Berea, Ohio -- The "real" Mike Holmgren era for the Browns begins on Saturday, when the team takes the field at its Berea practice facility to start training camp. Those last four wins of the 2009 season? Forget 'em. Those really were a bunch of guys fighting for jobs, including the head coach. Holmgren, who took over as team...
View full sizeBrowns President Mike Holmgren's head may be in his hands, but the coaching duties are in Eric Mangini's.Berea, Ohio -- The "real" Mike Holmgren era for the Browns begins on Saturday, when the team takes the field at its Berea practice facility to start training camp.
Those last four wins of the 2009 season? Forget 'em. Those really were a bunch of guys fighting for jobs, including the head coach.
Holmgren, who took over as team president just in time to watch those wins last year, talked to reporters about what to expect. Since we KNOW you read what Plain Dealer beat writer Tony Grossi wrote, Starting Blocks will just move ahead with a bit of Mark Podolski's version of events in the Lorain Morning Journal.
Negativity isn't part of Holmgren's vocabulary. The only topic off limits was when he was asked a win total for the Browns in 2010.
"Nice try," he said. "I'd rather not ... I'd rather not, but I believe we'll be improved."
Perhaps, just perhaps for one moment reality set in for Holmgren. In this new era of the NFL, it seems any and every team can go from worst to first in any season, and Holmgren is a big believer in quick turnarounds, pulling off the feat in Green Bay and Seattle.
Still, somewhere in the back of his mind, he has to be realistic.
This is after all a team that ranked near the bottom of the NFL in total offense and defense in 2009.
. . . This is after all a team that "upgraded" its quarterback position with a player Holmgren admitted on Wednesday is near the end of his career, that being 35-year-old Jake Delhomme and his eight touchdowns and 18 interceptions last season.
Look, SB isn't a Pollyanna. But neither do we suffer from long-term memory loss (short-term, yeah; STILL can't find those dang glasses). Not too awfully long ago Jake Delhomme was a Pro Bowl, Super Bowl quarterback. The secret to repeating that success involves a good tight end, and the Browns have a pair of decent ones in Ben Watson and Evan Moore; a good running game, which should come from Jerome Harrison and Montario Hardesty; a good line, thank you, Joe Thomas and Alex Smith; and a good corps of wideouts.
A good corps of wideouts?
Uh-oh.
Et tu, T.O.?
Adam Stokes, blogging on brownsmix.com, knows wide receiver isn't exactly a Browns strength. So he asks, why not T.O? Yeah, he's agreed to terms with Cincinnati, so is pretty much off the table. That doesn't ease Stokes' mind.
Why did the Browns not go after T.O? Is it because of the off the field issues, or even the on the sideline issues? WHO CARES! He is a good football player at a position that we really need a veteran player with some talent. Instead, now we have to play against him 2 times this year, along with Ocho and Antonio Bryant. That should be entertaining. I say you have to fight fire with fire and Cleveland always seems to fight fire with lollipops and cotton candy.
I guess in the end, maybe someday, we will realize that you need to do what all the other teams do to win a championship, obviously, because everyone else finds ways to win while we sit back and wonder, why not, Cleveland?
Adam, Adam. We buy you books and buy you books and still the lessons go unl'arned. Why not T.O., as in Terrell Owens? Because THIS incarnation of the Browns front office has some smarts. Owens has poisoned every locker room he's been in. And, just to add a cherry to the creamy meringue, he's so reliable that he missed his flight to Kentucky and the Bengals training camp today.
Of course, it may not be his fault; he might have had visa issues, coming from his world into the real one.
A quick aside
Yeah, Starting Blocks knows this is the Browns links, not the Bengals, but we just had to add this little tidbit relative to the Terrell Owens pickup, especially in light of Mr. Stokes' blog:
According to DJ Gallo's Offseason Pigskinpalooza blog, Cincy's experiment with Owens is doomed to success. And yes, we meant doomed. Here's why:
Carson Palmer will continue to struggle with accuracy and Owens and Chad Ochocinco will continue to drop passes. All of this is great news for tight end Jermaine Gresham. Between the balls Palmer accidentally throws to his area and the passes he can catch deflecting off the hands of Owens and Ochocinco, Gresham may have 200 receptions this season.
See? We TOLD you a good tight end was essential.
From The Plain Dealer OK, OK, here's what beat writer Tony Grossi had to say in today's paper based on Mike Holmgren's press conference on Wednesday: The Browns will go undefeated and for good measure, after winning the Super Bowl in Dallas, they'll head to Miami and sweep a seven-game series with the Miami Cheat.
Oh, all right. What the Browns president really said is that he's leaving the coaching in coach Mangini and his staff.
Not nearly as much fun, is it? But it's true.