P.M. Cleveland Browns links: Others offer their two bits' worth on Cleveland's quarterback situation

Tackling the Browns' quarterback ... situation.

Cleveland, Ohio -- Some pigs are more equal than other pigs, as George Orwell famously taught us in "Animal Farm."

"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life," as Flounder learned in "Animal House."

What do these two things have in common besides the word "Animal" in the title? Nothing, on the surface. It's just that Starting Blocks, which is always looking for a reason to quote "Animal House," figured it was a nice pairing to say why the opinion of blogger/Internet analyst Dave Razzano is worth maybe a smidge more than, say, Bill the Bartender at the Drunken Clam (gratuitous "Family Guy" reference thrown in for free).

Razzano is PlaymakerMobile.com analyst and correspondent who has spent 22 years in the NFL as a scout with the San Francisco 49ers, St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals under NFL coaches including Bill Walsh, George Seifert, Chuck Knox and Dick Vermeil. And has been a part of five Super Bowls with three Super Bowl wins (49ers, 1989, 1990; Rams, 2000).

Hence the Orwell reference.

He also thinks the Browns are going to be a decent, competitive team this year, and even better beyond that.

Hence the "Animal House" reference.

I think the Browns are going to be a solid 8-8 team. They'll be very competitive. Their defense is on the rise. Getting Jake Delhomme will help them. It will help them with the efficiency of their offense. It'll help them in the locker room. I think they'll go toward more of a West Coast offense. Short passing attack. They are a little light at receiver with some young guys just starting to come into their own. They have a young running back with Montario Hardesty, who I think is going to be there bell-cow back this year. They have a really good offensive line, a seasoned quarterback, and I think the running game and short passing game will keep them in games, and I think their defense is going to win some games for them. They don't have a lot of depth in their front three -- they're playing the thirty-four (3-4) -- but their linebackers and DBs? They have some impressive linebackers and corners on that team. I think they're going to play hard, they'll play solid, they'll surprise some people, but at the end of the season I don't think they're going to contend in the division they're in. But they're going to be competitive and play a lot of close games this year.

SB really likes this. Especially the part about playing hard, in a "Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" sort of way.

On the other hand
Without light, there is no dark; without dark, there is no light. So to that end, Starting Blocks presents the calm, reasoning voice of . . . The Hater Nation. Which, as you might expect, "borrows" the Raiders logo. Here's what they had to say about this year's Browns:

How bad was the Browns quarterback situation last year?

Jake Delhomme is seen as an improvement.

And realize that Delhomme got huge, huge money to come to Cleveland.

It has been this kind of decade for the Browns. At times, you would think that Browns fans would rather the team had just left altogether and never come back.

They apparently have a plan in Cleveland, but nobody is quite sure what that plan is. Mike Holmgren was brought in as team president, and Eric Mangini survived for some reason. Well, the team did end 2009 with a four-game winning streak, but still.

. . . How sad it is for the Browns; the best case scenario is that the the team might be competitive in 2011. That is no way to live."

No, but as we discussed before, it's better than fat, drunk and stupid.

A calmer voice
Jeff Schudel of the News-Herald today began his buildup to the season with the first of a nine-part series on the team. Today's focused on – thankfully, considering the first two items here – quarterbacks.

Only time will tell how well all the changes work, but as training camp for the Browns draws near, there is no doubt the most radical shakeup made by team president Mike Holmgren in his first four months on the job was at quarterback.

Nothing else matters if Jake Delhomme in 2010 is no better than he was last season, when he went 4-7 as a starter with Carolina after taking the Panthers to the NFC championship game in 2008. His stat line of eight touchdown passes and 18 interceptions from last season will remain stuck to him like Super Glue until he shakes it off.

. . . Delhomme was clearly the best quarterback in the spring practices and minicamp, yet Mangini baffled reporters at the end of minicamp in June when he said Delhomme had not won the starting job yet. He modified that in an interview on the Dan Patrick Show earlier this week when he said: "It's really Jake's job to lose. ... I couldn't have been happier with him."

Seneca Wallace will get plenty of action in training camp. He will work with the first-team offense -- though not as much as Delhomme -- and practice in Wildcat formations, usually with Josh Cribbs in the same huddle.

Fans hoping for Colt McCoy to catch fire and emerge as the starter will have to be patient. The rookie third-round draft choice from Texas is fourth in the pecking order behind Delhomme, Wallace and Brett Ratliff.

Mangini said he might keep four quarterbacks, but that is unlikely. Mangini might do Ratliff a favor by cutting him early so Ratliff could catch on with another team.

That would have the added benefit of giving McCoy more practice time as the third quarterback.

Which begs only one question: If the primary function of the backup quarterback is to hold the clipboard, what does the fourth-string quarterback hold?

From the Plain Dealer
Plain Dealer Browns beat writer Tony Grossi continues his look at the AFC North with an analysis of the debacle that was the Pittsburgh Steelers' off-season (which could actually be subtitled "The Beginning of the End.").