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One victory required to reach mediocrity
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sports columnist
Published on Thursday, Oct 16, 2008
The Tennessee Titans are the NFL's only unbeaten team.
Enough said about the way this NFL season has started.
If the Titans are still standing come Super Bowl Sunday, then it's time to really cash in the 401(k), because the world is just wackier than we all thought.
But what the Titans do is give the Browns hope. The Titans have a nice team, but if they're the best the NFL has to offer, then a 2-3 record isn't all that ugly and anyone this side of Oakland, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Kansas City can harbor playoff hopes.
This is the NFL's dream of dreams, mind you.
Twenty-eight teams all with the same talent level fighting it out for a playoff spot come Week 15.
It might make for a mediocre brand of football, with . . . oh . . . a game that features nine 5-yard penalties called on one team. But, oh well, it also means that anyone is in the playoff hunt.
Don Henley would call it the Tennessee Waltz.
It gives life to teams that are sub-.500, and it gives a lot of life to a sub-.500 team coming off a most impressive win.
That would be your Browns, who played as impressive and complete a game as any they've played since their return in 1999.
This win seemed to energize an entire populace, and that's all well and good. Except that there's a more important lesson derived.
Let's illustrate it this way:
Suppose Eric Wright had not made that fabulous play on that Eli Manning pass in the fourth quarter and the New York Giants had instead scored to cut the Browns' lead to six. All of a sudden, things are different. Players are tight. The crowd is a tad more restless.
Who knows what happens?
In reality, Wright caught the pass and nothing seemed able to stop that swell of support in Cleveland Browns Stadium. But the game is changed if one pass is thrown six inches more to the outside.
Times like this are when coach Romeo Crennel's bottom-line, treat-it-the-same-every-day approach comes in handy.
Crennel never wavers in the way that he approaches things with his team.
During a three-game losing streak, that type of approach prompts an outcry from fans who want him fired. During a winning streak, he makes it be about the players.
But this week, he must not allow the players to start thinking too much of themselves. The Browns won a game, and it was a big win and an impressive win, but it was one win.
''Just because we won one game, that doesn't put us in the playoffs,'' Crennel said. ''As a matter of fact, we're not even .500. We need to try to get to be .500, and that's the goal. Let's win a game and try to be .500.''
That's Crennel at his matter-of-fact best.
In his first season, the Browns started 2-2. The media were atwitter over the team being .500.
Crennel said: It means we're average.
Thud.
It was fact, of course.
But when it comes to the Browns, facts sometimes don't matter. The response to a win or a loss is skewed — by fans and sometimes the media and sometimes the team.
It's skewed because the team has not had a lot of success, and when it has had some success, it has not been able to make that success matter consistently. So when the Browns lose, the hurt stings more. When they win, the euphoria can dwarf the reality.
Crennel was right to say .500 was ''average.''
Just like he's right to say that the best another win can do for the Browns would be to make them .500.
He even took this concept a step further by stating: ''If we can win this one, then we will be .500. When you are .500, you are not a losing team but you are not a winning team, either.''
Let Rachel Maddow try to find the flaw in that statement.
Crennel's lesson is the same as the one provided by the unbeaten Titans: Any team can win any game.
The Browns are coming off this energizing win and they're 71/2-point underdogs against the Washington Redskins.
The reality is that the big victory is over.
What matters now, what is important is how the Browns react to it.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/mcmanamon/.
The Tennessee Titans are the NFL's only unbeaten team.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Posted 08:25 AM, 10/16/2008
They will react to it by getting knowcked down to reality by the Redskins. You will see the smae horrible coaching and quarterback play from the two individuals we cannot seem to get rid of. Bring on Cowher and Brady!!
Posted 08:35 AM, 10/16/2008
Ronald go to Cowher09.com there is a website about bringing Cowher to Cleveland.
cuyahoga falls, oh
Posted 08:58 AM, 10/16/2008
Cleveland won a impressive game I will give you that. But don't for get that they are still 2-3 being 1-2 in the afc north and 0-1 in the conference. They will be knocked back to reality on Sunday when they play the Redskins. Why do you people stay Clowns fans year after year when you know they will always dissapoint? And don't say because you are loyal, this is merely an expansion team.
Posted 11:21 AM, 10/16/2008
Loyal fans don't wish evil upon their coach and/or QB, claiming to have influenced victory through their toxic attacks, but denying any link between their negativity and losses.
Posted 12:19 PM, 10/16/2008
Can't wait to hear what you losers say after the Browns win this weekend. Will you admit you were wrong like you were about the Giants game? No, of course not. You are just typical Browns haters and will continue to do it no matter what the Browns do. PS - Te Browns would have the same record right now if Cowher was coaching. Coaches can not control injuries or players not performing to their abilities. To say the Browns are 2-3 because of Romeo and Anderson is ignorant and shows you know nothing about sports and probably can't play them either. Go surf the net or play PS3, leave the sports talk to real atheletes and sports fans.
San Antonio, TX
Posted 01:05 PM, 10/16/2008
Okay Browns fan we have some thing to hang our hats on now. Huh,what does that mean? Well its a finally we have that hat rack and finally our team has showed up. The Browns have now emphatically show us Browns fan what they can do this year. They also showed themselves what they can do. I have said all year long that if the Browns get a QB rush then the DB'S can cover if not then they are chasing. Well Monday they did a find job of covering. Why to go Brownies. Keep up the excellent effort.
Posted 01:10 PM, 10/16/2008
Let's face it, the Browns were as Bad as Bad can be in September! They pulled off a great win on Monday night which practically no one (except maybe a few die-hards) could have predicted. All it shows is that the TEAM has potential, nothing more. To be good in this league, you have to show consistency & play up to your potential every week. Since I am a die-hard (& have been so for almost 50 years) I'll be pulling for the Browns to do it again this weekend! The bottom line, however, is we need to string several more wins together to really get in the race! Go Dawgs!
Jason Dawg
Kent, Oh
Posted 02:37 PM, 10/16/2008
This is to Matt; first of all we are Cleveland Browns fans because we are not fair weather fans and most of us have been Browns fans ever since they were kids. You keep saying that the "clowns" keep disappointing so why don't you just move to Boston or Dallas so you can root for America's team. Why do you bother even writing. You sound like a moron and you should shut your pie hole. Go Browns!
Kent, Oh
Posted 02:49 PM, 10/16/2008
This is in reply to a message from Matt; we're the Browns not the clowns Bozo. Also, we stay Browns fans because we're not fair weather fans like some of you. We know the Browns are 2-3 with a lot of season left. We know we have a tough schedule and beating Washington isn't going to be easy. We Browns fans get to celebrate after a victory but the players are working hard right now to beat Washington. Why do you keep reading about a team that you seem scared of? I think you're worried that this year the Browns could actually come out winners but you'll always be a loser. Go Browns!
Posted 03:22 PM, 10/16/2008
"Twenty-eight teams all with the same talent level fighting it out for a playoff spot come Week 15."
Kind of hard to take this article seriously when there are 32 teams in the NFL.
And another note, Anyone who even asks the question of how someone could stay a fan of a team (Matt) are called Bengals Supporters(because there is no such thing as a Bengals Fans)
"The Name on the Door is Cleveland"
Go Browns!
akron, oh
Posted 04:16 PM, 10/16/2008
matt loyalty is what is reqiured of a man.
and a poor man is better than a liar.
the brown will continue to get better and more key guys come back from DL joe j martin rucker winslow. and this will give cribbs and the flash offense more options. i really think mc moron should leave the paper he is re tart id
Old Faithful, WY
Posted 07:38 PM, 10/16/2008
loyalty to this turd of an organization is a personality flaw. like loyalty to the woman cheating on you or loyalty to a friend that lies to you. if this team does the right thing and fires romeo crennel then i'll talk about loyalty. otherwise, this team is just like a cheating spouse. full of promises and lies.
Posted 09:31 PM, 10/16/2008
Brian, I think he said 28 teams in week 15 because he had already discounted Oakland, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Kansas City - nice not to see the Browns in that category for a change, eh?
I was almost tempted not to read the article because the title just seemed to ooze negativity, but in fact the content was upbeat than the title suggested.
For a biased look, I'm gonna say that I'm hoping for a 24-13 Browns win over the 'Skins!
Ronald and Matt, despite all of your piddling on my parade, you have failed to crush my hopes for a good season. Fellas, if you're not enjoying the game, just leave.
Posted 02:07 AM, 10/17/2008
If yo guys are goign to write, please take a seccond to proforead what you've wrtiten. JUst a usggestino.
Posted 10:52 AM, 10/17/2008
Goooooo STEELERS!!
akron, oh
Posted 12:01 PM, 10/17/2008
no having cheating wives and lying friends is a personality flaw, as you have shown. dang how pitiful your lives must be to have to try and tear down anything good. oh and sorry about sleeping with your wives. lol
Posted 01:09 PM, 10/17/2008
I gotta say I think the Redskins are going to win Sunday. Cleveland played very well, but when was the last time they went on the road and beat a good football team? You have to go back a few years, and I think Washington will come out focused after losing to the Rams.
