Honestly.
“Quinn unimpressive.” “Browns are just as bad as we thought.” “Meltdown.”
So said headlines in area papers on this, the day after the opening Sunday of the NFL season.
Oh, boo, hoo. The Browns lost.
This is a surprise? Really? THE VIKINGS ARE BETTER! Why is that so hard to admit? Why is it that fans and media pundits alike allow themselves to pretend things are going to be better than they are?I was talking to a friend at a high school football game the other night, and asked him how many games he thought the Browns would win this season. He said five. I countered with four.
The Vikings game was not one of the four. So why are we dissecting this thing like it was a game of consequence? It wasn’t. It was a brutal job of scheduling by the NFL, throwing the Browns to the wolves like that, right out of the gate. The Vikings have the talent to take Cleveland to the woodshed, and did.
So, Brady Quinn didn’t look like Joe Montana. Neither did Joe Montana, early in his career. I lived in Texas when Troy Aikman joined the Dallas Cowboys. He, and the team, were pitiful his rookie year. In short order they won three Super Bowls, and Aikman ended up in the Hall of Fame. It didn’t happen overnight, but it did happen.
I have no idea when, or even if, the Browns will be contenders again. I was never particularly thrilled with the choice of Eric Mangini as head coach, but I’m willing to give the guy a chance. The team looked okay for a couple of quarters, not-so-okay after that. No big deal, if you ask me. Add a quarter here, and a quarter there, and who knows what might happen?
Four wins? More? Less?
Nobody knows. But the better team won on Sunday, and I wasn't particularly dismayed by it. Why is everyone else?
1 comment:
I'm not going to throw Brady under the bus. He's a much better alternative than D.A., whose stellar year was the BENEFIT of a fairly easy schedule. Brady has some raw talent and that will develop with time.
But I wouldn't go so far as to say the Vikings are the better team. In fact, I overheard Cribbs of the Browns make a similar comment. Bah! I get it that the Browns have not had success since their re-birth in the NFL, but a 5 year above average player like Cribbs making a sour grapes comment like that? That's what's separates the also-ran teams from the perennial powerhouses. That's what separates mediocre coaches from great ones. I guarantee you a Bill Bellichick would have shut that locker room talk down right away. You have to be mentally tough as well as physical. Cribbs could have stepped up and told all those young guys "we lost, but we were competitive and that is something to build on - quarter by quarter, minute by minute.
Turci out...
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