DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum What is holding this team back?

every year there are teams that go from zeros to heroes pretenders to contenders.
5 win team to 10 playoffs here we come.
what is the biggest reason this franchise cant turn it around?
3 years ago the narrative on here was "2018 is the year we are gonna reach the playoffs!!!"
whats your thought??

Having the worst head coach in the history of the NFL, and hoping it would turn around.

That's just nuts

Jimmy Haslam.

The inability to draft star players as well as the inability to keep productive players for over a decade.

On top of many other factors that have resulted into the Factory of Sadness we all love.

Good question. I have wondered the same thing. It seems every bad team has been able to turn it around and see some success, at least for periods of time. Also, every year it seems that there are teams that go out, over achieve and win a game or two that they are not supposed to win. Case in point, the Bills handily beating Minnesota this year. I cannot remember that happening with the Browns, ever.

I don't even know if one can point to Hue and say that he is the problem. This has been the problem ever since the return.

I am going to go with ownership. We started to see some success in 2002 but after Al Lerner died and Randy took over it was a string of very poor hires in an effort to not have to deal with being an NFL owner. Culminated with the hiring of Holmgren who was only here for a paycheck and to hook up all his buddies with a job. And with Haslam it has been more of the same from bad hires to bad command structures. The few times it looked like we might be on the right track, we imploded (Banner, Lombardi, Chud)

im gonna say the culture.
the acceptance of losing
that over powers the will to win

This year
I believe it was Haley.

Ownership has consistently hired the wrong people to run the franchise.

This year it was ...

- TT playing poorly in his short stint ..
- Bake being a rookie
- injuries at WR and on D ... look at our practice report vs the falcons ... we have 4 guys out for every one of theirs ..
- youth
- a few players ... NOT MANY ..

We BETTER be that team next year ... THE DUCKS ARE IN A ROW ... ITS SET UP TO HAPPEN ...

Don’t let the thief blow this Dorsey ..

WERE RIGHT ON THE CUSP!!!!!

21 points per game, the most since 2007, and you think the problem was the OC...

21.1 in 2018 - Haley
14.6 in 2017 - Hue
16.5 in 2016 - Hue
17.4 in 2015 - John DeFilippo
18.7 in 2014 - Kyle Shanahan
19.2 in 2013 - Norv Turner

Yes, the OC was a part of the problem. We are still ranked in the 20s in scoring and have, at very inopportune times, gone long stretches with no offense.. the fact that we aren't as crappy as we have historically been, doesn't mean we are good.

lack of consistency in being in one system for multiple years

Injuries and lack of quality depth

Off the top of my head:

- Leadership (ownership, coaching, and players without leaders)
- Rookie QB play
- Poor depth/talent at other positions (namely OT, WR, and LB)
- Poor officiating in important spots
- Lack of discipline (penalties, tackling, STs)

I'll have to with up to this point poor decisions by the owner.

It is and always has been talent and depth.

Most times we don’t have either. This year…..for once, we do have some talent but they weren’t used properly and we have absolutely no one beyond starters.

Even with that said….Greg Robinson was an upgrade at tackle…LOL

Talent and coaching.

Creampuff coaching and lack of discipline.

It is only one game, but GW's first outing, we only had 4 penalties and drops went from 10% to 6%. Numbers from CBD.

Tackling, however, did not look good. I look for the other trends to continue, and this one to notably improve.

Very poor decisions by first Lerner and then Haslam. The team has changed players, coaches and GMs but hiring the wrong people to make personel decisions has created a losing mentality over the past several years. Fans expect the worst.

Truthful, non-biased or agenda post.........nice job by you sir. The future is VERY bright for this team provided that we do the right things moving forward. We just have to hope Haslem doesn't change his mind in letting Dorsey hire his HC, and that Dorsey is actually good at finding coaching talent.

It will help TREMENDOUSLY just by everyone pulling in the same direction.....not to mention 10 new draft picks and a ton of $$$ in FA.

Seriously?

Our WR's can't catch....
Our Defensive personnel can't tackle...
Our Oline is a sieve....
We are near the top of the league in penalties...

I think that about covers it!

Go Browns!!!

The team is never on the same page. We have a great analytics department, we hire Hue Jackson. We hire John Dorsey, but keep Hue Jackson. That’s only recently. We never having the whole organization rowing in the same direction.

Couldn't disagree more.

The problem continues to be no QB and poor HC selections. Hopefully the QB piece is now solved. Get the right HC and hopefully we have the right QB and watch all the drafts magically get better.

The root of the problem continues to be Haslam. Cfr hit the nail on the head that no one is ever going in the same direction. It all starts with Haslam.

The QB spot has ALWAYS held us back.

We finally have a QB. Now, we can fix all the other stuff and get this 'machine' rolling.

Long term: bad decisions and either disinterest (Randy Lerner) or troublesome meddling (Haslam) from owners

Intermediate term: Hue Jackson and past GMs

Short term: Missing pieces in the passing game (offensive tackle, receivers, tight end), Baker needs to keep developing, special teams disasters, lack of depth on defense and the rest of the team for that matter

Wild card: Never seem to have a big enough, strong enough, fast enough, or nasty enough of a team. I don't know how much this is scouting, how much is coaching, and how much is strength & conditioning and other related topics. Seriously though, watch any Browns vs Steelers game from the last ten years. Look at our players and look at theirs. I can't be the only one who has noticed this..

J/C

Youth, lack of talent and injuries.

We've seen, especially over the last few years, the kind the leap that a second year quarterback can take. Goff and Wentz are the gold standard. I think it's completely fair to say that Mayfield is playing better as a rookie than those now-Pro-Bowl quarterbacks did as rookies. I'm looking forward to seeing what this young team can do with progress. Garrett and Ogunjobi took their leaps. It'll be exciting to see what Mayfield, Chubb, Ward, Avery and Harrison could all take nice strides.

As for a lack of talent, we're still not quite there yet. Need some work at OL, WR, LB, DT and CB but a lot of the issues extend to depth. On the bright side, the issues are more defined as we're now comfortably at a point of putting talent around our core rather than trying to build a core. It depends on the new coaching staff, but I would think that a decent 70% of this roster is well solidified. Strong drafting and some decent free agent additions would go a long way towards resolving the issues.

I don't mention coaching because, at this stage, it doesn't really matter. We're going to have a new coaching staff anyway so the roster is all I really care about. I do think it's fair to say that, at the very least, the coaches haven't helped much. It is frustrating that we had the high-profile likes of Jackson and Haley, yet it was under Kitchens that the offense looks explosive and, dare I say, normal - it wasn't overly predictable, it was balanced and there wasn't any head scratching moments. Evidently, that's easier wanted than accomplished, so I tip my hat to Freddie.

While the team is being held back, I'm still very happy with what I've seen from our players. It looks like we've got plenty of keepers, and it's all young talent who will continue to grow.

Q: What is holding this team back?
A: Since 1999, the average life expectancy for a coaching staff/front office has been 2.3 years.

2.3 years.
In a division where the coaching, FO and culture of the othere three teams span decades.



2.3 years.

Meanwhile the Steelers have had 3 coaches in like 50 years lol

Yup.

Dawg- go to Wiki and read up on the Stoolz's history.

Until they hired Chuck Noll, Pittsburgh's coaching/FO history was the same as Modern Browns. Exactly the same results. Divisional doormats for 30 years.

This team has no established culture. It has no family lineage. It has a 20-year history of committing to nothing.

Here's a fun fact: on a team where drafted players get traded after 4 years, those players were Browns longer than the coaches who were supposed to lead them.

Our culture isn't Family/Tribe/Tradition.
Our culture is lather/rinse/repeat.

I would add OLB to your list as well. We desperately need OLB help, on both sides.

Poor drafting IMO has been the biggest problem, above all.

Not the only reason - but the most glaring.

Too much roster turnover.

When 60 percent of your roster is new, winning will not come easy.

A good team turns 8 -12 players. We are at 60 percent. Think about that.

Exactly right. WORST owner in professional sports. Bar none. Browns will NEVER accomplish anything as long as he thinks he knows something about NFL football.

Holding this team back?
It's not yet Thanksgiving,
as late as August of this year, the plan seemed to be,
Tyrod, and Carlos Hyde, Josh Gordon was going to be a factor, if he could stay eligible to play, Corey Coleman was returning, Landry was a nice addition to the mix.

Bring the rookies along slowly, Veteran leadership and depth, give the rookies time to develop, unleash them in limited support roles.

Just win baby!

Keep your own people together!

for months we were told this year was different ... and here we are half way through, and it's the same.

I don't think it's the same. In years past we didn't have some building block players. Joe T was about it, maybe a few others.

This year I think we have 4-5 on each side of the ball we can build around. Now we need to find the right coach.

Haslam got it right when he hired Dorsey. Now Dorsey needs to get it right on who we bring in or keep as head coach.

I think its the same old stuff with better drafting.

We should have fired Hue and GW last year, started this year fresh, IMHO, instead we create all this mess.

Then,IMHO, we go and fire the wrong coordinator, we retain the flashy one with a long dark history and no future in the league, and fire the one that could provide continuity.

Same old stupid decisions...

If we hold Haley responsible for anything it'd be having ambitions that go beyond building the best offense with the tools at his disposal. We had a better O but he wanted a better gig (HC).

Experience, mainly.Premier offensive talent and auxillary defensive talent. Our o-line talent is good enough to be a play off team. QBs routinely do more with less skillful lines. On offense we have a lot of great pieces, but are still missing a primary skill player. Someone who will make defenses plan around him.