We're 57 percent of the way through the 256 days that stand between the Browns' last 2009 game and their 2010 regular season opener. They're on a treadmill, though, in NFL.com's new "power rankings."
Browns players, including Lawrence Vickers (47) and David Bowens (96), cheer Eric Mangini after the coach was doused by a bucket of Gatorade late in the team's 2009 season finale win over Jacksonville.Cleveland, Ohio - OK, so it's been just 109 days since the New Orleans Saints topped the Indianapolis Colts, 31-17, in the Super Bowl; and just 105 days to go before the 2010 NFL season opens with a Thursday night, Sept. 9 Minnesota Vikings at Saints game.
For the Cleveland Browns, it's been a mere 144 days since their last game that supposedly mattered, that made them 5-11, that compelling 23-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on a balmy afternoon in Browns Stadium two days after New Year's.
And it's a mere 108 days left from now to Sept. 12, when the Browns open their season at Tampa Bay against those pesky Buccaneers (3-13 last season).
But, the more things stay the same, the more they change, right? This prompts NFL.com to bring us some new power rankings.
Pat Kirwan writes the report, admitting that, "(t)rying to rank NFL teams from 1-32 is close to impossible in September, let alone in May"...
Instead, NFL.com ranks the teams in categories from Tier 1 (among the best) to Tier 5 (among the worst). Kirwan writes about the Browns:
If Jake Delhomme has something left, then Cleveland is a solid Tier-4 team. Keep in mind they won four straight to end the season last year and there is positive energy coming out of the combination of Mike Holmgren and Eric Mangini. There's just too much work to be done in this rebuild to think 2010 is the year.
Browns banter
Plain Dealer Browns coverage includes beat writer Mary Kay Cabot's report on running back James Harrison; Bill Lubinger's story on how Browns players and other athletes had to work off-season and sometimes in-season jobs in vocations such as teaching and insurance.
Same kind of gig
Mike Brown was fired by the Cavaliers as their coach over last weekend. Marla Ridenour writes for the Akron Beacon Journal that Browns coach Eric Mangini - who was fired by the New York Jets after the 2008 season - empathizes with Brown:
Browns coach Eric Mangini feels for Cavs coach Mike Brown, who was fired Sunday night despite winning 143 games (counting playoffs) in the past two years.
"I like Mike Brown," Mangini said Thursday. "I sent him a text the other day. I can relate to things he's going through. It's difficult.
"I hope things work out for him, I hope things work out for the Cavs as well. I like Danny Ferry a lot. This sometimes happens, you just ideally want to see everybody move foward in a positive way."
Your 53, my 53
On Scout.com's Orange and Brown Report, John Taylor responds to a fellow staffer's Browns roster projections with his own analysis, including at wide receiver:
COMMENT: Like most everyone, I fully expect a veteran to be added between now and the start of the regular season. Look at that group listed above; how can an addition not happen?
Plum of a passer
Milt Plum was the starting quarterback for most of the first five years of legendary back Jim Brown's career (1957-65) with the Browns. Mike Beacom writes about Plum for ProFootballWeekly.com:
There was no passer rating at the time, but football historians revealed long ago that Plum's 1960 season produced one of the greatest ratings of his or any era — a 110.4 (sixth-best all time, and one of only two all-time top-10 passer ratings posted before 1984). That year he threw 21 touchdowns and just five interceptions, completing 60.4 percent of his passes. The next highest passer rating of 1960 belonged to Philadelphia's Norm Van Brocklin (86.5).
Teams of that era threw when they had to, and most of the time passing was saved for third down and long. But the Browns were different because Paul Brown was different, and, as Plum points out, because the offense was limited in its number of downfield weapons.
"I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but in Cleveland we only had one deep threat — Ray Renfro," Plum says. At one point, Plum petitioned the coaching staff to move Mitchell to flanker and put Preston Carpenter back in the backfield, but the coaching staff would have none of it. Everyone wanted two backs, he says, not a fleet of receivers or a balanced attack. "Green Bay had (Paul) Hornung and (Jim) Taylor … that was the way to go back then. You're not going to throw the ball with two big backs."