SB Nation - Eric Steinbach

The Future of Matt Hasselbeck is the Future of the Seattle Seahawks, Pt. 3

John Morgan — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:59:19 -0000

More photos » by Alex Brandon - AP

In which Seattle signs Jason Campbell to outperform Matt Hasselbeck and maybe he does.

I hope Mike Holmgren signs with Cleveland. I have selfish interest, namely Seattle not re-signing Holmgren, but I have more noble interests as well. Cleveland has one of the youngest, most talented offensive lines in the NFL. It starts Joe Thomas at left tackle, Eric Steinbach at left guard and Alex Mack at center. Right guard Hank Fraley and right tackle John St. Clair are interchangeable organizational soldier types. It doesn't have great skill position talent, but that's where Holmgren shines. He finds scheme appropriate players that can excel behind a dominant offensive line. Holmgren is also an expert at developing young quarterbacks.

Why start with a tangent? In this scenario, Seattle ditches Matt Hasselbeck and signs free agent Jason Campbell. Tim Ruskell is out and his departure hints at a potential rebuild, but if Seattle can win some down the stretch, and especially if Seattle can win some down the stretch because of its Ruskell built defense, the Seahawks might adapt certain Ruskell ideals even without Ruskell.

Ruskell was risk adverse. He had a narrow definition of "his guy". His aversion to risk may have served him well, but his narrow definition did not. Consider Deon Butler. Ruskell traded into the third round to select Butler because Butler was "his guy". Butler dripped Ruskell: Four-year starter at a major conference powerhouse, undersized but fast, coachable, hard working and quietly productive. Ruskell conflated "his guy" with risk aversion and overpaid for a risky player. Despite his track record and accolades, Butler could bust because he is overmatched by NFL competition.

Ruskell spent big to get his guy, but his guy was never less risky than Juaquin Iglesias, Mike Thomas, Brian Hartline, Louis Murphy, Austin Collie or Johnny Knox - the six receivers selected after Butler. And only Iglesias has underperformed Butler. Ruskell projected his internal bias on the players he drafted. It rarely conflicted with his risk aversion, but when it did, it often spelled failure.

Campbell is a prime target for any risk adverse general manager. His connections to Auburn's unbeaten season might have spoken to Ruskell's personal bias, but his standing as a young, established NFL quarterback speaks to rational roster construction. Campbell has the tools of an NFL quarterback - arm strength, size, mobility - and those tools are NFL tested. He has adapted to multiple playbooks and played near league average football on some very poorly constructed offenses. As we've seen in Chicago and Denver, the quarterback may be the center and most essential part of any NFL offense, but it is not more important than the other ten men that take the field.

This Plan Might Be Enacted Thus:

Seattle trades or cuts Hasselbeck. It wishes him well, gives lip service to rebuilding and is satisfied to see him sign with Cleveland. Hasselbeck joins muscle milk buddy Brady Quinn and assumes the Trent Dilfer role.

Walter Jones retires.

Seattle cuts Patrick Kerney, Deion Branch and Seneca Wallace.

That gives the Seahawks money to burn. Seattle signs Campbell to a frontloaded contract with a third-year buyout clause. Campbell is playing through the last year of his rookie contract and though he's rich, he's not quarterback rich. Seattle buys maneuverability and Campbell's services by stacking his 2010 salary with zeroes.

Seattle could still be a player in free agency after signing Campbell. It will attempt to fill holes and free itself to draft best available talent throughout the draft.

Signing Campbell and cutting dead weight frees Seattle to make a big splash in the NFL draft. It has money to afford another early first round prospect and the picks to trade up. It could take a centerpiece player on defense like Ndamukong Suh. By releasing Hasselbeck and signing Campbell, the burden falls off the offense. Seattle buys itself time. If Campbell struggles in Seattle's still wrecked 2010 offense, he's young and can be released. Campbell has a bad reputation. He hasn't earned Seahawks fan loyalty and we are unlikely to experience the same kind of revulsion and outrage watching him battered to bones as we do watching Hasselbeck torn asunder.

Campbell is signed as a stopgap+. The Seahawks compliment the signing with a project quarterback selected sometime in 2010's epic quarterback draft. A looming correction to the onerous rookie pay scale is encouraging players to declare, and while the draft lacks a Matt Ryan or Peyton Manning, it might be the deepest quarterback draft in modern history. Colt McCoy, Zac Robinson, Sean Canfield, Ryan Mallett, Dan LeFevour, Pat Devlin and Tony Pike will all likely fall deep into the second day. Seattle will have an established starter for 2010 to test its system and offense, and a talented young quarterback developing behind the scenes.

How it works: Seattle successfully moves into the top of the draft and selects a once in a generation defensive talent. That helps push Seattle's cheap, young and talented, but by no means dominant, defense from potential to production. The team is not a contender again in 2010, but it's close.

Campbell outperforms Hasselbeck. He's younger and healthier and continues to play like a league average quarterback. Campbell could also breakout. Seattle is set for either possibility. It builds its offense towards the future by continuing Ruskell's habit of drafting late and mid-round offensive talent and seeing who shakes out. The major rebuild will wait until next offseason. 2010 is about seeing what they have and what they need, something a diminished Hasselbeck has made difficult to impossible this season.

The young defense provides excitement and gives the team a direction and identity. Campbell's arm opens the run game and Seattle executes the grind and smother attack Jim Mora and Greg Knapp seek. The team takes a flier on another young back (or two) and someone sticks, filling out a balanced and productive if unspectacular committee of backs. It's Ground Chuck all over again.

How it fails: Seattle cuts Hasselbeck but doesn't sign Campbell, or Seattle retains Hasselbeck and projects to have one of the worst offenses in football in 2010, or Seattle signs Campbell but Campbell performs no better than Hasselbeck and Seattle's young quarterback is prematurely forced into action. The meat of this is that Seattle does not spend enough on its offense and that offense again undermines the defense.

Contrarily, the defense never steps up. It continues to stifle the run but still cannot stop the pass. Seattle's defensive savior is a rookie and like Aaron Curry, more potential than player. The defense is average, but no better and as the offense putters towards the bottom of the league, the not-good-enough defense shoulders the consequences. Seattle changes the face of its failures but not its failures and what little can be salvaged from Ruskell's roster is older, more expensive and closer to free agency. Campbell is signed to stave off a full rebuild and does. He plays two seasons of league average football and is cleared when Seattle must clean house in 2012.

Shallow Thoughts & Nearsighted Observations

Ted Bartlett — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:30:29 -0000

More photos » by Denis Poroy - AP

about 1 month ago: Denver Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall tries to pull away from San Diego Chargers cornerback Quentin Jammer after a pass reception for nine yards during the third quarter of the NFL football game Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

Browse more photos »

Happy Tuesday friends, and welcome to another (shortened) edition of Shallow Thoughts & Nearsighted Observations. This is MileHighReport.com, the premier source of Broncos new and analysis in the entire world. I have been feeling like we're still kind of peripheral, in the eyes of the rest of the worldwide media, but we beat the bejesus out of them every day, when it comes to covering the Broncos.

As they say, game recognizes game, and correspondingly, it also recognizes groupthink and suckiness. By your being here, reading this today, and hopefully, every week, you mark yourself as having good sense, and at least a partial desire to be part of what is a collaborative learning and growth experience for us all. I'm a front-page staff guy, obviously, but I learn interesting things from FanPosters all the time. Those people are the lifeblood of the MHR community, and they should be commended for their outstanding contributions.

If you're a lurker, you obviously have the good sense to consume our front page content. I wanted to take a minute to ask you to consider joining as an MHR community member, and participating in the discussion. We always welcome people just like you, and chances are, you know something that will be of value to the rest of us, or you have a question which will spark a discussion, which has value to the rest of us. Either way, we all win.

Okay, Ted's Own Personal Membership Drive is over. My local NPR affiliate, 90.3 WCPN in Cleveland, has been doing a drive lately (seemingly, every time I am in my car), so I decided to do a quick one in Donny Deutschland this week. I don't want your money, just your participation. (For one thing, I think this is a great week for my lurking brother Chris to join.) Do a smart thing, and get down with MHR. As we say in the US Navy, welcome aboard.

OK, on to football, and whatever else pops into my head. Out of the echo chamber, and into the fire, y'all. Ready....?

Y'all weren't ready. Okay, get ready, and let's try this again. Ready.... BEGIN!!!

1. I have some early thoughts on the Ravens game, which i consider to be a pretty favorable matchup for the Broncos. First, the Ravens are extremely physical, so it's good to be playing them, healthy and coming off a bye week. The Broncos will have to match their physicality on both sides of the ball, and I have every reason to expect that they will.

Offensively, the Broncos need to attack the Ravens outside the numbers, with Brandon Marshall, Eddie Royal, and Tony Scheffler. The Ravens are bad at CB, and really their only good DB is Ed Reed, so throwing it where he isn't is a solid plan. They also need to run the ball, and I believe that they'll have good success in doing so. The Ravens went about 3 years without giving up a 100-yard rusher, and then got hit back to back by Cedric Benson and Adrian Peterson in their last two games. This is a good defense, but it's not the vintage great defense we're used to.

Defensively, the Broncos absolutely must tackle Ray Rice, who has arguably been the second-best RB in the AFC this season, just behind Benson. Rice is averaging 6 yards per carry (73-441-3) and 9.8 yards per catch (33-325-1). Rice is very short, and very stocky, which makes him hard to tackle. Joe Flacco can make all the throws, but I love the Broncos secondary against Derrick Mason, Mark Clayton, and Todd Heap. I'm not worried about any of those guys consistently beating anybody in the Broncos secondary. Rice is the key player.

2. Information From My Eyes:

a. I like the vision and decisiveness with which Ryan Grant ran on Sunday. There have been some rumors that the Packers want to replace him, but he hasn't been the problem with the running game in Green Bay. He could use a good tandem back to work with, and better play from the offensive line, but Grant is definitely a starting-caliber back.

b. The Browns are just unwatchable, so I haven't been talking about them much lately. If I were Eric Mangini, this is the all-inclusive list of guys I'd want to keep on the roster after this season: Joshua Cribbs, Joe Thomas, Shaun Rogers, Eric Steinbach, Alex Mack, Mohamed Massaquoi, David Veikune, Eric Wright, Brandon McDonald, and D'Qwell Jackson. (I like Brady Quinn better than he does, but since he clearly doesn't like him, I excluded him). That's the only 10 players who I think are good players (or potentially good players) on winning football teams. Maybe you keep 10 more for next year, which is still going to be transitional. For the rest of the roster, you take a page from your friend Josh McDaniels, and go out and find some professionals to fill your holes, and try to have a very good draft. It is a talent problem in Cleveland, and all the other stuff is red herrings, until they fix the talent.

c. At a total team level, I am very impressed with the Cincinnati Bengals, and I think that they are a serious threat in the playoffs. I know I have smart readers, and I exchanged emails with a guy in the UK named Jake last week. He thought that the Bengals were a lock against the Bears, and I agreed. The Bengals controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and they hit and frustrated Jay Cutler all day.

d. I don't want to be too inflammatory with any of our Cutler lovers (if any are left), but has anybody noticed that he took his personal tendency for being on the losing end of blowouts with him to Chicago? I am sure the Broncos will eventually lose a game, but I find it impossible to imagine this team losing any game 45-10. It takes a certain kind of team to have the wheels just totally fall off in all phases of the game. I looked at the Bears Sunday and saw a complete lack of gameness and mental toughness. We all remember the games the 2006-2008 Broncos had like that, and I don't mean to attribute it personally to Cutler, or take a cheap shot. You simply can't deny, though, that this bad team-wide trait followed him out of town, and joined him in Chicago.

e. Cutler still seems to have the Favre-ian effect on the media and his fan base, where he manages to completely avoid personal blame, even when he plays very poorly, as he did Sunday. I visited the Bears' SBNation side, Windy City Gridiron, and there was virtually no criticism of Cutler, and you can see that he has again escaped much MSM accountability, too. I know I used to rationalize his bad play, and I think everybody here pretty much did too, at least to some degree. It's really a pretty amazing phenomenon, in a bad way. (By the way, I was proud to see that none of our members were over there trolling. Big up, MHR.)

f. Nobody gets picked in the top 5 of a draft because they look like they can't play in the NFL. Cedric Benson's talent just jumps off the screen. He's so fast for his size, and he has changed everything for Cincinnati. He's the main reason that the Bengals are so good on offense, because defenses are having to play eight in the box against him. That allows their good WRs to run wild, and Carson Palmer to hit his choice of open players. Benson is 10 times the player that Matt Forte is. The magnitude of the difference is akin to comparing Brian Dawkins to (Safety) Roy Williams.

g. The Bears' 7-man fronts were getting blown off the ball consistently. Just wait until Andre Smith gets started playing at RT. He is going to flat-out dominate in the running game, if he can keep his head on straight. He was clearly the best lineman in the 2009 Draft, and only his erratic pre-Draft behavior made him last to the sixth-overall pick.

h. Tank Johnson has been excellent all season for the Bengals, and was particularly terrific Sunday. Frostee Rucker and Robert Geathers had big games too, and the Bengals didn't seem to miss Antwan Odom too terribly (for one game, anyway).

i. Remember that business about top-5 guys going in the top 5 for a reason? ST&NO favorite Alex Smith had that on display Sunday. If he is ever put in a position to succeed, and can stay healthy, he will be the second coming of Rich Gannon. He's had 5 offensive coordinators in 5 years, and had the really bad shoulder injury, which he foolishly tried to play through for awhile. Remember, he is still only 25 years old. He's smart, athletic, and throws a pretty nice ball, and he's a humble, team-first player. I think Smith has an opportunity to get his career back on track, because Shaun Hill has played poorly for most of this season. There is no question that Smith is more talented than Hill.

j. It took him awhile, and some tough love from Mike Singletary to get there, but Vernon Davis is the best two-way TE in the NFL. I'd say the next best guy is probably Jason Witten, but there's a big drop-off between the two. Davis is such a fantastic blocker, and he's improved greatly as a receiver.

k. On the topic of pride and mental toughness, you have to be impressed with the job the Saints did Sunday, in coming back from a 24-3 first-half deficit against Miami. They just kept plugging away, and started executing, and eventually overtook the Dolphins. It was a great team effort, on a day where they didn't have their best stuff.

l. One serious concern I have for the Saints is how susceptible they looked to backside pressure on Drew Brees, with Jermon Bushrod filling in for Jammal Brown at LT (Brown is out for the year). Brees was shaky when he was getting pressured Sunday, like most QBs. You especially want to pressure the "A" gaps against him, because he has a strong predisposition for aggressively stepping straight up into the pocket. The Dolphins were especially successful when they generated interior pressure.

m. The Dolphins are probably going to miss the playoffs this year, and they'll look back with regret on letting the Colts and Saints get off the mat, when they had both teams pretty well beaten. Miami is a good team, which has just whiffed on opportunities to beat other good teams.

n. I don't think there is anything particularly noteworthy about Miles Austin, from a skills perspective. I watched the Dallas/Atlanta game when I got back from Dallas on Monday afternoon, and my first thought was that a good portion of the torching Austin put on the Falcons was from the slot in 3-WR packages, against base defensive personnel. I got all set to rip the Falcons for not subbing to match the offensive personnel grouping, but then I thought about it, and found myself wondering if I wouldn't be sticking to base too, if I were their Defensive Coordinator Brian Van Gorder. The Falcons lost their best CB, Brian Williams, to injury last week, and, remember, he was a Jaguars training camp casualty. Behind him are Chris Houston (who is talented but inconsistent), and Brent Grimes (who is not really talented, but tries hard). Nickel offense is the way to beat the Falcons, because they severely lack the quality players in the secondary to match up with it. I think Sunday was the first step to them having that deficiency cost them a playoff spot this year.

o. Isn't it great to have 4 CBs we can trust, as well as two safeties, in Darcel McBath and Josh Barrett, who are very good in man-to-man coverage?

p. One thing that jumped out in the Dallas-Atlanta game was that the Falcons receivers (including Tony Gonzalez) had a great deal of trouble separating from the man-to-man coverage they were getting from the Cowboys (whose secondary is average, at best). Matt Ryan had a lot of really tight spots to throw to, and largely since he got hit a great deal Sunday, he missed a lot of those throws.

q. So, I promised I'd interject some fraternity-man wedding hijinks, whether anybody wants it or not, so here goes. Have you ever had a snakebite? It's a shot my contemporaries and I favor, and it consists of Yukon Jack and lime juice. It strikes a good balance between being masculine and manageable, and it's kind of that one shot that everybody agrees is doable. Anyway - apparently, Yukon Jack hasn't penetrated the Dallas-Fort Worth market very effectively, because these local bartenders there have never heard of it, or a snakebite. Well, Scott (the groom) came to play, and he made sure that there was Yukon Jack at the reception, and that the caterers knew how to make the shot.

So, at some point, when the music shifted from craptastic country dinner music, and moved on to Run DMC, the 5 Tekes who were there did a snakebite. Good times. Then we did another, and we were joined by the cool girls in the wedding party, and a couple of Scott's cousins. The Tekes put it down like it was water, the rest of them struggled, and made faces while choking it down. Scott looked at me, with this extreme solemnity, and he nodded and said, "This is how we do."

Five eloquent words, and truth was achieved. This is, in fact, how we do. He was absolutely right. There's an easily discernible identity about us, as a group of men, and part of that identity is that we dominate some snakebites. I thought of this, as I watched the Short Cut of the Colts-Rams game. The Colts have an easily discernible identity. They play a lot of Cover-2 on defense, and try to limit their exposure to big plays. On offense, they take the whole play clock, try to shorten the game, and Peyton Manning works to always take what the defense gives him. They want to get a 10-14 point lead, and then send Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis after your QB, once you have to throw the ball. There's no secret or mystery to it, and they don't even particularly game-plan much for specific teams, beyond adjusting some protection schemes, maybe. There is a great deal of comfort to knowing exactly what you're going to do, and exactly who you are.

r. Why in the world would the new Twilight movie be advertised during Monday Night Football? I am sure a few people like (or would like) both Twilight and pro football, but can it possibly be more than 10% of the viewers? Seems like little value for the advertising dollar, there, pinning your hopes to a mostly male audience being interested in the visual depiction of chick lit.

s. So, I have a half-sister, Abby, who is going to be 8 in November. She's a smart kid, but when I was over last week, her mother was telling her that she needed to learn how to think outside the box a little more. Abby didn't know what that meant, so I drew her the classic MBA school exercise that our father shared with me when I was about 13 (and he was in MBA school, and this was a brand new idea). This exercise is actually where the now-tired phrase came from.

The objective is to connect all 9 dots, using 4 or less straight lines. As the term "outside the box" indicates, this is how you complete the objective.

I dislike the term "outside the box," because people who have no idea what it means use it all the time. (It's one of those concepts that would have been better off being compartmentalized to smart people only, like any number of concepts I can think of, actually). Anyway, I am taking a long route to applauding the Eagles for making an "outside the box" huge trade last week, just ahead of the deadline.

Will Witherspoon is not particularly famous, because he has toiled on irrelevant teams for his whole career (first, some mostly bad Carolina teams, and then some awful St. Louis teams). He's very good, though, and he has experience both in the middle, and on the weakside. He's a run-and-hit player, like the kind of guy you'd probably see in a Jim Bates- or Larry Coyer-kind of design. It seems to me that Steve Spagnuolo didn't think that Witherspoon particularly fit his system, which is, of course, basically the same system used in Philadelphia and with the New York Giants. It's a big, blitz-happy 40-front, which is designed around getting A-gap pressure consistently. It's stylistically similar to a Phillips 3-4, and it favors interior front-seven players who are basically 3-4 profile guys.

The Jim Johnson tree has always favored big, downhill thumpers in the middle. Power trumps speed at that position. The quintessential guy is Jeremiah Trotter, who was the size of a DE in his prime, and is now closer to a DT. (Trotter, you'll remember, once struggled mightily when he signed a big contract with Washington, and they tried to make him fit their scheme.) The Eagles brought him back this season, and he was a huge liability in the passing game (to wit, see the Raiders game last week). By bringing in Witherspoon, the Eagles went outside of type, but the impact single-handedly returned them to real-contender status. He had a huge game Monday night, with an interception for a TD, and a strip-sack, and I expect that it's only the beginning.

t. I hope Jon Gruden doesn't get and/or take a coaching job next season. He is fantastic on Monday Night Football, and y'all know I am not too prone to wantonly complimenting much of anything about ESPN. He had a great piece of information on the Redskins, which was really shocking to me, actually. Clinton Portis told him that the last time he heard an audible, he was a Bronco. Gruden's point was that if Jason Campbell could at least change the protection scheme to account for overload blitzes, it could put him in better position not to get crushed, while knowing the crushing is coming.

Umm, you think? That's just scratching the surface of the benefits of audible-ing. The Redskins are a total Mickey Mouse operation, and I am just shocked that they didn't have anything in place, even when Joe Gibbs was there. That strikes me as having to be an organizational policy, and if it is, it's the stupidest thing that I have ever heard of, in 22 years of being a serious football observer. I know high school teams that audible, for God's sake.

u. Jason Peters, who I have been wanting to take a close look at, looked pretty cockamamie to me on Monday night, which agreed with my long-held perception of him. He gave up a sack, and generally looked like a low-effort, I-already-got-paid kind of guy. There were several plays where I saw him watching the play, and not looking to hit anybody. I see and hear all these glowing reports on the guy, but where's the beef? I am starting to understand why Buffalo thought paying Peters was a bad idea.

v. I don't like gambling, but I had to take the bet my friend Paul offered me. I had Philadelphia, straight-up against Washington, with dinner as the stakes, the next time Paul is in Cleveland around Thanksgiving. That was such a lock, it's almost unbelievable that he offered me the bet. And, no, he's actually a Dallas fan, in case you were wondering if he was just a silly Washington homer.

3. I have been something of a Brett Kern apologist, but he wasn't getting it done. I like the message that replacing him sends to the rest of the team. Even a 6-0 team has room for improvement, and everybody needs to handle the job they're hired to do.

4. I was thinking about roles over the weekend, how we all have certain roles to fill in life, and how that's true of football too, which was the context I was thinking in. All good teams are full of role players who understand their roles. As a member of the MHR creative team, I have a role, and so do the rest of the guys. (I don't know if what my role became is what John had in mind when he asked me to join last year, but it is what it is now.) Snark, discussion about offense, courage, media criticism, pop culture, snark, meandering, community building, snark, detailed football analysis, play diagrams, obscure references, lots of (now correctly punctuated) parentheses, righteous indignation, commentary on other teams and games, optimism, prescience in 2009, and snark. That's my role, and that's ST&NO.

I like that the Broncos were constructed and operate with a lot of thought devoted to roles. As a coach, when you sign a veteran like Vonnie Holliday on the eve of the season, and you tell him that he'll be a rotation player, primarily on the field in pass-rush situations, there's a clarity of understanding between you and the player. That clarity is good for business, and it comes through when you see all 53 players knowing their roles, and playing them well.

5. I think MSM NFL reporters are mostly dorks; that's pretty well-established here. (I don't mean the stringers and the local AP guys, per se, I mean the scoop-seeking talking heads.) The most dork-tastic one, in my opinion, is Jay Glazer from Fox, and he's several laps ahead of the field. Here are some recent Glazer tweets:

i'm reporting dallas and d ware have agreed on new 6 yr deal worth up to 13 per yr and nearly 40mil guaranteed. well worth it!

about 9 hours ago from txt

I reported Dan Snyder was urged to give Zorn vote of conf but opted not to. Also didnt wanna speak to press, fearing he wouldn't bite tongue

11:24 AM Oct 25th from web

i'm so tired from spending the whole dang day workin the phones for scoopage i really don't wanna go out. wait, wait... my arm is a twistin

8:28 PM Oct 23rd from txt

Cindy Crawford was here at this party, gotta admit she is one of the my physically beautiful and elegant women I have ever seen! stunning!!!

12:37 AM Oct 23rd from web

dumbest line of our night! Strahan: "There's TWO things i can do: spell, add and subtract." yes, he really said that! my friend is a moron

6:42 PM Oct 19th from txt

Have you ever known a person who is always name-dropping, and was at this party, and saw that celebrity, and is always claiming credit for themselves, because they're so much better than everybody else? That's Jay Glazer. Really, how hard is it to be an MSM NFL reporter? You offer yourself up as a convenient mouthpiece for anybody who wants to use you, and then they use you. You try to make them let you use them once in a while, too.

The Cowboys signed DeMarcus Ware; okay, that's admittedly news. Does it matter if Glazer heard about it 10 minutes before Adam Schefter did? With these guys, it's always about who had information first that everybody was going to have soon anyway. None of these guys is ever finding out anything significant which wasn't meant to come out. The Snyder thing is meaningless. Who cares? Everybody knows he's going to fire Jim Zorn after the season, so how he felt last week, when he didn't make any news, is worthless. It's just something Glazer can claim that he knew, that nobody else did. There's no Woodward or Bernstein covering the NFL, you know?

Since we're all friends here, I just wanted to vent, because Glazer makes me crazy, with his "scoopage," and his name-dropping, and his day-drinking in Beverly Hills. Thanks for listening/reading.

6. From Stuart Scott, trying to sound smart by saying that Donovan McNabb is an H-back when he's lined up outside in the Eagles "Wildcat" look:

H-back means good speed, some heft to him, runs good routes, and can catch the ball.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I don't care for Stuart Scott, and all of his contrived, Berman-esque, shucking and jiving, but I would like him a little better if he'd not talk about things he has no clue about. Just stick to worshipping Michael Jordan, mmmmkay, Stu? And while we're at it, how is Matt Winer the analytical counter-balance to Trent Dilfer, on the ESPN Monday Night 3-man set? Those two with noted other shucker/jiver Scott Van Pelt is a weird trio.

7. Retired for John Elway

8. I had occasion to drive by the new Dallas Cowboys stadium over the weekend, and TV doesn't do justice to how enormous it is. It's a really impressive-looking building from the outside. One thing, though, which I found interesting about my DFW experience, was how few people and cars I saw rocking Cowboys gear. I saw more on Monday morning, which is probably no surprise.

I hope everybody has a good Ravens week. All you get is about 4,200 words this week, because I am out of interesting things to say, and we're on some all-killer, no-filler here, like always. Really, that would be about an 18-20 page term paper in college, so it's still not too shabby. Look for Lighting Up The Scoreboard Saturday afternoon, and follow me on Twitter @TedBartlett905. And join MHR, if you haven't yet. There's no time like now.

A Most Delicious Matchup

Mitchell_M — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:58:37 -0000

Mmm...Browns...

Now, I know what you're thinking. Historically this season, I've been more negative than some of you would care for. I look at it as being more realistic, but at the same time it comes off as having a serious lack of faith in the team.

Allow me to attempt to salvage my reputation by coming out and saying that this is easily the best matchup of the year for the Packers and that they should absolutely roll on the Browns. Why do I say that? The answer is after the jump.

CLE rushing vs. GB defense: Jamal Lewis used to be the workhorsiest running back in the NFL. He's fallen off, to say the least (67 carries, 233 yards, 0 TDs). Jerome Harrison was supposed to be change-of-pace back in the vein of Leon Washington, Chris Johnson, and Darren Sproles. Needless to say, he has not realized that potential yet (61 carries, 228 yards, 0 TDs). Rookie James Davis looked promising, but was lost for the season. The Cleveland stable of running backs, ranked 18th in yardage, is mediocre at best.

The offensive line isn't much better. Joe Thomas (6'6", 312) is a stud at LT, but he specializes more in pass protection. The rest of the line is not nearly as studly. Eric Steinbach (6'6", 295) is an athletic LG who can move in space, but has historically had problems with sustaining blocks and keeping his base. Rookie center Alex Mack (6'4", 311), backup center/starting RG Hank Fraley (6'3", 310), and RT John St. Clair (6'6", 320) are merely average.

Green Bay has surprisingly turned into a surprisingly stout run defense over the course of the season. They're ranked 16th against the run, but the difference between 10th ranked Tennessee and 20th ranked New England is less than 20 yards. Nick Barnett seems to have recovered fully from his ACL injury, Brandon Chillar has continued to excel as a rotation linebacker, Clay Matthews had a small coming-out party last week, and A.J. Hawk has been relegated to the bench for over 75% of the defensive snaps.

Advantage: Green Bay. Having finally settled on a rotation for the front seven, the defense is starting to hit its stride.

CLE passing vs. GB defense: The only bright spot in the passing offense is rookie WR Mohamed Massaquoi. The Georgia product may not be able to recreate Braylon Edwards' production (or drops), but he has already established himself as a productive member of the NFL. Mike Furrey, former St. Louis safety turned receiver, is a homeless man's Wes Welker. From there, it's all downhill in Cleveland.

Derek Anderson once submitted a stat line of 2/17 for 23 yards and kept his job. That's how bad the quarterback situation is in Cleveland. Between him and Brady Quinn, it's hard to declare a winner. Quinn is easily more accurate than Anderson, but Anderson has the arm that can make all the necessary throws. If you somehow combined them into a super-conglomerate-quarterback, they might be servicable. But until then, Eric Mangini will have to continue choosing between dukey and doo-doo.

And by the way, how in the world does Eric Mangini still have a job? The Brady Quinn Era lasted all of 2.5 games. The second-best player on offense (and second-leading receiver) was Braylon Edwards, who's now a member of the Jets. They were reportedly shopping Joshua Cribbs before the deadline, presumably because they don't want to have any success on special teams.

Green Bay finally is starting to figure out a rotation of linebackers that work well with blitz packages, especially on passing downs. The group of Matthews-Barnett-Chillar-Kampman has produced well, especially when Kampman moves onto the line. Al Harris, Charles Woodson, Nick Collins, Tramon Williams, and finally healthy (for now) Atari Bigby are licking their chops this week. It might get ugly.

Advantage: Definitely Green Bay. The only thing preventing this defense from dominating this week is injuries.

GB rushing vs. CLE defense: Cleveland has a defense which has been exploited like a British colony. Their 30th-ranked run defense is anchored by Shaun Rogers. Is it any coincidence that all the teams that the 6'4" 350 lb. mammoth tackle has played for have been awful against the run? Probably, especially now that Cleveland defensive star D'Qwell Jackson is out for the year. But the rest of Cleveland's front seven are non-descript. Robaire Smith and Kenyon Coleman are the main ends, with former Packer Corey Williams rotating in. Eric Barton, Kamerion Wimbley, David Bowens, and David Veikune will have to step up to replace Jackson's leadership.

Meanwhile, rumors abound of Ryan Grant's imminent departure from Green Bay. Well, perhaps "imminent" isn't the right word, but those in charge at 1265 are not pleased and have been looking for ways to improve the position. Whether or not Ahman Green can be considered an improvement is yet to be seen. In any case, Grant is still producing at a slightly-above-average clip (3.8 ypc). Perhaps his numbers are lower because of the offensive line? After all, Grant did finish last year on a relatively strong note, so maybe he is getting primed for a second-half explosion, a la Cedric Benson in 2008.

Advantage: Green Bay, because Cleveland sucks more at stopping the run than Green Bay does at establishing it.

GB passing vs. CLE defense: I played defensive back in high school, and I was good enough to not get burned on a regular basis. One week, I caught the flu, and tried playing in that week's game after starting to get over it. Two long pass plays later, I was riding the pine for the rest of the game and didn't start the next week.

The point is, if any of the Browns' defensive backs were among the players who caught the flu, they will be in for a long day.

The Browns' pass defense is ranked 23rd, a number that would likely be worse if Cleveland weren't constantly losing and having opponents run the clock out against them. The corners (Eric Wright and Brandon McDonald) are actually not horrible players, but they're constantly left alone by the putrid safety tandem of Brodney Pool and Abram Elam. If you thought Derrick Martin and Jarrett Bush were bad, wait until you see Wright matched up against Donald Driver and pass him off to the safety who isn't there.

Speaking of Green Bay's receivers, they have certainly stepped up in the last few weeks. Seven Packers have over 100 yards receiving on the season, and Driver, Greg Jennings, James Jones, Jordy Nelson, and Jermichael Finley are all averaging over 15.0 yards per catch. As long as the drops don't come back, these guys will get open and get yards.

Oh, and Aaron Rodgers is awesome. Let's hope he stays healthy despite his dangerous work conditions.

Advantage: Green Bay by a long shot.

No-longer-so-preliminary verdict: The biggest thing that worries me about this game is the potential for the team to fall into a trap, given the looming November 1st visit from a certain NFC North team. But before we start repeating the Admiral Ackbar message from Week 3, recognize exactly how different this team is in Week 7. With Atari Bigby healthy, a more suitable replacement for Mark Tauscher, and the reunion of Aaron Kampman and the 3-point stance, this Packers team is far more capable than they were in the first quarter of the season.

Poll

What outcome do you see for Week 7 against Cleveland?

Big GB win.

505 votes

Slim GB win.

61 votes

Too close to call.

6 votes

Slim CLE win.

24 votes

Big CLE win.

16 votes

612 votes | Poll has closed

Sage advice from Mo Egger for new/returning Bengals bandwagon fans:

A Pragmatic Bengals Fan — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:37:20 -0000

This is just brilliant satire from our friend Mo Egger's blog over at The Homer. You'll see it was posted a couple of days ago due to the fact that he refers to Brad St. Louis as a current Bengal, but I'll parenthetically repair that. With Mo's permission I lovingly repost this piece that gave me more than one belly laugh yesterday when I read it. Hit the jump to read one of the best things I've read in a while.

-This week, and for a while until the team falters, the number of Bengals bandwagon fans you'll see will increase. I like bandwagon fans. The more people that want to talk about my favorite team, watch games, tailgate, the better. To an extent, we're all bandwagon fans. Your interest in a team or sport ebbs and flows depending on the success of whom your rooting for.

So if you're a bandwagon fan, new to the 2009 Bengals, welcome. We're glad to have you and we hope you're here for a while, though we know we're just a loss or two away from seeing you leave our lives for a while. Let's enjoy the time we do have. Let's go through a couple of things....

First, let's get rid of that "2005 AFC North Champions" shirt. You need some new gear. That shirt isn't gonna help you blend in. It's been four years, and besides, a team from the Bengals' division won the title that year. Keep it as a keepsake if you must, but don't wear it.

Same for the lame "Two Johnsons and one big Willie" shirt you bought about four years ago. There's a Johnson still on the team, his name is Brandon. Rudi's gone, his effectiveness slipping probably around the time you checked out, sometime late in 2006, injured in '07, cut before last year. He's looking for a job. Chad is still here, but he doesn't go by "Johnson" anymore. He's "OchoCinco" now. And Willie's gone too, blown out before last season. Bobbie Williams, who was actually here when you last wore the orange and black, is the wise-old one on the offensive line.

Actually a lot of players you loved when you were last a fan are gone. Justin Smith has moved on. So has Landon Johnson, Levi Jones, Chris Perry, Madieu Williams, and Eric Steinbach, just to name a few.

Carson is still the quarterback, though he's just now rounding back into form after missing most of last year, when you were wondering why people still went to games and figuring out ways to scalp some Colts tickets.

Remember how much fun you had saying "Houshmandzadeh?" Yeah well, he's not here either. The fun name to say is "Maualuga." (MAH-WUH-LOO-GA)

The crazy hair guy is Domata Peko. Defensive line. Where John Thornton used to play. Shayne Graham is still on the team. He hangs out at 2009's place for the pretentious, Bootsy's. Speaking of Bootsy's, he's so 2005. Crack Sauce is the new Bootsy.

Oh yeah, and speaking of pretentious, Paul Brown Stadium still has luxury suites, football domain of the pretentious and bandwagon jumpers alike. I'm sure if you find your way to PBS, you'll be bee-lining the suites. Give the other a-holes my best. Ask how many people had to be laid off the retain it and how many of their company's lower-salaried workers get to enjoy it.

Also, when you last left us, our men were running up quite the arrest tally. Most of those fellows involved aren't here anymore. Odell Thurman has moved on the something called the UFL (I'd explain that concept, but your head would explode). What may surprise you is that Chris Henry is still here, and believe it or not, acting every bit the model citizen.

Marvin Lewis is still the coach. Mike Brown is still the owner. You won't understand why most of us still can't stand him despite the team's record. Perhaps you do your shopping in Butler County.

Let's see, who else might you be looking for? David Pollack? Neck injury forced him to retire. Sam Adams? Biggest free agent bust in team history, though he was possibly a worse owner than nose tackle. Owned a team called the Jungle Kats that played Arena Football. Actually, he might've been a worse owner than Mike Brown. Torry James is gone too. Replaced by Leon Hall. He and Jonathan Joseph are forming quite the duo in the defensive backfield. Cedric Benson is the new Rudi, wearing number 32. He's doing quite well. However, screams of "Ceeeed" are not repalcing "Ruuuuudi." Just yell "go!" when he carries it. There's also this newcomer named Andre Caldwell...he's been money late in games, caught the game-winning TD passes against both Baltimore and Pittsburgh, which since you might have been rooting for the Steelers at the time, is probably something you remember.

Brad St. Louis is now the object of our frustration. He's the long snapper. (Note from Craig, here's the reference to St. Louis I wrote about earlier. When this was posted two whole days ago he was still a Bengal.) Actually he was the long snapper when you were last with us, but you didn't know who he was because no one knows who the long snapper is if he's good, which he is not. You'll hear some grumbling about a guy named Andre Smith too. He was the Bengals' first round pick this year. He weighs as much as your Prius.

Anyway, welcome back to the bandwagon. It's great to have you. Throw on your new Bengals t-shirt (iron out the folds) or your Maualuga jersey and settle in for the season. At least until they lose two in a row.

Final Practice/Injury Report: Cincinnati Bengals (2-1) at Cleveland Browns (0-3)

Kirkendall — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:11:14 -0000

OUT	Questionable	PROBABLE
T Andre Smith (foot)	DT Tank Johnson (foot)	RB Cedric Benson (knee)
	CB David Jones (foot)	LB Abdul Hodge (knee)
	CB Johnathan Joseph (foot)	LB Rey Maualuga (knee)
	DT Domata Peko (neck)	S Chinedum Ndukwe (hamstring)
	S Roy Williams (forearm)	T Andrew Whitworth (achilles)

Cleveland Browns

DOUBTFUL	QUESTIONABLE	PROBABLE
K Phil Dawson (right calf)	DE Kenyon Coleman (groin)	LB David Bowens (knee)
RB Jamal Lewis (hamstring)	RB James Davis (shoulder)	DT Shaun Rogers (foot)
G Floyd Womack (ankle)	G Rex Hadnot (knee)	LB Kamerion Wimbley (shoulder)
	G Eric Steinbach (knee)	CB Eric Wright (hand)
	DE Corey Williams (knee)	P Dave Zastudil (right knee)

Practice

BENGALS	WED	THUR	FRI
T Andre Smith (foot)	OUT	OUT	OUT
RB Cedric Benson (knee)	DNP	FP	FP
LB Abdul Hodge (knee)	DNP	FP	FP
DT Tank Johnson (foot)	DNP	DNP	LP
CB Johnathan Joseph (foot)	DNP	DNP	FP
LB Rey Maualuga (knee)	DNP	FP	FP
S Chinedum Ndukwe (hamstring)	DNP	FP	FP
CB David Jones (foot)	LP	FP	FP
DT Domata Peko (neck)	LP	DNP	FP
S Roy Williams (forearm)	LP	DNP	LP
T Andrew Whitworth (achilles)	FP	FP	FP

BROWNS	WED	THUR	FRI
DE Kenyon Coleman (groin)	DNP	LP	LP
K Phil Dawson (right calf)	DNP	DNP	DNP
RB Jamal Lewis (hamstring)	DNP	DNP	DNP
G Floyd Womack (ankle)	DNP	DNP	DNP
LB David Bowens (knee)	LP	LP	FP
G Rex Hadnot (knee)	LP	LP	LP
DT Shaun Rogers (foot)	LP	LP	FP
G Eric Steinbach (knee)	LP	LP	LP
DE Corey Williams (knee)	LP	DNP	LP
LB Kamerion Wimbley (shoulder)	LP	FP	FP
CB Eric Wright (hand)	FP	FP	FP
P Dave Zastudil (right knee)	FP	FP	FP
RB James Davis (shoulder)	--	FP	DNP

Practice Report (Thursday): Cincinnati Bengals (2-1) at Cleveland Browns (0-3)

Kirkendall — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:11:27 -0000

Every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evening, we'll update the practice/injury chart leading up to Sunday's game. The chart is pretty self-explanatory. If the player is listed as out, they're out for the game. If they did not participate, they didn't practice. If they were limited, then they only participated during a portion of practice (typically means missing 11-on-11 drills). If the player is listed as full participation, it simply means that they practiced fully and that the only reason they're listed is because injury was an issue the week before.

Practice

BENGALS	WED	THUR	FRI
T Andre Smith (foot)	OUT	OUT
RB Cedric Benson (knee)	DNP	FP
LB Abdul Hodge (knee)	DNP	FP
DT Tank Johnson (foot)	DNP	DNP
CB Johnathan Joseph (foot)	DNP	DNP
LB Rey Maualuga (knee)	DNP	FP
S Chinedum Ndukwe (hamstring)	DNP	FP
CB David Jones (foot)	LP	FP
DT Domata Peko (neck)	LP	DNP
S Roy Williams (forearm)	LP	DNP
T Andrew Whitworth (achilles)	FP	FP

BROWNS	WED	THUR	FRI
DE Kenyon Coleman (groin)	DNP	LP
K Phil Dawson (right calf)	DNP	DNP
RB Jamal Lewis (hamstring)	DNP	DNP
G Floyd Womack (ankle)	DNP	DNP
LB David Bowens (knee)	LP	LP
G Rex Hadnot (knee)	LP	LP
DT Shaun Rogers (foot)	LP	LP
G Eric Steinbach (knee)	LP	LP
DE Corey Williams (knee)	LP	DNP
LB Kamerion Wimbley (shoulder)	LP	FP
CB Eric Wright (hand)	FP	FP
P Dave Zastudil (right knee)	FP	FP
RB James Davis (shoulder)	--	FP

In his last 21 starts, Carson Palmer is 7-14. Question of the Day: Is Carson Palmer still an elite NFL quarterback or is he a victim of circumstance?

Kirkendall — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:44:11 -0000

More photos » by Al Behrman - AP

4 months ago: Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer passes the ball during the team's practice at NFL football training camp, Friday, July 31, 2009, in Georgetown, Ky. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)

Browse more photos »

We're not here to pile on Carson Palmer. We still believe that he gives the Bengals offense the best chance to succeed. As Jake points out in his morning briefing, Bengals.com beat writer Geoff Hobson wrote "Not only is Palmer is 7-17 in his last 24 starts, but when is it going to get any better?" Lance McAlister implied the same thing, jotting down Palmer's last ten starts. Paul Daugherty writes, "Feel free to wonder if C. Palmer will ever be the guy he was in '05 and '06."

Let me make this disclaimer right now: Palmer is far from the problem on this offense; everything added up equates to a single problem; the inability to score points (Bengals have scored 30 or more points, four times since 2007). His performance against the Denver Broncos, while solid in the mind's of game managers, could be attributed to less-than-stellar blocking, penalties and dropped passes and he wasn't without his own criticisms. For instance, Palmer completed only five of 12 passes on third down for 67 yards passing and an interception (25.3 passer rating). On the other hand, four of those incomplete passes were attributed to drops by Laveranues Coles. So the disclaimer applies. While we could focus on one thing, you have to acknowledge everything else.

So we're fully aware. Palmer is 1/11th part of the issue here.

However, I did want to take a look at Palmer's recent performances, based on the question if Palmer is the same quarterback since his 2005 and 2006 glory years; as prompted by the above links. Or is that too simplified, without pointing out that the offensive line in 2005 and 2006 was far superior than the offensive line we've had since -- aka, having Eric Steinbach, Rich Braham (in 2005) and Levi Jones and Willie Anderson playing at the top of their game. I won't argue against that -- and I believe that any doesn't acknowledge the above while implying their criticisms is doing a disservice to Palmer. Would you hate me if we discarded all of that and simply looked at Palmer's performances?

Since 2007.

Date	Opp	Result	Att	Comp	Yard	TD	INT	Rating
9.13.09	Denver	L, 7-12	33	21	247	0	2	61.0
10.5.08	Dallas	L, 22-31	39	23	217	2	1	80.8
9.21.08	NY Giants	L, 23-26	39	27	286	1	0	98.9
9.14.08	Tennessee	L, 7-24	27	16	134	0	2	41.3
9.7.08	Baltimore	L, 10-17	9	24	94	0	1	32.3
12.30.07	Miami	W, 38-25	32	23	316	3	1	121.4
12.23.07	Cleveland	W, 19-14	21	11	115	1	2	44.8
12.15.07	San Francisco	L, 13-20	31	19	252	1	0	97.8
12.9.07	St. Louis	W, 19-10	29	21	189	0	2	60.8
12.2.07	Pittsburgh	L, 10-24	44	17	183	0	0	51.6
11.25.07	Tennessee	W, 35-6	38	32	283	3	1	113.0
11.18.07	Arizona	L, 27-35	52	37	329	2	4	68.5
11.11.07	Baltimore	W, 21-7	34	23	271	0	0	91.7
11.4.07	Buffalo	L, 21-33	39	26	271	2	1	93.0
10.28.07	Pittsburgh	L, 13-24	31	23	205	1	0	102.2
10.21.07	NY Jets	W, 38-31	21	14	226	1	1	98.5
10.14.07	Kansas City	L, 20-27	43	26	320	2	2	79.6
10.1.07	New England	L, 13-34	35	21	234	1	2	65.7
9.23.07	Seattle	L, 21-24	43	27	342	1	2	75.9
9.16.07	Cleveland	L, 45-51	50	33	401	6	2	113.4
9.10.07	Baltimore	W, 27-20	32	20	194	2	0	100.3
			722	484	5,109	29	26	85.8
			34.4	23.0	243.3	1.4	1.2	85.8

The one thing that jumps out at you immediately is that the Bengals are 7-14 in the last 21 games that Palmer has started; including only one stretch of back-to-back wins -- one of those games was against the 1-14 Miami Dolphins. You have to go all the way back to week 13 and 14 in 2006 to find the next back-to-back wins by the Bengals when Palmer starts. Of Palmer's 21 most recent starts, he's recorded five games with a passer rating of 100 points or more -- his most recent triple-digit passer rating came on December 30, 2007. He's failed to record a touchdown pass in five of his past ten starts -- thrown a pick in seven of his past ten.

Again. I'm not piling on. I believe that Palmer's recent performances are within a larger view of the problems the Cincinnati offense is having; not just Palmer, but everyone. For example, let's examine the team's rushing performance in games that Palmer starts.

Date	Opp	Result	Att	Yards	Avg/Att	TDs
9.13.09	Denver	L, 7-12	27	86	3.2	1
10.5.08	Dallas	L, 22-31	23	61	2.7	0
9.21.08	NY Giants	L, 23-26	27	102	3.8	1
9.14.08	Tennessee	L, 7-24	27	88	3.1	1
9.7.08	Baltimore	L, 10-17	24	70	2.9	0
12.30.07	Miami	W, 38-25	24	77	3.2	1
12.23.07	Cleveland	W, 19-14	33	155	4.7	1
12.15.07	San Francisco	L, 13-20	19	61	3.2	0
12.9.07	St. Louis	W, 19-10	36	192	5.3	1
12.2.07	Pittsburgh	L, 10-24	23	74	3.2	1
11.25.07	Tennessee	W, 35-6	36	148	4.1	2
11.18.07	Arizona	L, 27-35	20	72	3.6	0
11.11.07	Baltimore	W, 21-7	34	70	2.1	0
11.4.07	Buffalo	L, 21-33	17	28	1.6	0
10.28.07	Pittsburgh	L, 13-24	21	91	4.3	0
10.21.07	NY Jets	W, 38-31	41	177	4.3	3
10.14.07	Kansas City	L, 20-27	18	78	4.3	0
10.1.07	New England	L, 13-34	15	57	3.8	0
9.23.07	Seattle	L, 21-24	30	84	2.8	1
9.16.07	Cleveland	L, 45-51	26	137	5.3	0
9.10.07	Baltimore	W, 27-20	23	55	2.4	0
			544	1,963	3.61	13
			25.9	93.5	3.61	0.62

In Palmer's last 21 starts, the Bengals rushing offense eclipsed the 100-yard mark six times. They haven't achieved a rushing average of more than four yards-per-rush since beating Cleveland on December 23, 2007.

So the question of the day is: What do you think about Carson Palmer? Has he lost it since his glory days in 2005? Or is he the victim of a cast of characters that degraded around him? If I'm answering the question (which I am), I believe that Palmer is a victim of bad circumstance; injury; lack of supporting personnel, etc.. I believe that if Palmer of today played with the team in 2005, he'd be just as good if not better.

I want to know your impressions.

Previewing the Kansas City Chiefs 2009 Schedule: Week 15

Chris Thorman — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:12:05 -0000

More photos » by Tony Dejak - AP

3 months ago: Cleveland Browns quarterback Brady Quinn (10) passes the ball to Josh Cribbs for a first down under pressure from Tennessee Titans defensive end Dave Ball (98) during a preseason NFL football game at Cleveland Browns Stadium, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

Browse more photos »

Week 15 brings the Cleveland Browns to Arrowhead Stadium. At this point in the season, and at this point in our predictions, we have the Kansas City Chiefs sitting on a record of 7-6.

Crazy? Yeah, it is a little crazy. But we are after all Chiefs fans, no?

If you're a casual follower of the Browns like I am, you know about Dante Stallworth and his legal issues. You've heard about the Brady Quinn v. Derek Anderson debate. And I'm assuming you know that Eric Mangini is now the head coach.

But beyond that I don't know that much. After the jump, SB Nation's Browns blogger Chris answers some of our questions about the Browns. I've also added the Browns' depth chart as of now for more reference.

Make sure you check out Dawgs by Nature for all things Cleveland Browns.

Pos	1st String (Starter)	2nd String (Backup)	3rd String
QB
RB	Jamal Lewis	Jerome Harrison	James Davis Cedric Peerman
FB	Lawrence Vickers
WR1	Braylon Edwards	Mohamed Massaquoi
WR2	Joshua Cribbs	Mike Furrey	Brian Robiskie
TE	Robert Royal	Steve Heiden	Martin Rucker
LT	Joe Thomas
LG	Eric Steinbach
C	Hank Fraley	Alex Mack
RG	Floyd Womack	Rex Hadnot
RT	John St. Clair	Phil Trautwein
Pos	1st String (Starter)	2nd String (Backup)	3ird String
DE	Kenyon Coleman	C.J. Mosley
NT	Shaun Rogers	Ahtyba Rubin
DE	Robaire Smith	Corey Williams
LOLB	Kamerion Wimbley
ILB	D'Qwell Jackson	David Veikune
ILB	Eric Barton	Kaluka Maiava	Blake Costanzo
ROLB	David Bowens	Alex Hall	Leon Williams
LCB	Eric Wright	Hank Poteat	Marquis Floyd
RCB	Brandon McDonald	Coye Francies	Gerard Lawson
FS	Brodney Pool	Mike Adams	DeAngelo Smith
SS	Abram Elam	Nick Sorensen
Pos	1st String (Starter)	2nd String (Backup)	3rd String
K	Phil Dawson
P	Dave Zastudil
H	Dave Zastudil
LS	Ryan Pontbriand
KR	Joshua Cribbs	Gerard Lawson	Jerome Harrison
PR	Joshua Cribbs	Gerard Lawson	Jerome Harrison

What do the Chiefs have to worry the most about...Jamal Lewis and the running game or Braylon Edwards and the passing game?

This question is tough to answer since our game isn't until Week 15, so I'll try to base my answer as if the Chiefs were facing the Browns earlier in the year. I'd definitely pick Braylon Edwards and the passing game. The media has automatically written off the Browns, but there is still some potency on the offensive side of the ball. Just two years ago, Derek Anderson and Edwards were Pro Bowlers. Sure, last season's struggles "might" have shown their true colors, but how can anyone guarantee that Edwards won't go back to having the same type of season he had in 2007? Brady Quinn will probably be the starting quarterback. Although he doesn't sling it as much as Anderson, Brian Daboll (the Browns offensive coordinator) would be foolish to leave out the deep patterns to Edwards.

On the other hand, the running game appears bound to struggle as long as Jamal Lewis is in the lineup. He had a down season last year and has not shown the same power he used to have throughout this year's training camp. Lewis claims he's just "holding back" for the regular season, but I think it comes down to him not having very much left in the tank anymore. Fans in Cleveland like our sixth-round draft pick James Davis at running back, but I'm not going to sit here and say that he's going to be awesome. He was great in the preseason, but the real evaluation will come when he's against first stringers in the regular season. This lack of assurance in the running game almost makes Edwards and the passing game more of a threat by default.

Will the Browns use Josh Cribbs as a WR more often? The Chiefs did that with Dante Hall and it seemed to ruin him in the return game. Any thoughts/concerns on that?

Not only should the Browns use Cribbs as a receiver more often, he should and will be starting opposite Edwards (according to our depth chart). He started in the preseason and did very well. I don't think you can compare Cribbs to Dante Hall or Devin Hester in their transitions to wide receiver because they have different styles. Hall and Hester rely more on elusiveness, whereas Cribbs finds the hole, powers through it and keeps on going. During the preseason, we saw several plays against first-stringers in which Cribbs caught the ball on a quick pattern towards the sideline and then stiff-armed the first cornerback he met before being taken down a little bit later by another defender. I know the Browns took Brian Robiskie and Mohamed Massaquoi in round two this year, but if it were up to me, I'd shelve their growth and give Cribbs the starting opportunity -- I'm that intrigued by him.

The Chiefs are just transitioning to the 3-4 defense. Can you talk a little bit about what the Browns transition to the 3-4 was like a few years ago and how it stands now?

The transition was exciting at first. All we could think about is how our defense was going to be nasty like the Ravens defense. And then, something bad happened -- we saw Romeo Crennel's 3-4 defense in action. Ever since then, it's been a nightmare. We never generated any pressure. We never stopped the run. We never stood out from any other defense in the NFL. Most importantly, we barely had any of the type of players we needed for the system. Last year we acquired Shaun Rogers, but one man can only do so much. I think Mangini and defensive coordinator Rob Ryan have done a better job finding players that are comfortable with the 3-4 alignment, but we're several years into the defense and aren't even half as good as the Ravens' defense.

Many thanks to Chris for stopping by and giving us his answers! Read more about the Browns at Dawgs by Nature.

My prediction for this game is, let's say....17 to 13 in favor of our Chiefs. I don't think we'll have faith in this offense very often this year. Current record at this point: 8-6.

Check out all of our season game previews at this link.

Strength in numbers; an examination of who the Bengals started the regular season since 2006

Kirkendall — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 17:05:45 -0000

When the preseason marches towards a welcomed conclusion, discussion and debate takes place on who the team cuts and keeps. Sometimes the topic goes into salary cap causalities; veterans that are cut, like Willie Anderson and Rudi Johnson last year. Other times, the debate talks about players that surprisingly make the roster. As jsl413 broke down, the Bengals depth is strong in some areas, weak in others. Which means the Bengals could strengthen weaken positions by increasing the depth. It's a numbers game.

You see that notably with linebackers. In 2006, Brian Simmons was nearing retirement; his production was falling. David Pollack, while great with potential, was only then starting to adjust from being a defensive end in college to an outside linebacker in the NFL. Rashad Jeanty was a rookie. Landon Johnson was arguably our best linebacker. If you look back to that season, only one linebacker remains (Jeanty) with the Bengals and as far as I can tell, three are still in the NFL (Jeanty, Johnson and Ahmad Brooks). The position didn't improve in 2007 and grew worse when it was decimated by injury. Dhani Jones, an unlikely stability force who would join the team later in the year, became the most productive middle linebacker during Marvin Lewis' tenure. By 2008, the linebackers were on pace to be the most talented group assembled, taking less into the regular season while numerically increasing their numbers at other spots, like running back, defensive tackles -- two spots with limited production. You'll obviously see that again this year, with Jones, Jeanty, Rivers, Brandon Johnson and Rey Maualuga as the depth leaders.

Running backs is another example. In 2006, and even 2007, Rudi Johnson was considered the team's feature back. No competition. Hands down. After all, he set franchise rushing records in 2004 and 2005. However, along with the offensive line's degradation, he started degrading (some will note his inadvisable weight loss regiment, losing all of his strength in 2006) until he was finally cut in 2008. More importantly, the Bengals decided to take two fullbacks because Jeremi Johnson was simply not the force he used to be and the team liked Coats' enough to make room for him. While the talent level dipped, the team decided to strengthen the depth with numbers.

Take note of this. Am I saying that the depth and position is stronger because there's more players? Obviously not. You either have talent or you don't. A combination of average talent still makes that position average. But it is a luxury that most teams have, which largely depends on play-calling philosophy, as well as projecting your opponents philosophies. If you take on more defensive backs in any given year because your passing defense is poor, it allows you additional packages. But it's also dictated by strength. You will note how once the team had Leon Hall and Johnathan Joseph, they believed the position strong enough to only take four cornerbacks in 2008, as opposed to five in 2007 and 2006. Safeties increased because a long-standing issue of giving up big plays was still unanswered. You can bank on at least six safeties this year.

After the jump, you can see which players the Bengals took after cutdown day and how many players the team took at each position.

First thing we should note are the roster cut deadlines:

DATE	EVENT
September 1st	Roster cutdown to maximum of 75 players
September 5th	Roster cutdown to maximum of 53 players

Here's a breakdown on what positions the Bengals after final cutdown heading into the regular season.

Position	2006	2007	2008
Quarterbacks	3	3	3
Running backs (including FB)	4	4 (1)	5 (2)
Wide Receivers	6	6	6
Offensive Linemen	9	8	9
Tight Ends	2	3	2
Total on Offense	24	24	25

Defensive Ends	4	5	4
Defensive Tackles	4	3	5
Linebackers	8	7	6
Cornerbacks	5	5	4
Safeties	5	6	6
Total on Defense	26	26	25

Specialists	3	3	3

After the jump, we chart which players the Bengals kept since 2006.

2006

Position	#	Players
Quarterbacks	3	Carson Palmer, Anthony Wright, Doug Johnson
RB / FB	4	Rudi Johnson, Kenny Watson, Quincy Wilson, Jeremi Johnson (FB)
WR	6	Chad Johnson, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Chris Henry, Tab Perry, Antonio Chatman, Kelley Washington
O-Line	9	Levi Jones, Eric Steinbach, Rich Braham, Bobbie Williams, Willie Anderson, Andrew Whitworth, Eric Ghiaciuc, Stacy Andrews, Scott Kooistra
TE	2	Reggie Kelly, Tony Stewart

DE	4	Justin Smith, Bryan Robinson, Robert Geathers, Frostee Rucker
DT	4	Sam Adams, John Thornton, Domata Peko, Shaun Smith
Linebackers	8	Brian Simmons, Landon Johnson, David Pollack, Rashad Jeanty, Marcus Wilkins, Ahmad Brooks, A.J. Nicholson, Caleb Miller
Corners	5	Deltha O'Neal, Tory James, Johnathan Joseph, Keiwan Ratliff, Greg Brooks
Safeties	5	Dexter Jackson, Madieu Williams, Kevin Kaesviharn, Ethan Kilmer, Herana-Daze Jones

Specialists	3	Shayne Graham, Kyle Larson, Brad St. Louis

2007

Position	#	Players
Quarterbacks	3	Carson Palmer, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jeff Rowe
RB / FB	4	Rudi Johnson, Kenny Watson, Clinton Dawson, Jeremi Johnson (FB)
WR	6	Chad Johnson, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Tab Perry, Glenn Holt, Skyler Green, Antonio Chatman
O-Line	8	Levi Jones, Willie Anderson, Bobbie Williams, Andrew Whitworth, Stacy Andrews, Scott Kooistra, Eric Ghiaciuc, Alex Stepanovich
TE	3	Reggie Kelly, Daniel Coats, Nate Lawrie

DE	5	Justin Smith, Robert Geathers, Bryan Robinson, Frostee Rucker, Jonathan Fanene
DT	3	Domata Peko, John Thornton, Michael Myers
Linebackers	7	Ahmad Brooks, Rashad Jeanty, Landon Johnson, Caleb Miller, Lemar Marshall, Andre Frazier, Anthony Schlegel
Corners	5	Deltha O'Neal, Leon Hall, Johnathan Joseph, Keiwan Ratliff, David Jones
Safeties	6	Dexter Jackson, Chinedum Ndukwe, Madieu Williams, Marvin White, Herana-Daze Jones, Ethan Kilmer

Specialists	3	Shayne Graham, Kyle Larson, Brad St. Louis

2008

Position	#	Players
Quarterbacks	3	Carson Palmer, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jordan Palmer
RB / FB	5	Chris Perry, Kenny Watson, DeDe Dorsey, Jeremi Johnson (FB), Daniel Coats (FB)
WR	6	Chad Johnson, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Glenn Holt, Antonio Chatman, Andre Caldwell, Jerome Simpson
O-Line	9	Stacy Andrews, Levi Jones, Eric Ghiaciuc, Bobbie Williams, Andrew Whitworth, Dan Santucci, Kyle Cook, Scott Kooistra, Anthony Collins
TE	2	Reggie Kelly, Ben Utecht

DE	4	Antwan Odom, Robert Geathers, Jonathan Fanene, Frostee Rucker
DT	5	Domata Peko, John Thornton, Jason Shirley, Pat Sims, Michael Myers
Linebackers	6	Keith Rivers, Rashad Jeanty, Dhani Jones, Darryl Blackstock, Brandon Johnson, Corey Mays
Corners	4	Leon Hall, Johnathan Joseph, Simeon Castille, David Jones
Safeties	6	Dexter Jackson, Kyries Hebert, Herana-Daze Jones, Corey Lynch, Chinedum Ndukwe, Marvin White

Specialists	3	Shayne Graham, Kyle Larson, Brad St. Louis

Cleveland Browns Training Camp Report: Day 18 (Evening) - Positives Come Back

Chris Pokorny — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 03:40:31 -0000

More photos » by Mark Duncan - AP

The offense ran a little smoother for both quarterbacks in the evening session Tuesday.

Browse more photos »

After a preseason game and a few practices of the quarterbacks struggling, they fared a little bit better in the evening session Tuesday. If you missed the recap from this morning's practice, click here.

TRAINING CAMP REPORT - DAY 18 [EVENING] (8/18/09)

Setting the Stage: Here's the main drill to talk about: it was 1st-and-goal from the 9 with just 23 seconds on the clock. Each quarterback would be down 28-20, meaning they would need a touchdown and a two-point conversion. Here is how things turned out for each quarterback...
Drill for Anderson: On the very first play, Derek Anderson fired a nine-yard touchdown pass to TE Robert Royal. Anderson then took it himself for a two-point conversion.
Drill for Quinn: Although it took him four plays to do it, Brady Quinn also scored a touchdown. His first two passes were pretty poor, and after a shuffle pass to RB Noah Herron got him to the two-yard line, Quinn snuck it in for the score. On the two-pointer, he connected with WR Lance Leggett to complete the drill successfully.
Titus Brown Injured: After getting some reps with the first team recently due to LB David Bowens riding the stationary bikes, Titus Brown suffered a leg injury and was seen being attended to by trainers, according to Steve Doerschuk. After practice, it's been reported that he was wearing a walking boot. While Brown was out, he was replaced by LB Marcus Benard.
Mistakes Force Laps: Practice wasn't perfect. Derek Anderson fumbled snaps on back-to-back possessions and had to run. FB Lawrence Vickers dropped a wide open flat pass and paid the price.
The Trick Play: In a goal line drill, on a tackle eligible play, LG Eric Steinbach caught a touchdown from Brady Quinn, according to Rapid Reports. In the same drill, Quinn also tossed a touchdown pass to backup FB Charles Ali.
Back to the Backseat: Now it's the defense making plays on rookie RB James Davis. In a red zone drill, Davis was stopped behind the line of scrimmage by LB Beau Bell. Later on, DE Kenyon Coleman broke into the backfield to stuff Davis again. RB Jerome Harrison missed practice again.
Hurry Up: According to Rapid Reports, P Dave Zastudil practiced punting the ball while running. You never know when that might come in handy -- a bad snap or a dropped snap in a wet game could force that situation.
Starting Line: The first-string line was LT Joe Thomas, LG Eric Steinbach, C Hank Fraley, RG Floyd Womack, and RT John St. Clair.

The Browns will have an afternoon session the next two days to get ready for the Detroit Lions this Saturday at home.

Tuesday Evening's Links/Camp Sources

Tuesday PM: Situational work (Akron Beacon Journal, Ridenour)
Trouble at outside linebacker (Canton Repository, Doerschuk)
Training camp log: Day 18 (Cleveland Plain Dealer, Grossi)