE the Jackson hire and his coaching hires have excited me. The biggest question mark may be Pep but, I think somebody had to get fired in Indy and unfortunately Pep was the fall guy. I think he could be worth that 2nd chance.

My 2 cents.

I agree w/some of your points and disagree w/others. But man, that isn't why I am responding.

I'm responding because I really liked how you presented your opinions. Lots of logic. Balanced. Truthful. Fair.

You probably don't care, but I'm impressed. I would love to see more posts like that one.

Given the almost total tear down, I think it gets worse this season. We just lost too many pieces to replace this year.

I think it is probably going to take more than a couple of good drafts before we turn things around. That's not totally a bad thing if we draft right. We should have good draft position for the next few years.

Dallas did the same thing in the late 80's before their young talent developed and became real good. The thing is can we get that young talent and develop them? If we do it will be a first.

Now Peen, you know you aren't allowed to change your mind.. If you do somebody will throw it in your face. LOL

Anyway,I too had some hope for last season. I looked at the D from the year before, kinda thought that if they had some progression, we might be much better.

that didn't happen.

I also had a bit of a Good feeling about Pettine saying he was going to spend a bit more time on O. I thought that might be a smart move at that point.

I was wrong.

By the end of the year, seeing how our Drafts from the last two years hadn't panned out coupled with the teams off field issues, I was disappointed by Farmer..

I put too much faith in a guy I shouldn't have.

I was wrong to do that as well.

But, anybody that pays attention should know, once the light bulb went on, I decided Farmer had to go, wasn't totally against keeping Pettine, but the DC had to go.

In the end, having them all gone wasn't nearly as hard for me to take as when they fired Chud and his whole staff.

Although, I can't say I was disappointed by the firing of Lombardi and Banner.. I didn't like either of those guys at all.. Still don't. But I accepted them and allowed them to show me what they had.

that didn't work out so well either.

All the hate for Haslam seems unfounded to me. All he's done is try anything and everything to bring a winner here. He's made one mistake after another, but these are mistakes made trying to move things forward, not in reverse...

This new move with Sashi in charge does indeed confuse me a little. The whole Money Ball approach seems sound but how does it really apply to Football.

I imagine had I been aware of it back when it was being used by Billy Beane in Baseball, I might have said the same thing. In fact I'm sure of it.

So what the hell do I know? Generally, just when I think I have it figured out, things change and I tend not to change as quickly.

It's imperative the Browns draft impactful rookies sooner
Than later. The Browns drafting history shows their 1st 2nd
3rd RD PICKS have failed miserably providing impact out
Of the gate
Hue and Co need home runs right away no wait and see players

j/c

If you don't give the rookies starter reps in training camps and practices, you probably won't get starter production on the field. I think there is a balance between making a rookie earn his spot and getting them the reps they need to be ready. I don't think we've been at the sweet spot in the past. Hopefully with the new system the people drafting and the coach setting the lineup are on the same page. I'll believe it when I see it, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

well they have to show up... like johnny late and drunk... and poor gilber with his sleep disorder....

That simply isn't true. We added Demario Davis, RGIII, and Alvin Bailey.

I am not kidding about this. I think all 3 of them are going to be important parts.

You're crazy. They haven't added jack squat.

We will find out soon enough.

Browns sign ST Jack Squat
Posted 7 minutes ago

Bud Light
Senior Staff Writer
@Bud_Light
Nine year veteran special teamer has 1 tackle

With possibly their last free agent signing of 2016 the Browns on Sunday signed special teamer Jack Squat. He is expected to bring veteran experience to round out a roster of similar talent. Squat has played one play in his nine year career in which he accidentally tripped and fell down in front of punt returner Foster Child for the tackle.

BlackHoleSports

I'd first like the organization to improve...

Very nice.;)

Sometimes accuracy rears its ugly head through sarcasm.

ddubia....that's good stuff .

We went 3-13 last year and we are significantly worse talent wise than last year. How the hell are we going to win 6 games with no line, no defense, no playmakers etc. Winning 3 games this year would be a significant achievement considering how much worse we are talent wise. We started off with a LOT of holes and instead of plugging them they created a LOT more holes. No WAY to they plug enough of them in one draft to do anything this year. If Haslam hated last year he's in for a REAL treat this season.