Flacco Rings Up 33 on Steelers: Thank you Cleveland!

 

The Browns have a terrible offense this year, as everyone knows.  So far they have been unable to score more than 17 points. 

Stupid teams try to solve problems by assigning blame, and the Browns are a stupid team. The Browns always, always, always blame it on the quarterback. Hence, they decided to blame their terrible offense on Joe Flacco.  Presumably, everything else was great:  Great O-Line, great WRs, great TEs and great Running Backs.  The only problem was the quarterback, or so they thought.  Out with you, Joe Flacco. Off to Cincinnati for a coveted Round 6 draft pick. That's all you are worth.

None of this can be true.  Otherwise, Joe Flacco could not possibly have led the Bengals to a 33-31 victory.  His ceiling is only 17 points, right? 

Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin did not believe it for a minute. "“To be honest, it was shocking to me,” he said Monday. “Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us because it doesn’t make sense to me to trade a quarterback that you think enough of to make your opening-day starter to a division opponent that’s hurting in that area (due to Joe Burrow's injury), but that’s just my personal feelings.”

The solution is equally stupid:   ROOKIE QUARTERBACK!  

The Browns LOVE to change quarterbacks! They always think that a rookie quarterback will burst onto the scene and solve all their problems, despite an aging offensive line, lack of depth at running back, wide receivers who can't get open or can't catch the ball and unimaginative 

 

Conversely, it pains me to point out that it is totally implausible that someone as slow and short as Gabriel is could be able to deliver the football in traffic. Linemen are able to crowd him out and bat down his passes. Hence last week the Steelers were able to deflect 8 passes, sacking the little guy 6 times and getting hits on him an incredible 16 times.  This is not going to work, fellas. This is not 2020 when the Browns had five offensive linemen who were a threat to head to Canton when they retire.  Now they are simply a threat to retire.   

A new quarterback will not be effective until such time as they rebuild the offensive line.  They don't necessarily need to use the first overall pick on a stud tackle, but they do need to have some first round ammunition.  They can trade back a few spots and acquire another first round pick in 2027 and additional help in the early rounds, just as they did in the Travis Hunter trade (Browns' No. 2 overall for  No. 5 overall  plus a Round 2 pick and a 2026 Round 1 pick).  Rebuild the offensive line, and then you can think about the skill positions including the quarterback.  

The main question I have, is who is calling the shots in Berea?  Whose idea was it to fire Flacco the first time?  And then whose idea was it to start quarterbacks for just one game at the end of the season (Bailey Zappe and Jeff Driskel in 2023)?  Whose idea was it to sign Kenny Pickett and then trade him?  Whose idea was it to sign a quarterback who can't play in Dillon Gabriel?  Whose idea was it to sign a talented but undisciplined quarterback in Shedeur?  Whose idea was it to blow four more draft picks after Deshaun, making a total of 10 since 2022?  

If I did not know better, I'd swear that co-owner James Haslam III was still calling the shots on quarterbacks and has not learned a thing since the Deshaun debacle.  

Bruce Aryans Would be the Perfect Interim Coach

 

I want somebody that is brutally honest who Shedeur Sanders will actually listen to...like Bruce Aryans!

Well, once again, your Browns have screwed up royal by blaming their inferior offense on a Super Bowl quarterback in Joe Flacco, when the real problem is that the team is about six players short of NFL caliber on offense.  In all, the Browns have invested 10 draft picks, including 3 Round 1 picks, and they have only Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders to show for it.  This has been the most horrible over-investment in quarterbacks in NFL history. 

The current quarterback of the present, Dillon Gabriel, is far more advanced than the more talented Shedeur Sanders, but everyone else in the NFL--as far as we know--graded him in the sixth round.  Namely, Gabriel is too slow and too short to evade the pass rush. His passes are going to get knocked down and he is going to get sacked.  Versus Pittsburgh, he got sacked 6 times, with 16 quarterback hits and 8 pass deflections.

It was a mistake to start Gabriel if the Browns were not serious about committing to him as their starter. A new quarterback normally deserves at least a year to prove that he belongs.  

As it is, Gabriel is an embarrassment.  This stuff--play design, play calling, structuring the team, all of it-- just does not work. 

On the other hand, it is hard to justify starting Sanders, especially while he seems more interested in his stats than doing everything he can to help his team win. You see this often at the college level, when a quarterback will willingly take a sack rather than throw an incompletion.  Dan Orlovsky of ESPN articulated this concern about Shedeur, and there may be some truth to this.

Is there a way to start Shedeur without feeding any potential sense of entitlement?  Well, how about hiring a disciplinarian like Bruce Aryans, a guy with exceptionally high credibility, who also happened to have been Tom Brady's boss when their team won the Super Bowl.  Bruce was also a former Browns Offensive Coordinator.  

Bruce might not be interested for a five-year gig with the Browns, but an interim job might be just the thing for him at age 73.  Heck, let's see if we can get Offensive Line Coach Bill Callahan (69) back. There's another guy with Super Bowl experience and a great track record of success.