And it's painfully apparent he was not the issue.
Just on this one issue - I think after the injury and tensions wore on with Baker playing badly, and then the Pittsburgh game where KS called back to back to back plays with a 3rd string rookie RT one on one with TJ Watt (and the predictable result) . . . I think the bridge and relationship was broken. I thought it could be fixed but clearly not. I think Baker and his struggles with maturity were part of that problem and he doesn't get to skate away blame free.
I don't agree with the immaturity thing because it is more a matter of opinion than fact, period. But, I'm definitely not saying Baker had no fault in last season. For one, I think he should have bowed out and put himself on year-ending IR about 3 games after being injured. And he definitely should have after OBJ's stunt, if not before. Secondly, he played like crap down the stretch and wasn't smart enough to know his limits. This made him look horrible and sometimes much worse than the stats said. And this was used in the arguments against him playing here. But I also watched all the other aspects of the team, unlike OBJ defenders, who seemed to focus solely on Baker which led to the weekly growing chorus to replace him. And I saw lots of things wrong beyond Baker every game last year. Nobody seems to remember those, even though several have reared their heads this year already, especially Woods. But the baker hate kept building and those same fans who were singing his praises and planning their playoff game trips before the opener last year were openly hating on him. He went from a guy people were hoping to build a statue for to becoming a pariah and persona non grata during the offseason. And I don't give a damn what anybody says, the Browns treated bad, IMO very bad. The calls to replace baker were all but nonexistent before OBJ's daddy posted that crap.
So, no, I'm not saying he's blame-free. I'm saying that he was not
the issue.
My strongest thoughts on all of the Baker drama are simple. Baker played very well for us at times and for games. He won a bunch of games, including the ever-so-rare playoff game! We all saw those games. So, tell me how a guy like that who at worse flashes top-5 frequently suddenly can't play and is a total bum without the whole situation being a COACHING ISSUE? I'm kind of stuck there.
