Robert’s Rant – INSCMagazine

Dawg Checked! Upstart Browns Handed Reality Check In 38-7 Thumping By Steelers

Robert D. Cobb — Sun, 18 Oct 2020 23:51:41 +0000

PITTSBURGH, PA – The winners of four straight going into Heinz Field against the archrival Pittsburgh Steelers, the Cleveland Browns were handed a harsh reality check in a 38-7 drubbing.

Cleveland (4-2) went into Sunday’s game with the NFL top rushing offense, a lot of confidence in wins over the Bengals, Washington Football Team, Cowboys and the Colts.

When it comes to records going into Pittsburgh, those are all tossed out. Just as the Steelers methodically discarded the Browns to the tune of holding them to just 75 yards on 22 carries, while rushing for 129 yards on 37 carries and three touchdowns.

For the game, RB Kareem Hunt finished with 40 yards on 13 carries, while averaging 3.1 yards per carry.

The final score wasn’t nearly indicative of how badly the Browns looked and played down by the Confluence of Three Rivers, in losing their 17^th straight in the Steel City.

It was bad. As in God dreadful bad.

You had a clearly compromised Baker Mayfield—who was nursing a park of bruised ribs—getting sacked, hit and beaten by the Steelers trademark zone-blitz to the tune of being pressured on 52 percent of his drop backs before getting pulled for backup, Case Keenum.

For the day, Mayfield finished 10-18 for 119 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions—one of them being a pick-six returned for a touchdown by S Minkah Fitzpatrick.

In the case of the Steelers, Pittsburgh improved to 42-7-1 vs. Cleveland since 1994.

Findlay, OH native Ben Roethlisberger—whom the Browns passed on in the 2004 NFL Draft for Miami TE Kellen Winslow II—improved to 24-2-1, as the Steelers reached the 5-0 mark for the first time since 1978. RB James Conner rushed for 101 yards on 20 carries and one touchdown. Canadian-born rookie WR Chase Claypool continued his strong play in scoring another touchdown.

At 4-2 and losses against Baltimore and Pittsburgh, the Browns dropped to 1-2 vs. teams above .500—with the one win coming against the Colts—and also drop to 1-2 in the always rugged AFC North, with their return match vs. a dangerous Cincinnati Bengals down in The Queen City.

While the Browns are still dealing with injuries, football is a no-excuses business, whereas everyone on every team in hurt or injured. In their two losses, Cleveland has scored a total of 13 points.

Cleveland can only benefit from playing the proverbial Little Sisters Of The Poor for so long before they have to answer the bell in beating the big boys such as the Ravens and the Steelers, as they still have return dates with them as well as upcoming games vs. the Raiders (3-2) and Titans (5-0). Those games will help determine if the Browns are a legitimate playoff contender, or a pretender that will ultimately be exposed.

If Sunday’s loss was an indication, Cleveland has some work to do.

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Robert’s Rant! Browns Fans Need To Get Over OSU Homer Bias In Team’s Selection of Donovan Peoples-Jones!

Robert D. Cobb — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 22:01:40 +0000

BEREA, OH – With the 2020 Virtual NFL Draft now in the books, draft grades are out, teams, media and fans are overly-assessing and critiquing their favorite team’s picks. While the Cleveland Browns addressed a lot of key positions, the selection of former Michigan wide receiver, Donovan Peoples-Jones has rankled and drawn the ire of many die-hard Ohio State fans in the Dawg Pound.

Resisting the urge to trade down in the first—for once—and making trades later, the Bayou Browns of LSU came away with one of the best overall draft weekends in addressing key areas of need at LT, WR, LB, DB and DL. Thanks to their selection of former Alabama OT Jedrick Wills Jr., there are no more excuses for third-year starting QB Baker Mayfield as he is going into what will be a pivotal make-or-break campaign.

LSU North continued their new namesake tradition in selecting former Tiger S Grant Delpit and ILB Jacob Phillips, who is a real hitter and enforcer-type that can develop into a starter.

DL depth was also addressed with the selection of Jordan Elliott, especially with Larry Ogunjobi in the final year of his rookie contract and Sheldon Richardson a pending free agent. But the highlight of the draft—especially among the Ohio State faction of Dawg Pound Nation—is the much-maligned selection of former Peoples-Jones over the likes of K.J. Hill and Binjimen Victor.

As a lifelong Browns and Buckeyes fan and family alum, I get it my fellow Dawgs! Believe me I do. I can understand your latest fit of misplaced fake outrage of our beloved Brownies daring to select a player at a position of need from the school we all LOVE to hate. I mean, there are ONE. TWO. THREE. FOUR. FIVE former Bayou Bengals currently on the roster in the form of OBJ, Juice and now Delpit and Phillips over the likes of Malik Harrison, Hill and Victor.

How dare they!

I’m gonna call Browns customer service now and cancel my season tickets and demand they select more players from THE Ohio State University, God dammit! And while I’m at it, I’m also going to go on my Facebook and post, rant and try to create a stupid boycott of Michigan-based companies such as General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Little Caesar’s and Meijer in an effort to channel my inner and spiteful Woody Hayes!

F&%k the Browns! I’ll never cheer for a Wolverine on my team! We don’t give a damn about the whole state of Michigan here in Ohio, right?!?

Since I’m one of you, I’m willing to risk my permanent Browns and Buckeyes fandom card being revoked in snitching our most inner thoughts aloud in that, the PERFECT dream scenario of OSU homers is that Paul Brown—who founded the team—was never fired—as he shouldn’t have!—is the patriarch of the franchise and that it stays within the Brown family with Paul Brown III is the principle owner, Urban Meyer is—by some stroke of alternate reality—the Executive Vice president of Football Operations and that current Buckeyes head coach, Ryan Day is the head coach instead of the Ivy League elitist nerd currently in Berea in Kevin Stefanski.

And in the deepest, darkest reaches of a every OSU homer’s perfect scarlet-gray colored Browns universe, we’d draft NOTHING but Buckeyes such as WR Santonio Holmes and Michael Thomas, LB’s Mike Vrabel and James Carpenter, DE John Simon, RB Ezekiel Elliott and QB Cardale Jones to help form the foundation of our return to greatness!

Screw Baker and his flag-planting punk a$#, right!

We are all homers and cheer proudly, loudly and vocally for those that GET us. Again, I completely get it, but to see the proverbial meltdown across social media following the selection of DPJ just because he went to That School Up North is not only childish and sad, but utterly pathetic and petty.

I can understand that the pick may have triggered some PTSD flashbacks of Braylon Edwards, Derrick Alexander and most recently Jabrill Peppers, but last time I check, what school did Leroy Hoard and Steve Everitt come out of again?

Recently, I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out on Twitter and seeing all the OSU/Browns honks and wannabe GM’s try to make their argument—and pray futilely to the football gods—that Cleveland would select Hill, and one of the arguments that a long-time buddy of mine tried to make with me was that Hill had better tape than DPJ and that because he’s a Wolverine that he can never root for him as a member of the Browns.

My rebuttal to that is; if both Hill and Victor had “better tape” then why were they drafted later and not before DPJ?

Again, I can understand the passion of college football, and the rivalry and long-standing Michigan-Ohio anthemia between the two states runs deep, I mean we fought over f%$#ing Toledo for crying out loud back in 1835, but such deep-rooted homerism and bias rooted on Saturdays has no business carrying over to Sundays.

My long-standing viewpoint is this, I don’t care what school you play for or come from, as long as you produce and perform on Sunday, that is all I care about.

While I’m hopeful that such bias will change towards where a player played in college will change, it’s doubtful that some people ever graduate and let go of old grudges. Deep down inside of all of us, we are like that jingle from the old Toys R’ Us kid and never wanting to grow up

Bottom line is this, DPJ is one of US now, like it or not, and landing who was once the top WR prospect in the country in 2017–that Ohio State tried to recruit–out of the same Detroit-area powerhouse high school (Cass Tech) that produced a fellow Buckeye—and current backup to Zeke down in Big D in RB Mike Weber Jr.—in the sixth round of arguably the deepest WR draft since 2004 says something.

While Rashard Higgins recently re-signed with the Browns for one year and close to $1 million, the Browns lacked depth and got great value in addressing a glaring need. Isn’t that what was most important?

Aside from the recent belly-aching over the uniforms, throwing a tantrum over where someone played college football at should be the last of our worries come this fall.

The post Robert’s Rant! Browns Fans Need To Get Over OSU Homer Bias In Team’s Selection of Donovan Peoples-Jones! appeared first on INSCMagazine.

Robert’s Rant! Despite 21-18 Loss To Steelers, Cleveland Browns QB DeShone Kizer Offers Sense of Promise

Robert D. Cobb — Mon, 11 Sep 2017 10:00:55 +0000

They say that there are no moral victories in sports. While the Cleveland Browns suffered another loss to their hated turnpike rivals from the Steel City, one cannot help but be impressed with rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer and his performance on Sunday.

Kizer, a wide-eyed 21-year-old rookie out of Notre Dame, drafted 52nd overall in the 2017 NFL Draft completed 22-of-30 passes for 220 yards, one passing and rushing touchdown against what has always been one of the NFL’s most stout defenses.

Yes. There are growing pains such as holding the ball too long, as he would get sacked seven times, but other than that, Kizer showed that he isn’t afraid to push the ball downfield and challenge a defense.

Kizer looked like someone growing into his role as a possible franchise savior in how he showed a sense of fearlessness and confidence, despite playing in his first-ever NFL game for his boyhood favorite team.

Cleveland NEEDS a quarterback, someone who can take the mantle of being THE guy, and after the previous 26 have failed, hopefully the Browns may have found something in QB No.27 in Kizer.

What I liked the most about Kizer is his unshakeable sense of confidence in taking chances, instead of checking it down on short routes that lead to nowhere. As a Browns fan, I cannot begin to tell you how many times that the Browns would call a four-yard route on a third and six.

Like what the heck!

Kizer pushes the ball PAST the sticks, instead of throwing just short of them.

It’s nice to see that he has some great chemistry with second-year wideout, Corey Coleman, and that tight end Seth DeValve is quickly earning his trust as a safety valve as well. What Kizer needs to improve upon—and I’m sure that head coach Hue Jackson will get with him on—is learning to either throw the ball away if no one is open, or hit your checkdowns, if nothing deep or intermediate is there.

Aside from his physical attributes, Kizer just may be the guy that Cleveland has been searching for since 1999. Yes, it’s only one game. Yes, it’s another loss to the Steelers, in a game that many expected to be another blowout, but this 2017 Browns team doesn’t appear to be the same ol’ Browns, as the may have finally stumbled upon something special in the kid from Toledo.

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Robert’s Rant: Despite Taking WR Corey Coleman, Browns Fans Far From Happy

Robert D. Cobb — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 18:07:50 +0000

After finally trading back twice in the first round from No.2 to No.8 and finally at No.15 and selecting former Baylor wideout Corey Coleman, fans of the Cleveland Browns are far from happy.

Going into the draft, one of the BIGGEST needs—other than QB—was wide receiver. And for months, the buildup here in the Cleveland area was that besides finally identifying QB No.26, finding a playmaker at the WR position who could stretch the field and be a legit home run threat every time he touched the ball, was key.

As I woke up today to see fellow Dawgs all over social media howling, complaining, venting and being outwardly angry at the selection of Coleman, you’d swear that the Cuyahoga River was on fire again.

I mean there is nothing like quite like seeing your Facebook feed blowing up by whiny Browns fans complaining over the team FINALLY drafting a WR in the first round.

Perhaps some are still feeling a bit burned by the antics of former first-rounder Braylon “Scissorhands” Edwards, and that school up north that he attended, but when it comes to taking a WR in the first round, the Browns—most notably former GM Ray Farmer—treated the position like it was a SEC/TTUN-made virus.

After scouring thru the many Browns Facebook fan pages I belong to, below is some of the paraphrased comments I saw in regards to the Coleman pick

“He’s too short”
“He can’t run routes”
“We didn’t trade up for a QB”
“We didn’t take an Olineman”
“We didn’t take Treadwell/Doctson”

To answer those, the Dawgfather will educate y’all RIGHT now!

Coleman is a solid 5’11, 194-pound dynamo who ran a 4.39 in the 40-yard dash with a vertical of 40.5’ and scored 20 TD’s. In today’s NFL, you need smaller, quicker and explosive playmakers like New York Giants superstar Odell Beckham Jr., whom he has similar measurable.

In case you are wondering who the BEST all-around player in the NFL is today? It would be none other than Antonio Brown of the Steelers!

You know how tall he is? 5’10! You know what round he was picked in?

The sixth! 195th overall out of Central Michigan. You’re welcome!

It BOGGLES my mind how fellow Browns fans look for the negative in everything. Whether it is draft day, game day or quarterback controversies, as sorry and vanilla as the Browns have been to stomach, if there is one think that keeps fans coming back is the drama of complaining and whining about it every day.

The point is that the Browns finally gets a playmaker that will put Cleveland’s sorry excuse of a franchise in the same neighborhood of having a Brown/Beckham-like type of player, but a portion of the Dawg Pound is collective crying over not reaching for a mediocre QB such as Jared Goff or Carson Wentz, or the ultimate homer wet dream of Joey Bosa or Ezekiel Elliott?

Get the you-know-what out of here!

Yes, Coleman is raw, but can be coached up by one of the best WR coaches today in the Browns’ own Al Saunders. Yes, we didn’t take a QB, but Michigan State’s Connor Cook, Penn State’s Christian Hackenberg, Stanford’s Kevin Hogan–and yes, the ULTIMATE homer dream fantasy—in Buckeyes title hero Cardale Jones are still on the board.

In all honestly, if Cleveland doesn’t take Cook at No.32 today, then don’t be shocked if the Browns take a flyer on Hogan out of Stanford in the third round as a developmental project, due to the Stanford connection of Browns current associate head coach—and former Cardinal offensive coordinator—Pep Hamilton.

This draft is DEEP for both OL and DL, why REACH for a lineman when an equally good one can be had in later rounds? It is this type of elementary school board-scratching and collective moaning from such a vocal and passionate fan base as Cleveland’s that makes you shake your head in feeling a sense of embarrassment.

Cleveland sports fans and their complaining put Philadelphia Eagles and New York Jets fans to shame on most days. Seriously.

Name me the amount of games that the much ballyhooed offensive line “Big Three” of Joe Thomas, Alex Mack and Mitchell Schwartz actually won for the Browns.

I’ll wait.

While we are on this topic, I say something that few in Cleveland will actually say openly.

Thomas is overrated, past his prime and should have been traded to Denver last year, or to a OL-hungry team this year. It annoys me to see the amount of fan love for a left tackle who has visually lost a step and isn’t getting any younger, yet he is propped up as if he is Canton-bound?

Only in Cleveland.

Truth be told, I wanted Josh Doctson over Laquon Treadwell to be honest, but the Browns have lacked a vertical home run threat for so long that when Coleman—the best player available on their draft board at No.15 was sitting there—you had to take him! For once it is refreshing to see that we have a competent front office in Sashi Brown and Paul DePodesta who actually have a clue in getting players, and isn’t afraid of outside reaction.

What Coleman lacks in ideal height for some, he makes up for in big plays, and for once it is nice to see the Browns on the winning side in a draft-day trade down for a change. This front office didn’t try to get too cute and outsmart everyone in taking some average or mediocre prospect for once, they actually landed the top prospect at his position in Coleman in the entire draft, and still landed extra picks to really refresh their otherwise depleted roster.

And if you still don’t like it, light the Cuyahoga on fire again or go root for Pittsburgh!

#DawgfatherOut

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