Joe Banner, meet the Door

Back on January 13^th I mentioned that Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi needed to be shown the door and that Ray Farmer should be promoted in order to right this sinking ship. 

Well, almost exactly a month later Jimmy Haslam has decided he’s seen enough.  Apparently Joe Banner and Jimmy Haslam weren't seeing eye to eye during the coaching search so Jimmy did some digging and came to the conclusion that Joe's personality and poor attitude were keeping coaches away. 

Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi are out, Alec Scheiner and Ray Farmer are in.  Alec will continue his role as President and maintain the business side of the operation and Ray will take over as GM and take control of the draft and the 53 man roster.  Farmer, Scheiner and Pettine will all report directly to Jimmy.  Newly hired assistant GM Bill Kuharich, former Chiefs VP of Player Personnel will report to Ray Farmer. 

This is great news for Cleveland fans for a number of reasons but mostly because we now have a “football” guy in charge of football things (the 53 man roster) and a "business" guy in charge of business things.  No more colluding and micromanaging from a Napoleon wanna be.

Farmer may be young and a first time GM but one thing I can guarantee you is that he isn’t and won’t be looked at in the same way that Joe Banner was.  Ray is well respected in this league and will help to resurrect the image of this organization.

So, what is in store for the near future, specifically the draft and free agency? 

First of all I think the odds of TJ Ward and Alex Mack both being resigned (or tagged) just increased greatly. The top priority on Farmers list of things to do should be to get Joe Haden and TJ Ward locked up for the long term, which I think will happen before the combine starts.  The second thing on his list should be to figure out the QB situation and in case you are wondering what type of QB Farmer likes, Mariotta was his top QB until he decided to return to Oregon.  

So we’ve got a rookie Head Coach and a rookie GM now in Cleveland but I’ve got to believe this team is in much better shape now than it has been in quite some time and I feel good about our future.  The cancer also known as Joe Banner is gone.  No more scaring away talent, no more blame game and no more power hungry BS.  The future looks good and the only thing left to do is to win. 

Cleveland Fans and Media Suck

I want to talk about Cleveland fans and media for a second, about their expectations, their feeling of entitlement, and their over reactions.   

I know I’m not going to make any friends with this but let’s face it, only about 10 people will read it anyways and none of them even like me. 

Sports talk radio and social media outlets have become almost unbearable lately. 

I will start by saying that I, just like 100% of Cleveland fans am tired of the losing.  I want a winner just as much as the next guy but what role do I play in making that happen?  None really, all that I can do as a fan is support my team and show up on game day to back the product on the field. 

For starters, the allegations going around about the Browns “tanking” it this season are absolutely absurd.  No Player, Coach, GM, President, or Owner would lose an entire season on purpose or set themselves up to do so.  The fact that this type of garbage comes out of people’s mouths shows their true ignorance.  Chud is starting the best players on his roster, Banner didn’t purposely draft garbage, and the players aren’t taking plays off. 

You’ve got guys in the media like Kiley and Booms running their mouths about stuff they have no idea about.  Think about it, they liked Colt McCoy for Christ sake.   The Owner, the Coach, the President, and the GM don’t need to explain SHIT to you.  Do your job and let them do theirs, I don’t care if you don’t agree with what they are doing or even if you like it.  Let’s face it, Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi have forgotten more about football than guy’s like this will ever know.  You suck at your job, but I’m not going to tell you how to do it because I’m not a radio guy, my face is too pretty for radio.  If i don't like it, I just don’t listen and I’d advise you to do the same.  If you don’t like the product, don’t watch the games.  It’s not like you know what you’re watching anyways.  Oh, and please do yourselves a favor, the next time you get Joe Banner on your show, don’t ask him about hotdogs.   It’s a sad day when MKC makes you look like fools. 

The fans have got to stop over reacting on Mondays.  Already, we need to fire Norv, Lombardi and Banner after only 2 games. This is why we are losers, it is shit like this. 

It makes me laugh to see all the people calling for Greg Little to get cut because he rolled a stop sign.  Yes, I know his license is suspended but you want to kick him off the team because he’s stupid?  Right.  The funny thing is, I see the same people saying they can’t wait for Josh Gordon to come back next week, you know, the guy that is suspended for violating the substance abuse policy.  

Greg Little has had problems catching the ball, Weeden can’t throw it, Oneil Cousins is garbage, and Trent Richardson can’t find the hole.  But building your team with scrub free agents 2 or 3 weeks into the season isn’t going to make you a playoff caliber team.  At some point ignorant fans need to realize this.  Players like T.O., Beanie Wells and Chad Johnson aren’t on teams for a reason. 

And, I’ve had it with the “I’m done with this team” crap, it’s old.  Move on, you don't know better than Chud about when players should be on or off the field. Just because Trent Richardson is your favorite player doesn't mean he is a 3 down back and Josh Cooper isn't better than Devon Bess so forget about that too.

It seems like Cleveland fans and Cleveland media just want to whine.  If Joe Banner comes on the radio, he talks too much.  If Joe Banner isn’t available for a month, he doesn’t back his product.  If Brandon Weeden starts, he shouldn’t be given the job.  If Brandon Weeden sits, he’s the best QB on the team.  If Jimmy Haslam gets pissed off when his team loses, he’s a crazy Owner.  If Jimmy Haslam smiles when his team is losing, he doesn’t care about his team. 

I could go on forever but…..

At the end of the day you’ve still got the second lowest ticket and concession prices in the league so quit your complaining and go root for your team or buy a trailer and start rooting for the Steelers like your mom did 10 years ago.  Get your shit together Cleveland people.  It’s bad enough that our teams suck, don’t add on to the embarrassment by being dumb, whiny bitches.  

You are either fans or you're not. 



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Fire Brandon Weeden

It’s about time that the people in Cleveland come to grips with the fact that Geno Smith is a legit possibility to be the Browns next QB.  It’s time we all set our personal emotions and attachments aside and look at what is realistic, what makes sense for this franchise and how it can get better. 

For starters look at the Cleveland Browns front office - Joe Banner and Michael Lombardi.  What do we know about these guys, what are their trends and what have we heard from them in the past?

Joe Banner – He doesn’t like aging players.  Look at Brian Dawkins, Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook all players who he let walk away after having amazing careers in Philly.  Why should we think he wants to sink his teeth into a 30 year old unproven QB? Because he deserves a chance?  C'mon man!

Michael Lombardi – He called it a “panicked disaster” when the Browns selected Weeden in the draft.  Does anybody really think his opinion of Weeden changed after his inconsistencies in 2012?  Lombardi hasn’t and doesn’t like Weeden, period. 

Put 2 and 2 together and what do you get?  New regimes typically want to bring in “their” QB, even more so when the QB already in place hasn’t proven a thing.  Weeden is up against it, no matter how you look at it. 

In the long run, you need a good to great QB to win in the NFL and Brandon didn’t show us that he could win last year, he was very inconsistent from game to game.  

 The days of giving a QB multiple years to win are over.  With high school programs and college teams running pro-style offenses these days, NFL QB’s are expected to come in and win immediately.  No team has time to sit around and wait for a 30 year old 2^nd year QB to learn the NFL and see if he can be the guy.  It makes zero sense. 

Brandon has an NFL arm, I will give him that but he lacks vision, mobility, smarts and the will to put in the extra work.  He is also a ginger, and that doesn’t work for me. 

I personally liked the draft pick last year, at the time.  Mainly because Colt McCoy had already proven that he was incapable of being a starter in the NFL and at that point in the draft Brandon was the smartest pick and we were still looking for that franchise QB.  But I, unlike many others have enough sense to admit it was a bad pick and it’s time to move on. 

Is Geno Smith the answer?  Nobody really knows but what we should realize is that Brandon Weeden isn’t.  Put aside your emotions and look at the facts, look at the front office and look at Brandon’s past.  The bottom line is if you don’t have a top 10 QB, chances are you won’t have a top 10 team so until you find that guy you need reach, steal, beg and borrow until you do find him.