Browns Need A Change
Nov 7, 2008
Author: DawgBones.com

In the span of five days the Cleveland Browns 2008 season went from hopeful to desperate to embarrassing. Thursday night the Cleveland Browns defense squandered away a 13 point 3rd quarter lead and yielded nearly 550 yards to the Denver Broncos in losing 34-30. The Browns defense blew a 14 point 3rd quarter lead just five days earlier to the Baltimore Ravens and combined the two losses have raised even bigger questions about this Cleveland Browns team.

The biggest question now is how long do the Browns stay with current head coach Romeo Crennel? Crennel's pedigree says he is a defensive minded coach, hell he has five Super Bowl rings, right? Then how in the world can his defense totally collapse the way it has the past two weeks? After last season the club parted ways with then defensive coordinator Todd Grantham. It was said that his defense was too complex and players were experiencing paralysis by analysis.

Under rookie defensive coordinator Mel Tucker things have been simplified, but the overall result is worse. Through 9 games this season the team has only given up 194 points, but 71 of those points have come in the last 2 weeks in games the Browns needed desperately.

Now let us take a closer look at Crennel's record through his three plus years as the Browns head coach. Crennel is a woeful 23-34 and a pitiful 5-17 against AFC North opponents. His record in the AFC North is reason enough to send him packing. If you can't win in your own division you will never be a playoff team. The teams record at home under Crennel is 14-15, so much for a home field advantage.

As for the state of the team under Crennel? This year by far has been the most tumultuous under his reign. Players speaking out in the media, others refusing to address the media and a players coach who has no control over his players. This in and of itself should be enough to send Crennel packing.

All of this over shadows the efforts of the Browns offense and namely QB Brady Quinn Thursday night. Quinn, in his first NFL start, completed 66% of his passes for 239 yards, two touchdowns and a QB passer rating of 104.4. All of this though was for naught as untimely turnovers, questionable play calling and a piss poor defense cost him a win in his debut.

Offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski also continues to struggle with play calling when the team is trying to come from behind. After going down 34-30 the Browns got the ball on their own 33 yard line with 1:14 to play and two timeouts. The Browns quickly got nine yards on their first play from scrimmage when Quinn hit TE Kellen Winslow II for his 10th catch of the night. With needing only one yard, to get a new series of downs and continue your march toward a game winning score, Chudzinski called three straight passes and all three fell to the ground incomplete ending any chance for the Browns to win the game.

With the playoffs out of reach and three losing season in four as a head coach there is no reason to keep Crennel. We would love to see him fired today, but more than likely that won't happen until after this year. For all those coached out there that are available, please get your resumes ready, Randy Lerner may be calling you soon.

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