DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Browns, Hillis capitalize on terrible Broncos trade

Maybe the hooded sweatshirt was hanging over Josh McDaniels’ eyes the entire 2009 season. Or maybe he never took the time to watch all of the Denver Broncos’ game film from 2008. Or maybe Mike Holmgren and the Cleveland Browns’ new front office is a whole lot smarter than we realized.


Or maybe there’s no reasonable explanation for how Peyton Hillis(notes) ended up where he is – sparking the
suddenly feisty Browns, and leaving Broncos fans writhing in agony over the worst trade of last offseason.

Where is Brady Quinn(notes) these days? You’ll find him scraping barnacles off the bottom of the depth chart,
languishing behind Tim Tebow(notes). Yes, that’s the guy whom McDaniels traded Hillis for – he of the career 66.8
quarterback rating and 52 percent completion rate. And it wasn’t even a straight up player-for-player deal. Denver kicked in a sixth-round pick in 2011 and a conditional pick in 2012 to sweeten the pot. Nothing like a couple of bamboo shoots under the fingernails on draft day to remind fans of a team’s brain-searing roster machinations.
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[Photos: See more of unlikely star Peyton Hillis in action]


The Browns’ Peyton Hillis rushed for 184 yards and two touchdowns vs. the Patriots.
(Tony Dejak/AP Photo)


Of course, you could give Hoodie Jr. a pass and say that there was no way McDaniels could have known Hillis would be a player who almost singlehandedly destroyed Hoodie Sr. (Bill Belichick) and the Patriots, en route to 220 yards from scrimmage (including 184 yards rushing) and two touchdowns – a guy who through eight games is on pace to rush for 1,288 yards and score 16 total touchdowns.


You could say McDaniels couldn’t have known, and you’d be right. He couldn’t, because McDaniels never took the time to try and know what Hillis was capable of accomplishing. Despite Hillis’ five yards per carry average and five TDs in a meager 68 rushing attempts in 2008, he didn’t get a sniff when McDaniels took over. Instead, the new regime, in its infinite wisdom, went out of its way to try almost anyone at running back other than Hillis. They drafted Knowshon Moreno(notes),
signed J.J. Arrington(notes) (then cut him and signed him again), and scooped
up injury-addled veterans Correll Buckhalter(notes) and LaMont Jordan
(notes). And
into the abyss Hillis went, never to be heard from again in 2009, save for 13 meaningless carries in 14 games.


The truth is, McDaniels never believed in Hillis, and the running back said as much when he joined Cleveland this offseason. Maybe only Hillis believed in himself, since nobody in the media (including me) was shooting a thumbs-up in Cleveland’s direction at the time of the deal. Just like nobody talked about Hillis when they lauded the sick talent in the University of Arkansas’ backfield in 2007, yammering non-stop about Darren McFadden(notes) and Felix Jones
(notes), and almost never saying a word
about Hillis.


Hindsight is cruel in the NFL, and Hillis’ success is downright merciless for a Broncos team that can’t run the football (last in the NFL heading into this weekend) and has watched Moreno struggle to stay on the field.

So Hillis delivers the two-pronged entry this week, making Denver’s shortsightedness a loser, and Cleveland’s sheer luck a winner. I have a feeling both cities will be talking about this trade for years to come.

On to this week’s other winners and losers

Ham sandwich anyone?

Sure... and pass the mustard please.

I'll take that ham sandwich every time

peter king recently noted in one of his columns that it is a 6th at least and can escalate based on playing time (not likely to happen with Orton and Tebow ahead of him, but you never know)

I would love to have his old Bronco's Jersey just to wear around town...

This was the worst Trade ever...our FO got HOSED! absolutely HOSED!

We had a Quarterback that could have been the franchise, and because of this trade we got 2 draft picks in the 6th round (who really pans out from there) and a running back who will be worn out in 3 years! PLUS we had to WASTE a 3rd round pick on a QB who may or may not pan out. I blame Mangini! We should fire the bum.

Man...just looking back at some of the offseason rants by AkronJoe dealing with Ham Sandwiches and the future of Brady Quinn.

Now that is some funny stuff.

BQ was gonna take the job from Orton and never look back. And with a capable coach in Mcdaniels and a great running game and OL, they were going to make us look real stupid.

And Hillis wasn't even going to make the squad, and if he did, he would never start, and if he started I doubt he rushes for more than 200 yards.

Thank you Captain Hindsight.

All very funny!

Wish I had all day to go back through the old threads ... some gems from the initial trade thread ...

akronjoe:

Quote:

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The fullback we got...we will carry him on the roster a in the same embarrassment we carried Mike Oliphant when he was traded for Earnest Byner. I don't expect anything from Denver's third string RB.

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OldColdDawg:

Quote:

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I don't like this move at all. Say what you want but this will come back to haunt us...

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Tulsa:

Quote:

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We have this whole buy low, sell high thing all mixed up...

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dawgbreath01:

Quote:

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Section 147... Row "B" seats 1&2.. season tickets and psl... make offer

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In akronjoe's defense, he admitted he was wrong much earlier in the year.

... not that I expect the ham sandwich jokes to stop. Those will continue for a long long time.

Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing?

I certainly can't say I envisioned Hillis doing what he's doing, but it didn't take hindsight to know that we would have the better end of that deal ... couldn't have been more elated that we rid ourselves of that over hyped bum.

First and only time I've used dancing bananas on this board.

Right after the trade, someone found a YouTube highlight reel of Hillis' few appearances in Denver.

3 minutes with Mr. Hillis, and I was like: "Brady Who?"


The rest has been one long highlight reel. Great trade.

Cleveland Browns running back Peyton Hillis has always been a hard charger
Published: Saturday, November 13, 2010, 4:44 AM Updated: Saturday, November 13, 2010, 4:45 AM
Jodie Valade, The Plain Dealer Jodie Valade, The Plain Dealer
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peyton.jpgLisa DeJong / The Plain DealerThese two Atlanta Falcons got an up-close look at the hard-charging running style of Peyton Hillis and, like most defenders, they were worse off for it.
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BEREA, Ohio — People in Conway, Ark., still talk about the time Peyton Hillis first became a local legend. It was the summer before his senior year at Conway High School in Arkansas, and Hillis was sweet on a pretty girl, so he wanted to show off a little.

He already had sprouted to his current height of 6-foot-1, was already a sturdy 220 pounds and already had a bit of a reputation as a somewhat brawny brute. So he and a buddy drove a big ol' pickup truck out to the street where the girl happened to live, attached a rope to the front of the truck and slung it around Hillis' waist.

And he pulled.

"I guess because he can," laughed Kenny Smith, Hillis' high school football coach.

Hillis ran up and down the street all day long, tugging the massive truck behind him in what he told everyone was merely his newest workout. But he also happened to win the heart of the understandably impressed girl and solidify his place in strongman lore -- at least in the middle-Arkansas town of about 40,000 people. It wasn't long before the story spread from house to house, and Conway children tried the same maneuver with go-karts, dragging them down streets to gain strength.

And to be like Hillis, the local high school football star.

Thus, the legend of Hillis began. The 24-year-old Browns running back is the kind of bulging-muscle, perpetually black-and-blue player who merely has to play his run-into-people style of game to win the hearts of all of working-class Cleveland. But he's also got the aw-shucks, humble, country attitude to go with his punishing game, and seems to add new chapters to his stories of legendary strength and power every time he steps on the field.
The Peyton Hillis file

peyton hillis.JPGView full size

Position: Running back.

Age: 24.

Height: 6-1.

Weight: 250.

Hometown: Conway, Ark.

College: Arkansas, where he shared playing time with standout tailbacks Darren McFadden and Felix Jones.

NFL: Selected in the seventh round, 227th overall, by Denver in 2008. . . . Traded to the Browns in 2010 as part of a deal in exchange for QB Brady Quinn.

Notable: Named for legendary running back Walter Payton. . . . A Parade All-America fullback in high school and winner of the Landers Award, given to the top football player in Arkansas. . . . Also a top baseball player in high school. . . . A cowboy boot aficionado, he owns boots made from ostrich, lizard, python and rattlesnake.

-- Jodie Valade

This week, it was a page-turner in which he was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week after Hillis dragged along and plowed over the New England Patriots for a career-high 184 yards Sunday. That was the kind of performance that caused Hillis to thank the Lord, as the deeply religious player is wont to do, and shrug his shoulders.

"My dad really raised us to be tough when we were little," Hillis explained. "That style of play has always been part of my game. I never really strayed away from that. I think it's helped me out at every level I've played at."

Breaking tackles and furniture

Doug Hillis still talks about how he kept the local furniture repairman in business when his youngest son was living at home.

Peyton simply had a knack for breaking beds, doors, walls, expensive armoires and whatever else was in his path. He and his older brother, Kyle, would wrestle for fun whenever they didn't happen to be playing football or baseball outside. They would wrestle in enormous family matches on holidays. And something always ended up shattered and splintered when they were done.

"The furniture man in Conway really liked me," Doug Hillis said. "I made a living for him."

Doug Hillis admits, too, that he's partly to blame for the destruction Peyton and Kyle caused on the family furniture.

"I just always was a type that rassled with my boys all the time," he said.

He taught both his sons how to play baseball and football, even naming Peyton after legendary running back Walter Payton. They grew up on a cotton and soybean farm before moving to Conway, where Hillis' mother, Carrie, opened daycare centers. Both before and after that, every day brought a new adventure in riding horses, hunting for hogs or enduring one of Doug's toughness drills.

When Peyton was a tot, his dad would put his young son in the corner of the house and zing tennis balls in his direction -- hard. Doug Hillis swears that helped Peyton's hand-eye coordination so much that he became a standout third baseman in high school, and Kyle was good enough to play baseball in college. In another game Doug played with his sons, he would hurl a football at them as hard as he could while they tried to catch it. Each time they completed a successful catch, they would move 5 yards closer to their dad.

"There was a lot of tough love in the family," Peyton Hillis said. "If you get in a fight, just wipe your nose off and keep walking. It's not a big deal. I think it's really benefited me not only in football but in life."

By the time Peyton got to high school, he was primed to be a star in the fullback-oriented, wing-T offense.

"He likes to rough and tumble; the more physical the game, the more he thrived on that," said Smith, his high school coach.

Hillis had two favorite plays in high school -- and neither involved him carrying the ball.

The first was a sweep to the team's speedy running back, where Hillis would be the lead blocker on cornerbacks. The other was another running play where he was assigned to block linebackers.

"He would demolish them, he would blow them up," Smith said. "He wasn't showboating, but he really enjoyed it. He flew in there and blocked linebackers and blew them up."

He also managed to be good enough to rush for 2,631 yards and 29 touchdowns, and win the Landers Award given to the top high school football player in Arkansas.

And he won the Hillis family honors for most destruction to the household.

"It was a constant terror," Doug Hillis said. "He tore up more furniture than anybody I've ever seen."

Getting limited by Razorbacks' backs

No one talks about Hillis' time at the University of Arkansas much, if only because it was the time when Hillis didn't add many chapters to his legend. Hillis was a fullback for two pretty decent running backs, Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. Both are also in the NFL, and McFadden was runner-up in Heisman Trophy voting in 2006 and 2007.

Hillis, meanwhile, endured a freshman season where he suffered a broken bone in his back and a junior season where he played with a painful calcium deposit in his thigh. His sophomore season, he talked of moving to linebacker for more opportunities to play.

"It taught him how to be patient," Doug Hillis said. "It taught him to be a better person. At that time, it was killing him. He knew he could play, and he knew if given the shot, he could make the most of it. He just got covered up with the other two players. He liked them very much; it was just a fact that knowing what you can do and not being able to do it . . . it just killed him."

His limited playing time and production led to him being selected by Denver in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft.

"That was the Lord's way of telling me to calm down, I guess," Hillis said. "I had a real good high school career and then I went to college and I had two really good backs in front of me. I feel like I've overcome a lot of adversity in college. A lot of people said I couldn't do stuff. I feel like I can do it and prove it to them now."

Hogs and hands and hustling

People everywhere still talk about how Peyton Hillis has been known to wrestle wild hogs. He swears that's not the case, that he only hunts wild hogs in Arkansas with his family, as he did during the Browns' bye week. But Doug Hillis explained that there's some wrestling of the 400-pound creatures involved when they're cornered against trees and you need to tie them up to transport them to another location.

"It's pretty dangerous," Doug Hillis admitted.

It takes enormous physical strength, good hands and pretty good quickness to snag the hogs.

Which, by chance, is also what Hillis uses daily with the Browns as a running back. In his first season since a trade from Denver brought him to Cleveland, the 6-1, 250-pound running back has for the first time since high school found a steady position and a coach who believes in him.

"I avoid him in the hallways," Browns coach Eric Mangini joked earlier this season. "I don't want to dislocate my shoulder."

Hillis has gone from a sometime-fullback to a full-time tailback who enjoys running through people -- or hurdling over them, if necessary -- more than he does darting around them.

"It's just the way I've always played," Hillis shrugged.

So far, Hillis has rushed for 644 yards and seven touchdowns. He's also showed versatility in catching 30 passes, including one for a touchdown.

It is, even his family admits, more than they imagined possible from their humble, hard-working son.

"I always thought Peyton could play pro football and thought he could be good at it," Doug Hillis said. "But putting up numbers like 144 against Baltimore and 184 against New England . . . that's what's blowing my mind. In Peyton's mind, he can do it all, he can do everything. Peyton has the will to do anything."

That includes playing multiple positions. He threw the ball to quarterback Colt McCoy in a trick play against New Orleans, and Hillis contends there's more arm strength where that came from.

"I wish they'd just give me a chance," Hillis sighed in mock agony. "That ain't working out, though."
http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2010/11/post_60.html

I just wanted to see how Hillis compared to the top rusher in the NFL right now.

That person happens to be Adrian Peterson.

Both Hillis and Peterson average 4.8 yards/carry.

Peterson has 180 carries so far to 133 for Hillis.

Each player has 7 rushing TDs.

Peterson has 4 runs of 20+ yards. (on 180 carries) So does Hillis. (on 133 carries)

Peterson has run for 42 1st downs. Hillis has run for 34.

Peterson has caught 26 passes for 257 yards, 1 TD, and 4 plays of 20+ yards.He has 13 1st downs receiving.

Hillis has caught 30 passes for 229 yards, 1 TD, and 2 playes of 20+ yards. He has 14 1st downs receiving.


I just found it interesting how comparable 2 guys with such different running styles have such similar results.

AP = $6.4 mil
PH = $470k

Talk about getting a bang for your buck.

Yeah, instead of "Peyton" it will be "Pay the man Hillis"

Quote:

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Hillis ran up and down the street all day long, tugging the massive truck behind him

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Next time I need a tow...

Anyone know where I can find a video of the Hillis throw?

I <3 PH! always thought he would be a stud, no lie.
ALthough, Colt should be a little angery, inside the 10 yard line, we rarely call a pass play with Hillis around . . . LOL!

Thought this was an interesting piece of "behind the scenes" information regarding the trade, especially to the point many try to relate that you need a trade partner in order to make a "worthwhile" trade happen.

Quote:

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"We knew they were interested from the last time around (during the 2009 draft)," Heckert said of Denver. "We didn't think we'd get a whole lot draft pick-wise for Brady. We were trying. We called teams and nothing came about. So we thought, if we got Peyton, what else would we get? And then we decided on the draft picks."

In addition to Hillis for Quinn, the Browns received Denver's sixth-round pick in 2011 and a conditional pick in 2012. The conditions had to be met this season for the 2012 pick to be as high as the third round. At worst, the Browns also will get Denver's sixth-round pick in 2012.

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Cleveland Plain Dealer

they



got



hosed.

I am definitely concerned about the fumbles though.

Today's fumble didn't hurt us ...... but it easily could have been as costly as Stuckey's was.

During the game one of the announcers made mention that one of the reasons they think he is fumbling is because his arms are to big to grip the ball tight to his bicep. I thought that was interesting.