DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum The piling on of Crennel continues........

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Bill Livingston: Browns coach Romeo Crennel has made it impossible to defend him
by Bill Livingston/Plain Dealer Columnist
Monday November 24, 2008, 9:31 PM
Romeo Crennel has made it impossible to defend him, even for those who admire his personal character and his loyalty to his players.

He started by making terrible decisions in the opener, the Dallas game, with that Belichickian field goal with 10 minutes to play to cut the deficit to a still-three-scores-needed 18 points.

He seemed like he would never deviate from the dead-end road. He stuck with Derek Anderson when it became apparent that, as was once said of a journeyman Indians catcher named Andy Allanson, "his future is in his past."

Then Crennel abruptly switched to virtual rookie Brady Quinn, who got two games, plus two interceptions Sunday, before the coach hooked him for Anderson. This was done quicker than you could say "double standard." On the second interception, Braylon Edwards didn't fight for the ball, big and lanky as he is. (How many believe he would have just dropped it if he had?)

The twists and turns are part of the perverse intrigue of the Browns. They are extravagantly inept. Each week brings a different flaw.

As if on cue, Crennel on Monday said Quinn is still the starting quarterback. But since the rest of the season is devoted to finding out what Quinn can do, why bench him at all? Mistakes are part of Quinn's growth process.

Moreover, Anderson was himself benched three weeks ago after 1½ years of not making the trustiest decisions. Anderson's self-confidence is starting to recall Humpty Dumpty's shell after he fell off the wall.

So the latest move further muddled a disorganized franchise. Too many players have simply played for too long without being held accountable for drops (Edwards), hot-headed penalties (Kellen Winslow) and failure to exert veteran leadership (Willie McGinest could have joined Jamal Lewis in decrying the lack of effort). Crennel must take the hit on that.

When Crennel said he didn't know how to fix these things, it was like Chris Palmer's "runaway train" remark. Cue the traveling music. A coach hunt is imminent.

Still, many of us admire Crennel for never ducking either questions or responsibility. The same cannot be said for his bosses.

Take Phil Savage, wherever he might be. Punxsutawney Phil might pop his head out of his burrow now and then, but his presence lately consists of a profane text message from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes member to a heckling fan; a 29-second press room monologue about Winslow's staph infection; and a radio interview at the height of the Winslow controversy when, his voice rising to almost a falsetto register, Savage thanked more than a dozen people who help the Browns win, including secretaries and the head groundskeeper.

Yet Savage let Crennel face the music on the text message/Winslow controversies. Unconscionable.

It's hard to see Savage and his ego welcoming as Crennel's replacement a proven head coach like Bill Cowher. So Savage goes, too, unless the new coach trusts the same personnel guru who built this paper tiger.

Cowher would be the biggest savior since generalissimo Butch Davis, only with a little firmer grip on the teeny-tiny matter of who can play and who can't in the NFL these days. It would be a repeat move. It would also be the best, and maybe the only, hope.

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Browns coach Romeo Crennel and General Manager Phil Savage are on the hot seat
by Mary Kay Cabot/Plain Dealer Reporter
Monday November 24, 2008, 7:29 PM

Tony Dejak/Associated Press
Browns coach Romeo Crennel (left) and General Manager Phil Savage (right) face the possibility of losing their respective jobs due to the Browns' performance this season.Browns coach Romeo Crennel and General Manager Phil Savage both could be on the hot seat, but changes probably won't be made until after the season, a source close to the situation said.
Both could lose their jobs -- or both could keep them. Crennel could go, and Savage could stay -- or vice versa. Their seats both got hotter with Sunday's 16-6 loss to the Texans for a 1-5 mark at home, but nothing has been written in stone. Some of it will depend on how the team plays in the final five games, three of which are on the road.

The team has been unhappy with Crennel, who is 24-35 in his fourth season, including 0-7 against the Steelers and 2-5 against the Bengals. He has the same regular-season record Butch Davis had when he resigned with five games left in the 2004 season.

Specifically, the club has been disillusioned with Crennel's clock management, play-calling and under-use of personnel such as running back Jerome Harrison. On the other hand, the team knows the players love playing for Crennel.

Asked Monday if he thought he'd be fired, Crennel said: "I don't worry about it. I can't control it. The thing I can control is whether we win or lose. If we win, that improves my chances. If we don't, then that hurts my chances."

Browns owner Randy Lerner has declined to comment on the state of his team and two top men, but Crennel said Monday that he's been in contact with him.

"I'm telling him that this team hasn't lived up to expectations, and we're not as consistent as we need to be," said Crennel. "I told him we were going to keep fighting, and we're going to try to win a game."

Lerner's response?

"He's saying he appreciates that attitude," said Crennel. "He knows that there are no guarantees in this business and every game is a different game, and you have to line up and play it."

As for Savage, the Browns have been happy for the most part with his ability to draft and sign quality players, but unhappy with things such as the profane e-mail to the fan last week and the handling of the situation with tight end Kellen Winslow.

If the Browns hire a new coach, he might want final say in personnel matters. If that's the case, Savage probably would either have to relinquish that or find a new job. The Browns haven't made any overtures to former Steelers coach Bill Cowher, also a former Browns player and assistant, but if they could lure him out of the CBS analyst chair and back onto the field, he undoubtedly would want final say and probably his own right-hand personnel man.

Problem is, Cowher, who owns a 161-99-1 record -- including the playoffs -- and has a Super Bowl ring, will be wooed by several other teams, including possibly Kansas City, Detroit, and Philadelphia.

"I don't anticipate [coaching], to be honest," Cowher said on CBS on Sunday. "I'm really very, very heavily leaning into not going back to coaching."

If the Browns keep Savage and allow him to help hire a new coach, he could retain his current post. But there's growing sentiment the GM role might be too much for him.

If the Browns clean house, Lerner will owe millions of dollars in salaries to his top men. Crennel, Savage and offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski all signed extensions last season through 2011. Crennel and Chudzinski alone would be owed an estimated $20 million over the next three seasons.

Crennel wasn't comforted by the fact his players don't blame him.

"That means they're incorrect because I'm the head coach and the buck stops at my desk," he said. "It's my charge. If we don't win games, it's on me."

The pressroom was abuzz Monday morning when Crennel was more than 20 minutes late for his press conference, a first.

But he explained that his meeting with his assistants ran long.

"We're trying to figure out what we can do to get our players to play better," he said. "Sometimes when it's going bad, it's bad. That was evident when one of the most dependable guys I have on this team, Phil Dawson, misses a field goal. As I look at this team, I tell them, 'You need to play perfect for us to be able to win.' But we're not perfect. So we [can't] shoot ourselves in the foot."

Special-teams star Josh Cribbs echoed the sentiments of most of the players, who supported Crennel.

"For the coach to have to take the fall for an organization so big is, in my opinion, wrong," said Cribbs. "People are already counting Romeo out, but we can't dwell on that. We have to be professionals and play the next game."

Defensive end Shaun Smith admitted that the Cowher chants during the game were somewhat of a distraction.

"All the fans saying, 'Get rid of him,' I wish they could walk in [Crennel's] shoes and understand everything that's really going on and the severity of everything, because it's not his fault," said Smith.

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by Bud Shaw/Plain Dealer Columnist
Sunday November 23, 2008, 7:40 PM
Brady Quinn's short leash was the decision of a coach on an even shorter one.

This was the game in general and benching Quinn the game decision in particular that dooms Romeo Crennel to follow in the faint footsteps of Chris Palmer and Butch Davis.

A half-empty stadium in the fourth quarter? Check.

Players questioning commitments so flimsy they didn't last from one series to the next? Yep.

The "runaway train" reference of the Palmer years? Crennel didn't say it in those exact words. More telling yet, he didn't really need to.



Tony Dejak/Associated Press
Romeo Crennel's urgent encouragement to his defense didn't stop Houston from dominating on offense throughout Sunday's game. Afterward, Crennel admitted he didn't have a grasp on whether the team would be ready from week to week.The carnage was on the scoreboard in a 16-6 loss to a Texans team that had been road kill everywhere else it traveled this season. The evidence bounced off the walls in locker room, where you expect to hear it at 4-7. But rather than squelch it, an unwitting coach admitted he doesn't know what to expect week to week in such key categories as effort and execution.
"If I knew the answer I'd definitely get it fixed," said Crennel, who, by rote, promised the Browns would stick together. Comforting, that.

The ho-hum, seen-it-before nature of another inexplicable loss at home is, in fact, what will cost Crennel his job. No one who knows him delights in that. And those who don't and have put their desires in writing -- a "Cowher09.com" banner was conspicuous in the wide open spaces of the second deck Sunday -- shouldn't kid themselves that a change will suddenly restore the organization to the prideful days of Paul Brown.

The problems here reach to higher offices than Crennel's. They go up the organizational ladder to where a miscast GM sits at the right hand of a reluctant owner. Quarterback Indecision '08 falls in lock step with other obvious mishaps.

Other than that, move along, folks. There's no dysfunction to see here.

The head coach is the one who directly affects 45 other people every Sunday, and these lackluster performances by Crennel's team condemn him in the end. Sage Rosenfels as Joe Montana? The only thing more damning than that is Kevin Walter as Jerry Rice.

The difference between Sunday and the Baltimore-Denver double barrel of gloom and doom is that Crennel lost the courage of his own convictions regarding his quarterbacks. Or he never really had any.

Did he think Quinn, who threw two interceptions, would never make a rookie mistake? What was it about Derek Anderson's work here over two seasons that suggested he could "spark" an offense out of the bullpen?

After muddying the conversation with a reference to Quinn's slightly fractured fingertip, Crennel said he made the switch in part because of Quinn's poor decisions and with the possibility of an Anderson "spark" in mind.

Quinn was understandably surprised. But he wasn't the only one.

"Well, yeah, being that he took all the snaps in practice all week and Derek didn't get any," said Jamal Lewis, who found that and so much more -- including only getting 10 carries -- confusing.

Anderson is a rhythm passer whose first quarters have more often than not been frigid affairs even in the warmest of temperatures. In a relief role, that's not exactly going to bring a sense of calm and purpose to a huddle.

All that's left now is the sense that the head coach lost more than a game Sunday.

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even for those who admire his personal character and his loyalty to his players.

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Special-teams star Josh Cribbs echoed the sentiments of most of the players, who supported Crennel.

"For the coach to have to take the fall for an organization so big is, in my opinion, wrong," said Cribbs. "People are already counting Romeo out, but we can't dwell on that. We have to be professionals and play the next game."

Defensive end Shaun Smith admitted that the Cowher chants during the game were somewhat of a distraction.

"All the fans saying, 'Get rid of him,' I wish they could walk in [Crennel's] shoes and understand everything that's really going on and the severity of everything, because it's not his fault," said Smith.

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Crennel said: "I don't worry about it. I can't control it. The thing I can control is whether we win or lose.

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..because they can't handle the success they had last year.

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On the other hand, the team knows the players love playing for Crennel.

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I still stand by my statement after week 1. Going for that field goal is the kind of foolish decision that can destroy a teams confidence and ruin a year.

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Now maybe we can find a head coach that has been a head coach before. What a novel idea. I'm tired of this team being the training grounds for future head coaches.

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Crennel said: "I don't worry about it. I can't control it. The thing I can control is whether we win or lose.

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I beg to differ.

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I bet he wishes he could take that little gem back.

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"If I knew the answer, I would definitely get it fixed."

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While he goofed up the Winslow staph infection thing

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While he goofed up the Winslow staph infection thing

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I keep seeing some people alluding to this as a Savage screw up. What exactly did he screw up there?

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It is what it is..with Winslow I see a player on the field who lays it all on the line. He gives 100% effort every time he is on the field. He may have a huge ego but he doesn't quit when he is on the field.

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I see a guy like Braylon Edwards not lose one ounce of playing time when it's obvious that he doesn't go all out on every play. Even if he went all out, his many drops should warrant a reduction in playing time if for no other reason than to make him wake up and realize he's not indispensible.

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His rant to the media was seen as childish and immature. The text messages telling Winslow to not reveal his illness was inexcuseable. This has not been a good month for Phil Savage. His rep throughout the league has taken a huge hit.

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I still stand by my statement after week 1. Going for that field goal is the kind of foolish decision that can destroy a teams confidence and ruin a year.

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plus, he would probably jump in a micro-second.

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His rant to the media was seen as childish and immature. The text messages telling Winslow to not reveal his illness was inexcuseable. This has not been a good month for Phil Savage. His rep throughout the league has taken a huge hit.

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I only ever read that a Browns official sent the text message, not that Savage did. Did I miss something?

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