Easy to like Francona

You know it’s bad when the manager of a baseball team is the face of the franchise.

But that’s exactly the situation in Cleveland after Terry Francona accepted the Indians’ invitation to manage their team for the next four years.

From a perception standpoint, be it local or national, Francona will be the man until the club can develop the kind of player or players who can grab the spotlight from him.

It’s not his fault. After all, he arrives in Cleveland as one of the most decorated and beloved managers in the history of the Boston Red Sox. In giving Red Sox fans two World Series championships, he became an icon. His departure from Boston was less than cordial, but nothing lasts forever.

Following his introductory news conference in Cleveland a few days ago, it is easy to see why the Indians liked him and wanted him. He has a commanding presence that can, at times, be disarming and charming at the same time.

The new Tribe skipper does not lack from confidence. Oh no. He’s out there. There is not a shy bone in his body.

And the Indians’ brass hopes some of that confidence, some of that brashness, some of that personality rubs off on the players. Oftentimes, the trickle-down theory works.

Francona most likely will be the exact opposite of his predecessor. Too often, it seemed as though the Indians didn’t play hard for Manny Acta, whose inability to stop a runaway train ultimately cost him his job.

The first words out of Francona’s mouth after General Manager Chris Antonetti introduced him provided an early clue as to what the next four years are going to be like.

Antonetti spoke glowingly of his new manager’s accomplishments. Enough to make the man blush. Instead, he rose and said, “After that introduction, I don’t think I got enough money.”

And for the next roughly 28 minutes, he looked relaxed and seemed to have a lot of fun working with his new media friends in Cleveland.

He made it very clear as to why he chose to accept this job. “The two main reasons I’m here today are Chris (Antonetti) and Mark (team President Mark Shapiro),” he said.

“I wouldn’t have interviewed here if I didn’t think it was the right thing to do. A large part of the allure was my relationship with the people here. There was no introductory process. When Chris called, I knew it was the right thing to do.”

Taking this job was a no-brainer, he said. “Negotiating (the deal) took about 10 minutes,” he revealed. “(Four years) was as much as they would give me.”

After parrying a few questions about the strengths and weaknesses of the roster, Francona made it clear he’s not beginning his glide toward retirement. “I didn’t come here to go to pasture,” he said. “I’m not afraid of a challenge, either here or at ESPN.”

Spending the past baseball season as an analyst at ESPN has proved therapeutic for Francona and only fed his desire to get back into the dugout.

When it was suggested he had a much larger payroll with which to work in Boston, he rebutted, “A large payroll does not guarantee success. It makes you an analyst.”  How can you not like a man who pokes fun at himself?

What about the difference in money the two teams spent on their rosters? The Red Sox’s payroll last season hit $160 million before the late-season purge, while the Indians checked in at $66.5 million.

“I didn’t ask (Indians) ownership to go out and spend money,” Francona said. “We’ll work together and figure out how to handle the challenges.”

And there will plenty of those come next spring training in Goodyear, Ariz. From the lack of power to the highly questionable starting pitching to the suspect defense to the losing atmosphere that has permeated the clubhouse for the last several seasons.

The new manager faces a substantial task. He no longer can write names like David Ortiz or Manny Ramirez or Dustin Pedroia or Kevin Youkilis on his lineup card. In Boston, he had an abundance of talent.  All he had to do was make certain his players were happy and enjoying themselves.

The best part of taking over the Indians is there is only one direction it can head after the stinker (68-94) they put up in 2012. Finishing at .500 in 2013 would be considered a major accomplishment.

One thing is certain: With Francona now running the dugout, the Indians will not wear the forlorn look that dogged them as a team in the last half of this past season. He seems to be the kind of manager who will make certain every man is held accountable for his actions.

He said his one of his first goals will be to forge an identity for the Indians. “My job is to get the most out of every player,” he said in somewhat clichéd fashion.”

He later went on to say he did not want to be “a rental manager. I want to be part of the solution. I want to stick around.”

All nice words spoken with sincere confidence. But unless Francona is given the bullets to place in his gun, he might as well keep his finger away from the trigger because the only sound he’ll hear if he pulls it is a click.

It is now incumbent upon Antonetti to change the culture of this team to fit the personality of the man he has chosen to take it in a new direction. If he wants to justify hiring a high profile guy like Francona, he has to go out and back it up with sound moves. Radical changes need to be made.

Cleveland baseball has a chance to make a comeback. The first step has been taken with the hiring of Francona.

Good choice. Surprise choice (that he even wanted the job). And, as it turned out, the only choice.

Art Modell as I knew him

(This story appears in the December 2012 issue of Fox Sports NEXT’s Orange and Brown Report.)

When news broke early on the morning of Sept. 6 that Art Modell had passed away at the age of 87 in Baltimore, I did not celebrate.

Why not? After all, the man committed the most egregious, unconscionable act in Cleveland sports history when he uprooted his Cleveland Browns and moved them to Baltimore following the 1995 season.

He was the owner who was on record as saying he would never move the franchise. And then he did. Ripped it right away.

He was the owner who said, “I had no choice.” And yet he did, but chose to ignore it for selfish reasons.

Modell was the owner who ingratiated himself to an adoring community of fans. And then reached in and tore out their hearts.

The Cleveland Browns, as much a part of the Cleveland fabric as the Terminal Tower and Cleveland Orchestra, moved to another city in one of the most stunning moves ever permitted by the National Football League.

Cleveland did nothing to deserve such shabby treatment. For years, fans poured out to watch the Browns in the city’s antiquated stadium. Sellouts were commonplace.

Despite some lean years on the field, turnstiles spun furiously on a Browns Sunday. It was the place to be seen. Even in bad weather, the joint sold out.

And then he did the unthinkable. So why not celebrate his passing? Why not throw a parade down Euclid Ave.?

To most fans of the team, the end could not have come soon enough for Modell, easily the most hated man in Cleveland sports history. It’s a title that will never be held by anyone else.

Worry not, LeBron, your infamous legacy is tucked away safely and permanently in the second slot. You did not move an entire team. You just moved yourself.

The hatred of Modell is still there. Any mention of is name in a conversation elicits a visceral reaction that devolves from mean to nasty to downright profane. There is no gray area.

Sure, there are some Browns fans, few in number, who have finally forgiven him after all these years. Time to move on, they say. A majority says it will never be time to move on considering what he did.

He asked for a new stadium when baseball threatened to pull out of Cleveland unless a new ballpark was built. The city wanted to build another large stadium to house both teams. But Modell said the only way he would agree to such a move was if he was the landlord.

Indians owner Dick Jacobs, who had enough of Modell’s landlord ways at the old stadium, said no and Jacobs Field was born. That’s when the Browns owner started thinking of leaving town, setting in motion the move of betrayal.

Modell, who could have sold his team to the late Al Lerner but didn’t because he wanted to keep it in his family, cemented his legacy the day he began betraying the city that enabled him to become one of the most famous men in the sports world. He became an immediate villain.

But here is where it changes somewhat for me.

I knew Art Modell. I knew him mostly on the professional level and for the better part of his nearly 35 years in Cleveland, I had a great amount of respect for him. He gave me no reason not to like him.

As far as I could tell, he treated everyone with respect unless, of course, they crossed him. But isn’t everyone like that when they’re done dirty?

When I had a weekend sports talk show on the radio in the 1980s and Art bought the station I worked at, I approached him because I was the type of guy who had no problem criticizing local teams. I needed to know how he felt about that.

Before Art bought the station, I had free rein with that criticism. I asked him if that would be a problem now that he owned the station and might be sensitive to any criticism of his team.

To my surprise, he basically told me to be myself. If there were any problems, he said, we would discuss them. That discussion never took place despite some heavy bombardment. Deserved, of course. He was hands off.

I always admired him because of where he started in Cleveland and where he eventually wound up. Arriving in 1961 from Brooklyn, N.Y., as a brash, 36-year-old high school dropout, he wasted little time in becoming a popular figure around town.

Art was a schmoozer. He loved being around people. He loved telling stories. He loved being the center of attention. He treasured his popularity. But above all, he loved most being owner of the Cleveland Browns.

Despite a few naysayers who said he would become a carpetbagger, fans embraced him in the early days. Many of those who castigate and vilify him today were around back then and remember the firing of the legendary Paul Brown in the winter of 1962.

When the Browns won the NFL championship against Baltimore in 1964, Art could have run for mayor and won in a landslide. And this, fans thought at the time, was just the beginning.

There was nothing people didn’t like about him. He gave to – and became heavily involved with – numerous local charities. He also was one of the most eligible bachelors in town.

His involvement in the community also led him to be chosen foreman of the Cuyahoga County grand jury for one year.

With his background as a television producer in New York, he knew getting around meant spreading the word about the Cleveland Browns. He was first and foremost a salesman. And with his sense of humor, he was quite successful.

He became one of the city’s glitterati. Many nights, he could be found at the Theatrical Grill on Short Vincent Ave. between E. 9^th and E. 6^th Streets in downtown Cleveland. It was a gathering spot for entertainment and sports figures on almost a nightly basis.

It was not uncommon to see Modell and the late George Steinbrenner sitting at the same table at the Theatrical when the New York Yankees were in town.

In his 35 years as a Clevelander, he went from an apartment on the swanky Gold Coast on the near west side of Cleveland to a beautiful mansion in tony Waite Hill. He gave up his bachelor status to marry television actress Patricia Breslin.

But Modell’s Cleveland world came tumbling down on that early November Monday in 1995 when news broke that the team was going to leave town after the season.

I’ll never forget the anger I felt that same afternoon in the parking lot of radio station WKNR in Broadview heights. When the news broke, we were summoned to the station to determine how to handle it.

The first person I saw was the late Geoff Sindelar and recalled yelling to him, “That goddamn son of a bitch!” The anger raged inside me. How could he?

Will I ever forget what Modell did to the city I love? Never. Too many bad memories, especially those last few weeks of the 1995 season when the city went into mourning when it became obvious nothing could be done to save the franchise.

I’ll never forget that last home game against Cincinnati in the old Municipal Stadium on Dec. 17, 1995. The surreal feeling I had as I watched the Browns beat the Bengals, 26-10. All the advertising signs were blacked out, giving the Stadium an eerie look even though the sun shone brightly.

The possibility that this was going to be the last professional football game in Cleveland nagged at me as fans systematically tore out the seats in the stands and threw them onto the field.

Those who praise him now that he’s gone call him an innovator. In many ways, he was. Most notable were the exhibition football doubleheaders he gave birth to in the 1970s and Monday Night Football. Of course, his Browns were on the inaugural MNF telecast.

He helped shape the image and eventual overwhelming popularity of the NFL when he and Commissioner Pete Rozelle began a romance with television in the mid-1960s. Rozelle leaned on Modell’s expertise in the TV industry to help forge what today is a multi billion dollar industry. Modell, the high school dropout, had made it.

He still has his legions of supporters who believe he belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his numerous contributions. And there are just as many fans who abhor the very thought of this traitor’s bust in the shrine.

Will I ever forgive him? Again, never.

But now that he’s gone, I can honestly say I will still hold on to those fond memories of the man. Those can never be erased.

But I can never forget, nor forgive, him for the one mistake that changed my opinion of him forever. In an instant, all the good he did for those 35 years was wiped away by a single unconscionable act of stupidity.

That will never change.

Some day, perhaps a generation or two from now, the name of Art Modell in Cleveland will elicit nothing more than shoulder shrugs and curious looks as if to say, “Who’s Art Modell?”

His infamous legacy will slowly, but very surely, fade and perish.

Monday leftovers

It’s time for Pat Shurmur to look in a mirror and make a confession. “I’m not a very good head coach,” he should say and then add, “shame on me for crapping all over my quarterback.”

The nerve the Browns’ head coach displayed Sunday following his club’s 41-27 loss to the New York Giants almost defies description. Nothing, it seems, sticks to him. He is the Teflon coach.

The height of his gall blasted through in his post-game news conference when he pointed a finger of blame in the wrong direction when referring to a specific pass his quarterback threw at what could be considered an important juncture of the game.

With about four minutes left in the first half, the Browns owned a 17-10 lead and had the ball at the New York 25-yard line. Trent Richardson has just run nine yards on consecutive plays to bring up a third-and-1.

Shurmur, the genius, then made two unbelievably idiotic moves. We’re skipping bad here and going right to worse, which was removing Richardson from the game. Worser was dialing up a pass.

That’s right, a pass on third and very short when his main running back had amassed 56 yards on the ground to that point. Where was his coaching staff to say, “Hey, coach, that’s pretty stupid, don’tcha think?”

The Giants had all kinds of problems dealing with Richardson up to that point. Only one negative running play in 11 attempts. And yet, he was forced to witness this mistake from the bench, where all he could do is wonder just why the Browns made him the third overall pick in the National Football League’s college draft.

So, Shurmur, the genius, showed no confidence whatsoever in his offensive line and called for a Brandon Weeden rollout, pass which turned into a Giants’ interception when the rookie quarterback overthrew Josh Gordon.

So instead of the Browns taking a 20-10 lead on a presumed Phil Dawson field goal, the Giants instead turned that pick into a touchdown and evened the score at 17-17. One Joshua Cribbs fumbled kickoff return and two plays later, the Giants scored again and took a lead they never relinquished.

Following the game, Shurmur, the genius, was asked about that third-down play. His answer was stupefying.

“It was a bad throw,” he said. “You don’t throw an interception on third-and-1. We’re in the part of the field where you want to do the right thing with the football.

“It was a bad decision (by Weeden) and a nice play by the (New York) defense. I don’t care if you’re a rookie and I don’t care if you’ve been in the league a long time. You don’t do that. And I think we need to get off this rookie kick. We’ve got to play ball.”

But why a pass when the running game wasn’t broken? “You could run it or you can throw it, right?” said the genius, snarkily. “We chose to throw it there.”

“We” chose to throw it? Or “I” chose to throw it? With total disregard to his culpability in the play, the genius failed to take any responsibility and placed the blame fully on his rookie quarterback.

And that tells you all you need to know about Pat Shurmur, who has no business being a head coach, let alone call plays for the offense. He is totally unqualified for one and marginally qualified for the other.

He should have at least defended his quarterback, whose professional resume is all of five games. Weeden is still an NFL baby when it comes to quarterbacking a team. And no one knows that better than Shurmur.

As it turns out, Shurmur, not his quarterback, made the bad decision. It wasn’t just bad; it was awful. Mind numbing. Absolutely perplexing.

The guy finds it difficult to take responsibility and pawns the damage off on his unsuspecting rookie quarterback. What chutzpah.

Is nothing his fault? The Browns are 0-5. Surely, they had a lot of help from their head coach along the way in getting there.

Weeden, the good soldier, backed up his coach. ”Not anymore,” he said when the rookie reference was brought up. ”Unfortunately, those (excuses) are long gone. I’ve played five games and now, it’s a tough league. I’ve got to find a way. I can’t put our team in tough positions.”

Five games and Weeden is no longer a rookie. Five games define his professional football career. Five games and he is expected to perform like a seasoned veteran.

Five games playing under center when all he did growing up was position himself at least five yards behind the center in the shotgun formation and he is expected to generate positive results.

Weeden is being way too harsh on himself, while his head coach should know better. He’s acting much more maturely than his coach.

Hopefully, new Browns owner Jimmy Haslam III is paying attention. He’s enough of a football fan to know just how shabbily his coach is treating his quarterback. So when he sacks Shurmur, the genius, at the end of the season (hopefully sooner), the coach will not have to wonder why.

No, this time Shurmur, who makes Romeo Crennel look like good by comparison, has no one to blame but himself. Nah, that probably will never happen.

*          *          *

Notebook: Did anyone notice how many times Weeden targeted Greg Little against the Giants? The wide receiver with the stone hands, presumably the club’s No. 1 wideout, saw just two passes thrown his way. He caught neither and dropped one. Is it any wonder he has fallen all the way to last option for Weeden on his reads? . . . If D’Qwell Jackson is lost for any amount of time, look for opposing teams to rip the Cleveland defense to shreds. The veteran linebacker was responsible for calling defensive signals and making certain everyone is where he is supposed to be. . . . Ten more penalties for 91 yards against the Giants, four of them resulting in first downs for New York. There’s nothing like giving a game away. . . . The player happiest to see Joe Haden back this week from his four-game suspension is Buster Skrine, who was victimized all afternoon by Giants receivers.

Francona hiring makes no sense, unless . . . 

So Terry Francona is the new manager of the Indians.

Only one question. Why?

The only answer has to be Francona is desperate. To take a job with the Indians, one of Major League Baseball’s least progressive franchises, makes no sense after one of the most successful stints ever as manager of the Boston Red Sox.

Why would Francona, a solid baseball man, want to take over a team that has underachieved for the last several seasons? A team that has one of the worst and least producing farm systems in the major leagues?

Why would he want to take over a team that has a talent quotient that shows few signs of living up to its ability?

He said he did his homework. That means he has studied the Indians’ 40-man roster. He had to have noticed plenty of holes.

There is another answer to these questions that has not been pondered. And that answer could bode well for a baseball constituency in Cleveland that thinks the Indians could be headed for another one of those long, dark periods.

So again, why did Francona say yes when offered the job? And why did the Dolan family apparently say yes to pay him more than any manager they have ever hired?

The guess here is he told all denizens of the Indians’ Ivory Tower just what it would take to return winning baseball to Cleveland. After all, he knew what it took for the Red Sox to become World Champions twice.

And what will it take? The ability by the Dolans to not worry about the bottom line financially. The Red Sox built up a solid farm system, made smart trades and wise choices in the free-agent market, all the while disdaining what it would cost.

The cost, they figured, would be worth it if they got the right man to pull it all together in the dugout. And they were right.

They tapped Francona, whose previous managerial experience resulted in four losing seasons in Philadelphia, and placed him in charge.

Francona’s signing must mean the Dolans are finally ready to commit firmly to resurrecting what was a proud and winning franchise not that long ago. That franchise did not trade or sell off star performers. That franchise cared more about the bottom line on the field rather than the one off the field.

There can be no other explanation as to why he said yes. During his interviews with the front office, he most likely spelled out what it would take to turn this franchise around. At the same time, he probably told them he would take over only if certain conditions were met.

He didn’t want to waste their – or his – time if the Dolans insisted on traveling the same penurious path that has led to the Indians to once again plumb the depths of the American League’s Central Division.

If I’m wrong and those were not the conditions under which Francona agreed to return to the Cleveland organization, then he’s not as smart as I thought. He has a reputation to uphold, a reputation built carefully in a town (Boston) where managerial reputations usually succumb.

If we don’t see a radical change in the culture of the Indians in the next year or two, if we don’t see a radical change in the ownership’s commitment, if we don’t see a radical change in the 40-man roster, then Francona’s appointment makes no sense.

Francona will have to deal with an every-day lineup that does not know yet how to win. The Indians’ hot early start  this past season proved to be nothing more than an aberration.

This is not a team of clutch performers. It is weak in the field, particularly behind the plate and at the infield corners. Their power is virtually non-existent. Their pitching, with the exception of the bullpen, begs for substantial improvement.

General Manager Chris Antonetti faces a ton of work during this offseason. If the arrival of Francona is any indication the Dolans are ready to untie the purse strings, then the Indians’ roster for the 2013 season will look markedly different.

At Monday’s news conference introducing Francona to the Cleveland media, expect him to say all the right things. He’s smart enough to know this new venture will be nothing like the one he undertook in Boston.

Hopefully, someone will ask him just why he wanted this job so badly when it’s obvious he starts with one hand tied behind his managerial back.

His answer just might shed some light on which direction this team is heading.

Good news/bad news Browns

First, the good news.

The Browns jumped out to 14-0 and 17-7 leads over the New York Giants in the first 16 minutes of their game Sunday in New Jersey.

Brandon Weeden dropped back to pass 35 times and the vaunted Giants pass rush never touched the Cleveland quarterback. Didn’t even get close to him. The rookie threw for a 291 yards, just shy of the 1,000-yard mark for the season.

There’s more.

Rookie wide receiver Josh Gordon caught two touchdown passes, including a gorgeous 62-yard bomb from Weeden in the first quarter.

Reggie Hodges was not called on to punt until just 25 seconds remained in the first half.

Rookie running back Trent Richardson scored yet another touchdown, giving him five in five games, and continued to show why he eventually will torture opposing defenses when he really understands what the National Football League is all about.

Not one three-and-out for the Cleveland offense until the last minute of the first half.

Sounds like the recipe for a Browns’ victory, right?

Now, the bad news.

Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz was held to just five catches for a paltry 50 yards, but three of them were caught in the end zone with Buster Skrine, Dimitri Patterson and Trevin Wade the victims.

The Giants scored on six straight possessions (four touchdowns and two field goals) and scored 24 points in a row to take a 34-17 lead midway through the third quarter, compiling 360 yards of their 502 total yards in the process.

Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw, who fumbled on the first play of the game to set up the Browns’ first touchdown, crawled out of coach Tom Coughlin’s doghouse with his best day running since who knows when. He had rushed for just 133 yards in the first three games, but gouged the Browns for 200 yards on 30 carries and tacked on another 29 yards with four receptions.

Add them up and you wind up with a 41-27 Giants victory that was a lot easier than it seems. After the Browns leaped to their 14-0 lead five minutes into the game, the Giants unfortunately woke up.

At the same time, the Cleveland defense took a long snooze while Eli Manning & Co. put on a display of offense that blew to smithereens the notion that Dick Jauron’s young men are growing up in a hurry.

If nothing else, the afternoon proved that when things turn ugly for the Browns, they turn ugly in a hurry. Once the New York offense figured out the only way to win this one was to outscore the Browns, the game turned in the home team’s favor.

It’s hard to figure out how the Browns can plays teams like the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens tough and then look so awful in this one.

One play does not necessarily mean the difference between winning and losing, but one strange call by Browns coach Pat Shurmur in the second quarter provided a head-scratching moment.

Right after the Giants scored their first touchdown of the day to narrow the Cleveland lead to 17-10, the Browns retaliated by smartly marching 55 yards down to Giants’ 25-yard line, mainly on a 38-yard catch and run by Chris Ogbonnaya on a third-and-8 at the Cleveland 27.

Richardson, who picked up nine yards on two carries to bring up a third-and-1 at the New York 25, was summoned to the sidelines for that play. The strong rookie running back had gained 63 yards on 12 carries up to that point and picked up another 22 yards on a flat pass from Weeden.

Rarely did the Giants’ defense shut him down. Many times, it took three, sometimes more, defenders to bring him down. So what the hell was he doing on the bench when all the Browns needed was a yard against a tiring New York defense that had so much trouble tackling him?

Shurmur, and there’s no one else to blame because, after all, he calls all the plays, then emptied his brain of all the smart cells and dialed up a pass.

When your running game is succeeding, when the Giants are back on their heels figuring out how to bring Richardson down, why a pass?

The Giants had to be thrilled, maybe even ecstatic, when they saw Richardson head for the sidelines in favor of Ogbonnaya.

What was Shurmur thinking? Did he think he’d fool the Giants, who no doubt expected a running play? Sometimes, coaches outthink themselves. Count this as one of those times.

A classic case of overthinking the situation and it backfired. Weeden rolled out to his right and then overthrew Gordon on the play. Giants backup safety Stevie Brown picked it off and returned it 46 yards to the Browns’ 40.

So instead of Phil Dawson coming in and kicking roughly a 43-yard field goal to give the Browns a 20-10 lead and sustain their momentum, the Giants took advantage of the miscue and tied the game at 17 two plays later on short run by Bradshaw following a 37-yard strike to Rueben Randle by Manning.

It’s little things like that within the framework of a game that could make a difference. It might not have made a difference for the Browns in the end run in this one. We’ll never know. 

But in this case, it can be looked back on as a turning point because the Giants put it in cruise control after that. They only tied the game at that point, but you could see the tide swinging.

Sure enough, Joshua Cribbs fumbled the ensuing kickoff and the ubiquitous Brown recovered for the Giants at the Cleveland 29. It took Manning just five plays to travel those 29 yards against a stunned Cleveland defense with Cruz racking up the second of his three scores. Two turnovers, two New York TDs.

Whatever momentum the Browns could have built with a 20-10 lead disintegrated in a matter of 2½ minutes as the Giants grabbed their first lead of the game at 24-17 and then proceeded to run away.

“We had a three-minute stretch before the end of the first half that was, ‘Wow, you just can’t do that against a good football team,’ ” said Shurmur after the game. No kidding. How about owning up to some blame.

The Giants’ offense was on the field 11 more minutes than Cleveland’s. The Giants totaled 30 first downs, four of them achieved courtesy of four Cleveland penalties.

So this little good news/bad news story ends with yet another loss, the Browns’ fifth in five games this season (the first time since 1999 they’ve lost the first five games of the season) and the 11^th straight over two seasons.

No one expected this season to be easy, but right now, it looks as though the Browns are taking two giant steps backward for everyone they take forward.

Oh, one more piece of good news.

The Browns play three of their next four games at home and the one game on the road is at Indianapolis.

That is good news, isn’t it?

Giants will cause more misery

For lack of a better term, let’s call it opposing-coachspeak.

Maybe it’s in the coaching manual, maybe not, but it never fails when coaches are asked to size up the opponent, the platitudes rain down from the heavens.

No matter how bad your opponent is, they’re world beaters that week. It’s as though they are saying, “It’s all we can do to win this game.”

It happens in the National Football League, the college ranks and even in high school. You never want to stir up the opponent.

The latest practitioner of opposing-coachspeak is New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin, whose club greets the Browns this Sunday in New Jersey. He didn’t waste any time hoisting the Browns a level that exists only in their minds.

“Do not be misled by the (Browns’) 0-4 record,” he said, presumably with a straight face. “To play the kind of defense they’ve played, they’ve been able to compete at the highest level.

“I see a team that plays hard and has created opportunities for itself . . . the quarterback has the ability to handle whatever is thrown at him . . . outstanding runner (an obvious reference to Trent Richardson).”

All the right things. Got ‘em all in. The only thing he missed was that bromide about the Browns being the best 0-4 team in the NFL. He can’t get away with that one. Everyone knows that title belongs to the winless New Orleans Saints.

Their defense competes at a high level . . . a team that plays hard . . . creates opportunities for itself . . . a quarterback who handles whatever is thrown at him.

So why, then, are the Browns 0-4? Happenstance? Bad luck? Injuries? Bad juju? Or maybe they are just not that good and oh and four are the correct won-lost figures for this team

Sure, the Browns play hard. That’s what they’re paid to do. And yes, they created opportunities for themselves, but Coughlin failed to mention they failed more often than not to capitalize on those opportunities.

And of course, Brandon Weeden handles whatever is thrown at him. Only problem there is he isn’t handling it well.

Coughlin undoubtedly went off script privately and told his team not to take the Browns lightly because the more they lose, the more dangerous they become. Don’t look past them. Certainly not with the San Francisco 49ers up next.

The psychology works both ways. Build up the next opponent, while at the same time crawling into the minds of his own players, wagging that finger of caution not to let down even though the Browns are winless in four games this season and 10 straight overall.

Now when you stop and take into account that the Giants are coming off a tough emotional loss to the Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday night, then you have a much better idea of just what to expect from the Giants this Sunday.

It doesn’t get much better for a coach to stir up his troops than a tough setback followed by a game against a team that is far inferior to his. Losing a game they thought they had won nags at teams for a while.

Coughlin also has some thoughts on retribution. The last time the Browns and Gants got together, it was on Monday Night Football in Cleveland and the Browns whacked the Giants, 35-14.

This Sunday, it will be almost four years to the day that the Browns welcomed the defending Super Bowl champions to the lakefront and abruptly ended their four-game winning streak.

Just about everything went right on that evening as a national television audience sat stunned at what unfolded. The Cleveland defense held Giants quarterback Eli Manning to less than 200 yards passing and intercepted three of his passes, the last a 94-yard pick 6 by cornerback Eric Wright.

The offense was led by Derek Anderson, who completed 18 of 29 passes for 310 yards and a couple of touchdowns against a very good secondary. Braylon Edwards was his favorite target with five catches for 154 yards and a TD, while Jamal Lewis rambled for 88 yards and a score.

Think Coughlin has forgotten about that where-did-that-come-from performance by the Browns? No, embarrassments like that are stored in the memory bank and recalled later.

Well, later is here now and the venue is quite different. But Manning is still the quarterback and the New York defense is still pretty much the same, although it has underperformed this season.

Last season, the defending world champions had 48 sacks. This season, opposing quarterbacks have been dropped only eight times. Jason Pierre-Paul, who led the team last season with 16½ sacks, has only 1½. Fellow defensive end Osi Umenyiora, who had nine last season, has just two.

Unless Pat Shurmur and Brad Childress plan on attacking the Giants in infantry fashion with Richardson, expect the Browns’ offensive line to be in pass protection mode most of the afternoon with tackles Joe Thomas and Mitchell Schwartz  tested heavily.

The Giants and Browns are in roughly the same injury predicament regarding their receivers. Hakeem Nicks (knee) will miss his third straight game and Ramses Barden (concussion) is iffy for the Giants. That leaves it up to Victor Cruz, rookie Rueben Randle and Domenik Hixon, Charlie Frye’s favorite receiver at Akron, to carry the load.

For the Browns, it’s looks as though Weeden’s wide receiving corps will consist of Greg Little, Jordan Norwood and Josh Gordon with Mo Massaquoi and Travis Benjamin sidelined. That adds up to about four years’ experience against an experienced Giants secondary. Joshua Cribbs says he’s ready after last week’s devastating concussion-causing helmet hit against Baltimore, We’ll see.

The odds are clearly in New York’s favor. Home-field advantage. Revenge. Better personnel. That’s way too many obstacles for the Browns to overcome.  Count on it: The Giants will load the box to stop Richardson and force Weeden to throw.

The Browns might make it a game for a quarter, but there is no way I can put this one in the victory column and end the losing streak, which reaches 11 in a row. Make it:

Giants 37, Browns 14

Browns need personality change

A football team, it has been said numerous times, is a reflection of its coach.

Perhaps that’s why the Browns are one of the most insipid teams in the National Football League. The trickle-down effect from Pat Shurmur to the players is palpable.

The Browns, like Shurmur, lack a personality. They lack a swagger. They are as buttoned-down as an old Bob Newhart routine.

Their imaginative and creative juices have dried up. They have become as predictable as a summer weather forecast in Arizona.

Shurmur and his coaching staff have taken some pretty talented athletes and dumbed them down. They have taken most of the athleticism and systematically removed it surgically.

The Browns’ head coach comes off as a really dull guy with little or no emotion. Watch him on the sidelines. He looks lost in thought as his team continues its downward slide.

Now before you go off and point to Bill Belichick as the original Mr. Dull, watch him on the sidelines. Watch him work the game with an intensity that disappears once the game is over. Unless, of course, he has a beef with the officials.

In his news conferences, it looks as though Belichick cannot get away from the microphone fast enough. He’s not boring. He’s bored.

Maybe Shurmur is bored, too, during his sessions with the media. But he doesn’t own three Super Bowl championship rings and a reputation as one of the best coaches in the NFL.

The biggest difference between the two men, other than the obvious, is the New England coach makes changes when something isn’t working. He’s always been flexible in that way, not afraid to try something different.

As has been written on this blog in the past, Shurmur is trying to shove a square peg into a round hole by insisting rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden work under center and become a pro-set quarterback.

His stubborn approach has led to a lot of wild inconsistency by Weeden, a much more effective quarterback out of the shotgun. No matter how many times his critics point that out, Shurmur will not budge.

While he has shown some progress in stepping out from under center in his three- and five-step drops, there are times when Weeden looks uncomfortable. It’s as though he’s counting to himself as he drops back to pass.

A passing game requires almost exquisite timing to be successful. The finesse required is hard enough for someone who works routinely under center. Imagine how difficult is it for someone who has never operated that way.

This is, in no way, meant to criticize Weeden, who has done everything asked of him. But in so doing, it has dramatically reduced his ability to be effective, to be the leader of the offense.

It has been suggested here that Shurmur and his offensive staff put together an offense with which Weeden is not just familiar, but one with which he was successful enough to be selected as a second-round pick.

If he is going to be successful in the NFL, he has to be comfortable, not force-fed with a system that robs him of what he could be. Right now, his footwork isn’t bad, but it still needs a lot of work.

Those who might object to Weeden becoming a spread formation quarterback most of the time might argue that would take Trent Richardson out of the offensive scheme. He’d be much more of a blocking back, something into which you do not want to turn your No. 1 draft pick.

Not necessarily. Spread formation teams do not throw the ball exclusively. Granted, running backs are more effective from a one-back pro set, but can also be successful running from the spread, especially in the Wildcat.

It’s time the Browns showed some imagination and creativity on offense. The club is 0-4 this season and nursing 10 straight losses over the last two seasons. The last time they won a game was a 14-10 victory over Jacksonville last Nov. 20.

Getting creative might smack of desperation, but when you’re wandering aimlessly again, what harm could it do?

Another loss? Maybe. But at least it shows as though you’re trying. The players are. Now it’s time for the coaches to follow suit.

Francona Tribe manager? No way

So Terry Francona wants to manage the Cleveland Indians.

Who knew?

After managing Boston for eight extremely successful seasons, the Red Sox politely showed Francona the door following a total collapse in the final month of the 2011 season.

The Red Sox’s discipline, or lack thereof, became the main issue, so the Boston hierarchy decided a change needed to be made and in came that noted disciplinarian Bobby Valentine.

All Valentine did was further mess up what had become a dysfunctional team with his version of discipline and now, he soon might follow Francona through that same door.

But we get ahead of ourselves.

So Terry Francona wants to manage the Cleveland Indians.

He has declared himself officially a candidate for Manny Acta’s old job and reportedly will interview for it sometime this week, along with interim manager Sandy Alomar Jr., who took over several days ago following Acta’s dismissal.

It’s hard to believe Francona has any desire in returning to the Indians. The only explanation is that he misses the every-day grind of being a Major League manager. He must miss the dugout a lot.

Unless this is being done as a courtesy to those who populate the Cleveland front office, most of whom Francona is close with because of his prior relationship with the Indians, this move makes no sense.

If Francona does his homework, he’ll see Cleveland is not where he wants to land. This team is bereft of major talent on the big-league level in just about all areas, and its farm system ranks nears the bottom, according to those who know this stuff.

Having come from one of the best teams in baseball in the last decade, returning to Cleveland would be a sizable step down.

Besides, the notoriously penurious Dolan family probably will not pay Francona what he most likely will demand. The price tag on a manager who brought two World Series championships to Boston has to be enormously high.

And if he were smart, before he accepts the job he would extract a promise from the Dolans that money is no object in trying to bring a winner back to Cleveland. He would have to make them promise the club would be active in the free-agent market and extremely active in rebuilding the farm system.

Based on their fiscal behavior the last several years, the Dolans are  not prepared to travel that road. To do so would fly in the face of their cheap ways.

In order to be effective in Cleveland, Francona needs an abundance of talent. The Indians don’t even come close in that department.

No one area jumps out at you when you honestly assess this club. They are weak at first base, third base, the outfield with the possible exception of Michael Brantley, unless Shin-Soo Choo returns, and behind the plate. Only second base and shortstop are reasonably solid.

The only saving grace is a decent bullpen anchored by Chris Perez and there’s no guarantee he’ll be back next season. The starting rotation is a mess.

Compare that to the club Francona inherited when he took over for Grady Little in Boston in 2004.

The starting rotation was Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe, Tim Wakefield and Bronson Arroyo with Keith Foulke as the closer. The every-day lineup included David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Johnny Damon, Trot Nixon, Kevin Millar, Jason Varitek, a fading Nomar Garciaparra and a young Kevin Youkilis.

That was the core of the club that brought Boston its first World Series championship since 1918. And it was repeated in 2008.

Compare that now with what Francona would inherit should he and the Indians agree to wed.

So why in the world would Francona, who has spent the past season as a baseball analyst for ESPN, want to become a part of this mediocrity?

“People who know me very well if they don’t know I like a challenge,” he told Paul Hoynes of The Plain Dealer. “I’m excited by a challenge and I’m not afraid of a challenge, especially with people I respect and care about.”

Oh, he’ll be challenged all right should he and the Indians agree on a contract. It’ll be a challenge similar to the one he faced in Philadelphia about 15 years ago when he skippered the Phillies to four straight losing seasons.

We don’t know this for certain, but the Indians probably made the initial approach of Francona to manage the club and he couldn’t refuse to at least talk more out of respect than anything. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to explore the possibility.

Alomar, on the other hand, couldn’t say yes quickly enough if the Indians offered to remove the interim tag in front of his name. He’s been grooming himself to be a big-league manager for a long time.

And it would be fitting to get that shot in the city where he rose to prominence, the city where his popularity blossomed, the city that would not be unhappy with his hiring.

It makes more sense to hire him because he’d be cheaper and isn’t that what the Dolans are all about? That’s why the Francona connection makes no sense.

Certainly there are more attractive teams out there for Francona to explore. Word out of Detroit is if the Tigers don’t make the postseason, Jim Leyland could be in trouble. Down in Miami, Ozzie Guillen is sitting on a hot seat after just one season. Either of those places would be a better landing spot for Francona.

If he’s not in a hurry, the right job will be there for Francona to grab. The one in Cleveland is not a fit. The guess here is Alomar gets the job after Francona removes himself from consideration.

Friday leftovers (Saturday edition)

I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I came away from the Browns’ 23-16 loss in Baltimore Thursday night not feeling down or discouraged.

Normally, another Cleveland loss triggers even more negative thoughts as I try to figure out why this club just doesn’t seem to get it. However, I did not get that feeling after the Ravens game.

Maybe it was because Brandon Weeden threw the ball better than at any time this season. Even though he completed less than half his passes (thanks to five more drops), he seemed to be much more decisive with where he wanted to go with the ball.

He appeared to have an awareness of the situation, anticipated Ravens blitzes and generally had a firm handle on what he wanted to do. Now that might not count for much on the scoreboard, but it bodes well for the future.

Weeden’s confidence level is on the rise. Now, it’s up to him to take that confidence, build on it and let his natural talent become a part of who he is as a rookie quarterback in the National Football League.

At first, he took baby steps and the coaching staff appeared to hold back and give him nothing but elementary, low-risk plays with which to work. Game by game, you can see the coaches are beginning to open up the playbook.

In the Ravens’ loss, we saw a couple of misdirection plays and at least five rollouts from the shotgun. As the coaches become more comfortable with Weeden’s ability to execute those types of plays, they’ll feed him even more. However, it’s important to reiterate he’s still taking those baby steps, but they are fewer and far between now.

If there is one aspect of Weeden’s game that needs dramatic improvement, it’s his slow release. He needs to be confident enough to release the ball before his receivers make their cuts. Right now, he’s more often than not at least a half beat too late, giving opposing defensive backs a chance to make plays.

He is going to make mistakes, such as the awful hot-read quick-out throw to Travis Benjamin on a Baltimore blitz in the final seconds of the third quarter Thursday night. Instead of drilling the ball to Benjamin, he floated it and Baltimore cornerback Cary Williams had a ridiculously easy pick 6 to basically put the game out of reach.

If Weeden releases that ball a half beat earlier and on a line, the ball gets to Benjamin quicker and Williams is late to the play.

Unless he is denser from the neck up than I think, chances are slim he will ever do that again. Not with his strong arm. The soon-to-be 29-year-old is learning his lessons the hard way these days.

If he is to be successful, he is best judged on a game-to-game basis. Watch him as he grows. Take note of his mistakes – he’ll make many more as the season unfolds – and watch if he repeats them. If he does, all bets  are off.

Young quarterbacks who eventually rise to prominence do so because they achieve a consistency that defines them. That’s what separates the good ones from the journeymen.

Weeden is just starting as a professional quarterback. It’s way too early to judge him, but that’s what a lot of impatient fans have already done.

They don’t take into consideration that he still looks uncomfortable under center in the pro set. His footwork is not bad, considering he has never played in that formation before. But he needs to set up to throw more quickly. That takes a rhythm with which he is not yet familiar. It should come, though, with more work.

To be clicheish, call Weeden a work in progress.

*          *          *

Slowly, but surely, the Browns’ run defense is beginning to look a whole lot different than what Browns fans have seen in the last several seasons.

For example, that defense reduced Ravens running back Ray Rice to non-factor status Thursday night. The superstar was held to just 49 yards on 18 carries. His longest run was 10 yards. Rice also caught eight passes for 47 yards. That’s 26 touches for 96 yards and no touchdowns, something on which to hang your helmet.

It became obvious early on that Dick Jauron’s defense was geared to stop Rice and force quarterback Joe Flacco to throw. The Ravens’ no-huddle offense did not seem to bother the Cleveland defenders, who sacked Flacco four times and pestered him into early throws on another half dozen dropbacks.

*          *          *

The more I see defensive tackle Billy Winn, the more I like him. He’s quick, strong, extremely persistent and very active. He didn’t have one of those four sacks, but I saw him in the Baltimore backfield a lot.

If and when defensive tackle Phil Taylor returns to the lineup, moving Winn to defensive end is a move Jauron would be wise to consider. With Winn and Jabaal Sheard on the outside and Taylor and Ahtyba Rubin working inside, its easy to be confident that the Browns’ run defense problems might be over.

It’s also refreshing to see Sheard break out of whatever funk he was in during the first three games. The club’s leading sacker last season finally got his first this season and generally wreaked havoc in passing situations. He got started late last season. Maybe he’s just a slow starter.

*          *          *

Notebook: Another young defender who seems to make a habit of making plays is outside linebacker Craig Robertson, who picked off his second pass of the season against the Ravens. The free-agent rookie seems to have a nose for the ball. . . . How much do the Browns miss cornerback Joe Haden, who has sat out the last three games while serving a four-game suspension? In those three games, the secondary has allowed 838 yards and seven touchdowns. The run defense, meanwhile, has given up just 319 yards in those games and only one TD, a Flacco quarterback keeper from the 1-yard line. . . . The Browns say they’ve been working with Greg Little on his pass catching. Well something is getting lost in the translation between practice and the games. The big wide receiver was targeted 10 times against the Ravens and caught just four passes, which is two more than he dropped. Some guys just have stone hands. Little might be one of them. . . . Phil Dawson seems to be getting younger. How else can anyone explain why the lone remaining member of the 1999 expansion team has become the king of the 50-yard-or-longer field goal? He kicked three more in the Baltimore loss to give him four on the season. And he hasn’t missed yet in eight attempts overall. Pay the man.

Not buying it

Roger Goodell is making nice-nice with the American football public and it rings hollow and insincere.

In an e-mail letter to those fans, the National Football League commissioner all but apologized for his shameful handling of the officials’ lockout.

“I believe in accountability, not excuses,” he wrote. “And I regret we were not able to secure an agreement sooner in the process and avoid the unfortunate distractions to the game. You deserve better.”

The fans have always deserved better, Rog, only you didn’t take that into account when you allowed scab officials to work into the third week of the regular season. If you really cared about the fans, you would not have allowed this fiasco to reach such a disastrous stage.

“As a lifelong fan,” he wrote, “this wasn’t an easy process for anyone involved. I particularly want to commend the replacement officials for taking an unenviable task and doing it with focus and dedication in the mostly adverse of circumstances.”

It wasn’t an easy process because Goodell stubbornly refused to cave to the men who police the game and help make it the best and most successful product on the sports landscape. In hiring scab officials, he gave the regular officials the finger, never once taking into account the good and welfare of the game itself.

A good commissioner never would have let this nonsense reach the critical mass stage. Goodell, the martinet, made all the wrong moves and paid a dear price.

In a similar situation involving scab officials in 2001, Paul Tagliabue, as weak a commissioner as he was, didn’t allow the mess to progress beyond week one of the regular season because he saw the disastrous results. That lockout ended in a hurry.

What transpired at the end of last Monday night’s game between Green Bay and Seattle should never have happened. It could have been avoided except for the ignorant actions of one man.

And now he's apologizing? For what? Being a dummy? For pretending to care about the fans? Damage control at its worst.

This letter to the fans is too late. The damage has been done. Just ask fans in Green Bay.