The Cleveland Browns have hired 55-year old Brad Childress to serve as the new offensive coordinator.  He coached 7 years with the Eagles (4 as the offensive coordinator) and he was the Minnesota Vikings’ head coach for five years.  Childress compiled a 39-35 (52.7%) record during the regular season and he was 1-2 (33.3%) in the post-season.  The crazy thing about this hiring is that head coach Pat Shurmur still wants to call the plays and he was awful at it last season.  The Browns averaged 95.7 yards rushing (3.7 ypc), 193.1 yards passing (72.8 QB Rating) and 13.6 points per game last year with Shurmur calling the shots.  The Browns only scored more points than the Chiefs and Rams last year.  Childress is a much better offensive coach than Pat Shurmur is, so the Browns should force the issue and tell the head coach that the offensive coordinator is going to call the plays.

27-year old LT Joe Thomas has been elected to the Pro Bowl for the fifth time in his first five years in the NFL.  He has played in 15 games (all starts) for the Browns and he has played in 79 games (all starts) in his first five years with the Browns.  Thomas is not only consistent, but he is probably the best offensive tackle in the entire NFL.  LT is one spot the Browns are not going to have to worry about for a very, very long time.

The Browns have placed 30-year old TE Ben Watson on the Injured Reserve List due to a concussion.  Watson played in 13 games (11 starts) for the Browns this year and he caught 37 passes for 410 yards (11.1 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  He has played in 29 games (27 starts) in his two years with the Browns and he has caught 105 passes for 1,173 yards (11.2 avg) with 5 TD grabs.  TE will now fall to 26-year old Evan Moore and 29-year old Alex Smith for the Browns.  Evan Moore has an outstanding set of hands and he gets open a lot, so I expect him to play well for the Browns the last three weeks of the year.  Moore has played in 13 games (2 starts) for the Browns so far this year and he has caught 25 passes for 250 yards (10.0 avg) with 3 TD grabs.  He has now played in 30 games (6 starts) in his first three years with the Browns and he has caught 53 passes for 730 yards (13.8 avg) with 4 TD grabs.  I look for Moore to be a big part of the Browns’ passing attack the rest of this year.  Alex Smith will also see a bump in P.T. for the Browns the rest of the year.  Smith has played in 12 games (3 starts) for the Browns this year and he has caught 13 passes for 122 yards (9.4 avg) with 1 TD grab.  He has now played in 15 games (4 starts) in his first two years with the Browns and he has caught 14 passes for 128 yards (9.1 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Smith is also a decent receiver, so he is likely going to help the Browns a lot the last three weeks.

The Browns have released 32-year old long snapper Ryan Pontbriand.  Pontbriand played in 11 games (0 starts) for the Browns this year.  He has played in 134 games (0 starts) for the Browns in his nine years with the team.  He was waived for costing the Browns good shots to win against the Rams and Bengals with terrible snaps that caused kicker Phil Dawson to miss some field goals.  The Browns have signed 23-year old long snapper Christian Yount to replace Pontbriand.  Yount is a rookie out of UCLA.  He has played in 7 games (0 starts) already this year for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Browns will likely be without starting OLB Scott Fujita for a little while as he has a hand that’s broke in two places.  He has played in 10 games for the Browns so far this year and he has 51 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 3 passes defensed and 1 interception.  Fujita has now played in 19 games in his first two years with the Browns and he has 102 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 3 tackles for a loss, 2 interceptions, 2 forced fumbles and 4 passes defensed.  The Browns are going to miss Fujita.

UPDATE:  (11/29/2011) – The Browns have placed Scott Fujita on the Injured Reserve List, ending his season.

The Cleveland Browns have lost 24-year old safety T.J. Ward for the next 4-6 weeks due to a foot injury.  Ward has played in 8 games for the Browns this year and he has 39 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumbles, 2 tackles for a loss and 3 passes defensed.  26-year old Usama Young will take over as the starting strong safety until Ward is ready to return to action.  Young has played in 8 games for the Browns so far this year and he has 26 tackles, 1 interception and 1 pass defensed.  This is going to be a dropoff for the Browns, especially against run as Ward’s specialty is coming up fast and hard on run support.

UPDATE:  (12/22/2011) – The Browns have placed T.J. Ward on I.R., ending his season.

25-year old RB Peyton Hillis has re-injured his left hamstring in practice today, and that is going to cause him to miss the next few weeks.  Hillis has played in 4 games (all starts) for the Browns so far this year and he has carried the ball 60 times for 211 yards (3.5 ypc) with 2 TD carries.  He has also caught 15 passes for 76 yards (5.1 avg) so far in 2011.  Hillis has been whining about getting a new contract with the Browns and this latest injury certainly isn’t going to help his cause.  Hillis has now played in 20 games (18 starts) in his first two years with the Browns and he has carried the ball 330 times for 1,388 yards (4.2 ypc) with 13 TD runs.  He has also caught 76 passes for 553 yards (7.3 avg) with 2 TD grabs for the Browns.  Hillis’ absence for most of this year has really hurt the Browns’ running game as they are only averaging 87.6 yards rushing per game and 3.2 yards per carry so far in 2011.

The Cleveland Browns have waived 23-year old WR Brian Robiskie.  Robiskie played in six games for the Browns this year and he caught 3 passes for 25 yards (8.3 avg).  He played in 31 games in his three years with the Browns and he caught 39 passes for 441 yards (11.3 avg) with 3 TD grabs.  This is absolutely no loss for the Cleveland Browns as Robiskie was down right pathetic.

UPDATE:  (11/3/2011) – The Jaguars have claimed Robiskie off waivers.

The Browns will be without RB Montario Hardesty for at least the next two weeks with a torn calf.  Hardesty played in all 7 games for the Browns this year and he has carried the ball 75 times for 244 yards (3.3 ypc).  He has also caught 12 passes for 113 yards (9.4 avg) so far this year.  The Browns are hoping that Peyton Hillis can return to action this weekend.  He has played in 4 games for the Browns so far this year and he has carried the ball 60 times for 211 yards (3.5 ypc) with 2 TD run.  Hillis has also caught 15 passes for 76 yards (5.1 avg) so far this year.  If Hillis can’t go, Chris Ogbonnaya will step into this starting lineup.  Ogbonnaya has played in 2 games for the Browns so far this year and he has carried the ball 14 times for 52 yards (3.7 ypc).  He also has caught 10 passes for 67 yards (6.7 avg) so far this year.

The Browns have signed 27-year old RB Thomas Clayton.  Clayton played in 2 games for the Browns last year and he carried the ball 1 time for 0 yards.  Clayton has now played in 3 games in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 7 times for 17 yards (2.4 ypc).  Clayton could very well be the Browns’ #2 RB right away this weekend if Peyton Hillis (hamstring) isn’t ready to return to action.