Mid-week thoughts
Thinking about what might have been, what could have been and
whispering . . .
Two of the best quarterbacks in the National Football League
halfway through this season are Carson Wentz and Deshaun Watson, either of whom
could have been – and, some say, should have been – quarterbacking the Browns
this season.
The club is taking a beating in the national media for
passing on Wentz and Watson in the last two college football drafts. For a team
that desperately needed to upgrade the quarterback position, Cleveland said no
thanks. Not yet.
And wouldn’t you know it, Wentz and Watson are having
fabulous seasons. Wentz, in fact, is being mentioned prominently as a strong
candidate for most valuable player honors. Watson is running away with the
rookie-of-the-year award.
So why is Wentz in Philadelphia and Watson in Houston? Why
did the Browns choose to head in a different direction twice in two years and
get burned both times? And what would it be like in Cleveland these days if the
Browns had pulled the trigger on one of them?
Wentz, who could have been snagged with the second overall pick
in the 2016 lottery, was not deemed a top 20 quarterback by the club. Watson
could have been had at No. 12 this past draft, but the draft-till-you-drop Browns
were more interested in obtaining Houston’s top choice in next year’s draft.
Wentz was 7-9 in his rookie season and has already matched
that victory total this season with the 7-1 Eagles, throwing 19 touchdown
passes – he had 16 last season – and only five interceptions (14 last season).
Watson, who took over the Texans’ offense after Tom Savage
played awful football in the season opener, has been spectacular in six games
as a starter, throwing 19 touchdown passes – he has also run for one – and
compiling nearly 1,970 total yards.
The formula for their success is simple, Draft them and
build the offense around them. Take their natural talents, blend them with the
talents of others and reap the benefits.
The Eagles have surrounded Wentz with a strong offensive
line, a terrific set of receivers and a running game that just got better with
the acquisition of Jay Ajayi from Miami.
The Texans already had a strong offense. All they needed was
someone to come right in and give it a spark. It took coach Bill O’Brien just
one game to discover that spark. The reason the Texans are 3-4 right now is not
because of an offense that averages 30 points a game. It’s the awful defense.
OK, enough about now. Time to play a game of “Let’s Pretend.”
It’s all hypothetical of course.
Would Wentz’s and Watson’s brief NFL careers have had the
same outcomes had history landed them anywhere but where they are now? Say in Cleveland?
Let’s pretend the Browns said yes at No. 2 in the 2016 draft
and picked Wentz. He would have joined a team that had purged the roster of a
half dozen core players who made major contributions.
He would have joined a club that had a terrible offense with
an awful receivers corps, an offensive line that was terrible at best and a
running game that was iffy. Given that to work with, does anyone really believe
Wentz would have gone 7-9 as he did in Philadelphia?
And then there’s the nine – and still counting – draft picks
the draft-pick hungry Browns front office gleaned from the trade with the
Eagles. Where would the Browns be without them? Does 1-15 last season and 0-8
this season answer that one?
No, Wentz would have been almost as bad as DeShone Kizer has
been this season because all the necessary ingredients a quarterback needs to
be successful were not there. And they are still not there one year later,
although the offensive line is somewhat better.
Now let’s pretend the Browns decided Watson was their man
last April and selected him to be their quarterback of the future. If he had
not been bypassed, he would have walked into a flaming cauldron of offensive
ineptitude in Cleveland.
He would not have had DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller to
throw to. (They have 14 touchdown receptions between them halfway through the
season.) He would have had Ricardo Louis, Kenny Britt, Sammie Coates, Rashard
Higgins, Kasen Williams and injury-prone Corey Coleman. Yikes!!
That right there, not to mention the difference between the
two teams in the running games and offensive lines, would have stymied the kind
of growth Watson has already experienced in Houston.
So let’s be honest here. Had the Browns selected either of
these two quarterbacks instead of going a different route, there is no
guarantee they would have enjoyed similar success in Cleveland.
(Full disclosure: In the 2016 daft, I hoped the Browns would
choose Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa, who went later to San Diego. And in
this past draft, I was rooting for the Browns to take another Buckeye, safety
Malik Hooker, who went later on to Indianapolis, at No. 12. I thought Watson
was Robert Griffin III lite.)
Bottom line: Hypothetically speaking, of course, if Wentz
had been drafted by Cleveland, the Browns probably would have been somewhat
better than 1-15 last season and certainly better than 0-8 this season. And if
Watson had been selected instead of trading down this year, they probably would
have won at least one game.
This, in no way, is meant to defend what the Browns’ front
office did. Rather, it is an indictment of a bumbling braintrust that has no
clue as to how to put together a winning football team on either side of the
ball, but most notably on offense.
* * *
As for whispering, Hue Jackson, that noted quarterback
whisperer, has been whispering so softly, it has resulted in a 1-23 record in
his season and a half as the head coach/offensive coordinator/whisperer of the
Browns. So much for that reputation.
Jackson has been fortunate in the past to work with talented
quarterbacks such as Joe Flacco in Baltimore, Carson Palmer at USC and Andy Dalton
in Cincinnati. He just made them better.
What about his failures like Patrick Ramsey at Washington,
Joey Harrington in Atlanta and Jason Campbell in Oakland? Or Griffin, Cody (“Trust
Me”) Kessler, Kevin Hogan, Brock Osweiler and Kizer with the Browns? They had
talent, too.
The starting quarterbacks he has worked with in Cleveland the
last season and a half have been anything but successes. Whispering goes just
so far, I guess. Maybe he should turn it up a notch or two.
* * *
One more thought on Tuesday’s Bengals bungle: It smacked of
desperation that the Browns would mortgage the future to solve the problems of
the present. Kind of flies in the face of their analytics philosophy.
One can only imagine how Kizer, Kessler and Hogan feel right
now. Going after AJ McCarron sends them a loud and clear message: We don’t
think you’re good enough to help us.
It is a resounding clue as to what they have every intention
of doing with what probably will be the first overall selection in the college
draft for the second consecutive year.
I wish Haslam would just get it over with this week and dump Jackson, Brown and Podesta, they are terrible at their jobs. Let Greg Williams take over as head coach and cut Britt to make a roster spot for Gordon. Brown let some decent veterans go(THAT'S where some continuity would help) and can't evaluate talent any better than I can. We "trusted" Jackson on Kessler and he just isn't a starter. His declining the face mask penalty is a perfect example of his lack of head coach judgement.
ReplyDeleteAt least they are right about one thing: Kizer, Kessler and Hogan can't help this team. That's such an obvious message it shouldn't have to be "sent".
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