The Browns Offense

The Last preseason game for the Browns is tonight against the Chicago Bears. The regular season will start next Sunday against the Tampa Bay Bucs. Many people in Cleveland are probably wondering about the Browns and how they will do this year.

This offseason showed many changes as the Cleveland fans grow more and more weary of losing seasons. The biggest headline changes were Phil Savage being replaced by Mike Holmgren and the trading away of both Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson and their replacements Jake Delomme and Senaca Wallace. Were these the changes the Browns needed to win? Were these the two areas we were struggling with the most?

Of course we needed to figure something out in the passing game, being ranked 32nd in the NFL with less pass yards than rush yards is unacceptable! Even if Delomme doesn't work out, it can't get any worse than last year. This next year can only be positive with no quarterback "Battle" and a new unit on offense.

 Last year, the team's lead passer was Brady Quinn with 1,339 passing yards and 8 touchdowns. Their leading runner was Jerome Harrison with 862 yards (4.4 yards per carry) and 5 touchdowns. Overall the Browns had 2,076 yards passing with 11 touchdowns and 18 interceptions. Jake Delhomme had 2,015 yards with 8 touchdowns and 18 interceptions in 11 games. This was Jake's worst season ever that he has played more than 5 games in.

Your first reaction to those stats was that Jake had the same amount of interceptions as the Browns and 2 more interceptions. While he would've thrown more touchdowns and interceptions if he played the remaining 5 games of the season, he would've also gotten more then 50 yards. The biggest problem with the Browns offense in the past few years is the lack of yards. They have not moved the ball, and when they do, they throw an interception.

So, was Delhomme a good choice at quarterback? If not, there's always the college superstar Colt Mccoy. Although he has a an extremely lackluster preseason, he's only a rookie. Is Jake supposed to be Colt's Brett Favre, as if he were Aaron Rodgers? Only Holmgren can answer that question.

In the rushing game, Lewis retired, and we kept all of our other runnning/full backs. We also acquired Peyton Hillis and Montario Hardesty. As far as the rushing game goes, towards the end of the season, Harrison showed a lot of potential, with the addition of Hardesty, these two could become a duo much like Tomlinson and Sproles, Barber and Choice, Johnson and White, or even Peterson and Taylor.

The only serious concern is Hardesty and his knee. He has injured it twice in his college career, and it seems to be a weak spot keeping him from being a top running back in the NFL.

A-Rod Part II

This guy is becoming one of the best statistical players in history, after just becoming the 7th player all time to hit 600 homers and now has stolen 300 bases, which is tied for 156th overall with Scott Podsednik (34) and Frank Taveras. He now is the 3rd player ever to hit for 600 home runs and steal 300 bases. The other 2 players are Willie Mays with 660 home runs and  338 stolen bases and Barry Bonds with 762 home runs and 514 stolen bases.

Although Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees is still 1,106 steals behind the all-time record holder for steals Ricky Henderson with 1,406 overall steals, Alex is one of the fast home run hitters of the last decade. After the start of the steroid era power has been a huge part of the game, which has added guys who are almost like linebackers in stature. These guys can hit home runs, but once they get on base they fail to move well because of their lack of speed. A-rod is one of the few huge power hitters to be extremely fast. In fact, other then Rodriguez, Bonds, and Mays, the next highest stolen base leader with over 600 home runs is Hank Aaron with 240. That's only 4/5 of what Rodriguez has.

So whether or not you think that A-Rod is the top player in the majors right now, you do have to admit that he is one of the top players in our history.

The Significance of 600

As many of you may have already heard, Alex Rodriguez hit his 600th career home run yesterday in the bottom of the first inning against the Toronto Blue Jays.  He became the youngest of the 7 players (Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Ken Griffey Jr., Sammy Sosa, Willie Mays, and A-Rod) in the 600 club. He has also played the 2nd least amount of games to get to this historic mark playing 2,267 games (Ruth did it in 2044). He is also the only admitted steroid user in the 600 club.

At 35 years and 8 days old A-Rod is over a year younger then the 2nd youngest player (Babe Ruth) to hit 600, and is 3 years and 8 days younger then Barry Bonds was when he hit the mark.

In the last 8 years 4 of the 7 players of the 600 club have hit their 600th home run, Bonds in 2002, Sosa in 2007, Griffey Jr. in 2008, and Rodriguez in 2010, which shows the controversy of the last 20 or 30 years really being years where pitching has been at an all-time worst.

Because A-Rod has hit this milestone at such a young age, many people believe that he will become the new home run champion in years to come and maybe even be the first player to break the 800 home run barrier. Even Barry Bonds, who posted on his website "Stay healthy and focused... Only 163 more to go." believes A-Rod will break his record in the future.

Someone who threatens to take over Alex Rodriguez's spot isn't much younger then A-Rod, 30 year old Albert Pujols had 366 home runs in his first 9 seasons, whereas Rodriguez only had 298. Pujols is in his 10th season and currently has 393 career home runs, when Rodriguez was finished with his 10th season he only had 345, 38 less then Pujols who still has 54 games left in his 10th season. If Pujols season were to end today, he would still be averaging 4.7 more home runs per season then Rodriguez.

This year Pujols is on pace to hit 36 home runs this year, which would give him 402 for his career, 57 more then Rodriguez.

Lebron free agency

The big question of this free agency, or really the last month or two nationally is where will Lebron sign? If you are a Clevelander, then you have probably been wondering about this for the last season. For the last year there have been many teams that Lebron can supposedly go to other then the Cavaliers, including the Knicks, Nets, Bulls, Heat, and Clippers. Why would Lebron pick to go to any of these teams? Why would Lebron pick to stay in Cleveland?

At the beginning of the season many people believed Lebron was going to go to New York so he could make more money, although if he went to New York, the only thing that could possibly be bigger is the market size. Because he was previously on The Cavaliers he can make up to $20 million more then if he signed a maximum contract with any other team, and the Knicks offer of telling people to buy stock in The Madison Square Garden has been banned by NBA Commissioner David Stern. Even if the market is bigger Lebron has recently sent his brand international from Nike to China, which is expected to be a BILLION dollar investment. So why would Lebron need to go to New York?

The Nets and Clippers offered the same thing, a bigger contract and a bigger market, therefore they are both the same situation as New York, it will just delay Lebron's chances at a championship. The bigger teams that Lebron would want to stay with are Chicago and Miami. If Lebron goes to Chicago he gets to play along with Derrick Rose and one other superstar from the free agency. So their pitch is not more money, it's a better shot at a championship for Lebron. The possibilities range from Chris Bosh to Carlos Boozer to Dwayne Wade to Joe Johnson to Amare Stoudimare as the other new superstar to join Lebron in Chicago if he goes there.

I'm sure we've all heard about the big three Miami situation in the off season, Chris Bosh, Lebron, and Wade all on the same team. How likely is this to happen? It is impossible. First for this to happen one of these three players would have to take a salary cut at about $20 million. Next, they would have to acquire Chris Bosh for a sign and trade with Toronto. Why would Toronto trade their superstar to a team within their division? Even Bosh doubts that it'll happen in a recent interview with the Miami Herald saying "It sounds Pie in the Sky". Will this happen?

Finally, I've saved this team for last because this is the team I believe Lebron will resign with, The Cleveland Cavaliers. First reason why it is so big is because it is Lebron's hometown, this is huge, how many kids want to grow up and play a sport for a professional sporting team? Out of those how many pick to play for their hometown team? My point is that Lebron is basically living a childhood dream. All people that watch the NFL draft may remember when Brady Quinn was being drafted. Remember all the pictures of Quinn in his hometown Cleveland Brown's jersey and helmet? Next if people talk about the opportunity with the most money in it for Lebron, as discussed earlier Cleveland is that option. Finally many people may believe Cleveland to be championship cursed, but at the beginning of this years playoffs, The Cavaliers were actually the favorite to win the championship. Boston's upset of the Cavs doesn't change a lot for next year especially if Lebron resigns because Dan Gilbert has already pledged to help Lebron win a championship by bringing in another star by a sign and trade if he resigns.

After viewing all of this information, my prediction is that Lebron will resign with Cleveland for a 3 year maximum salary contract.

The Browns Part II

A big factor in football is defense, defense wins championships, well last year, Cleveland's defense didn't do anything well. The Browns main concern as part of defense is their rushing defense in which last year let go more than 150 yards per game! That is inexcusable. They were ranked 26th in defensive rushing yards. So do you think we learned our lesson, no! This off season we have not pursued anyone except for our 2nd round draft pick and defensive end David Veikune and 4th round inside linebacker Kaluka Maiava, both of who are currently not starters. What happened to attacking free agents? What happened to trading for better players? A great example of the free agent list and people we should sign is Marvin Harrison, who currently is just sitting there. He is a pro bowl worthy wide receiver, which would be a great fit for our Browns who recently lost two wide receivers, those being Dante Stallworh and Joe Jurivicious. So, why aren't we pursuing these free agents? Ask our new coach Eric Mangini, who decided to sign a few players from the Jets that probably won't start. if Mangini doesn't start to pick valuable players, then we are only going to get worse. Next, they are doing well in pass defense in which they are 14th, they are also still pursuing more people seeing as they have gotten a few corners this offseason, mostly in the draft. This is the area where Cleveland is doing well and I have no further comments except that it needs just a slight amount of improvement because our division is very good at passing.

The Browns in General part I

I am a Clevelander, and my favorite teams in the pros are the Cavaliers, The Browns, and The Tribe. The first question about the Browns that many people are asking is "Who will start at the quarterback position?". A follow-up question for that is "Why is that so crucial?". It is important because last season The Browns offense looked like this: they were 30th in points with 14.5 ppg, they were 31st in yards with 249.1 ypg, they were 31st in pass yards with 148.8 ypg, and they were 26Th in rush yards with 100.3 ypg. So, Who will start at the Browns quarterback position, Derek Anderson or Brady Quinn? Derek Anderson played in 10 games, where as Brady Quinn only started in 3 games. Although the games played difference is so high, some statistics are so different that you can't help but see the difference. Such as in sacks, throughout 10 games Anderson had 14 sacks, and lost 87 yards, whereas Quinn in 3 games had one sack and lost 9 yards. This means that Anderson had 1.4 sacks per game, and lost 8.7 ypg due to sacks, when Quinn only had .33 sacks per game and lost only 3 yards per game due to sacks! What a difference. Although 5 yards per game doesn't seem like much, if you are on a 2nd down and have 3 yards to go, and get sacked for 8 yards it will then be 3rd and 11 instead of a 1st down. Another big statistic is passing ypg. Derek Anderson had 1,615 yards which is 161.5 ypg. Quinn had 518 yards or 172.6 ypg. That's 11 yards or one 1st down per game. Next, Derek Anderson did have the advantage in touchdowns, where he threw 9, or .9 per game, whereas Quinn threw 2 or .667 per game. Yet, Quinn did do better in interceptions having only 2 or .667 per game, and Anderson having 8 or .8 per game. The next 3 statistics are very close together, and almost are equal. Derek Anderson completed 87 1st downs, 82 through the air and 5 on the ground. Quinn completed 26, 24 through the air and 2 on the ground. The difference, Anderson had 8.7 per game and Quinn had 8.67 per game. After that, the passer rating comes into play where Quinn had a 66.6 and Anderson had a 66.5. Finally, the completion percentage of Anderson had a 50.2 and Quinn had 50.6. So, who does this lead to? Who will start? I believe that Quinn, who also has a 5.8 compared to Anderson's 5.7 yard per completion, will start, but Cleveland's head coach Eric Mangini will have to make the decision. Follow my blog for more of the Brown's keys for winning in 2009

A-Rod a threat for the All-Time Home Run Leader

The Top three active Home Run leaders are Ken Griffy Jr., who is 39 and has 617 Home Runs, Alex Rodriguez, who is 33 and has 562 Home Runs, and Jim Thome who is 38 and has 553 Home Runs. The Current all time Home Run leader is Barry Bonds who has 762 Home Runs, although it took him until he was 42 to hit all those Home Runs. So, if Alex Rodriguez averages the same amount of Home Runs that he has hit in the last three years, home many years will it take him to break Barry Bonds record? With his last three years average of 41.3 Home Runs per season it would take him 5 years to break Bond's record! That would be 6 years quicker than it took Bonds, but we have to calculate injuries, suspensions, and any slowdown in Homerun hitting such as Barry had when he was 40.

Alex was the youngest person to hit 500 homeruns, and he has proven the ability to come off of this years injury (hip cysts) and still hit homeruns. Although he only has 9 Home Runs this year, he still has a while to hit more, and it may not be a tie for his career high 54 Home Runs this season, he could definitely hit around 30-40.

So, will A-Rod break Bond's record? Can he be the all-time Home Run leader? Watch A-Rod and the Yankees to find out!