DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum The Annual Tease: Josh Gordon

Did they also have problems with alcohol and codeine?

And the chance to accumulate millions and millions of dollars playing, as RGIII would describe, "a kid's game for a king's ransom" and etc?

All I will say on it is this:

Anyone that has gotten into Recovery for alcohol/drugs will understand where Gordon is at and the Why.
Anyone that is "normal" when it comes to drinking/drugs probably stands little to no chance at all of really understanding.

You will do it even when you really don't want to, and physical addiction/needs have absolutely nothing at all to do with any of it. Anyone that wants to downplay the Mental side of addiction COMPLETELY fails to grasp anything at all regarding addiction. I've known guys with 20+ years of sobriety that have gone back out for one last time.... any physical compulsion they had is two decades removed from existence, but that mental obsession - that's been waiting and doing push-ups. The brain is just wired differently; that's the simplest way I can put it.

IF he can truly, finally, get serious about being clean & sober, he will be renewed in a way that will shock any doubters and that kid will light it up like we haven't seen since his earliest years. I'd actually bank on that.

The only question is whether or not he has finally surrendered and accepted who he is.

Very well put

well said buddy

Thanks

The board did hash this out, in depth, early on in Josh's career. (no pun intended)

Most of us who are familiar with this saw Josh as an addict that was in denial. When he stepped out of the first attempt at treatment by declaring himself not an addict and telling us that the counselor's backed it up, we knew it was trouble. Many of us stopped right there and knew it was a ticking time bomb. It was not going to play well.

Josh could never stand up to the harsh restrictions imposed on him. It was as if it was intended as a drama for the media. He had no chance. It seemed to me to be a set-up.

The nature of what he did for a living, and how he did it, assured us of it.

If Josh had just started pounding opiates, (despite the harm to his liver, colon, etc...) then he wouldn't have had to go through the nationwide humiliation.

Another thing I'd like to add to Purple's post is about what Josh does, and how he does it. Josh Gordon receives a football and accelerates. He will hit defensive backs at full speed. That is what makes him special. Makes him different. He is willing to take a safety's best shot. He's willing to deliver a shot and do it at speed. Speed + Strength = power. One of Josh's biggest weapons. His biggest... he has *&LLS.

How do players, and military guys deal with the pain? The pain they wake up with?

Many players used to use alcohol. Then opiates came into play. Then the combo. Add in steroids, then hgh, and you can make a lot of dough, have an element of fame, and play a game for a job.

Josh played all out for the Cleveland Browns. He has *&LLs. He would accelerate out of the catch and explode downfield. He played like a man, and we treated him like a criminal.

He seemed like a nice kid who smoked a little weed. Did he let his teammates down, sure; did this franchise let him down? Absolutely! JMHO. We handled him like amateurs.

The NFL, and many of us, decided that there would be no way for him to deal with his pain. I've always found it perplexing. He obviously didn't get a physicians prescription for painkillers -- We busted him for cough syrup. Marijuana is an anti-inflamatory. Marijuana is a painkiller. Marijuana is a muscle relaxer. There are those experts that say it is far less harmful to the body than alcohol. Far less harmful than opiates. Less harmful than steroids and hgh.

Heck with the facts.

Josh played all out and put his body constantly on the line. He used a little weed to cope with the pain. We embarrassed him, disrespected him, and made him out to be a bad guy. "A punk.'

Did he know he was letting his teammates down? Sure, as Purple has shown, he couldn't control it. Many of us knew that.

For Josh Gordon to stay clean, and play in the NFL, would have required an incredibly strict and disciplined program. Clean from pot, cough syrup, alcohol, etc...

The guy gets hit at full speed by 260 pound linebackers. 10-20 times a game.

There would be times where he just wouldn't care what the ramifications were and he would look for the immediate release.

Roger, Jimmy, they can get hammered if a journalist writes something bad about them. If Josh can't walk in the morning, that's too bad. Two drinks on a flight to Vegas -- that will be another year.

Here is a question. If Josh was a steelroid instead of a Brown, do you think they would have handled this the way we did? He, he... No way. And I hate to say this. Hate it more than anything. They would have draped a blanket over him. When he declared himself not an addict, he would have been backed down and they would have demanded he run a "program". He may have ended up back in rehab the next week. They would have worked with, and nurtured that kid. The NFL would never had done to him what it seems we allowed them to do. Rooney would have squashed that quick. (My gut tells me that something to this effect is the reality.)

Josh, just like Manziel, had the serious misfortune of playing for the wrong franchise at the wrong time. We were a horrific, dysfunctional mess. Very few franchises would have handled either one of those kids the way we did. There are bad franchises, like the Jags, and there are good ones, like the Cowboys, Packers, Giants, etc...

I am hoping for change. I am hoping we already have.

Inspirational post. Well put!

Hope.

sounds like a long laundry list of excuses to me.

Gordon did NOTHING for the Browns. His play was for himself. He came into the league having to prove himself.

And was Baylor the wrong college program for Gordon? Was Utah the wrong program for Gordon too?

There is no one to blame, except the person at topic.

Always, and absolutely.

If he ever figures that out, he could be really good again. I'm in the camp willing to wait and see as long as it doesn't cost us anything.

"Always and absolutely"

And, we may "always and absolutely" be a pathetic franchise because of that thinking, because of that belief.

Hopefully, Haslam, Brown, Depodesta have figured that out.

In the last 3 years the only thing Flash has been hit by is Goodell.

Who would you hold accountable for Josh's actions other than Josh?

Accepting that the things you mentioned are extenuating circumstances that affect him in his day-to-day life as a professional football player is one thing, however, absolutely NONE of it gives him a pass for anything at all regarding his substance abuse issues.

Josh-who, Hue says we've moved on.....twenty years from now someone will mention his name....one year wonder, who had no maturity and couldn't stop screwing up....wait, person bringing him up will be his daughter who isn't supported, who had lousy family life.....IF he gets reinstated get "anything for him" and let some other team get hosed like we have....IS he practicing with Johnny....another all-time pick screw up.....GO Browns!!!!

Olskool711, You said this: Josh, just like Manziel, had the serious misfortune of playing for the wrong franchise at the wrong time. We were a horrific, dysfunctional mess. Very few franchises would have handled either one of those kids the way we did. There are bad franchises, like the Jags, and there are good ones, like the Cowboys, Packers, Giants, etc...


What I want to know is how should we have handled either one?
Not tough enough? Too Tough? Maybe we should have let Manziel run wild and not said anything? Maybe we should have suspended him early and often? Really want to learn your thoughts on what we should have done.

Does "Not draft him at all" count?

No, cause then their wouldn't be any "not handled right"

This isn't the franchise's fault in any way. There is nothing the Browns could do for either Josh or Manziel; those clowns had to finish their acts. The Browns handled them correctly.... held them accountable, but gave them opportunity to redeem. Tough love; no handouts.

Josh & Johnny both chose to trash their careers of their own volition.

Absolutely, both were known users, one on weed, other abused alcohol....both talented, so we HAVE to give them a chance....how'd that work out....again, get what we can for Gordon IF he ever gets reinstated.....how can the Commish with straight face ever believe Gordon has fixed himself...he can't can he....impossible.....Gordon is cooked, done....Go Browns!!!!

Commish should just send a message to all other players and give Gordon. Manziel, and players like Martavius Bryant and Justin Blackman lifetime bans.

There's really no equivalence between Gordon and Manziel; they shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence. Gordon produced at a high level for one brief season, and showed that he had world class talent. But he failed to control his urge to get high. Manziel never produced at the pro level, and there's really no reason to think he ever would have. He was always a false hope, substance abuse notwithstanding.

I think they have a lot in common. Two guys w/a ton of talent who blew it by being selfish idiots.

+1, sad part is Browns KNEW both had demons and selected them, I was POed at Money Sign guy...if you can't trust a guy why have him around...talent, baloney....he has to be available and committed at least some....GO Browns!!!

Please no.

https://twitter.com/JOSH_GORDONXII/status/839968042197090305

So THATS why we haven't resigned Pryor.

mac will be exsctatic.

I don't agree with that. If he could stay on the field, he would help the team.

I agree. I also choose to believe that he can turn his life around and help himself ... based on actions he took the first step during the season last year. I hope he plays in the NFL and I hope its for the Browns.

I agree. If he can get on the field, I want it to be with us.

It falls to the first one needed for the second to happen, and Josh has proven he cannot help himself or "just say no" to the things he MUST know CAN get him in trouble, but decides to do them anyway.

I will admit, I gave up on Josh awhile ago. I hold no hope for him, nor do I want him on the team anymore regardless of what he's capable of in uniform (which is definitely a positive thing, he's a freak) but he just can't get right.

And I don't disagree with that. It was simply the 2nd comment I diagreed with.

I sense the NFL is beginning to re-think their Pot policy. I can see them being like the NBA and stop testing for that.

That is Joshs' problem. I don't think Pot is a performance enhancer.

Once again, we don't know if pot is his only problem. He had a DUI and was seen getting wasted w/Manziel. The cough medicine" was probably Purple Drank. He posted pics of himself w/pipes and pill bottles.

And the timing of his checking into rehab this past football season should have alarmed people rather than pacified them.

You're right.

I am not counting on anything from that guy. My only point is if he can play, I'd like it to be here.

The odds are long.

Yeah, I agree w/that.

My Father was at the scrimmage in Tampa last pre-season and couldnt believe his size and speed. He said he and Pryor standing next to each other looked like tight ends. Josh had a very good game / scrimmage and was very very fast. I just hope he gets re-instated and makes it to the 4th pre-season game and then we trade his worthless self indulged arse to a desperate team. The Browns as an organization have always been very pro active in helping their players who have issues. This goes back to the 70's with the Modell family and the Cleveland Clinic. At this point Gordon should be treated as an expendable asset that we can sell to any high bidder. JMHO

I am good with that as well, though I lean more towards him playing here.

Hue did say we are done with him.

... " Hue did say we are done with him " ...

That was before Hue's pal Pryor took a powder !