A win is a win ... but ...

So the Browns managed to hold on for a 24-23 win over Carolina yesterday. Hooray and what not. Wins in the NFL are not always easy to come by, especially for the Browns the last few years. But let's not get too giddy. The Panthers are possibly the league's very worst team; certainly one of the worst. They have the league's worst record, at 1-10, and finished dead last in the ESPN power rankings. And the Browns should have demolished them, but instead had to rely on a missed 42-yard field goal on the game's last play.

Oh, there were some things in this game for Browns fans to be thankful for. Peyton Hillis, for example. Hillis was the clear MVP of this game, rumbling for 131 yards on 26 carries to bring his season total to 905, with five games to go. Looks like he'll comfortably top 1,000 yards, and has a chance to beat Jamal Lewis' expansion-era team record of 1,304, set in 2007. And of course, Hillis scored all three of the Browns' touchdowns in this game, on the ground, and even added six catches for 63 yards.

Jake Delhomme, returning as the starter, was serviceable, but he really gave the Panthers life with the interceptions he threw on his first two passes of the second half. The latter of those was returned for a touchdown that brought the Panthers within one at 21-20. But he did complete 24 of 35 passes for 245 yards, which is a perfectly acceptable performance.

But the Browns' defense was a weak point in this game. How many missed tackles were there? Where was the coverage? Brandon LaFell made a good catch on the play that set up the last field goal attempt, but why was he that open? (Incidentally, I believe the officials made an error on that play. It was clearly a catch, but he came down in bounds with five seconds left, and the Panthers were out of time outs. The clock should have kept ticking, and they'd have never been able to get lined up in time to spike the ball before it hit triple-zeroes. It was reviewed for whether he actually caught the ball, but they didn't look at the issue of whether he came down in bounds or out of bounds. I suppose there wouldn't have been much they could have done about it.)

Anyway, this game goes in the books as a win, because that's what the scoreboard said at the end. But if not for a miss on a fairly easy field goal by an experienced kicker, it would have been a loss to the NFL's worst team. So take it with a grain of salt.

I'll leave you with a thought about the pressure of being a kicker in the NFL, or really at any level of football. I was just telling my wife the other day about how that would be the last position I'd want to play on a football team, because you so often come in on situations just like that. If you make the kick, you just did what was expected of you; but if you miss it, you go home feeling that the loss was your fault. (Which, to be honest, it was, at least to some degree.) And John Kasay, the kicker who is wearing goat horns in Carolina today, made postgame comments that reinforce that idea. From the Associated Press story:

"I was the one who failed," Kasay said, accepting blame for Carolina's fourth straight loss. "This is one of those days where they did everything they needed to do to win. I was the one who let them down. There's no other way to cut it."

To the extent that I can feel sorry for a professional athlete for something that happened on the field, I feel a little sorry for him.

Quarterback carousel gets back to Delhomme

With Colt McCoy the third Browns quarterback to sustain a high ankle sprain this season, coach Eric Mangini has no choice but to give the starting job back to the guy who had it coming out of training camp. Jake Delhomme was pretty unimpressive in what little action he's seen so far this year, and I don't have high hopes for him now. I'd rather see Seneca Wallace, frankly. But Mangini knows his players better than I do, so I've just got to hope he knows what he's doing. The game is against Delhomme's former team, the Panthers, so maybe his inside knowledge of their system will be of some benefit.

Mangini says he doesn't think McCoy will miss as much time as Delhomme and Wallace did. My above statement about how he knows his players better than I do doesn't apply to this situation. I'm not saying I know much about high ankle sprains, but my point is that Mangini is a football coach, not a doctor. With just six games left in the season, I wouldn't be surprised if the next time we see McCoy in uniform is in 2011. That would be a bit of a shame, because I'd like to see him get some more experience under his belt this year; but it certainly wouldn't be the end of the world. It's a whole lot more important that McCoy is healthy in '11, '12 and beyond than it is that he's healthy the rest of this year. The Browns aren't going anywhere in 2010 anyway.

Cavs lose again; more thoughts

* OK, so maybe the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers aren't the second coming of the Showtime Lakers. The Cavs have been very up-and-down in the early season, which I suppose can be expected of a team that is trying to find its identity after losing its all-world superstar in the offseason. After last night's not-nearly-as-close-as-the-final-score 100-89 loss to the Pacers, the Cavs are now 5-8 and in a three-way tie for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Obviously, there's still a long, long way to go, and there's still plenty of reason for hope that the Cavs will get this figured out.

* Ohio State goes into Saturday's game against Michigan with a very slim chance of taking the Big Ten's spot in the Rose Bowl, despite the fact that they've only got one loss. That loss is to Wisconsin, which also has just one loss; and Wisconsin has Northwestern this week. Michigan State, also with one loss, has a tougher game than the others, against Penn State, and also the weakest tiebreaker. The bottom line for the Buckeyes is, they need to beat Michigan and for Wisconsin to lose to Northwestern. I just don't see that happening. They might get an at-large spot in another BCS bowl, but we almost certainly won't see Terrelle Pryor clutching a rose between his teeth this year.

* Speaking of Ohio State, university President Gordon Gee has weighed in on the whole TCU-Boise State quest for a national title. As we all know, those schools come from lesser conferences, and while their undefeated (so far) seasons are impressive, they have compiled those records against decidedly inferior opponents compared to the schedule a school from the Big Ten or ACC or one of the other major conferences has to play. Gee's opinion: TCU and Boise State don't deserve a shot at the title, even if they win out. My opinion: Gee is right, at least under the current structure. Were there a 16- or even eight-team playoff, you could make the argument, but I'm sorry, going undefeated in the WAC doesn't prove you're one of the two best teams in the country.

* Happy Thanksgiving to all my wonderful Of Fair Hooker readers. Speaking of Thanksgiving, I was listening to Wills and Snyder this morning on WTAM, and they were talking about how the show's producer, Scott "Scooter" Reese would be giving his tips on deep-frying a turkey, for those who might be trying it for the first time. Bill Wills mentioned in passing the importance of keeping a fire extinguisher on hand for the job. Then they went to commercial, so I switched it over to Mike & Mike in the Morning on WKNR. Mike Golic at that very moment was talking about how if you're going to deep-fry a turkey, be sure to look at some online videos of people doing it, because you don't want to start a house fire. So let me reinforce that message: Don't start a fire deep-frying your turkey tomorrow.

Browns should have won

Ladies and gentlemen, the Browns team we saw in the early part of the season is back. Remember how it seemed like every week, they'd hold tough the whole game before blowing it in the end? They did that last week against the Jets, and they did it yesterday against the Jaguars -- who were trying their hardest to lose that game.

The Jags turned the ball over on five consecutive possessions in the second half, and the Browns only managed to turn that into 10 points -- seven of which came on Abram Elam's touchdown on a fumble recovery. The Browns' offense only converted one of those turnovers into points, and even then, all they got was a field goal.

Apart from the turnovers, Jacksonville really outplayed us in this one, especially in that second half. Had the Browns defense been a little better, they'd have forced a few three-and-outs instead of having to get the ball via turnover. The Jaguars were moving the ball pretty much at will, and you had to just know that if they could hold onto the ball, they were going to put some more points on the board. That's what wound up happening, of course, when Maurice Jones-Drew scored two plays after his 75-yard catch and run down to the 1/2-yard line. Joe Haden's touchdown-delaying tackle on that play just gave the Jags a chance to run nearly another minute off the clock, giving Colt McCoy just over a minute to work with on the Browns' last drive.

And McCoy and the Browns' offense weren't doing dookie. They finally started moving the ball after the Jaguars tied it at 17, but McCoy pulled up lame on his 18-yard run that set up the field goal that gave the Browns a short-lived 20-17 lead. And they got some nice gains on the ill-fated final drive too, but it was too little, too late.

Incidentally, I haven't heard anyone else mention this, but even if Ben Watson had caught McCoy's pass around the 5 on the Browns' last offensive play, the Browns would still have lost. He was falling down as he tried to make the catch, there were less than 10 seconds left, the Browns were out of timeouts, and there was no way they could get up to the line of scrimmage in time to spike the ball and stop the clock.

Well, as I said a week ago after the loss to the Jets, the goal for this season was improvement, and we've definitely seen that. So I can't complain too much. But it would be nice to pull out a game or two like these.

Cavs are hanging tough

I don't know if any of you have noticed this, but after last night's 101-93 win over the 76ers, the Cavaliers are back to .500 at 5-5, and if the season ended today, they'd be the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. This despite the fact that many of their better players have missed some time with injuries: Mo Williams has missed five games, Antawn Jamison three games, Anderson Varejao two. This is really not a bad team at all, ladies and gentlemen, despite all the predictions that they'd be one of the NBA's worst.

By the way, can you think of anyone who predicted they'd be about this good before the season started? I can. Me. Not to toot my own horn, of course ...

How have they done it, despite the lack of a superstar? Balance. J.J. Hickson is currently the club's leading scorer, at 15.2 a game, but Williams has averaged 14.6 in his five games, and Boobie Gibson is putting in 14.2 off the bench. Jamison and Ramon Sessions are also in double figures. Varejao is leading the team in rebounds, at 8.9; and we're also getting solid contributions from guys like Anthony Parker, Ryan Hollins and Jamario Moon.

Can you guess without looking who leads the Cavs in player efficiency rating, the complex calculation developed by ESPN's John Hollinger to take into account everything a player contributes to his team? I would have guessed Williams or Jamison, or possibly Varejao. Hickson and Gibson would be next, if those were wrong. Probably about the eighth guy I'd have guessed would be Ryan Hollins. But that's who it is.

I'm starting to get kind of excited about this team. I don't think they'll contend for a championship or anything like that, but this is a pretty good team. If they stay healthy, they've got a chance to do some special things.

Can't be too disappointed

The Browns lost a game yesterday that they could (arguably should) have won, against one of the NFL's best teams. It would have been their third straight win, all against teams that are considered top contenders. From that standpoint, it's disappointing that they lost to the Jets.

But just look how far this team has come. Remember when the Browns were 1-11 last year, and there seemed no reason for hope? Then they started this season 1-5, and though they had chances to win almost all of those games, they couldn't pull any of them out.

Suddenly, the Cleveland Browns seem to be able to go toe-to-toe with anybody in the National Football League. Given a fortuitous bounce here or there -- if Chansi Stuckey hadn't fumbled, Phil Dawson might have had a shot at a game-winning field goal; if Joe Haden hadn't intercepted that pass, the punt return team might have given the Browns better field position on their last drive; if either of those replay calls had gone the Browns' way; if, if, if ...

That didn't happen. And now the Browns are 3-6 and have basically zero chance to go to the playoffs. But seriously, did you think at the beginning of the season that they might get there this year? What did you realistically want to see out of the Browns this season? Personally, I thought I'd be happy with steady improvement. And we've seen plenty of that. With Colt McCoy calling the signals, the Browns' offense is clicking pretty well, and the defense is holding its own too.

We won't see playoffs here in 2010. But the way this team is playing right now, I have hope that we'll see it in 2011. And that's enough for me right now.

Where have the Browns been hiding it?

As we all know, the Browns went into their game two weeks ago against New Orleans with a 1-5 record. They were competitive in those games, even leading in the fourth quarter of all but one, but there was little reason to believe they could hang with the likes of the world champion Saints. And if you peeked ahead on their schedule, you'd see New England on Nov. 7 and the Jets on Nov. 14. You'd have been forgiven for assuming the Browns would go into their Nov. 21 game against Jacksonville with a 1-8 record.

But a funny thing happened on the way there. The Browns have now, in their last two games, upset two of the NFL's elite teams. And in convincing fashion, too -- yesterday's game against the Patriots was never in doubt. The Patriots came in with the league's best record, having lost just once. And the Browns beat them by 20.

How did they do it? Creativity and mistake-free football on both sides of the ball. And when I say creativity, I'm not just talking about the trick play that led to the Browns' second touchdown -- genius though it was. I've always loved gadget plays, and this one was a classic. I don't think I've ever seen one quite like it. Quarterback Colt McCoy walked away from the line of scrimmage while the linemen stood straight up, acting like the play was not going to start any time soon. Josh Cribbs sneaked up to the line of scrimmage and took the snap, then stuck the ball in Chansi Stuckey's ribs nonchalantly as he appeared to wander as aimlessly as McCoy. Stuckey went off-tackle to the left as the linemen suddenly snapped to life and started blocking, and ran it in for an 11-yard touchdown. It was a thing of beauty.

But the Browns did a lot of good things on offense, starting with Peyton Hillis, who rushed for a career-high 184 yards and two touchdowns. Hillis was an animal out there. My dad told me he reminds him of Ron Dayne when he was at Wisconsin -- not an overly fast runner, but a guy who has good moves and can run over a defender every now and then. I think that's a pretty apt comparison.

McCoy didn't produce any eye-popping numbers in his third NFL start, but he didn't have to. Considering he only had to throw the ball 19 times, thanks to Hillis and the running game, he acquitted himself quite well. He completed 14 of those passes for 174 yards, and most importantly, he didn't throw any interceptions. He didn't pass for any touchdowns, but he did run for one, after dropping back to pass and not finding anyone open. Young quarterbacks are sometimes too quick to scramble, but that was certainly not the case here. McCoy saw an opening and took it. And perhaps the strongest compliment to McCoy is to simply look at the Browns' record with each quarterback starting: Delhomme, 0-1; Wallace, 1-4; McCoy, 2-1.

On the defensive side, the Browns kept Tom Brady and the Patriots offense off-balance all game long. To hold a Tom Brady-led offense to 14 points is a real accomplishment. He threw for 224 yards, but because they were behind all day, had to throw the ball 39 times to get there. The Pats only gained 283 total yards on the day, compared to the Browns' 404. This wasn't the usual type of game in which a 2-5 team upsets a 6-1 squad, in which the winning team gets a few breaks but really didn't outplay the losing team. The Browns genuinely outplayed these Patriots.

Are the Browns suddenly one of the league's best teams? Do we have a real shot at the playoffs this season? I don't know the answer to either question, but I can hardly wait to see how we do next week against the Jets.

How about that, Cavaliers faithful!

The post-LeBron Cavaliers are undefeated, ladies and gentlemen! They just beat the defending Eastern Conference champion Celtics, the team that beat LeBron, both last night and in the playoffs last year.

Sure, it's just one game, and you don't want to read too much into a 1-0 start. The Celtics were likely a little bit worn out, it being the second night of a back-to-back for them, and that likely contributed to the Cavaliers' 27-14 edge in the fourth quarter. But the Cavs were playing without Mo Williams, arguably their best player (I would say second-best). So this was still pretty big.

J.J. Hickson, who has shown flashes of brilliance before but was usually overshadowed by the bigger stars on this team, put on an impressive 21-point performance on 8-of-11 shooting. Daniel Gibson, who also fits the description I gave Hickson above, contributed 16 off the bench. But this was a total team effort. The Cavs had six players in double-figures, and that doesn't include their leading rebounder, Anderson Varejao, who got 10 boards to go with his eight points, along with his usual sterling defense.

This Cavaliers team has a lot of the same players they had last year, but they're a totally different team. Tonight's game proves they're not necessarily very much worse.

Some optimism for Cavaliers' season

The Cavaliers open their first post-LeBron season tonight at the Q against the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics, and since I haven't really weighed in yet on their outlook, this seems like the right time to do so.

The obvious thing to point out is that the Cavs had not one, but two future Hall of Famers (LeBron and Shaq) on their roster last year, and none this year. At this point in his career, Shaq isn't such a great loss, but he does leave a pretty big hole at the center spot. As I've mentioned in this space, Ryan Hollins is the only true center we have this year; Anderson Varejao is more a power forward type, but will have to step up to the center spot, where he'll be routinely out-heighted by three or four inches.

Still, this Cavaliers team has some talent. Antawn Jamison is no superstar, but he's certainly no slouch. Mo Williams has been an All-Star in the recent past. Varejao will finally get a chance to show what he can do with regular starter minutes. Anthony Parker is 35, but seems to still have something left in the tank. Jamario Moon is a nice player to have. Guys like J.J. Hickson and Daniel Gibson will have more opportunities to prove themselves. I'm looking forward to seeing how guys like Ramon Sessions and rookie Christian Eyenga fit in. With Byron Scott at the helm, and no more "pass to LeBron and let him do something while the other four guys stand around" offense, I think this team can win about 42 to 45 games and reach the playoffs.

The national media seems to think otherwise. ESPN.com has the Cavs as the 24th-best team (up from 27th in their initial power rankings), SI.com has us finishing dead last in the Central Division, and so on and so forth. Have they actually looked at our roster and compared it to anyone else's? OK, so we won't be as good without LeBron. That doesn't mean we're going to be terrible. We're not better than Detroit, who finished 27-55 last year and whose top addition is a seemingly 90-year-old Tracy McGrady? Really?

Opening against the Celtics is a tall order; I don't expect them to win tonight. But this is not a bad team. Lord knows we've seen some awful Cavaliers teams. This team does not look like one of those.

It's a miracle! ... Or is it?

On Saturday night, my wife, Lisa, and I were sitting on the back porch, enjoying the lovely evening after having dined at Lola Bistro downtown to celebrate our one-year anniversary. (Incidentally, that restaurant is pricey, but very, very tasty. Michael Symon isn't an Iron Chef for no reason.) I mentioned that I couldn't remember who the Browns were scheduled to play on Sunday, and my wife told me it was the Saints.

"Ah, yes," I said. "They'll lose."

"That's what everyone's saying, but I don't know," she said. "I think they'll win. They seem to do that; lose to the crappy teams and beat the best."

My wife had a point. Each of the last two years, though the Browns have been one of the worst teams in the NFL, they've managed to defeat the defending Super Bowl champions. Last year, it was the Steelers, as part of the Browns' season-ending four-game winning streak that followed their 1-11 start; in 2008, it was the Giants, in an early-October Monday nighter that gave us false hope that the Browns could turn their season around. The Browns are likely to finish under .500 this year as well, and I wonder how many times a team has finished under .500 while beating the defending champions each of three years in a row. It's a highly unlikely feat, to be sure.

Anyway, like those wins, this was very sweet. The Browns beat the Saints despite being out-gained, 394 yards to 210; despite giving up 356 passing yards to Drew Brees, compared to just 74 puny yards by Colt McCoy in his second NFL start; despite the fact that the Browns' leading rusher was their punter until Peyton Hillis' last run got him up to 69 for the game. And they did it by getting four turnovers and surrendering zero -- and by using trick plays and executing them perfectly.

David Bowens was the obvious MVP of this game, in one of the most unlikely performances you'll ever see. You don't very often see a guy with a number in the 90s intercepting a pass, much less two in one game, much less returning both for long touchdowns. Yes, Bowens is actually a linebacker, not a defensive lineman -- still, he came into the game with a grand total of two interceptions in his 12-year career, and both of his interceptions yesterday came right around the line of scrimmage, not in coverage. As a side note, I generally don't care for showboating on the field, but I have to admit, his hot-dogging performance on the second pick-six was pretty entertaining. With no Saints around him, he had the luxury of slowing down gradually as he got closer to the end zone, then stopping at the goal line before falling in. I wouldn't have liked it if I played for the Saints, but it's their fault for not being close enough to stop him. In any case, Bowens is the first Brown to return two interceptions for touchdowns in a game since 1960.

And the trick plays were enormous. The Browns' first score, a field goal that gave them an early 3-0 lead, was set up by a trick return play in which Josh Cribbs caught the punt, started to run it back, then threw it across the field for a lateral to Eric Wright, who ran it all the way back to the New Orleans 19.

Then, in the second quarter, the Browns pulled off one of the most beautifully executed fakes I've ever seen in my life. On fourth-and-8 from their own 23, the Browns lined up in punt formation, snapped the ball to Reggie Hodges, and opened up a hole that Olivia, my five-year-old stepdaughter, could have run through for a first down. Hodges, who runs a little bit better than Olivia, took it 68 yards to set up a field goal that made it 13-3. He actually made some nice moves down the field, too.

Incidentally, that was the longest run by a punter in any NFL game since 1945, and that 76-yard run in 1945 came on first down. In those days, teams rarely carried a full-time punter or kicker, and Johnny Martin, the punter who made that run for the Boston Yanks in 1945, also played halfback and quarterback in his career. It's not known for sure, but it's entirely possible that Hodges' 68-yard run was the longest in NFL history by a punter on a fake punt.

The third trick play the Browns ran was less spectacular than either of those, but still impressive. Protecting a 20-10 lead early in the fourth quarter and facing a third-and-6, the Browns lined up in shotgun formation, but Hillis took the snap as McCoy ran a pattern out on the left flat and wound up catching the ball for a 13-yard gain that eventually led to another field goal.

This feels good. Yes, it only makes the Browns 2-5, but it gives us hope. The Browns won this with defensive execution and creative play-calling. Sure, I'd like to have seen more from the offense, but considering the situation, I can't complain too much about that.

And yes, my wife was right, and I was wrong. I'm sure it won't be the last time.

Sorry to hear James Harrison won't retire

I'm sure anyone reading this blog is aware of what's been going on the past week in the NFL, involving savage helmet-to-helmet hits like the ones the Steelers' James Harrison put on the Browns' Josh Cribbs and Muhammad Massaquoi on Sunday, knocking both out of the game. Several similar hits occurred in other NFL games. The NFL fined several players $50,000 each, and Harrison $75,000. Harrison sat out of practice one day this week, saying he was contemplating retirement because now he can't play the way he wants to:

"You literally have to think about changing the way you play football. Honestly, I’m truly considering if I can play football in the NFL by the rules that they’re trying to make. I’m honestly going to sit down with my coach and see if I can play football within the NFL rules and still be effective. If not, I may have to give up playing football."

This came a couple of days after Harrison said he figures he's done his job if he hurts somebody. He was careful to say he wasn't trying to injure anybody, just hurt them. There's some distinction in those words, I guess.

There's been a lot of negative backlash about the NFL's actions on this matter. People are arguing that football is an inherently violent game. No doubt, that is true. I played football myself in high school and junior high, and I know that to a large extent, football players think of their opponents not as friendly adversaries, but as sworn enemies. That's simply the nature of the game. And when you have 200- to 300-pound men trying to block and tackle each other for three hours a week, injuries are inevitable.

But there are a growing number of rules in football aimed at keeping players from getting needlessly hurt. For decades, we've had rules against certain blocks in the back or below the waist, roughing the passer and kicker, and unnecessary roughness. More recently, we've seen rules that increase quarterbacks' latitude for throwing the ball away, in an attempt to keep them from taking too many hits. And just a couple of years ago, the NFL made horse-collar tackles illegal because so many players were getting hurt that way.

This is no different. A number of players suffered concussions on helmet-to-helmet hits on one single afternoon. A concussion is a more dangerous injury that anything else that can happen on a football field, short of something involving the spine. The NFL has to protect its players.

Football fans tend to have a certain degree of blood lust, which I think explains a lot of the negative reaction among spectators. Defensive players like Harrison are saying the NFL is taking away their ability to play. I say, tough $&!*. If this new stance makes it less likely for players to suffer concussions or worse brain injuries, I'm more than happy to see a few less violent hits on the football field.

James Harrison has decided not to retire. That's probably the worst news that came out of this.

Browns' loss not all that disappointing

* OK, losing to Pittsburgh is never fun. And a 28-10 loss to anybody is also never fun. So that's a bad combination. But still, who among us can say they thought we had a realistic chance to beat the Steelers this week, with Colt McCoy making his first NFL start behind center against the great Ben Roethlisberger? Big Ben, returning from his four-game suspension for bad off-field behavior, took a while to heat up, but once he did, there was no stopping him. McCoy did pretty darn well in his rookie debut, completing 23 of 33 passes for 281 yards and a touchdown. He did throw two interceptions, but in his defense, both were on tipped balls. I'm not hoping for continued ill health for Jake Delhomme and/or Seneca Wallace, but I do hope this isn't the last we've seen of McCoy this year.

* The Buckeyes fell all the way to #10 from #1 after their disappointing loss to Wisconsin on Saturday. The Ohio State offense faltered because the line couldn't protect Terrelle Pryor, who understandably had his worst game of the season. In addition to several big-time schools that could run the table, the Buckeyes have three mid-majors ahead of them who are highly likely to go undefeated, in Boise State, TCU and Utah. At this point, Michigan State (who is not on OSU's schedule) is the Big Ten's best hope for a national title. The Buckeyes are all but out of the equation. One loss just kills you in college football, because there's no playoff.

* They were talking on WTAM's Wills & Snyder this morning about a guy named Eric Barr, who recently moved to Cleveland from East Hartford, Connecticut, because he's a Browns fan. I guess the Plain Dealer did a story about him a couple of days ago. I don't read the PD anymore -- in fact, I don't even get a newspaper, which I probably should feel guilty about because I spent 14 years actually working for newspapers, but I don't. Feel guilty, that is. Anyway, this guy has no particular ties to the Cleveland area, and he quit his job to move here, where he has no job lined up. But he'll save the drive to Cleveland eight times a year, which he's been doing for every home game. This dude and I have one thing in common, in that we both love the Browns. Where we part company is that I would never in a million years move to an economically struggling town in a bad economy with no job lined up just to follow a football team. Especially not one that's 1-5 and hasn't made the playoffs since 2002. He's apparently single with no kids, so at least he's not hanging a family out to dry. Still, as much as I love sports, I think it's incredibly stupid of him. But I wish him good luck.

McCoy opens this roundup-type post

* The Browns appear ready to start Colt McCoy at quarterback Sunday against the Steelers, and I applaud that decision. The original plan was for McCoy to spend all of 2010 understudying Jake Delhomme and/or Seneca Wallace, but now that they're both out of commission, the only other options are McCoy and Brett Ratliff. Ratliff, who spent all of last season riding the pine for the Browns, is never going to be a regular starter in the NFL. So it's time to throw McCoy in there and see what he can do. His first assignment against a tough Steelers defense is going to be really, really tough, but the kid was great at Texas, and he'll be a fine NFL quarterback in time. Might as well start now.

* What the *#&@ happened to Jerome Harrison? The dude ran for 286 yards in one game last year and was a key to the Browns' season-ending four-game winning streak, but had just 91 on 31 carries this year before he was traded to Philadelphia this week. Of those 91 yards, 39 came on one carry in the opener against Tampa Bay. If you subtract that one run, he went for 52 yards on 30 carries. That's less than two yards per. That's pathetic. No wonder Peyton Hillis has been getting the ball all the time. In return, the Browns got Mike Bell, who has 28 yards on 16 carries. Um ... OK, I'm not sure why we made this trade. Especially with Hillis hurting, I'd have liked to see if Harrison could repeat his 2009 performance if given a real shot. Maybe I just contradicted myself. I can live with that.

* The Buckeyes, who just moved up to No. 1 in the poll, are facing their second real test of the season Saturday when they travel to meet No. 16 Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium. Wisconsin's only loss was to undefeated Michigan State, and they're always tough at home. Ohio State will have to slow down the Badgers' dual-threat running backs, John Clay and James White. And Terrelle Pryor will have to play mistake-free. Both of those things can happen, but they're not sure things. Should be interesting.

* As my good friend Jeff Brown recently pointed out in an e-mail, the Cavaliers are going into their first post-LeBron season with a serious size issue. Anderson Varejao is the only guy on the roster who's played much center in the NBA, and he's only 6'10" and is really more of a power forward type. They've got 7'0" Ryan Hollins, who will never make anybody forget Shaquille O'Neal -- not even the aging Shaq we saw here last year. These Cavs definitely have some talent around the perimeter -- Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison, etc. -- but they face a real risk of getting beaten up badly inside.

* As an Indians fan, it's tough to see guys like CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee carry their teams through the playoffs. Both those guys were key to their teams' success in last year's playoffs, and even though Lee has switched teams again (and again) since then, he's the number-one reason why the Rangers are into the ALCS against CC and the Yankees. It's a terrible shame the Indians couldn't afford to keep those guys. But baseball's economic structure is what it is. The Indians will have to find a way to be competitive with the money they've got. And it can be done -- look at Tampa Bay and Minnesota. They got eliminated in the first round by Sabathia, Lee and company, but they both made the playoffs with very slender payrolls. And Shapiro's Indians have done it too, back in '07. But it's hard to look at these current Indians and see the seeds of a playoff team anytime in the near future.

Will we see Colt McCoy?

After yesterday's disappointing 20-10 loss to Atlanta, the Browns are down to one healthy quarterback -- Colt McCoy, who of course has yet to take a snap in a regular-season NFL game. Seneca Wallace was having a pretty nice first half yesterday when he sprained his ankle, going 11-for-15 for 139 yards and a touchdown. Jake Delhomme came in, clearly still hobbled by an ankle injury of his own, and was just plain awful -- 97 yards on 13-for-23 passing, no TDs, two interceptions. Both of those pickoffs were pretty fluky, but they both resulted from Delhomme not getting the ball over the hands and heads of the linemen.

I frankly don't know why we didn't see McCoy in that game. What did we have to lose? If Wallace couldn't play and Delhomme clearly wasn't able to do much, why not just toss the kid in there and see what he's got? It's not like it's going to cost us a playoff spot. We were 1-3 coming in, and there was obviously no chance we were going to get to 2-3 with Delhomme in there.

The Browns are talking about trying to pick up a veteran quarterback for next week's game against the Steelers. If the health of Wallace and Delhomme is in question, obviously we'll have to get somebody, but I want the person they pick up to be McCoy's backup for the Pittsburgh game. I really don't see the point of renting a veteran QB to hold down the spot for a 1-4 team. If Wallace or Delhomme can play, that's fine; otherwise, just toss McCoy in there and let him go to work.

Browns fail to blow it!

How about those Cleveland Browns! They've now played four games and had a fourth-quarter lead in every one of them -- and after yesterday's 23-20 triumph over Cincinnati, they've actually won one!

Boy howdy, it sure looked as if the Browns were going to blow this one too. The Bengals stormed back from a 23-10 deficit to cut it to three on Carson Palmer's three-yard touchdown pass to Brian Leonard with 10:44 left in the game, and a distinct "here we go again" feeling hung in the air. That feeling thickened after the Browns went three-and-out, with two incompletions by Seneca Wallace bookending a two-yard run by Peyton Hillis. The Bengals took over at their own 14 with 9:44 to go, and it seemed highly likely they'd take it down for another score. And they did move the ball: A nine-play drive gained 46 yards, but Chad "Ochocinco" Ochocinco's pass interference penalty pushed them out of field goal range on second down, and Matt Roth sacked Palmer for a four-yard loss on third down, forcing a punt. Those plays were humongous.

The Browns got it back at their own 11 with 4:41 left, so all they had to do was run out the clock. But Wallace threw incomplete again on first down, and Hillis gained just a yard on second. But the Bengals bailed us out again. Defensive lineman Pat Sims got called for defensive holding, giving the Browns an automatic first down. It was a tough call, but hey, when you're 0-3, you'll take it. From that point on, the offense consisted of giving the ball to Hillis, which is what you're supposed to do when you're trying to salt away the clock and protect a lead.

Hillis, suddenly a breakout star, went for 102 yards on the day, including a 24-yard run on second and seven that took the game to the two-minute warning. It was his second straight 100-yard performance. All it took to get him was Brady Quinn. Can you believe that?

And that's how the Browns won a game in which they were outgained 413 yards to 295, in which they gave up 371 passing yards by Palmer, including 222 receiving yards by Terrell Owens. It's not easy to win a game like that, but they did it.

The Browns have Atlanta next week. They seem likely to have a fourth-quarter lead at some point. Let's hope they can hold it.

Very quickly ...

The Browns have led in the second half of all three games this year. They have lost them all. Is this a failure of the offense? The defense? The kicking game? The coaching staff? I don't know, but if this keeps up, Eric Mangini's going to be looking for a job soon. Whether others will join him, I don't know. But Mike Holmgren isn't going to put up with this for long.

Never mind the impressive offensive performance in yesterday's 24-17 loss to the Ravens. (Impressive it was, against that Baltimore defense.) It doesn't matter if you don't win.

Seventy-three points! But ...

OK, the Buckeyes beat the Eastern Michigan Eagles by 53 points yesterday. I predicted they'd win by 50, and Vegas predicted they'd win by 44 1/2, so hooray and what not. It was certainly an impressive showing by the Ohio State offense, but let's not forget this happened against a team that hasn't won a game since 2008. When you're the #2 team in the nation playing a team that can't even win in the MAC, you should dominate, which they did.

Terrelle Pryor was nearly flawless, completing 20 of 26 passes for 224 yards and four touchdowns, rushing for 104 yards on just seven carries, and even catching a touchdown pass of his own from Joe Hall on a throwback trick play. Pryor's four touchdown passes all went to Dane Sanzenbacher, who tied an Ohio State record with the four catches for scores. Kudos to those guys, and the entire offense. They did what they should have done, which is tear that EMU defense to shreds. I'm sure everybody who cares enough to read this blog already knows this, but OSU hasn't scored this many points in a game since 1950, when I was -21.

The thing that concerns me about this game is the 20 points allowed. The Eagles even tied the Buckeyes in the second quarter, 14-14. The Eastern Michigan offense is not nearly as pathetic as its defense -- they scored 27, 21 and 14 in their first three games -- but still, they shouldn't be able to put up 20 against the #2 team in the country, whose defense had only allowed two touchdowns in three games coming in. But the Eagles put together three long scoring drives out of four possessions in the second and third quarters -- nine plays, 75 yards; seven plays, 73 yards; and six plays, 80 yards. They were three-and-out on all but one of their other possessions (the other one went five plays and ended in a fumble), so at least those were the only times they got something going, but still, that's reason for some concern.

But never mind all that. The Buckeyes are 4-0 heading into the Big Ten portion of their schedule, and that's all that really matters. They have one truly impressive victory under their belts (the 36-24 win over Miami on Sept. 11), and there's not much reason to believe they can't run the table. They've got Illinois next week, then Indiana before their next real test on Oct. 16 against Wisconsin. That's going to be a toughie.

Of goofy hats, line drives and promising pitching

The Indians suck. Everybody knows that. There are a few teams that suck harder (Seattle, Pittsburgh, and possibly Kansas City), but this is a bad Indians team. Nonetheless, they managed last night to beat the aforementioned Royals 7-3 for their 63rd win of the year -- meaning, with eight games left in the season, that they have clinched a two-digit loss total for 2010. For anyone who's curious, the Indians haven't lost 100 games in a season since 1991. And if they go at least 3-5 the rest of the way, they'll beat last year's record of 65-97. And they're a half-game behind the Royals for fourth place in the AL Central. It's not much to cling to, but it's at least something.

Josh Tomlin pitched a complete-game four-hitter for the win, his first career complete game in his 11th career start. Tomlin was a 14th-round draft pick who started the season in the bullpen at AAA Columbus, and has been a very pleasant surprise since getting added to the rotation in Cleveland in late July. He's now 5-4 with a 4.50 ERA, and has gone at least five innings every time he's taken the mound at the big-league level.

During last night's game, there was an elderly man sitting in the front row near home plate on the first-base side who was in the shot whenever the camera focused on a left-handed hitter. In the first inning, he was wearing a bright yellow ballcap that ensured that the viewer's eyes landed on him whenever he was in the shot. By the third inning, he had switched to a hot pink cap with Chief Wahoo on it, and later in the game, he was wearing a blaze orange cap. He may have changed his hat more often, but I didn't watch every inning. I can only guess what he might have been up to. Maybe he was just trying to confound people. Who knows. But I thought it notable.

Another incident in last night's game underscored the very real necessity to pay close attention when you're at the game. A line drive off the bat of Drew Sutton screamed into the seats along the third-base line, and went into the last four or five rows in the lower seating area. Several fans tried to catch it, but it was too hot, and wound up hitting a woman in the face. The fans around her alerted an usher, who immediately started waving for help, and then the screen went back to Sutton. Announcers Matt Underwood and Rick Manning were completely oblivious, as they continued their discussion about Royals pitcher Gil Meche, and I have not found any references to the woman in the media reports, but she could have been seriously hurt. You've got to pay attention at the game. A baseball can seriously injure you. That's today's lesson.

Unintentional hiatus

This post is simply meant to explain the lack of posts over the past little while, and over the next little while. I have recently made a career change, which includes going back to college and taking Calculus II at Cleveland State. I took Calculus I in 1989 at Miami University, so my skills are a bit rusty. OK, a lot rusty. Many of my classmates were not born yet the last time I took a math class. So I've been spending all my free time trying to catch up. This trend is unlikely to change any time soon, so you might have to go without my keen insights for a while.

This blog will not die, it will merely hibernate for a time. Thank you in advance for your understanding. You are beautiful people.

News flash: Indians suck

The Indians' 6-1 loss to Oakland last night was their fifth straight, and they have not been competitive at all. I have hardly been watching the games (my tolerance for pain is not what it used to be) beyond just checking in every now and then to see what the score is. Since Thursday's 7-3 win over the Royals, the Tribe has lost to the Tigers 6-0, 5-2 and 8-1, then 5-0 and 6-1 to the Athletics. When you lose five straight and opposing pitchers have exactly one save in that period, that's pathetic. Yes, this team is playing out the string.

At 50-76, the Indians have the third-worst record in the American League. The Orioles are still the worst, despite the strong burst after their managerial change, at 45-82. They've lost seven of their last 11, which is bad, but better than the Indians have done in that period. The disappointing Mariners are 50-77, so it's pretty much even money whether the Tribe will finish ahead of the M's. In the National League, the Pirates and Diamondbacks are worse than our guys. So I guess it could be worse.

There's plenty of blame to go around for this five-game skid. The offense has been non-existent, scoring a total of four runs in five games, on a total of 27 hits. That's about five hits a game. That's terrible. But the starting pitching has been bad too. Five games is, as we all know, a complete round through a starting rotation, and each and every one of our current starters -- Justin Masterson, Josh Tomlin, Jeanmar Gomez, Fausto Carmona and Mitch Talbot -- pitched badly in his outing. They gave up a total of 27 earned runs in a combined 27 2/3 innings of work, which works out to an ERA of 8.78.

The only bright spot has been the bullpen, which during the streak has unfailingly calmed things down to give the offense a chance to recover. (The offense made the least of those opportunities, but that's not the fault of any Tribe relievers.) In the five games, Indians relief pitchers have gone a total of 14 1/3 innings and given up just two runs, which makes for a sterling 1.25 ERA. Would that the bullpen were not the least important part of a ballclub.

We all knew right out of the gate that the Indians wouldn't contend this year; they'd gotten rid of their most expensive veterans last year, with the exception of Travis Hafner, whose contract and recent performance make him untradable. And they've gotten rid of even more players this year and dealt with some key injuries, so the club they're putting on the field on any given day looks more like an above-average AAA team than a major-league team. But even an above-average AAA team shouldn't be THIS bad.

Of course, it's just five games. And of course, winning or losing hardly matters right now, in the grand scheme of things. But we need to see some growth. And what we're seeing right now is not growth. It's just gross.