Here's two articles on cleveland.com about Hillis. The first is a great breakdown by Dennis Manoloff of Hillis' performance on Sunday, particularly his big run in the 4th quarter. The second has a portion of an article written by a Denver writer who expresses deep regrets that Hillis was traded away.

http://www.cleveland.com/dman/index.ssf/2010/10/upon_further_review_week_4_bro.html

http://www.cleveland.com/ohio-sports-blog/index.ssf/2010/10/am_cleveland_browns_links_denv.html

Last night I read the story in the Plain Dealer about Jim Brown's decision to skip the ceremony for the new Ring of Honor at Cleveland Browns Stadium. I was wondering what the bigger piece of news is in that statement.

On one hand, there seems to be a major problem in the relations between the team and Jim Brown since Holmgren took over. From an outsider's perspective I believe that it's important for the team to have regular, meaningful contact with the great Browns players from the winningest era in Browns football. Especially the input from the man many consider to be the greatest RB of all time. Naturally, I know nothing of what happens behind the scenes. It seems Holmgren and Brown don't see eye to eye. Lets hope they can fix that soon for the benefit of the franchise.

On the other hand, I'm really excited to hear about the creation of the Ring of Honor. It's an aspect of Lambeau that I've always liked. It's something that I've wanted to see at Browns Stadium for a while now and for a few reasons.

One of the reasons I've wanted the Ring of Honor is for the influence it can have on the players. The current and future Browns players should have a regular reminder of the greatness of this franchise. They should be reminded of the amount of championships won. They should be reminded of the amount of Hall of Famers that have played for this team. It should serve as a motivator for the players. They should strive to live up to the standards set. They should strive to one day see their name listed on that Ring of Honor. (I think we've got two guys in Joe Thomas and Josh Cribbs who could one day see their names on the Ring of Honor. That having been said, I think it's a shame that there haven't been any HOF caliber Browns players since Ozzie Newsome retired.)

I think that the Ring of Honor could play a nice role in free agency. Perhaps it's the optimist in me that hopes that when visiting teams come in and see those players' names and the accomplishments of this franchise then they would want to one day be a part of that legacy as well. The same could be said for prospective draft picks that the team brings in to work out.

To a lesser extent, I think the Ring of Honor could influence the opinions of the media and rival fans. We know how much the media and football fans across the country have been down on the Browns. They've had good reasons for their opinions since 1999. But you still get those people who make comments that basically say that Browns have never down anything. The kind of people who don't seem to think that championships existed for football prior to the Super Bowl. Some of them think that non-Super Bowl championships don't count. Who knows what's going through their heads. Maybe it'll make them think twice or maybe it won't. If it gives the team back a little of the respect it deserves then it's worth it. Nonetheless, it's food for thought and the added reminder of the legacy of this franchise is duly needed for the present and the future of the team.

I'm sure that Mike Holmgren was instrumental in the establishment of the Ring of Honor given his days coaching at Lambeau. We should send a shout out to him and everyone else involved for creating another vital link to the greatness of the franchise.

I thought it would be nice to post a few things about the HOF Induction since it was such an outstanding class.

• I don't think we'll ever see another WR like Jerry Rice. By Malcolm Gladwell's definition, Rice is truly an Outlier. He was great in every aspect. Ran near perfect routes. Caught everything thrown his way. And he is the reason why we have the yards after the catch stats today. The guy is still in game shape and could start for most of the teams in the league right now.
• I don't know how many Cowboys games I watched with the Triplets, but I can't think of any standout games from Emmitt Smith. That's mainly due to my horrible memory. You guys will be able to remind me of a few, I'm sure. When I think of Emmitt Smith, though, there is one image that always comes to mind. He could stiff arm a would be tackler as well as anyone I've ever seen. I like to think it's one of the reasons why he's the career rushing leader. It's a skill we don't see enough these days. How many extra yards did he pick up while stiff-arming a tackler? I think it helped him to last longer. Most running backs have short careers due to the amount of wear and tear, the hard tackles that they suffer. Stiff-arming, I'm sure, helped him reduce the blow of a lot of those tackles. I'd like to see the Browns' running backs do the same.
• Russ Grimm was a vital part of the Redskins' famed Hogg OL. That was truly one of the greatest O-lines ever. The Browns already have an outstanding left side. If we find the right RG and RT then we could have an O-line that would be in the same neighborhood.
• As Emmitt Smith was acknowledging his former teammates, he singled out his FB, Daryl "Moose" Johnson. He largely credited Moose as the reason he was able to put up so many yards. You can argue that Moose was the best FB in the league and was vital to the success of the Cowboys' running game. I love fullbacks. I love what they do. The selfless nature of their job. I hate that FBs never get the respect. Modern FBs aren't so much ball carriers as they are blockers. More like an offensive lineman than a running back. There are no stats for offensive linemen, yet they get into the HOF. Shouldn't modern FBs be judged similarly? I think that if Moose Johnson doesn't at least get considered it would be a shame.

ESPN posted their pre-season power rankings. While it isn't surprising that they rank the Browns at 28, it is surprising that the Chiefs, who were beat by the Browns and finished with a worse record than the Browns, are ranked ahead of them. They might have drafted Eric Berry, but I think that overall the Browns' player acquisitions this offseason were better. Jacksonville is ranked at 26, but they haven't done much to improve upon the team that the Browns beat last season. Their draft this year had a lot of people really scratching their heads. You can argue that the Browns should be moved up a spot or two. 

I know that this is just a pre-season start of training camp ranking so it's senseless to make a fuss about it. But it was the following quote in the team summary that caught my attention and prompted me to post this:

 This team lacks talent across the board. 

We all know that there are positions where the Browns need to upgrade their talent like WR and the right side of the OL. But I think such a blanket statement is ridiculous. Adam Schefter just visited the team and noted the significant upgrades to the secondary and the quarterbacks. He also mentions that the Browns added some "solid" players at linebacker. He even calls the TE corp "formidable". He seems really intrigued by the Browns' possibilities running the wildcat with Delhomme, Cribbs, and Wallace on the field at the same time since defenses won't know where the ball could be snapped to. The Browns can really take the wildcat to the next level.

Here's the link for the rankings: http://espn.go.com/nfl/powerrankings?year=2010&week=0

Here's the link to Schefter's visit to Berea: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/trainingcamp10/columns/story?columnist=schefter_adam&id=5432153