The Urgency of This Season Begins

Training camp begins Thursday, and some Dallas Cowboys players smell the urgency of the coming season. Jerry Jones has done his part by signing nearly every big-name player to a long-term deal, solidifying a dynasty if that is what this team wants to become. The talent is there. It will just take commitment.

But the biggest roadblock to success this coming season isn’t the play of Tony Romo or his love life; it isn’t team chemistry with Terrell Owens and Adam Jones playing on the same team; it isn’t an aging offensive line; and it isn’t a questionable secondary.

The chief roadblock to success is finishing games. Adding a dash of consistency to the Cowboys’ effort this coming season makes a recipe of success. Finishing the season strong will do wonders for winning a playoff game.

There will be nothing less Jerry Jones will accept because he invested so much into this team. If the Cowboys come out of the gates and win big against a good team, the Cleveland Browns, it won’t mean hardly as much if they close the season out with a win over the Eagles.

PUP List For Jurevicius

With the recent revaluations that Joe Jurevicius’s June 30th surgery will take longer to heal than originally believed, it looks as if the 11 year vet will start out the season on the Physically Unable to Perform list.  Meaning that Jurevicius could be available for the week 7 match-up at Washington.

This now opens the door for a battle for the 3rd WR spot.  Who will end up getting it, well your guess is as good as mine. But the canidates include:

FA acquisition Kevin Kasper, who is entering his 6th season after bouncing around teams the past few seasons.  3rd year underachiever Travis Wilson, who was quite possibly the biggest surprise of the team’s mini-camp, for the way he was performing so well.  Return man extraordinare, Joshua Cribbs, is also a possiblility.  The last and possibly most unlikely is rookie Paul Hubbard, who the team actually drafted to be Jurevicius’s future replacement.

Personally I would try Wilson, and Kasper as the replacement in the the pre-season first before anyone else.  With Wilson it’s about time he proves his worth, and Kasper has been around before and of the four has the most experience.  I would really hate to see Cribbs taken away from what he does best, special teams, however I also feel that there is an untapped potential for him as a WR/RB combo player with some trick plays here and there.  Finally I say we let Hubbard develop a bit before throwing him out there as our #3 but like the others he deserves a chance to get on the field and prove his worth.

Stallworth Says Road to Super Bowl Goes Through Cleveland

One of the new additions to the Browns, wide receiver Donte’ Stallworth, recently said that he turned down more money from a noncontender this past off-season.  He also said he jokes around with former teammate Randy Moss that “the road to the Super Bowl goes through Cleveland.”  Whether or not that is the case, it does not necessarily matter.  All we need as fans is a show of confidence from the team, and a player like Stallworth will be a great addition in that regard.  The Browns could use a player that talks the proverbial “smack” and walks with a, dare I say, certain swagger about them.  The match-ups with the Steelers this season should be classic.

- On another note, keep the date of July 23rd in your mind, because it is the date Christmas has been rescheduled to.  That’s right, the Browns’ training camp begins in just a few short weeks and we will be ready to dust off our writing talent here at DPD to offer up analysis and attempts at hilarity all the way through next season and beyond.

Off-Season Run Down: Part 2 (Ravens)

Coming off their worst season since 1996, the Baltimore Ravens had some big holes to fill.  Then came the news that Pro Bowl OL Jon Ogden was retiring, and a glaring need emerged. Oh and let’s not forget the Ravens uncanny ability to always need a QB.  With that in mind the Ravens drafted like such:

Round 1 - Joe Flaco, QB, Delaware (18)

Round 2 - Ray Rice, RB, Rutgers (55)

Round 3 - Tavares Gooden, OLB, Miami (FL) (71)

Tom Zbikowski, S, Norte Dame (86)

Oniel Cousins, OT, UTEP (99)

Round 4 - Marcus Smith, WR, New Mexico (106)

David Hale, OT, Weber St. (133)

Round 6 - Haruki Nakamura, S, Cincinnati  (206)

Round 7 - Justin Harper, WR, Virgina Tech (215)

Allen Patrick, RB, Oklahoma (240)

When it comes to the Browns, I feel that the Ravens are still a few years away from competing, but there’s a catch 22 to this scenario, the Ravens aren’t getting any younger and most of their defense has been around the block a couple times. Who knows when they’ll retire but players like Ray Lewis aren’t going to be around forever, and we began to see that this off-season with Ogden’s retirement.

I was a bit shocked that the Ravens actually spent a 1st round pick on a QB with former 1st rounder Kyle Boller and Heisman winner Troy Smith both on the team’s roster.  Interestingly enough it’s been Smith who performed the best at the team’s minicamp.  (On a personal note as an OSU fan also, I pray that Smith is not subjected to have to play much longer for the Ravens.)  The pick of Ray Rice I believe will really benefit the team as well, and it looks as if Cousins has also been impressive.  Aside from these three look for the others to help out on special teams and be more developmental kinds of guys, at least for this coming season.  That’s not to say that a guy like Zbikowski won’t contribute eventually, and personally I really would have liked for the Browns to have drafted him.

Draft grade - C, like I stated before I can’t for the life of me figure out why the Ravens selected Flaco, I felt that they really reached for him at 18, but I will admit the kid has all the intangibles to be a great QB in a few years; he kind of reminds me of Derek Anderson, with what he brings to the table, he’s tall, isn’t entirely mobile, and has a cannon arm, plus I know that Ozzie Newsome hated to lose Anderson a few years back.  Ray Rice should be a good back-up for Willis McGahee, while the others will be developing over the course of the season.  Though I felt that the Ravens could have better drafted by need, Newsome’s track record has proven to be right more times than not.

Season Prediction - 6-10 3rd in AFC North

Training Camp 11 Days Away

It’s that time of the year again, when every team is undefeated and has illusions of grandeur. The Browns open camp on July 23 and here’s what they have on tap. All the camps are free to the public are a summertime must for any Browns fan in the Cleveland area.

On another note, Browns single game tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10 am, at various websites and locations

News, Notes, and Some Random Things

Looks like the Browns week 1 opponent, the Dallas Cowboys, shouldn’t be thinking Super Bowl just yet. It seems that Rich Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News has the Browns as early favorites to be the AFC Champs, along with the New York Giants winning the NFC.

A few weeks ago we reported that Phil Savage, said that the Browns would not purse the likes of CB Ty Law, due to the fact that he would probably want too much money. Well we, like everyone else. may have jumped the gun on that one. Seems as though Law is suddenly saying that it is not all about the money at this point in his career and he is waiting for the best opportunity. Law has recently had conversations with both Romeo Crennel and Bill Belichick.

Braylon Edwards is going Hollywood! Well not quite yet but he has been looking at getting into the ‘biz’ after his NFL career is over. Braylon has already made a number of TV appearances on ESPN’s NFL Live, Best Damn Sports Show, and Costas Now. I just hope that it turns out better for him than it did for Jim Brown.

Cleveland’s other pro football team the Cleveland Gladiators won today, and are now moving onto the National Conference Championship game against Bon Jovi’s Philidelphia Soul on July 12, these games are actually pretty fun to attend and watch so I know what I’ll be doing this Saturday. Congrats to them and hopefully they can pull out a victory.

Note: look for part two of our AFC North preview in the next day or two (I know it’s long overdue, I have been having problems with both my computer and internet, my apologies).

Jurevicius Having Second Surgery

Joe Jurevicius has had his second surgery to “clean out” further clean out his surgically repaired knee.  This news now begs the question as to if Jurevicius will be ready in time for the Browns training camp later this month

 

This  only furthers the notion that this will probably be Jurevicius’s last season in the league, and I really hope to see him contribute to the team this season as well.  He has been a vocal leader and it’s nice to see him back home, where I know he so badly wants to win it one last time. 

Brook Lopez, “Pulling a Brady Quinn”

It seems that Brook Lopez, recent draft pick of the New Jersey Nets, has no intentions of being like Brady Quinn. He was ranked high (as high as one of the top-three picks in some mock drafts) going into the 2008 NBA Draft only to see his stock fall all the way to #10 and the Nets. Here is a video of him waiting around for his name to be called. The best part has to do with another highly-ranked draft prospect that fell into the hands of the Cleveland Browns. Hopefully, “pulling a Brady Quinn” becomes a household saying for rookies who plummet to better teams for less money. Boo-hoo. At the very least, I’m going to start using the “pulling a Brady Quinn” line.

NFL Power Rankings: June 29

My last power rankings had Indianapolis at #1 and New England at #2. In some places around the world I’m sure it is illegal to put a team that posted the second undefeated season in NFL history and a team that went a combined 18-1 at #2 in the first power rankings for next season. I [...]

As Slow As It Gets…

In addition to being a little busier than I thought I would be this week, the news for the Cleveland Browns has been at a healthy standstill.  As fans, we just have to get through this particular slow period (the slowest one of all), and it essentially becomes smooth sailing all the way through next February.

Just letting you guys know we’re still alive, maybe in hibernation, but still alive.  Part Two of the off-season rundown will be coming at you soon, so look out for it.

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