Miami Dolphins Coach Nick Saban got into some trouble last week when he
openly said that wins and losses, and game day decisions don’t mean a thing this
year, because the whole purpose of this, his first season, is to see which
players will be part of the Dolphins future.
I am sure that Dolphin season ticket holders might not have liked hearing
that, but they probably wouldn’t like hearing lies either. Saban was absolutely
correct in his statements, and they should hold true for the Cleveland Browns,
also, although no one in a position of authority would admit it.
On one hand, it is clear that Browns coach Romeo Crennel wants to win more
games than the Browns won last year, four, which was tied after the first ten
games of the season. That was a realistic goal, which will probably be met,
but, more probably, is the reason that Trent Dilfer is still the starting
quarterback of this team.
On the other hand, the Browns know they can’t compete right now with the
Bengals or Steelers in their division. They need to find a core of players on
both sides of the ball who will be able to compete in the next year or two, and
this year’s final record has nothing to do with that attempt. In fact, in the
long run, it might be better that the Browns current record of 4-7 is not
reversed, so the front office is not deceived about how far they have to go.
That being said, I think it is fair to bring up some criticism about an area
of concern. We all knew that there would be growing pains with a new head coach
and new offensive coordinator, along with new players at key offensive
positions, Dilfer, Reuben Droughns, and Braylon Edwards. That may explain some
of the mis-communications on the field, but it doesn’t explain a couple of major
mis-communications off the field.
There is no excuse for the way the first half ended in the Pittsburgh game a
couple of weeks ago. After a change of possession at what appeared to be the
end of the half, one second was put back on the game clock, with the Browns
having the ball on their own 48 yard line. Much of the team was already in the
tunnel on the way to the locker room. The Browns, despite having three timeouts
left, ran a play without two of their starting linemen, and a total mixup in the
huddle. The goal line is reachable on a Hail Mary pass from 52 yards away, but
the Browns let the opportunity slip away. A timeout HAD to be called in that
situation.
There is also no excuse for what happened in the last 42 seconds of Sunday’s
loss to the Minnesota Vikings. After a first down at the Vikings 5 yard line,
with one timeout left, the Browns, after two illegal procedure penalties against
wide receivers, managed to only get off one play, an incomplete pass, prior to
settling for a Phil Dawson field goal. As a result, the Browns trailed at the
half, 10-3, instead of, possibly, 10-7.
The blame goes all around, but, in order, it goes to Crennel, Offensive
Coordinator Maurice Carthon, and, finally, QB Trent Dilfer.
The team practices the two-minute drill all of the time. There HAS to be a
specific play to run from the five-yard line, unless the coach wants the ball to
be spiked. If nothing else, the QB can come up to the line of scrimmage and
scream out a play. In the confusion, the offense could dare the defense to stop
them. And, if they did, they could have used their last timeout (unless there
was an incompleted pass to stop the clock), and take a couple of shots into the
end zone.
Finally, if Dilfer saw ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ on the sideline, or didn’t
get a play called into his helmet, he should have taken over and spiked the ball
into the ground, giving time for everyone to gather their thoughts. With all of
the possibilities that could have taken place, the one that did take place was
probably the worst possible scenario, other than allowing the clock to totally
run out.
Watching the coaching staff and players respond to pressure situations this
year is more important than wins or losses right now. Nick Saban was right, and
Romeo Crennel probably would agree. The Browns front office has some evaluating
to do in the off-season, but among the questions that need to be asked during
the evaluation are ones that involve the lack of clock management in the two
cases illustrated above. That is more fixable than the ability to find quality
players for this team in the future.
‘More Sports & Les Levine’ can be seen M-F from 6-7pm and 11pm-midnight on
Adelphia Channel 15 in northeast Ohio. E-mail
msandll@aol.com or www.leslevine.com