Ken Dorsey to the rescue

I haven't had a chance until now to post anything about the Browns' embarrassing loss Sunday to the Colts. I'm sure you all saw it. The defense was phenomenal, holding Peyton Manning's high-powered offense to three points -- they made plays and forced key turnovers, and if you can't win when you hold the Colts' offense to three points, you're not going to win very much. The offense, of course, was abysmal, putting up just six points and giving up seven, on Derek Anderson's fumble that was returned for a touchdown.

And now Anderson's out for the year, joining Brady Quinn in that status. We all know how Anderson went to the Pro Bowl last year and opened the season as the starter, and played as badly all year as he played Sunday. So third-stringer Ken Dorsey, who went 0-for-3 Sunday in desperation time, is left to play out the string. Former Kent State quarterback Josh Cribbs becomes the backup, which is very interesting -- that could mean that if Dorsey should go down, our quarterback could be the guy who returns kickoffs. I'm guessing he'd be relieved of that duty in that event, which would be a shame because he's one of the best special teamers in the league, if not THE best.

Romeo Crennel has declared Quinn the starter for 2009, which is an interesting decree by someone who's going to be a defensive coordinator in some city other than Cleveland next year. Crennel is reportedly out unless the team has a miracle finish, and probably rightly so. He's a good guy, and he knows his football, but this is a very talented team that's 4-8.

In an interesting side note, Romeo's old buddy Charlie Weis is also on the hot seat at Notre Dame. They were both highly hyped as Bill Belichick's top assistants in New England, and they have both largely failed in their first head coaching jobs. Belichick did too, of course, but Belichick wasn't in his 50s when he got his first top job.

One more thing: The Browns are STILL the only team to have beaten the Giants this year. If the Fighting Plaxicos win out and then take the Super Bowl title again, our Brownies will have been the only thing standing between them and joining the '72 Dolphins. And they're 4-8, and likely to finish about 5-11. Freaky.

Cowher in Cleveland?

My friend Hutch sent me this link to a Plain Dealer story about a guy who's running an online petition to get the Browns to hire Bill Cowher to be their new head coach. Obviously, they've been disappointing this year under Romeo Crennel, but it's worth noting that Crennel was at the helm during the team's winningest season in the expansion era. Does a guy forget how to coach in the space of a season? I don't know, but barring a phenomenal turnaround the rest of the season, it's quite likely that there are going to be some serious changes after the season, and Crennel's job is certainly not safe.

So what about Cowher? We know he's got Cleveland roots, spending time as an assistant here under Marty Schottenheimer before the Steelers picked him off. He went 149-90-1 in 15 seasons in Pittspuke, and won a Super Bowl. But that was in an organization that has made good personnel decisions; it bears mention that his replacement, Mike Tomlin, is 16-9 over a season and a half. The Browns, as we all know, have NOT made good personnel decisions over the years, but it's clear that there's enough talent on the current team to be right up there with Tomlin's team. If we'd just won the last two games -- both of which we were leading late -- we'd be 5-4, a game back of the Steelers.

Is Cowher the guy? I don't know, but I don't think Crennel is. We'll see what happens.

Oh, Romeo

The Browns are negotiating with Romeo Crennel on a two-year contract extension, which would mean that he, Eric Wedge and Mike Brown will have all gotten two-year extensions in rapid succession. The extension is reportedly going to be worth about $4 million a year, which is just further proof that I took the wrong career path.

Crennel got the Brownies turned around this year, his third with the club. They missed the playoffs, but as I covered a few days ago, they deserved to get in more than the Titans did. But let's not forget that Romeo's three-year record is still 20-28. I'm glad he's here, and I look forward to seeing how we do next year with him calling the shots, but I don't think he's the second coming of Paul Brown.

Next year will probably depend more on signing Derek Anderson and Jamal Lewis than it will on anything the coaching staff might do. Don't get me wrong — the much-improved offensive line has a lot to do with it too. And Brady Quinn just might be the budding superstar many people think he might be. But an offense needs playmakers, and these guys showed in '07 that they're playmakers.