Football thoughts.

Despite the Browns winning, I have to admit by the end of Sunday, I felt more or less in the “meh” mode. Part of this is because of the results of other games (more on that in a moment), but also because despite the win by the Browns, there were some things that sapped away some of the feel-good:

• Brady Quinn continues to be unimpressive as a passer. The playcalling was run-heavy, true, but his stats were still pretty bland. Barely acceptable, really, when you throw in those 2 interception. Even if the Browns win out the rest of their games, despite Quinn’s ability to effectively manage the offense, he’s going to have to show better accuracy on his passes.
• What is with the defense? Some games they play lights-out, and that here, like back in Detroit, they just give up big plays way too easily. At least this time the last second pass into the end zone was incomplete and didn’t draw a flag.
• Let’s face it: after beating the Steelers for the first time in 12 tries, the rest of the season is a bit anti-climatic.
• Cribbs continued excellence is undermined by the knowledge that the organization may very well be screwing him over by denying to rework his contract again; if a new regime comes in soon, it can decide to put contract negotiations on hold until 2012, and treating Cribbs like that after he has been the good soldier is pretty bad, and will likely start the new regime off on a very bad foot, both with the public as well as in the locker room.
• And speaking of that, I’m worried that the Holgrem deal might turn into yet another disaster if, in fact, Holgrem decides that he not only wants to have control of the personnel decisions, but also get back into coaching and decides to “do it all” by himself. We’ve seen that happen with him in Seattle as well as with Butch Davis in Cleveland, and in both cases it showed that it never worked. After the rush to hire Mangini, I can’t shake the feeling that Lerner has rushed rushed into another hire with Holgrem (assuming he takes the job), with the same results waiting.

Also, as previously mentioned, the rest of the games on Sunday didn’t make me feel all that spiffy:

• The Ravens are now in line for the playoffs, thanks to everyone else that was fighting for a spot losing. The sked the Ravens have also makes it unlikely that they will be displaced unless they lay an egg in the next two games and the other teams in contention win out.
• On the other hand, I have to admit that I was gratified to see that my pre-season prediction of the Bears implosion with Culter pan out. I felt that the media had been making way too big of a deal on Culter’s ability, and he has not failed to disappoint me. Let’s put this in perspective: the Bears were set at QB early on. The Browns were not, even up to the Bye Week. Yet, the Bears only have 2 more wins than the Browns. And maybe it’s not fair to put all of the blame on Cutler, but I just felt that he was being overhyped, and thus far, I’ve been proved right.
• The Packers lost, and the Steelers won, on a ridiculously amazing last second play. The Pack are still comfortably in place for the playoffs, but that was a game they should have won. Especially when you consider that on that last drive, a sack and an interception were nullified by penalties. As for the Steelers, I’d like to see them miss the playoffs, as well. So the hope is that the Steelers win next week to drop the Ravens, then both lose their last game while the Dolphins, Jags, and/or Broncos win out to secure wildcards.
• Speaking of the Broncos, their loss puts them behind the 8 ball, and given that it was against the Raiders — with Russell leading the final drive, no less — this puts them in a tough spot to get a wildcard berth, crowding out any other AFC North teams. Additionally, the Raiders, like the Browns, have been playing better football down the stretch, so this upcoming matchup between the two is honestly too tough to call.
• The Bengals lost, which was sad not just due to their grieving over Chris Henry, but also because this means that they haven’t secured that AFC North crown yet. And with the Ravens just 2 games back (the Bengals have the tie-breaker) if the Bengals don’t win any more games, they can lose the crown to the Ravens. At least Chad got a touchdown to dedicate to Henry.
• On the bright side, the Jets lost, and Sanchez continues to struggle as a first-year QB. These days, I don’t hear anyone bemoaning the fact that the Browns didn’t draft him with the 5th overall pick. Edwards had a great touchdown catch, so he’s probably happy about that, but the question is with just two games left to play, can he do enough to inflate his stock price after his struggles earlier this year?
• Oh, and also, the Vikings lost. Doesn’t make much of a difference as they cliched the division with the Packers lost, but what “worries” a number of people is how lackluster the team played, esp. considering they were facing a back-up QB and the sub .500 Panthers. While I doubt it, here’s hoping that this is the start of a historic collapse with losses down the stretch and then an epic failure in their first playoff game. And, again, this is just because with the way that Childress jerked around the QBs and the team in his naked pusuit of Favre, I really don’t think this guy deserves to win.