DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Beckham Trade Part 2

OK, whether or not you win or not has nothing to do with if it is a rebuild. It's whether you keep your team together or not.

Now, have they made changes since the 2nd half of last season, we could go spot for spot and see if it qualifies in each others minds as a re-build, but we already all know what the Browns have done, and y'all called me anything but sane in the above posts, I'll just say I see enough changes "again" to say I'll call it another rebuild.
You guys can call it what you want.

Rebuild is almost done. What were doing now is installing the light finishing work, the carpets, drapes and appliances.

But does the carpet match the drapes?

I just got a family guy flashback .

First jersey.

It’s cool they chose the color rush jersey (which will soon be a topic in the Tailgate - new uniforms for 2020).

Trying again....YouTube videos don’t post right from my phone. I had to get to my PC.

Bad link boss.

I like you and your posts, but just so you know, your definition of a rebuild means the Patriots are rebuilding every year. It seems as though it's working out for them, so I probably wouldn't worry so much about the "roster turnover." We are going to be fine and probably be in the playoffs for the first time in 17 years.

Yes, it is.
I have also found a very subtle, yet effective way to put a finer point on it when I get folks up in my face.

I'm happy to see Browns get new love / young fans/infatuateds jumping on the wagon, but I'm still an ambassador for the longevity of Browns Fandom. Read the following exchange. It happened 2-3 days ago, at a local store.

"Hey- Browns fan! Sure is cool to see your team getting some love-"
"Yeah it is, BUT- they've always had the love. I'm a 3rd generation Browns fan. We go all the way back to The Beginning. But I'm happy for you... we are fun now."
"Uh- OK..."


I've had a few others, too... and I always find a way to manipulate the conversation back to the most important point: Welcome to My World. Feel free to join at this late date, but please remember this: YOU ONLY GET TO SIGN ON AS AN AFTERTHOUGHT. I AM AN ORIGINAL GANGSTA.

BOOM.

Here's my attitude. It goes all the way back to the original board when I started writing all my 'casual fan op-eds.' You remember- the ones I wrote to introduce myself to the community?
I remember making this prediction:

"From 'The Drive,' 'The Fumble,' 'The Departure,' 'The Return' and everything else that Browns Fans have suffered, will come this Truth: when the Cleveland Browns (and their fans) finally win the championship, they will be the stars in the most compelling story of triumph over adversity in all of NFL lore "

Gotta admit: "Riches/Decline/Bump/Bottom/Wilderness/Rags/Redemption/Riches" is one helluva story arc.

Books will be written.
Pluto will write one. I will pre-order it.
An entire display dedicated to The Cleveland Browns Story will be added to Canton.

Because the NFL championship trophy ceremony will be the first and only one of its kind to celebrate:

1. a team named after the Greatest NFL Head Coach of All Time...
2. ... taking possession of a trophy...
3. ... named after the second Greatest NFL Head Coach of all time.

I will enjoy my wry, ironic, understated smile/smirk when that day drops.


.02,
Clem

j/c

The rest of the world suddenly considers the Browns have arrived, as evidenced by the Vegas odds makers. And there is no doubt OBJ makes the Browns a better team. But I think the improvement he brings isn't as huge as the outside world perceives. I think we were much better than many realized before the trade. We saw it, but most of the rest of the world didn't.

I’m sure it’s been said, shout out to Jarvis,

You started this

I have to admit I'm not as eloquent in my speaking as you are. So my way of displaying how long I've been a Browns fan is far more simplistic. It goes something like this....

"Oh, so you're a browns fan?"

"Yes, since I was this big."

At which time I put my hand out showing the height of a small child. I'm 60 now and have been a browns fan ever since I can remember. My grandpa was a Browns fan and he died when I was quite young. I was left to carry on that tradition.

Didn't get a chance to post about the trade until now, been really busy with work and everything..

Pretty crazy that a superstar athlete is leaving New York City for Cleveland, a superstar athlete about to be going into their prime mind you. I get that it was a trade, but I think it was pretty clear that OBJ wants to play in Cleveland. The butthurt from NY fans as well as certain national media people has been amazing. Cry me a river. Sucks when it's you left holding the bag. At least you get a draft pick out of it.

Sad to see Jabril Peppers go. I really thought he was starting to come around. The second half of last season he really looked like an AFCN safety.

OBJ is special though. I have no problem with them doing what they could to bring in a talent like that. Baker Mayfield must be counting the seconds until training camp arrives. He's got weapons all over the place.

I get that a team that looks great on paper doesn't always translate on the field. There is still a schematic side of the game where preparation and discipline play in as much as talent level, but man, looking at this offense, it's got potential to be terrifying.

I can't wait to see NEO steeler "fans" start brainstorming their excuses for coming back. I hope they all get called out for it. You can go ahead and stay on that side. I hope we beat them by 50 in both games next year. Screw them and their fans.

I cannot wait for the season to start. I'm not one to hope the summer flies by, but once it's over we will be staring at the most anticipated Browns season in some time.

Nice. But, Landry will be there and waiting on them.

What kind of worker is Chubb? Maybe he beats them all. This is such an exciting position to be in.

We're all kinda joking and it is fun to do so. I will say that the mindset of these young fellas is going to be huge in regards to our success or lack thereof.

My son and his friends were over this afternoon and they are all Steeler fans. So is my wife. Their argument is that the Browns might implode due to the all the strong personalities. Baker, OBJ, Landry. I argued against that because I said they are all similar dudes who will get along.

I do think that these young dudes are going to have to mature a lot and become true professionals if we are to reach the lofty heighs many of us expect.

I am super excited, but will also hold my breath until the wins truly start stacking up. As a lover of the World Cup, I can't tell you how many on paper "amazing, star studded" teams have entered the WC as clear favorites and then bottomed out. Before they eventually won it Spain often looked amazing on paper, but were perennial underachievers. But, other National teams that looked amazing on paper and then underperformed in the WC are: Italy, Germany, Argentina, Portugal, Brazil. This list goes on. I know, I know...different sport and perhaps not a fair comparison. But, the point being...let's not get too far ahead of ourselves and our fanbases (and owners) own desperate expectations and hope.

There is work to do and much to prove. BUT...can't tell you how exciting it is.

Given that they're Steeler fans, I can see why they'd think this. BUT...Baker, Landry and OBJ aren't Ben, Antonio and Le'veon. And Kitchens definitely isn't Tomlin. Kitchens is the key to everything working out.

How did your son end up a steelers fan?

My wife is from Western PA and had season tix for the Steelers long before we met.

Wow!! Thanks for sharing... my mom is a huge football fan... wish m wife was more into it... she enjoys going to games but doesn't really get into football... that's petty cool about your wife

Sorry your son is a steelers fan though

I met a girl once .... proposed to her ..... found out she was a Steelers fan, and had to call it all off.

Of course, this all happened in a bar .... and I did have about 10 Diet Cokes.

No truer words have been spoken since this all went down.

I've gone through the "seven stages of shock". Was a little disappointed with what the OBJ deal took away from us - the ability to identify top defensive talent in the draft.

What we gave up for a HOF trajectory seems to fit well with a QB that looks the part. Add in Landry and it's evident this three-headed-monster will either make or break us.

Jarvis said it just a few weeks ago. "Get your head right and come to the land". If these guys keep their heads screwed on... and work... special things can happen sooner rather than later.

Lol my oldest daughter became a bengals fan almost 30 yrs ago because she liked to argue

Luckily her brother and sister are browns fans

Well, if you had 10 diet cokes, you could have taken 10 white washcloths into the john and made her 10 terrible towels.

You really need to get out more.

I would say at this point the hope that we'll implode is the only hope Steelers fans have. They can see the team that Dorsey is putting together on both sides of the ball and are aware of just how much of a threat we really are.

From what I read and what steelers fans have said, they believe exactly this will happen. We will implode... while somehow the steelers get it together and come out on top. Ben goes down with injury and they're looking at the #1 pick in the draft.

I'm excited about the season, but we might be getting ahead of ourselves a bit. We think Corbett can replace Zeitler adequately, but it might also affect whoever ends up at RT. It's a pretty big unknown. Tretter has been injury prone in the past. Our OL needs to hold up.

Pitt, as much as I loathe them, still is pretty good in the trenches. While not AB, Juju and Washington aren't bad. Connor did pretty well last year. If they can shore up the D in the draft, they won't be an easy out. Losing Munchak could hurt them.

Enjoy it now, but I wouldn't get too cocky.

I'm sick of the words "temper", "caution" and whatnot. Good teams ARE cocky, and go into every game expecting to win. That's where my mindset is. We're there now.

I can see why 5-3 in the last half of the 2018 season is cause for extreme excitement. No doubt about it. But we lost to every top shelf team we played.

That's why I can also see those who say we should temper our enthusiasm feeling the way they do. Both sides make a valid point.

We've had 20 years of tempering, we're only getting temperamental because of it.

I agree. I tend to be cautiously optimistic. What we did last year was great but you could make an argument we did not beat a great team last year.

I am planning on looking forward to next season and assume we will have a good season. I am not going over the top predicting 11-5 and Super Bowl but would gladly take it.

I won't criticize those pumped up and making big predictions, but I certainly don't expect any criticism for tempering my expectations.

I don't feel cocky about the Browns. However, I have never felt so optimistic about the talent of our team than I am now.

I have been called a Negative Nancy, a Doom-and-Gloomer, a Hater, etc for years. I always said I was a realist because I thought folks were overrating our talent.

In my opinion, this team is truly loaded w/talent. I don't think that it is even a debate in regards to how much talent we have. The only questions center around how we mesh and if we can use that superior talent to win games.

We also have to consider that the fans don't play the games. Thus, us getting too cocky has no effect on how the players play. The only concern would be is if the fans/media turn on the coaches and/or certain players if the team isn't living up to the heightened expectations. We have seen that over and over again for years.

My bottom line on this is that this team is loaded w/talent and I am fairly confident that Dorsey is going to continue to improve that talent. It's a good feeling.

While Pittsburgh still has some talent, their secondary hasn't been good in...what, 10 years? Their front 7 is good because their defensive line is good, but their exterior pass rushers aren't great. Watt is good, but Dupree is awful. They also have suffered greatly with the loss of Shazier and have not been able to even adequately to this point.

Then you go to their offense, they have an aging Ben, they lost a top 5 OL coach, their RT, #1 WR, their best TE, and franchise RB. Sure, Conner is good, as is JuJu, but they are not AB or Lev Bell.

They were already on their way down last year. Without maybe the best WR in the NFL, I wouldn't exactly say they have improved. The Ravens are a much bigger threat to the Browns than the Steelers at this point. And truly, the biggest threat to the Browns is themselves.

I think the Steelers signed Mark Barron to a two-year deal. I'm not a big fan of his, but his skill set suggests he could adequately replace Shazier.

Well said.

With the right bit of progress from Baker, our offense is good enough to hang with, and beat, any team in this league.

Our defense, however, is a gigantic question mark. We've gotten better, but I don't know that we've gotten better enough to be able to count any of the better teams as sure-fire wins.

The last game against Pittsburgh, we got it handed to us. Badly.
The Chargers abused us to the extent that there should have been someone calling a hotline to report them.

As has been pointed out, ANY *good* team beat us handily..... I don't know that our moves thus far are enough to offset how badly we got beaten in those games.

It is absolutely enough for us to look at games like Oakland and say "Never again", but that's about it.