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Browns set to move on, focus on defense during offseason
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sports columnist
Published on Tuesday, Jan 01, 2008
BEREA: Next time you're working under the kitchen sink and you need somebody to hold the one nut while you're twisting the other . . . I humbly suggest you not call Jim Sorgi.
Or any of the Indianapolis Colts.
Need someone to hold the ladder while you climb up to paint?
Or require some help shoveling the walk this winter?
Best do it yourself.
For one, Sorgi probably would miss the driveway.
For two, doing it yourself is the best lesson of this Browns season. Don't put your NFL playoff fate in the hands of another team, especially when it's using Sorgi at quarterback and putting forth one of the lamest efforts in memory.
It would be foolish to question the integrity of Tony Dungy. He has more character than most of all combined. But that effort by his team Sunday night against the Tennessee Titans was plain dismal.
If that was trying to win, then the Colts best hope Peyton Manning joins Seinfeld's Bubble Boy to stay safe.
The Colts played that game like an exhibition game. It looked more like they played not to get hurt as opposed to playing to win.
Conspiracy theorists could have a field day with this one.
The betting line on Sunday night's game started with the Titans being four-point favorites. It ended with the Titans favored by six.
Final result: Titans by six.
How do things like this happen?
Weird thing is the Browns expressed no frustration or anger at the Colts, just remorse that they did not do what they needed to do in the second-to-last game — at Cincinnati.
''When you leave it in somebody
else's hands and don't have control, that's what happens,'' Crennel said.
''We understand,'' punter Dave Zastudil said. ''It's what happens when you put it in another team's hands.''
''Indianapolis did what they had to do,'' receiver Joe Jurevicius said.
NFL teams have an amazing ability to move on from a season, even when the door gets slammed hard and fast like it was to the Browns on Sunday night.
The offseason focus now will be on the quarterback position, where Derek Anderson is a restricted free agent and Brady Quinn surely is eager to play.
Romeo Crennel showed his respect for Anderson's season Sunday by putting him back in the game in the second half against the San Francisco 49ers. That move spoke volumes for the way Crennel views his quarterback.
''He's the starter,'' Crennel said simply of Anderson.
He then talked about how it's a good thing to have two quarterbacks, that a team never can have enough good players.
''We've had not enough good players around here for a while,'' Crennel said. ''And you saw what the results of that were.''
No kidding.
The Browns coach is absolutely right, and if there is a way for the Browns to bring back Anderson and Quinn, they should do it. The danger is that it only takes one team to make a huge offer to a free agent, and if that happens, the Browns would have a decision to make.
The good news: There is enough salary-cap room to give Anderson the highest tender and ensure first- and third-round draft picks if he does sign elsewhere, or to make him the franchise player and ensure two first-round picks if he signs elsewhere. In reality, if Anderson gets the franchise tag, it virtually ensures he'll be back.
Why the Browns would not want both back defies explanation. Some teams used three quarterbacks this past season. One used four.
The Browns have two good ones. It makes sense to keep both.
The Browns rightly talked of how far they had come this season, how they had proven that they can win and how next season they will expect to win.
There will be changes in the roster; change is inevitable in the NFL. And the schedule will include the NFC East and AFC South, divisions that each sent three teams to the playoffs.
Re-signing Jamal Lewis should be a priority. Other than that, the biggest issue the Browns face is bolstering the defense, and that will take place. The offense was the focus in the past offseason; the defense will be in this one. It's part of the natural progression of a team.
There is the ''issue'' at quarterback, but when the ''issue'' is deciding between two the team believes in, it's really not much of an ''issue.''
For the first time in a long time, the Browns head into an offseason feeling good about themselves, and feeling that the foundation is present for the future.
The organization proved a lot of folks wrong this year, including this folk.
The Browns played well, they competed, they pursued a playoff spot. Management will not gut the roster the way it did the last time the team reached the playoffs. For the first time in a long time, there is something to anticipate.
It was a memorable season.
It's just a shame it ended so suddenly.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com.
Get the full article here.
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