The Cleveland Browns need to bench 32-year old OLB David Bowens as he brings next to nothing to the pass rush.  But, he’s an ex-Jet which means that Coach Mangini might feel loyal to him at the expense of the Browns’ D.  Bowens has played in all 8 games for the Browns this season and he has 33 tackles, 1/2 a sack and he has defensed 1 pass.  The Browns should insert 24-year old Alex Hall into Bowens’ OLB spot because at the very least he can rush the passer.  Hall has played in 7 games for the Browns and he has only 5 tackles.  Last year as a rookie (7th round pick) Hall played in all 16 games for the Browns in which he made 28 tackles, forced 2 fumbles and he sacked the opposing QB 3 times.  Mangini should just make this move and not worry about hurting David Bowens’ feelings as he is a grown man.

With D’Qwell Jackson and Eric Barton both out for the rest of the year the Browns will be going with rookies and young special teams players at linebacker.  That likely means that teams will be able to run even better than they already are this season against the Browns and that is almost impossible as the Browns are allowing 170.5 yards rushing per game this year!  22-year old rookie Kaluka Maiava and 25-year old Jason Trusnik will likely get the first crack at starting for the Browns at inside linebacker.  Maiava was a 4th round pick out of USC last April.  He has played in all 8 games for the Browns this season and he has made 20 tackles, forced 2 fumbles and he has defensed 1 pass so far this season.  Trusnik has played in 4 games since coming over from the Jets in the Braylon Edwards trade and he has 20 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and 2 sacks.  Behind those guys will likely be special teams ace 25-year old Blake Costanzo and 23-year old rookie David Veikune.  Costanzo has played in all 8 games for the Browns this season and he has 3 tackles and he has forced 1 fumble.  Veikune has not played in a game yet this season for the Browns and that really says something about his ability.

30-year old running back Jamal Lewis is retiring after the season.  He has carried the ball 98 times for 349 yards (3.6 ypc) and he has caught 6 passes for 70 yards (11.7 avg) so far this season.  The Browns would be smart to start cutting back his workload to get a look at James Harrison and Josh Cribbs who will likely both be on the team next season.  Still, Lewis should not be shut out completely as he is a warrior.  In three years with the Browns, Lewis has played in 37 games in which he has carried the ball 675 times for 2,655 yards (3.9 ypc) with 13 TD runs.  He has also caught 59 passes for 496 yards (8.4 avg) with 2 TD grabs with the Browns.  The Browns should expand 26-year old Jerome Harrison’s role to see if he can handle the workload.  He has carried the ball 69 times for 254 yards (3.7 ypc) this season and he has caught 18 passes for 111 yards (6.2 avg).  Harrison has now played in 4 years with the Browns and he has played in 40 games carrying the ball 146 times for 702 yards (4.8 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He has also caught 41 passes for 293 yards (7.1 avg) with 1 TD grab with the Browns.  The Browns are considering shifting Josh Cribbs to running back so why not start right now?  The 26-year old Cribbs has carried the ball 19 times for 130 yards (6.8 ypc) so far this season and he has caught 11 passes for 61 yards (5.5 avg).  Cribbs has now played five years for the Browns and he has played in 69 games in which he has carried the ball 59 times for 369 yards (6.3 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He has also caught 27 passes for 214 yards (7.9 avg) with 1 TD grab with the Browns.  The Browns will likely try to keep running the ball often the rest of the way to make up for the lackluster play at QB so it makes sense to get the ball in Jerome Harrison and Josh Cribbs’ hands more in the second half of the year.

The Browns set up Brady Quinn to fail when the season started as he had to play against the Vikings, Broncos and Ravens before losing his starting job.  The Browns didn’t want him to take more than 70% of the offensive snaps this season because of a escalator clause in his contract.  With it now virtually impossible for him to get enough snaps to trigger that bonus the Browns had better re-insert him into the starting lineup.  They need to find out what they really have in him because if he isn’t the answer the Browns will have to blow up the position on the roster likely dumping both Quinn and Derek Anderson.  Quinn has completed 46 of 77 passes (59.7%) this season for 409 yards with 1 TD pass and 3 interceptions (62.1 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 7 times for 34 yards (4.9 ypc) so far this season.  In three years with the Browns, Quinn has only played in 8 games in which he has completed 94 of 174 passes (54%) for 972 yards with 3 TD passes and 5 INTs (64.1 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 12 times for 55 yards (4.6 ypc) in his career.  The Browns would be smart to start Quinn the second half of the year to see what they really have in him.  And if Quinn does fail then they should turn to Brett Ratliff instead of Derek Anderson.

Derek Anderson is only 26 years old so it’s quite a risk to give up on a player like him.  He certainly looks the part of a starting QB as he has a rocket launcher attached to his right shoulder.  However, he often throws the ball into places that not even the “evil” John Elway could fit the ball often resulting in mind numbing interceptions.  Anderson has been pathetic this season completing 66 of 154 passes (42.9%) for 681 yards with 2 TD passes and 9 INTs (36.2 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 8 times for 7 yards (0.9 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  In 4 years with the Browns, Anderson has now played in 37 games in which he has completed 572 of 1,081 passes (52.9%) for 6,876 yards with 45 TD passes and 44 INTs (69.6 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 69 times for 179 yards (2.6 ypc) with 5 TD runs in his career with the Browns.  Anderson should be demoted to the third team QB for the rest of the year based on his play this season.

The Cleveland Browns have fired general manager George Kokonis and Erin O’Brien who was the Director of Football Operations.  Kokonis was fired because he allegedly didn’t use his power to control coach Eric Mangini when it came down to personnel decisions.  I even read that he knew nothing about the Braylon Edwards trade until after it happened!  Why have a G.M. in that case anyway if the Browns were going to let Eric Mangini run the whole show?  No matter who you want to point the finger at some heads had to roll and Kokonis and O’Brien were just first in line for the chopping block.  After all the Browns are 1-7 and they are getting outscored by an average of 26.1 points to 8.7.  That just can’t be tolerated but the numbers look even worse when you consider offensive and defensive stats.  The Browns are only averaging 221.1 yards on offense per game (99.6 yards rushing, 121.5 passing) so far this season and they are allowing 409.1 total yards defensively (170.5 yards rushing, 238.6 passing)!  It’s amazing to me that Mr. Lerner (the Browns’ owner) decided to hire a head coach (Eric Mangini) before he hired a GM.  That was ass backwards and look at the results.  Mike Holmgren, Mike Shanahan, Bill Cowher and John Gruden could be looking for jobs over the summer and the Browns would be idiots to bring back Mangini to coach this football team in 2010!

The Cleveland Browns were hoping that they would get four starting players in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft but they wound up with 2 of them.  C Alex Mack (1st round, #21 overall) has started since day #1 for the Cleveland Browns at center.  He has started all 8 games and he even has a tackle.  WR Brian Robiskie (2nd round, #36 overall) has been a complete bust to this point in the season as he has caught 1 pass for 23 yards.  You know it’s bad when a WR has as many tackles (1) as he has catches halfway through his rookie season.  Do Browns fans a favor in the future and don’t pick any Buckeyes.  WR Mohamed Massquoi (2nd round, #50 overall) has been touch and go this season for the Browns.  He has caught 19 passes for 328 yards (17.3 avg) and he has 3 tackles this season.  Massaquoi is starting right now and he is without a doubt the best WR on the Browns’ roster.  OLB/DE David Veikune (2nd round, #52 overall) has not even made it to the field during a regular season game and that just can’t happen for a player picked as high as he was.  LB Kaluka Maiava (4th round, #104 overall) is now being forced into the starting lineup for the Browns due to injuries.  He has 20 tackles, 2 forced fumbles and he has defensed 1 pass so far this season for the Browns.  CB Don Carey (6th round, #177 overall) got injured in training camp and he was claimed off waivers by the Jaguars who placed him on I.R.  CB Coye Francies (6th round, #191 overall) has 4 tackles and he has defensed 1 pass so far this year.  RB James Davis (6th round, #195 overall) has carried the ball 9 times for 15 yards (1.7 ypc) and he has caught 4 passes for 5 yards (1.3 avg).  Davis also made a tackle in his rookie season.  But, Davis was injured in practice which ended his rookie season early.  The Browns have to do a better job in April if they are ever going to build this team the right way.

The Browns have lost starting inside linebacker Eric Barton for the remainder of the season due to a bulging disc in his neck.  Barton played in 8 games for the Browns this season and he made 58 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and he has defensed 2 passes.  With both Barton and D’Qwell Jackson out for the season running backs will be padding their stats the rest of the year against the Browns.

The Browns have released 29-year old kicker Billy Cundiff.  Cundiff played in 5 games for the Browns and he made all 6 of his field goal attempts and he was 4 for 4 on extra points finishing with 22 points for the Browns.  Phil Dawson has returned from injury to reclaim his starting job.  He has played in 3 games this season for the Browns and he is 4 for 4 on field goals and 2 for 3 on extra points for 14 total points.  Dawson is a better kicker than Cundiff but Cundiff did a solid job for the Browns while Dawson was out.  Hopefully he’ll get a chance to help another team this season as long as it’s not the Bengals, Ravens or Steelers.

I’m damn glad the Browns have a bye next week so I can watch a real football team play.  They were putrid again in Chicago today.  Even when the Bears gave the Browns a break they usually gave it right back because the offense sucks.  Derek Anderson again looked like the worst QB in the NFL without a doubt as he only completed 6 of 17 passes for 76 yards with 0 TD passes and 2 interceptions for a QB rating of 10.5!  His second interception was returned 21 yards by Bears’ CB Charles Tillman for a TD.  Anderson also carried the ball 2 times for 1 yard (0.5 ypc) with a TD run but he also lost a fumble too.  Anderson’s pick six gave Eric Mangini little choice but to put in Brady Quinn late in the 4th quarter.  He completed 1 of 3 passes for 9 yards but he should have got a first down at least as Steve Heiden dropped a pass that hit him in the hands.  Jamal Lewis was solid in this game for the Browns as he carried the ball 16 times for 69 yards (4.3 ypc) but he was pretty much taken out of the game when the Bears got a big lead.  Joshua Cribbs had a solid game and they should have got the ball in his hands more in this game.  He carried the ball 6 times for 28 yards (4.7 ypc) and he also caught 1 pass for 23 yards.  Jerome Harrison pitched in with 5 carries for 19 yards (3.8 ypc).  The Browns finished up with 191 total yards on offense in this game (117 rushing, 74 passing) as they only had possession of the football for 22:35 in this game. 

The didn’t play as bad as the numbers looked because they were on the field a lot in this game and they got tired in the second half.  Plus the Browns’ offense kept giving the Bears short fields due to turnovers.  Linebacker Jason Trusnik led the way for the Browns in this game with 8 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and 1 sack.  Brodney Pool was also busy in this game with 5 tackles, 1 pass defensed and 1 interception.  DE Kenyon Coleman was also had a decent game with 4 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 1 sack, 1 pass defensed and 1 QB hit.  The Bears finished up with 369 total yards on offense (170 rushing, 199 passing) in this game.  The Browns are now 1-7 on the season heading into a much needed bye week.