Greg Cielec's Blog, page 9

Three Shots by Hollis Brown, Julian Records 2015

Several weeks ago I was able to attend the release party for this CD in New York City. The music that night sounded great, but I was worried that it might not transfer to the CD. I was wrong. Three Shots might be the stepping-stone Hollis Brown needs to go up another notch or two in the music business.
Hollis Brown has five members, fronted by songwriter/guitarist/vocalist  Mike Montali, who possesses one of the great singing voices in rock music today. The Cleveland connection to the band is bassist/vocalist Dillon DeVito. He is the son of Denis DeVito, leader of the locally popular club/festival band Cats on Holiday. Dillon paid his local dues playing in a series of local bands, including his father’s, before setting off to New York City to join Hollis Brown.
This album is a rock and roll record. It is not the pop country or over synthesized electronic music popular with some young people. This album is the real deal. Guitars, keyboards and a dynamite rhythm section, backing up a singer with a great set of pipes. This could be a big deal. The band on this disk shows a variety of influences, from CCR to Squeeze to Small Faces to Matthew Sweet.
After a series of self released albums, a lot of touring, some success getting songs on TV shows, “3 Shots” is by far their most polished and professional sounding release.  Amongst the highlights are several ballads including “Death of an Actress” and “Mi Amor”; the concert favorite “John Wayne”;  “Sweet Tooth”, with Montali channeling Glen Tillbrook; and the duet “Highway 1”, with Montali sharing vocals with guest Nikki Lane. There is not a weak track on the disk.
Hollis Brown is going to spend most of the summer on tour with the Counting Crows. They will be making a side appearance tomorrow night May 28 at Mahalls in Lakewood. Check these guys out, you might get a chance to brag about it one day.

For more information on Hollis Brown go to www.hollisbrown.com.

Dyngus Day Cleveland 2015

A Poem on a Bar Room Wall

My next novel will be out May 1. You can preorder a copy:  Buy Now From CCNow

Last View from the Dawg Pound/Winter Article for OBR

What Must be Done from HereEvery fan and everyone in the media, both local and national, has their own opinions about the Browns 2014 season and what has to be done to get better in 2015. The recently finished 7-9 season is a great improvement on a string of 4-12 campaigns. However, they way it finished might not have accomplished what this season should have been about: Getting rid of the team’s losing culture. I’m just not sure if this was accomplished, even in the increase in victories. With all that has happened, most of it negative, 4-11 to 7-9 is a big jump. The Browns are in a good position to make a bigger jump next year, but it won’t happen without the Browns doing two things, acquiring a real NFL quarterback and finally putting all of the losing behind them. Simple as that.When the dust finally settles this winter on the 2014 season, common sense and the real world will chase away a lot of the ideas and solutions talked about on sports talk radio or posted on internet message boards. No one is going to give a first or second round pick for Manziel. No one is going to sign Brian Hoyer for big money. And you can’t replay past drafts, so don’t even waste your time going there (where are all of you who have been saying for years the Browns should have drafted Adrian Peterson instead of Joe Thomas?).Rationally, owner Jim Haslem, the front office lead by Ray Farmer, and Head Coach Mike Pettine all have things they must do this off-season.For Haslem it should be simple, finally get your business problems away from football resolved, while staying away from all football decisions. If indeed he was involved in the decision to draft Johnny Manziel last year, hopefully he learned his lesson. Ray Farmer has some big projects for this offseason. He must get 2-3 starters out of the 2015 draft; he must do better with the two first round picks than he did with last year’s first round picks; he must find a quality big receiver or two; he must sign several quality free agents; he has to get rid of Johnny Manziel; and, yes, he has to find a legitimate NFL quarterback.By the time you read the team might have decided the fate of its prodigal sons: Manziel, Josh Gordon, and Justin Gilbert. They should cut Manziel, but the other two are unclear. Gordon has run out of second and third chances, but his contract and his mass amount of talent might make it beneficial for the team to hang on to him, at least for a while. Gilbert is an under performing rookie, but his upside is still huge and I would stick with him one more season. Defensive backs as tall, fast, and athletic as him are hard to come by.The Browns spent the first fifteen games of 2014 playing two guys who are not the answer at quarterback. One is an over hyped college superstar whose skills set does not work in the NFL. He’s too short, he can’t run away from defenders like he did in college, and he has yet to show that he has an NFL arm. The other one definitely doesn’t have an NFL arm. Neither Brian Hoyer nor Johnny Manziel is the quarterback that will lead the Cleveland Browns to a championship. Hoyer is a career journeyman, with the brains but not the arm for the NFL. Manziel possesses the skills to be successful in college but those same skills do not translate to the pro game.Hoyer’s journey in the NFL from New England to Pittsburgh to Arizona to the Browns, living off the ‘knowledge’ he learned as a Tom Brady backup has suddenly stopped. Signing him was a good move, a stopped gap solution until the real quarterback would hopefully show up. The drafting of Menziel was a bad move, and tarnished an otherwise productive draft and off season.           Conner Shaw showed something in his one start, but as the experts say in the media, the sample is too small. But at least he gave a few reasons for sticking around. Plus throw in the fact that he appears to be an adult; a stage in life Manziel has yet to reach.Quarterback isn’t just a Browns problem. The NFL has a quarterback problem; there isn’t enough to go around. College and high school quarterbacks don’t learn to audiblize because their coaches do it for them. They don’t read their third or fourth receivers because if their first one isn’t open they take off running. During the off season they get the false sense that they can play in the NFL by participating in a sham called 7 on 7 football, which is nothing more than glorified touch football. Receivers are always open and catching the ball when they know they are not going to be hit, and quarterbacks can always find the open guy when they aren’t being chased by defensive linemen and blitzing backers.A balanced NFL offense is like an empty tick-tack-toe puzzle. The bottom three boxes represent the running game and the short passing game. The Browns have upgraded their running game tremendously over last year. The middle three boxes represent the short to medium passing game that Brian Hoyer is so good at. Play action passes, slant routes, out routes for first downs. The top three boxes represent the deep passing game, from passes in front of the safeties in zone coverage to deep routes against man-to-man coverage. It is that deep passing game a team must have in its arsenal if it is going to go deep in the playoffs. The Browns need someone who can throw the long ball, as well as the short stuff, consistently.Where do the Browns go to find a quarterback? Recent history shows it might be off the beaten track a bit. Baltimore found its quarterback at 1-AA Delaware, while New England found its Tom Brady heir at 1-AA Eastern Illinois. The Steelers found their quarterback in the MAC, and San Francisco found theirs in the Mountain West Conference. The Browns are going to have to look everywhere until they find someone, until then the combo of Shaw and Hoyer might have to do. I don’t see any top level NFL quarterbacks becoming available and especially coming here.In the big picture I hope that Brian Hoyer will remain part of the team. Because when the team does get deep in the playoffs, and the starting quarterback gets dinged up, there is no one else I would rather have to come off the bench for a game or two.  But to get to that point the week-by-week quarterback must be able to lead a balanced offense that includes a downfield passing attack. Coach Mike Pettine has to convince the quality players the Browns have to stay, convincing them that better days are coming. He must get Justin Gilbert to improve just as Barkevous Mingo did in his second year. He must decide, along with Ray Farmer, who is committed to be champions and get rid of those who aren’t. Again, starting with Manziel.Mike Pettine had a limited pool of candidates to fill positions on his staff because of when he was hired. I will be really surprised if many of the assistants from this year will be retained. He will bring in his guys, guys he couldn’t hire last year because they were committed to coach someplace else. This will be a major change for the team. I especially think there will be a new offensive coordinator.The Browns are not an expansion team or even the talented deficient team of a few years ago; this is actually a decently talented team on both sides of the ball. Sure it has some holes to fill, but the talent to succeed is here. But not without a quarterback, a pro quarterback who can read defenses and has a strong arm enough to do what needs to be done in the NFL.Once again Browns fans spent the playoffs watching what seems like the same old teams. Wonder why some organizations always seem to be good? They don’t draft popular running college quarterbacks like Johnny Manziel because they know they can’t do it on the next level. And their locker rooms are filled with talented guys who hate to lose more than they like to win, for those players it is more than just a paycheck.Sometime this off season throw Manziel’s NFL corpse onto that big, and getting bigger, pile of unsuccessful former running over hyped college spread offense quarterbacks, right on top of Pat White, Vince Young, Tim Tebow, and RGIII.Some closing comments…You can’t buy class or develop it my using marketing consultants. Or by copying what everyone else is doing. The same people who will applaud the Browns new uniforms this off-season are the same ones who cheered last year when Johnny Manziel was drafted. People who live for the moment, but you don’t win Super Bowls that way. You don’t develop lasting success by following and reacting to Twitter and Instagram. Everything that goes on at Cleveland Stadium now before and during games is copied from somewhere else. Live mascots, drum lines, movie clips on the scoreboard, messages telling us when to stand and cheer, are all products of someone else’s marketing departments. That stuff goes on in almost every stadium in the NFL. The worse the team, the more of that stuff. The last original idea for Browns game day was the whole Dawg Pound thing, which was the fans reaction to a Hanford Dixon comment back in the early 80’s. No marketing consultants dreamed it up, and it became the envy of the whole NFL. s Lets get rid of all the copycat stuff and get back to who we are, the best fans in NFL and quit being just like everyone else. Part of the team’s losing culture is the whole copycat game day experience.
And speaking of uniforms…One of the highlights of the season was seeing the Raiders play here in Cleveland.  I’ve loved the Raiders uniforms since I started watching football in the Sixties as a small boy. The Raiders of today aren’t very good, but their uniforms still say class and remind you of when the Raiders were still the Raiders. The Packers, the Giants since they went back to their classic uniforms, the Chargers in their powder blues, the Cowboys, all of those teams whose uniforms have remained mostly unchanged over the years give off an aura of class about them. And it’s not just a football thing, think of the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Giants, and Cardinals in baseball; the Lakers, Celtics, and Spurs in basketball; the Canadians, Maple Leafs, Black Hawks, and Rangers in hockey. Even when one of those teams is down, their uniforms give them a touch of respect.  The Browns have been on that list too, since the team’s beginnings. But that will soon end. New uniforms from the team’s partner Nike are promised for next year. Filled with gray and pewter and stripes and who knows what else I’m sure. And when sports fans turn on the TV and see those uniforms they for the first time will say ‘who the hell is that? Tampa?’ Instead of saying, ‘Oh look, the Browns are on TV.’ Just something to think about.

View from the Dawg Pound Browns at Charlotte 12.22.2014

Postcard from Charlotte…I have no new information about the Browns 17-13 loss to Carolina. There is nothing new to tell you that I haven’t said before. The Browns have two guys who are not the answer at quarterback. They both showed you why today. One is an over hyped college superstar whose skills set does not work in the NFL. He’s too short, he can’t run away from defenders like he did in college, and he has yet to show that he has an NFL arm.             The other one definitely doesn’t have an NFL arm. He showed that today when Travis Benjamin had his guy beat by two strides on what would have been the winning touchdown but turned into an interception.             This was a big loss for the Browns. Going 8-8 after winning only four games last year would’ve been huge. Instead, with a loss to Baltimore next week the Browns will be 7-9, losing the last five. Ouch!             With all that has happened, most of it negative, 4-11 to 7-9 is a big jump. The Browns are in a good position to make a bigger jump next year, but it won’t happen without a real NFL quarterback. Simple as that.            The 2014 Browns were good enough to make it to the playoffs except for one position, the most important one, quarterback.  The front office made several huge mistakes in regards to this position, and now it is still a mess. The best pro prospect on the team is the third string quarterback who is on the practice squad and did not make an appearance in a game this year.            Here’s a hunch I have…Mike Pettine had a limited pool of candidates to fill positions on his staff because of when he was hired. I will be really surprised if many of the assistants from this year will be retained. He will bring in his guys, guys he couldn’t hire last year because they were committed to coach someplace else. This will be a major change for the team. I especially think there will be a new offensive coordinator.            As has been said over and over in the last fifteen years, the fans deserve better. Even after what has happened over the last four weeks, there they were in Charlotte taking over the city. Wherever you went on Saturday you saw Brown and Orange. We met fans from all over the south and as far away as Rochester, New York, there to root on their team. There were a lot of sad rides on Monday morning back to where ever they live, but you still got the feeling that home will always be in Northern Ohio for most of them.                        
            

View from the Dawg Pound Bengals at Cleveland, 14 December 2014

            For the second December home game in a row, the weather was more than ideal for football. Temperatures in the forties, no wind or rain, tailgating was at a level unheard of in recent Browns seasons. Great weather and a team still in the running for the playoffs? It seemed too good to be true. And it was.




            Enough has been said about Sunday’s game. I’ll just quote from my game notes for the start of the game. Browns kickoff. Cinci Scores. Cinci kicks off. Browns three and out. Cinci scores. Browns three and out. Cinci scores. Browns throw a pick. Cinci scores. Browns three and out. Cinci throws a pick, Craig Robertson with another big play. Browns actually start driving. Browns throw a pick. Cinci penalty, Browns keep the ball. First “Put in Hoyer” from the guy behind me. Browns throw pick on the goal line.  Yada, yada, yada.Sunday’s disaster against the Bengals brought into public knowledge what some people have known all along, that neither Brian Hoyer nor Johnny Manziel is the quarterback that will lead the Cleveland Browns to a championship. Hoyer is a career journeyman, with the brains but not the arm for the NFL. Manziel possesses the skills to be successful in college but those same skills do not translate to the pro game.Hoyer’s journey in the NFL from New England to Pittsburgh to Arizona to the Browns, living off the “knowledge” he learned as a Tom Brady backup has suddenly stopped. Signing him was a good move, a stopped gap solution until the real quarterback would hopefully show up. The drafting of Menziel was a bad move, and tarnished an otherwise good draft and some solid free agency signings.            The graphic on the morning shows Sunday stated that Manziel is the 22ndstarting quarterback since the team returned in 1999. The only for sure thing is number 23 is not that far in the future.            Quarterback is such a chance at draft time for most teams. The only for sure bet in recent history has been Andrew Luck. Oregon’s Marcus  Mariota, even with his Heisman, is as big of a risk as Manziel. Obviously a more mature person, he still spent most of his career using his feet as much as his arm. For all of his faults as a person, last year’s Heisman winner Jameis Winston has more of a pro skill set than both Manziel and Mariota. He has thrown more from the pocket, and shows he has the tangibles to keep winning. As of this writing in two seasons he has not lost a game as a starter.Quarterback isn’t just a Browns problem. The NFL has a quarterback problem, there isn’t enough to go around. College and high school quarterbacks don’t learn to audiblize because their coaches do it for them. They don’t read their third or fourth receivers because if their first one isn’t open they take off running. During the off season they get the false sense that they can play in the NFL by participating in a sham called 7 on 7 football, which is nothing more than glorified touch football. Receivers are always open and catching the ball when they know they are not going to be hit, and quarterbacks can always find the open guy when they aren’t being chased by defensive linemen and blitzing backers.The Browns coaches have to some how regroup their team and win one more game. An 8-8 season after the disasters of the last few would be a big step forward. Going 7-9 and losing the last five games is the same old stuff. The team has to win, no matter who is the quarterback. Here’s their dilemma, this isn’t an expansion team or even the talented deficient team of a few years ago, this is actually a decently talented team on both sides of the ball. Sure it has some problems like kicker, but the talent to succeed is there. But not without a quarterback, a pro quarterback who can read defenses and has a strong arm enough to do what needs to be done in the NFL. We will have the whole off-season to talk about their options, but for now just win one more game.Once again Browns fans will spend the playoffs watching what seems like the same old teams. Wonder why some organizations always seem to be good? They don’t draft popular running college quarterbacks like Manziel or Robert Griffith III because they know they can’t do it on the next level. And when the season is finally finished, throw Manziel’s corpse onto that big, and getting bigger, pile of unsuccessful former running college over hyped college quarterbacks, right on top of Pat White, Vince Young, and RGIII.

View from the Dawg Pound Colts at Cleveland 7 December 2014

The Browns did not lose the game when the Colts scored with 32 seconds left on an Andrew Luck to T.Y. Hilton. The Browns did not lose the game when Josh Gordon could not haul in Brian Hoyer’s pass with 28 seconds left. They lost on their second drive of the game when they crossed the fifty for the first time and had to punt. They lost on their third drive of the game when they got down to the Colt’s nine-yard line and threw a pick. They lost on their second drive in the second quarter when they missed a 40-yard field goal. The Browns could’ve put the Colts away by halftime, but they didn’t. A touchdown or field goal in the first half counts just as much as one in the fourth quarter.The Brian Hoyer era has come and gone. Johnny Manziel’s time might go just as fast, but we don’t know. It is time to find out. Hoyer’s time did not end with just the Colts game. It ended with losses in the Bills and Texans games. It ended with three interceptions against Atlanta, and two more picks against Tampa Bay. His play has been poor in both wins and losses. It is not all of his fault, but he has played poorly now for a good portion of the season.My notes from the Colt’s game look like this: First offensive drive, punt. Second offensive series, bad passes. Did not take advantage of field position. Third offensive series, pick! Fourth offensive series, three and out. First offensive series in second quarter, three and out. Second series in the second quarter, missed field goal. You don’t win against quality teams like the Colts playing like this on offense. If it weren’t for two defensive scores the game would have been a blow out.The Browns must win one of the three remaining games. Anything less than 8-8, or finishing the season with five straight losses, would be the same old stuff.This team could be very, very good next year. They are going to end this year in contention, but probably not making, the playoffs. Next year could be a different story. Very soon big decisions have to be made. The team’s window is only going to be open for so long. Quarterback, kicker, depth at safety and linebacker, another big receiver, all have to be addressed. Winning and losing is a cold-hearted business at times. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We will have the whole off-season to talk about stuff like that.            I’m not writing off the playoffs this year. A lot can happen in these last three weeks. The Browns win all three it would seem they would be in the playoffs; winning 2 out of 3 is a maybe. Every game left is a winnable game.             In all the negativity that a loss will bring, don’t overlook the Browns defensive performance. Two defensive scores and one big play after another.  Craig Robertson will another defensive score; Justin Gilbert with his first pick six; Jim Leonard with another big play. The Browns offense needed to get the defense off the field and they couldn’t.            The roller coaster continues…

View from the Dawg Pound Browns at Buffalo 30 Nov 2014, 2014 Traveling Circus Football Road Trip

          The Browns are at the crossroads. And I am not talking about all of this quarterback hoopla. I’m talking about a team that could be on the long road to someplace special. You got to remember the big picture. They have to win just one more game to go 8-8, a record any Browns fan would have died for back in August.The Browns are at the crossroads because the #1 priority for this team this year was to put fifteen years of losing culture behind. Behind for the team, for the organization, and for the fans. The season has been a roller coaster, and at 7-5 they are still in the running for a playoff spot, but more importantly they have to end the season perceived as winners. This season can’t end like almost all the others since 1999 in a mountain of disappointment and losing. This team, no matter who the quarterback, is too talented to implode. The Browns 26-10 loss to Buffalo showed one season long weakness of the team, they can’t do it every week. Not enough depth, not enough experience, not enough guys who hate to lose more than they like to win. They could be there soon. And you have to remember; it isn’t easy doing it every week in the NFL.Long after this loss will be forgotten, this game will be remembered for Johnny Manziel’s pro debut. I’m not getting caught up in the hoopla, because I’m not sure Manziel can do the things that needed to be done. Brian Hoyer has his limitations. When the Browns first acquired Hoyer I wrote that it was no secret about how to defend him, and the Bills and the rest of the NFL all know about it now. Take away the running game and force him to use the whole field. It’s been the game plan against the Browns most of this season, and with the return of Josh Gordon it really sticks out as the team’s sore thumb. Gordon needs a home run arm to get him the ball down field where he can run away from safeties and corners. Does Johnny Manziel have the arm to do it? Only time will tell. Recent history shows he is going to struggle throwing downfield from the pocket. One only has to look at how his college contemporaries have struggled, i.e. RGIII, Vince Young, Cam Newton, Tim Tebow, etc. Running spread offenses where the coaches call all the plays and checks, and where a quarterback takes off running when his primary receiver is covered, is not the best training for the drop back world of the NFL.             You have to play Manziel to see what he has, but no matter who the quarterback is the Browns can’t end the season losing the last five games. They need a win or two to finish up in the right direction for the future. The quarterback position will take care of itself, either Manziel can do it or he can’t. We should have a good idea by the end of the season if he plays the last four games.             The Bills loss was disappointing. The Browns had their chances in the first half to take charge, but they came away with a field goal and a blocked field goal instead of two touchdowns. Most of the game was very painful to watch.            I attended the game and it was the only low point in an otherwise fun road trip that included hanging out at the Seneca Allegheny casino in Salamanca, New York, about an hour south of Ralph Wilson Stadium.             We tailgated outside the stadium before the game, surrounded by many other Browns fans and some pretty cordial Bills fans. The stadium is out in the middle of nowhere, so everyone tailgates. It was a pretty festive environment. However, it was disappointed to see the culture of “planned spontaneity” has spread to Buffalo. Yes, they have a drum line like everyone else. Yes, the play that stupid movie special effects on third down while their obnoxious announcer reminds you that it is third down. The Bills even take it to another level with a cheesy remake of “Shout,” including reworked lyrics they flash on the scoreboard, blasted each time they score.  It isn’t even the Isley Brothers or Otis Day version of the song. It sounds like a second rate lounge singer.            All of this stuff thought up by marketing consultants in ‘idea sessions’ and now copied by almost every team in the NFL. It’s all part of the “fan experience.” And next year when the Browns are wearing their new disco uniforms they will be just like everyone else. And someone will call me an old fuddy duddy who doesn’t like change.
            The Browns need at least one more victory. Don’t tell me they are banged up, everyone is banged up. Don’t tell me the schedule is tough, it’s been tough since week one. It’s time to do what this season started out to do, putting the culture of losing behind forever.
All of these great photos by Dave Hostetler.

View from the Dawg Pound Browns at Atlanta 23 Nov 2014

            The Browns last second 26-24 victory over Atlanta Sunday made two big statements about the state of the team: #1 This was definitely a game they would have lost in the past, but they weren’t going to; #2 Even with the last drive, Brian Hoyer is not the guy to lead the Browns to the Promised Land.            Much good comes out of the game, especially the win and the team’s record improves to 7-4. Who would have thought that in August?  Another quality win to go along with previous victories over Bengals, the Steelers, and the Saints. The Browns did it on the ground and in the air with the return of Josh Gordon.  And they did it at crunch time, with a time management gift from the Falcons, with a classic Brian Hoyer drive and a Billy Cundiff 37 yard field goal as time expired.             Remember, the goal for each team in the NFL is the same every season, to win the Super Bowl.  In the big picture only one team has a good season, the last team standing holding the trophy.             The Browns are not that team this year, but can be in the near future.  Wins over teams like the Falcons are little steps to the big prize. The Browns are becoming a talented, seasoned team. Their window for big success is beginning to open. How long it will remain open is uncertain. The Browns need to make sure things are settled at quarterback.             A lot of things are falling in place for the Browns. The culture of losing is disappearing.  After years of change and dysfunction, there is a good general manager making personnel decisions. The coaches so far appear to be the best staff in who knows how long. High draft picks, for the most part, are producing, and the current crop of rookies and free agents, again for the most part, have been solid. They have two first round picks next year. They will end this season fighting for a play off spot. The core of the team is young and talented on both sides of the ball. I know this is the Browns, and we have been conditioned to expect the worse, but when did the future ever look brighter? In the big picture I hope that Brian Hoyer will remain part of the team. Because when the team does get deep in the playoffs, and the starting quarterback gets dinged up, there is no one else I would rather have to come off the bench for a game or two.  But to get to that point the week-by-week quarterback must be able to lead a balanced offense that includes a downfield passing attack. One of the most misleading stats this year is the Browns success with long passes. Most of the yardage has come after the ball has been caught. The Browns need someone who can throw the long ball, as well as the short stuff, consistently. A balanced NFL offense is like an empty tick-tack-toe puzzle. The bottom three boxes represent the running game and the short passing game. The Browns have upgraded their running game tremendously over last year. The middle three boxes represent the short to medium passing game that Brian Hoyer is so good at. Play action passes, slant routes, out routes for first downs. The top three boxes represent the deep passing game, from passes in front of the safeties in zone coverage to deep routes against man-to-man coverage. It is that deep passing game a team must have in its arsenal if it is going to go deep in the playoffs, and Hoyer has yet to show that he can master. And, his history in the league, as well as with the Browns, probably shows he never will. It is time to see if the other guy can do it. Each season for us Browns fans is a roller coaster, but usually by this time the ride would be over with. Lets enjoy the moment, there will be plenty of time in the offseason to discuss quarterbacks and draft picks and free agents. This week it’s the Bills in another crucial game and of this writing we don’t even know where the game is going to be played. There is nothing like being a Browns fan.   We watched the game this week at Grub’s, a sports bar in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where we went to watch the Arkansas/Ole Miss game the day before. It was a great experience watching games in a football crazy place without a nearby professional team. Tables of fans all rooting for their different favorite teams. It seemed like everyone in the place, including all the waitresses, had a fantasy team or two. When it became known we were Browns fans we were bombarded with questions about Josh Gordon. It was an enjoyable day and the Browns win made it even better.

View from the Dawg Pound Browns vs. Texans 11.16.2014

In the process of a team becoming something special, things happen. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Good things recently happened for the Browns against the Steelers and Bengals, bad things happened against the Jaguars and the Texans.The Brows are getting better, but they are not that good yet. Not good enough to be a perennial playoff team, like the Patriots or the 49ers. I’m not even sure there is such a thing in the NFL anymore. This years playoffs will be missing the Giants, one of those usual perennial playoff teams. And last year the Steelers missed out on the playoffs. The NFL is always filled with surprises as the season begins to end, look what happened to the Broncos this week. Did anyone see that coming?Let us not forget that Houston is a good team. They are not the Jaguars. They are currently 5-5 and, like the Browns, still playing for a playoff spot. They still have the core of players from two years ago when many picked them to go to the Super Bowl. Things blew up on them last year, but they seem to be coming together again under Coach Bill O’Brien.Sunday’s game against Houston showed once again the things the Browns must improve upon if they want to get deep in the playoffs next year. First, more depth at some obvious positions.  Even the defensive line, considered the deepest part of the team in preseason, could use another quality player or two. Second, get healthy. To get deep in the playoffs next year they need a healthy Phil Taylor, a healthy Cameron Jordan, and a mentally healthy Josh Gordon.I’m not guaranteeing something special in the near future is going to happen to the Browns, but it could. And I am not one of those wait until next year fans. A team doesn’t go from where the Browns were last year to the Super Bowl in one season. With all the hoopla around the Browns being in the playoff hunt, remember what the expectations were back in week one. I’m sticking with the hopes I had in August, at least an 8-8 record, 3-3 in the division, and fighting for a playoff spot.  All of that is still possible entering game #11.One thing the team can work on immediately and in the off-season is cleaning up their special teams. Every week it is something, this week it was a missed chip shot field goal. They need a full time punt returner who can get them some yardage, not just catch the ball. The best teams have the best special teams.The Houston game once again showed Brian Hoyer at his worst. He has had a good season, and he does some things most of the time very well. Play action, short to medium routes, the no huddle offense. But you got to be able to attack the whole field, and that includes throwing the deep ball. Houston gave the Browns the short stuff, but nothing downfield. Sometimes that isn’t a problem when you score first and build up a bit of a lead like the Browns did against the Steelers and Bengals. But when you make field goals instead of touchdowns, and then give up a touchdown that followed a turnover in the last minute of the half, and fall behind, you cant always come back.The Browns have to make a decision at quarterback before next season. What will Brian Hoyer’s body of work look like at the end of the season? Is the team going to see what Johnny Manziel can do? Hoyer’s stock goes up and down each week. The Browns can be a talented playoff proven team next year, ready to make a legitimate move for the big prize. Things could really be that good. But they have to make a decision about the man who is going to be the quarterback.Even with the loss, there was lots of excitement for those of us sitting in the original Dawg Pound in the east bleachers.  Most of the action and scoring in the game, for good or bad, took place at our end. Two plays made by Browns in front of us stood out to me. The first was Joe Haden’s interception in the first quarter. The way he made the play, first denying a touchdown, then tipping the ball in the air, and then making a catch for the interception, was terrific. Not too many athletes in any sport can make that sort of play.The other play showed why the Browns are going in the right direction. On Andrew Hawkin’s touchdown catch, he caught the ball with a couple of defenders between him and the goal line. Instead of being run out of bounds short of the touchdown, Mike Austin came off his route and made a terrific downfield block that sprung Hawkins for the score. Just like solid special teams, the best teams have running backs and receivers that consistently make downfield blocks. Austin’s was as good as it gets.One last note, if the Browns are ever to get to where they want to go, and that seems to be a possibility, they need stability in the front office and on the coaching staff. We need all of this never ending Jimmy Haslem legal problems to finally disappear. Just when we thought it was over, it reappeared this week. Not good.I said last week to hold on tight the rest of the season is going to be a heck of a ride. Last Sunday we went back to the bottom turn of the roller coaster, hopefully next week at this time we will be back on top.