A Year In Review: Enigmatic Evil Style.

[Enigmatic Evil]

Also posted HERE

A Year In Review: Browns 2010:

This was a very up-and-down season which included some ridiculously high expectations not met by the fan base and also included the growth of a team slowly coming together under a cohesive front office for the first time in a decade.

After the 2009 season which was by and large a huge disappointment for all Browns fans, we were quick to forget the 1-11 start to that season as we dove head first into 2010 and acted like the sky was falling yet again but if things weren't like a natural disaster I'm not too sure we would know what to do with ourselves.

The season started out rather cold, losing three back-to-back games, two of which that we expected to win against Tampa Bay and Kansas City and one to the Ravens.

The Baltimore game was particularly sour where Anquan Boldin made both Eric Wright and our entire secondary look sloppy en route to a big win.

We got our first victory against the Bengals in week four, right when we needed it most to save fan morale. We would lose again to Atlanta and Pittsburgh before unexpected victories against New England and New Orleans thanks to the surprisingly steady arm of Colt McCoy and a stout defense. We can't forget to thank Peyton Hillis either who played a sure role in both games.

3-5 we moved forward and lost close games to the Jets and Jaguars before getting decisive victories over Carolina (a last second heart stopper) and Miami. Those wins would prove to be our last en route to another 5-11 season.

This doesn't look like much improvement having an identical record to last season which involved one of the most dreadful losing streaks I've had to endure as a sports fan. Behind the lense of using a team's record to judge a coach, The Browns improved in a number of areas.

We were drastically improved on defense. Becomming the last team to surrender 30 points in a game, doing so in our final game of the season. Our pass D was much improved from last year, despite Eric Wright having a rather underachieving kind of year. The Run D however was still as suspect as it always was at times.

On the other side of the ball, there was hope. His name is Peyton Hillis. Acquired in the trade which freed the team of Brady Quinn, we got someone with just as big of arms but knew how to use them...

By running THROUGH opposing D's.

Hillis had one of the most productive seasons that a Browns RB has had since 1999 and managed to captivate the entire NFL with his power running style and never say die play. Running through as well as over defenses in some instances.

We also saw Colt McCoy rather unceremoniously put into play when injuries forced Eric Mangini to play the rookie who wasn't supposed to see a single snap this year. His play was surprising, he made minimal mistakes. Although he didn't exactly light up the score board, his penchant for smart decision making gave the Browns a bit of offensive leway that we didn't have with Delhomme, Wallace, Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson... or Ken Dorsey, or Bruce Gradkowski, or... god knows who else has played QB for us since we tried the Jeff Garcia gamble.

This season wasn't without sacrifice. Though you won't see it from me. I would wager you could consider Eric Mangini a martyr to this season. The coach who took the Browns from a rag-tag group of egos and minimal talent and managed to rally those who wanted to play.

In this second season, we saw a unified unit hit the field. A team who managed to keep in games close throughout the entire came. A far cry from the play of the last 10 years where we would be lucky to keep competitive for one quarter.

The Browns fired the coach because perhaps Holmren couldn't find enough evidence to keep Mangini, maybe because he 'wasn't his guy'. What's done is done, the team will move forward.

As we look forward to an uncertain future. Unsure of if there will even be a 2011 season we're now a team wondering:

Who will be our Head Coach?

Is Colt McCoy the future of the team?

Should Rob Ryan have cut his "Dude" hair?

We can take solace in knowing just how far along the team has come. We can look back at the 2010 season and see it for what it truly was. A season where the Cleveland Browns went from NFL punch line to, at times, talk of the entire NFL for their relentless play which bested TWO of the NFL's BEST teams.

We are a team on the rise, even if some fans refuse to acknowledge it. Will we have the patience to let a new coach see it through to the promised land? Will Colt McCoy continue to grow into the prominent starting QB this team desperately needs? Will Peyton Hillis be a one-year-wonder?

These are questions I don't have the answer to. But I will look back at the 2010 season as a success, even in the midst of certain mediocrity. We have improved on the field, and off it. With a certified front office GM, and President I have confidence the team will make the right decisions to continue the progress we've seen this season into next.

[Crow]

Nice take. I'm tempted to make a parody thread now.

What ifs are pretty meaningless, but it would be kind of neat if we could have a simulator tell us what would happen if some tweaks were made.

1) Fire Daboll, replace with Haskell.

2) Sign some FA WRs. And not necessarily good ones - cheap scrubs, JAGs. Old dudes. It wouldn't be that hard to out play MoMass or Robo.

3) Never sign Jake.
3a) Go with McCoy starting game one.

3a had zero chance of happening, but the other 3? Eh? Maybe 7-9, Mangini is still around. I do feel bad for the guy but he was the architect of his own fate - picked his terrible OC, lame duck GM, drafted players who ended up being terrible (which isn't relevant to his coaching, but affects his record)...hell, even taking the Browns job INSTANTLY getting after fired. That might've been a bad idea in the first place. I'm just glad he got the 2nd year, if not, he was probably out of coaching any quality job for a long, long time.

[Crow]

Oooh, I'm speaking with my "competitive mafia game" voice. That's really inappropriate for Crow.

Oops.

[Enigmatic Evil]

Time to turn up the smart ass but here's some more hypotheticals for you?

What if Johnathan Haggerty didn't get injured in the pre-season? Would he have continued his progress into a decent rookie season?

What if Gruden takes this team over? Will he bring us to the promised land?

What if we managed to keep healthy? Do we finish the season stronger than we had?

I know one of those is a future take but still, he's a popular name around these parts (hence the new AV)

[Crow]

I don't think I'm allowed to bitch at anyone for being a smart ass.

Honestly, I'm not a real hyper smart football guy. My "ovulation" didn't have much to do with the actual game planning. In the end, from a political standpoint, I kind of had a feeling Mangini was just the square peg in the round belly button of the walrus and was pretty much waiting for Eric to get fired so "his guy" could be installed, who would have the long leash of glory. This didn't bother me much because Gruden is at least as good as Mangini as a replacement, IMO, given the strong front office. (I wouldn't give him the keys to my cap, but...)

At this point, with the passage of time, I don't think we're going to get Gruden. And that concerns me, because we could then end up with 5-27 Lions Guy. In that case I will regret the firing of Eric vastly moreso.

Haggerty is an unknown. If we stayed healthy we'd probably do better. I think Gruden would get us to the playoffs in the next three years, Super Bowl? Well as good as any I guess.

[Flugel]

Originally Posted by Crow

Nice take. I'm tempted to make a parody thread now.

What ifs are pretty meaningless, but it would be kind of neat if we could have a simulator tell us what would happen if some tweaks were made.

1) Fire Daboll, replace with Haskell.

2) Sign some FA WRs. And not necessarily good ones - cheap scrubs, JAGs. Old dudes. It wouldn't be that hard to out play MoMass or Robo.

3) Never sign Jake.
3a) Go with McCoy starting game one.

3a had zero chance of happening, but the other 3? Eh? Maybe 7-9, Mangini is still around. I do feel bad for the guy but he was the architect of his own fate - picked his terrible OC, lame duck GM, drafted players who ended up being terrible (which isn't relevant to his coaching, but affects his record)...hell, even taking the Browns job INSTANTLY getting after fired. That might've been a bad idea in the first place. I'm just glad he got the 2nd year, if not, he was probably out of coaching any quality job for a long, long time.

It looks like you and EE pretty much covered everything. One small comment - I think Haskell's age will keep him away from the fulltime demands an OC position would require. He's buddies with Holmgren so he'll keep an office as an advisor to the offensive coaches brought here.

It's possible to get Marty M here as the OC with a catchy title of Assistat Head Coach next to that while someone like Greg Williams or Ron Rivera get hired as Head Coach. I have a feeling Morningwheg wants more than being an advisor to the OC (Andy Reid) so it would feel like a promotion for him. What I mean by that is he knows public perception is Andy Reid calls 90% of the plays and Michael Vicks mobility/improvise creates alot of uncontested receivign routes downfield. Human nature is to want credit for the work you do; and I think the OC job in Cleveland would intrigue him. Meanwhile it would help the next HC with 1 less important position to fill. I wrote about this in another thread today because I joked around about Marty M as the Head Coach; but feel his comfortable niche in the NFL would be an OC. I'm not very good at predicting personnel moves especially when they're pertinent to the front office.

[PlaygroundLegend]

oh haggerty.....

that was the first player in a browns uniform in YEARS that I could refer to as fast. Man was he looking like a steal...

[Enigmatic Evil]

I'm really hoping we can keep him around for next year. He could be "just another training camp wonder" but he was looking like he would have been a starter in our WR stable if he could have stayed healthy. He was showing more in training camp and the pre-season game I watched he made some good catches. I mean who knows but it's just one of those thigns to think about, especially when we have such a weak WR stable, IMO.

All Stuckey, MoMass, Robo and even Cribbs are all on the same level and that's a "maybe #2, def #3" on the depth chart kind of position. I think it will be interesting to see what our WR ranks look like next year.