Yeah, I’m doing one of these again. The Bills play the Browns this weekend. This game will be their ninth matchup in the past thirteen years, in large part because they both perennially finish fourth in their respective divisions. Buffalo won four of the last five games. This one is particularly huge.
I knew the Bills would be 6-2 at this point. I think I said so in a comment but I’m too lazy to look. Their six wins came against five cans of corn (NYJ, NYG, CIN, MIA, WAS) and a mediocre Titans squad. I was sure they would win at least five of those games.
They have three more pushovers on the schedule: DEN, NYJ, and MIA. They also have a tough stretch in the middle of those three games: @DAL, BAL, @PIT, @NE. That’s four guaranteed losses. I know that Pittsburgh is not great this year but the Bills are 2-10 against the Steelers over the past 26.69 years with the last win coming in 1999, and they haven’t won a regular season game in Pittsburgh since 1975 when OJ Simpson ran for 227 yards.
All of this means, as I expected, that the Bills need to beat the Browns this week to have a shot at 10-6 and a playoff berth.
Cleveland is favored by 2.5 to 3 points as I write this, so the bookies view Cleveland and Buffalo as a pretty even match despite their respective 2-6 and 6-2 records.
Everyone expected Cleveland to be good this year. They play a very soft schedule from here out, with only one game against a good team (Baltimore) after this week, including home against the Dolphins and two against the Bengals. The way my life works, the Browns will beat the Bills and build momentum to finish 10-6 or 9-7. Their win over the Bills will be the tiebreaker that gives Cleveland the 6 seed, keeping Buffalo out of the post-season.
Final score: Bills 17 Browns 31
Showing posts with label Cleveland Browns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cleveland Browns. Show all posts
Thursday, November 07, 2019
Wednesday, November 01, 2017
A Bills/Browns Review, Alternately Titled "A Tale of Two Shitties"
Some might say we've been mercifully spared, while others might say mercilessly denied, another of my Bills/Browns previews because the Bills and Browns finished third and fourth in their divisions, respectively, in 2016 (as opposed to their usual last-place finishes that produce this herpetic matchup). As a result I wrote this Bills/Browns review, to review some of the awful decisions they've made.
My friend Mark is a Dolphins fan and he has a theory about the NFL draft: take a quarterback every year, and if you don't have a good one take the best one you can get in the first round, even if you have to trade up. In his view, amassing piles of draft picks like the Patriots do is great only if you have a good quarterback like the Patriots do. This opinion reflects the harsh reality that it's almost impossible to win a Super Bowl with even an average quarterback. Thus having great depth in the defensive backfield and tremendous special teams specialists does you little good unless you have a real stud under center.
Mark is further of the view that you know if a QB is a bust after two years. If so, move on. He's fine with rolling the dice on a high draft pick and moving on quickly if the player is a bust, so long as this risk is taken at the QB position. In his view, a complete bust is better than winding up with a guy like Ryan Tannehill because it's easy to move on from a bust. If you move on from Ryan Tannehill you could wind up with a total bust or even worse, Jay Cutler, so you're stuck with mediocrity for a number of years until the coach gets fired and a new regime comes in and cleans house.
The Browns highlight the flaws in Mark's theory. I'll explain. Here are the names of people who have thrown ten or more passes in a game for the Browns since 2012:
Cody Kessler
DeShone Kizer
Kevin Hogan
Robert Griffin
Josh McCown
Charlie Whitehurst
Austin Davis
Johnny Manziel
Brian Hoyer
Jason Campbell
Brandon Weeden
Thaddeus Lewis
Colt McCoy
Factory of sadness indeed. Here are the names of some QBs the Browns chose not to draft since 2012:
Deshaun Watson (they traded this pick to Houston, then took DeShone Kizer later)
Carson Wentz (they traded this pick to Philadelphia, then took Cody Kessler later)
Dak Prescott (they took Cody Kessler the round before)
Derek Carr (they took Johnny Manziel the round before)
Jimmy Garoppolo (again, they took Johnny Manziel the round before)
Russell Wilson (they took Brandon Weeden two rounds before)
Kirk Cousins (again, they took Bradon Weeden three rounds before)
To be fair, every team in the league passed on Prescott, Garoppolo, Wilson and Cousins ... and the Browns drafted Weeden, Manziel, Kessler and Kizer so they seem to be following Mark's theory. But the theory works best if the folks making the picks aren't completely asleep at the wheel. But even a blind squirrel can manage to bust a nut once every six drafts, right?
It is well established that I'm an idiot. However, when the Bills traded back from #10 in this year's draft I said "Did the Bills just do something that makes sense? Wow." and then "Although I would've been excited for them to get Deshaun Watson." He was tremendous in college and he's looked great so far this year. It didn't require piercing insight to recognize that Watson had yoodge upside--did you see the National Championship game?
Further, when the R**skins drafted Robert Griffin they also drafted Kirk Cousins. These picks worked out (compared to the situation in Cleveland at least). Would it have killed the Browns to take Weeden AND Cousins or Kessler AND Prescott? It's not like they're using their picks wisely and drafting well at other positions.
Seriously, the Browns suck at drafting all over the field. Here's the top 25 players the Browns drafted since 2012 ranked by career average value:
You know you're bad at drafting when the third-best player you've taken in the last six years is Trent Richardson. Who the hell is Mitchell Schwartz, other than the best Browns draftee of the past six years? I would've assumed he was a CPA, anesthesiologist, maybe a securities litigator. Turns out he's a Kansas City Chief! He went to KC last year and turned in his best career season to date in terms of AV. Typical Browns. Note that eight of these top 25 aren't in the the NFL anymore. That's not good.
All this is to say: the Browns realize that they don't have a QB, they realize that they need a QB, and they're actively drafting QB's, but they're either too dumb or too shook or too cheap or some combination thereof to draft a QB early in the first round. They need to talk to Mark. He hasn't said this, but I think his theory demonstrates the problem with advanced metrics that focus too much on "draft capital." Having all 32 picks in the seventh round might add up to a lot of "draft capital," but none of those players are likely to make your team better. At some point you have to take your balls out of your purse and spend a bunch of capital on a highly rated quaterback.
Buffalo's recent history highlights the potential merits of Mark's theory--you are never going to get a good QB unless you draft one (except for the Saints with Drew Brees, which must still piss off Charger fans). Here's a list of alleged humans that threw 10 or more passes for the Bills since 2012:
Tyrod Taylor
Cardale Jones
EJ Manuel
Kyle Orton
Jeff Tuel
Thaddeus Lewis (overlap!)
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Not exactly a beauty pageant. Unlike Cleveland, the Bills don't seem to feel any need to address this deficiency. Here's who they've drafted at QB since 2012:
Nathan Peterman
Cardale Jones
EJ Manuel
It's as if they're completely ignoring the position. Like the Browns they suck at drafting too:
Ten of their top 25 picks from the last six drafts are out of the league. Awful.
More remarkable, in my view, was their recent move to trade Marcell Dareus to Jacksonville for a sixth round pick. Much is made of the Bills' long-running failure to reach the postseason. What makes this particularly painful is that they haven't completely bottomed out (unlike the Browns) so they're typically good enough to get 6-7 wins and don't draft at the top of the board. Dareus, however, was the third pick of the 2011 draft and he played well for Buffalo. Getting only a sixth round pick for him is painful. You know what's really painful though? This:
Buffalo could've had any of these players on their team today other than Cam Newton or Von Miller. Instead they have a future sixth round pick. How's that for effective use of draft capital?! But I guess it isn't much more frustrating than this:
Buffalo could've stayed at 9, drafted Odell Beckham Jr. (or anyone else on this list except for Blake Bortles), and still had a first round pick in 2015. Instead they traded up for Sammy Watkins who they later traded for EJ Gaines and a 2nd round pick.
The one thing that remains constant is the Browns seem destined to win no more than four games, while the Bills are a near-lock to win six or seven. Which is particularly galling given that the Bills' personnel decisions make it appear that they're tanking. They can't even tank right!
I foresee the Browns having a top-three pick in April, while the Bills will have their own pick (figure somewhere around 14-16) and the Chiefs' (figure somewhere around 28-29). The Bills will trade both picks and Tyrod Taylor to the Browns for their pick, then draft a nose tackle. The Browns will draft QBs with both of the Bills' picks and both will suck. Whoever picks one or two spots after the Bills will get a Pro Bowl caliber QB. Neither team will hire Mark, but maybe they should.
My friend Mark is a Dolphins fan and he has a theory about the NFL draft: take a quarterback every year, and if you don't have a good one take the best one you can get in the first round, even if you have to trade up. In his view, amassing piles of draft picks like the Patriots do is great only if you have a good quarterback like the Patriots do. This opinion reflects the harsh reality that it's almost impossible to win a Super Bowl with even an average quarterback. Thus having great depth in the defensive backfield and tremendous special teams specialists does you little good unless you have a real stud under center.
Mark is further of the view that you know if a QB is a bust after two years. If so, move on. He's fine with rolling the dice on a high draft pick and moving on quickly if the player is a bust, so long as this risk is taken at the QB position. In his view, a complete bust is better than winding up with a guy like Ryan Tannehill because it's easy to move on from a bust. If you move on from Ryan Tannehill you could wind up with a total bust or even worse, Jay Cutler, so you're stuck with mediocrity for a number of years until the coach gets fired and a new regime comes in and cleans house.
The Browns highlight the flaws in Mark's theory. I'll explain. Here are the names of people who have thrown ten or more passes in a game for the Browns since 2012:
Cody Kessler
DeShone Kizer
Kevin Hogan
Robert Griffin
Josh McCown
Charlie Whitehurst
Austin Davis
Johnny Manziel
Brian Hoyer
Jason Campbell
Brandon Weeden
Thaddeus Lewis
Colt McCoy
Factory of sadness indeed. Here are the names of some QBs the Browns chose not to draft since 2012:
Deshaun Watson (they traded this pick to Houston, then took DeShone Kizer later)
Carson Wentz (they traded this pick to Philadelphia, then took Cody Kessler later)
Dak Prescott (they took Cody Kessler the round before)
Derek Carr (they took Johnny Manziel the round before)
Jimmy Garoppolo (again, they took Johnny Manziel the round before)
Russell Wilson (they took Brandon Weeden two rounds before)
Kirk Cousins (again, they took Bradon Weeden three rounds before)
To be fair, every team in the league passed on Prescott, Garoppolo, Wilson and Cousins ... and the Browns drafted Weeden, Manziel, Kessler and Kizer so they seem to be following Mark's theory. But the theory works best if the folks making the picks aren't completely asleep at the wheel. But even a blind squirrel can manage to bust a nut once every six drafts, right?
It is well established that I'm an idiot. However, when the Bills traded back from #10 in this year's draft I said "Did the Bills just do something that makes sense? Wow." and then "Although I would've been excited for them to get Deshaun Watson." He was tremendous in college and he's looked great so far this year. It didn't require piercing insight to recognize that Watson had yoodge upside--did you see the National Championship game?
Further, when the R**skins drafted Robert Griffin they also drafted Kirk Cousins. These picks worked out (compared to the situation in Cleveland at least). Would it have killed the Browns to take Weeden AND Cousins or Kessler AND Prescott? It's not like they're using their picks wisely and drafting well at other positions.
Seriously, the Browns suck at drafting all over the field. Here's the top 25 players the Browns drafted since 2012 ranked by career average value:
You know you're bad at drafting when the third-best player you've taken in the last six years is Trent Richardson. Who the hell is Mitchell Schwartz, other than the best Browns draftee of the past six years? I would've assumed he was a CPA, anesthesiologist, maybe a securities litigator. Turns out he's a Kansas City Chief! He went to KC last year and turned in his best career season to date in terms of AV. Typical Browns. Note that eight of these top 25 aren't in the the NFL anymore. That's not good.
All this is to say: the Browns realize that they don't have a QB, they realize that they need a QB, and they're actively drafting QB's, but they're either too dumb or too shook or too cheap or some combination thereof to draft a QB early in the first round. They need to talk to Mark. He hasn't said this, but I think his theory demonstrates the problem with advanced metrics that focus too much on "draft capital." Having all 32 picks in the seventh round might add up to a lot of "draft capital," but none of those players are likely to make your team better. At some point you have to take your balls out of your purse and spend a bunch of capital on a highly rated quaterback.
Buffalo's recent history highlights the potential merits of Mark's theory--you are never going to get a good QB unless you draft one (except for the Saints with Drew Brees, which must still piss off Charger fans). Here's a list of alleged humans that threw 10 or more passes for the Bills since 2012:
Tyrod Taylor
Cardale Jones
EJ Manuel
Kyle Orton
Jeff Tuel
Thaddeus Lewis (overlap!)
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Not exactly a beauty pageant. Unlike Cleveland, the Bills don't seem to feel any need to address this deficiency. Here's who they've drafted at QB since 2012:
Nathan Peterman
Cardale Jones
EJ Manuel
It's as if they're completely ignoring the position. Like the Browns they suck at drafting too:
Ten of their top 25 picks from the last six drafts are out of the league. Awful.
More remarkable, in my view, was their recent move to trade Marcell Dareus to Jacksonville for a sixth round pick. Much is made of the Bills' long-running failure to reach the postseason. What makes this particularly painful is that they haven't completely bottomed out (unlike the Browns) so they're typically good enough to get 6-7 wins and don't draft at the top of the board. Dareus, however, was the third pick of the 2011 draft and he played well for Buffalo. Getting only a sixth round pick for him is painful. You know what's really painful though? This:
Buffalo could've had any of these players on their team today other than Cam Newton or Von Miller. Instead they have a future sixth round pick. How's that for effective use of draft capital?! But I guess it isn't much more frustrating than this:
Buffalo could've stayed at 9, drafted Odell Beckham Jr. (or anyone else on this list except for Blake Bortles), and still had a first round pick in 2015. Instead they traded up for Sammy Watkins who they later traded for EJ Gaines and a 2nd round pick.
The one thing that remains constant is the Browns seem destined to win no more than four games, while the Bills are a near-lock to win six or seven. Which is particularly galling given that the Bills' personnel decisions make it appear that they're tanking. They can't even tank right!
I foresee the Browns having a top-three pick in April, while the Bills will have their own pick (figure somewhere around 14-16) and the Chiefs' (figure somewhere around 28-29). The Bills will trade both picks and Tyrod Taylor to the Browns for their pick, then draft a nose tackle. The Browns will draft QBs with both of the Bills' picks and both will suck. Whoever picks one or two spots after the Bills will get a Pro Bowl caliber QB. Neither team will hire Mark, but maybe they should.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
zman's Annual Bills/Browns Preview, Alternatively Titled "Why do I keep doing this to myself?"
This is the seventh Bills/Browns game in eight years and my fourth preview of these usually meaningless games. I say "usually meaningless" because these teams always finish at the bottom of their divisions, hence the annual matchups, but this year both teams are above 0.500 and the Browns are legitimate playoff contenders. The Browns have won four of the last six meetings and I suspect they'll win again on Sunday.
That said, these teams are remarkably similar, at first blush. The Bills have scored 238 points and allowed 207 (good for +31) while Cleveland has scored 242 points and allowed 219 (+23). Both teams have young first-round QB's riding the pine behind old journeymen. They rank 6th and 9th (clicks!) in terms of lowest turnover percentage, and they rank 16th and 17th in terms of highest scoring percentage. That said, they arrive at the same place via different routes.
The Bills get most of their offensive work done through short efficient passes and avoiding INTs. They've attempted the 13th most passes but have the 6th fewest yards per attempt. But that's ok with me because they're only 1 TD behind the league average and only four teams have a lower INT%. The running game is a bit of an afterthought--only five teams have fewer rush attempts and they all suck (ATL, JAX, TEN, TB, OAK) so they're probably stuck playing catch-up all the time and thus passing. The Bills have only 5 rushing TD; only four teams have fewer (PIT, SD, OAK, and TB all have 4 rushing TD). They finally got a RB over the 300 yard mark for the season last week (Boobie Dixon) and no one has more than 80 carries after eleven games. For the first time in forever their rush defense is good, ranking eighth, second, and tenth in rushing yards, rushing TD, and rushing yards/attempt, respectively. They also lead the league with 46 sacks, good for a 10.5% sack percentage which is almost two full points more than the next best team (Philly).
As I noted previously, the Browns have the lowest completion percentage in the league--55.6%, tied with the Jets and almost three full percentage points below the #30 team. But they have average more yards per completion than any other team--14.0 yards, which is 1.1 yards more than the #2 team (the Tennessee Inbreds). I guess this means that the Browns go for broke in the passing game and swing for the fences every time Brian Hoyer drops back. So it's odd that they have only 11 passing TD, 29th in the NFL. They do, however, have the second most rushing attempts and rushing TD, so maybe their plan is to throw bombs to get to the goal line and then pound it in from there. Or maybe they grind it out for the most part, occasionally taking deep shots down the field and being successful about half the time. Unfortunately for Buffalo, Josh Gordon returned to Cleveland's lineup last week after serving a 10 game suspension. In case you don't watch much of the NFL, Josh Gordon is really good at football, particularly the aforementioned "deep shots" aspect of football.
Cleveland's defense is stout against the pass (ranking ninth, eight, and first in passing yards, passing TD, and INT, respectively) and willowy against the run (ranking twenty-ninth, seventeenth, and twenty-eight in rushing yards, rushing TD, and rushing yards/attempt, respectively).
So on paper this should be a good matchup with both teams' strengths countered by the other's strengths. Ultimately though all of the previous comparing and contrasting was useless. Josh Gordon's return throws all those numbers out the window and Cleveland's offense will take a leap forward and will be too much for the Bills to handle. Further, Cleveland hasn't allowed more than 24 points in seven weeks (and only twice all season) while Buffalo has scored more than 24 points only three times all year and two of those games were against the Jets so they don't really count.
Plus if Buffalo wins this week then they have a good shot at winning eight games (the eighth win being Oakland in week 16) and that simply can't happen.
Final score: Browns 17, Bills 11
That said, these teams are remarkably similar, at first blush. The Bills have scored 238 points and allowed 207 (good for +31) while Cleveland has scored 242 points and allowed 219 (+23). Both teams have young first-round QB's riding the pine behind old journeymen. They rank 6th and 9th (clicks!) in terms of lowest turnover percentage, and they rank 16th and 17th in terms of highest scoring percentage. That said, they arrive at the same place via different routes.
The Bills get most of their offensive work done through short efficient passes and avoiding INTs. They've attempted the 13th most passes but have the 6th fewest yards per attempt. But that's ok with me because they're only 1 TD behind the league average and only four teams have a lower INT%. The running game is a bit of an afterthought--only five teams have fewer rush attempts and they all suck (ATL, JAX, TEN, TB, OAK) so they're probably stuck playing catch-up all the time and thus passing. The Bills have only 5 rushing TD; only four teams have fewer (PIT, SD, OAK, and TB all have 4 rushing TD). They finally got a RB over the 300 yard mark for the season last week (Boobie Dixon) and no one has more than 80 carries after eleven games. For the first time in forever their rush defense is good, ranking eighth, second, and tenth in rushing yards, rushing TD, and rushing yards/attempt, respectively. They also lead the league with 46 sacks, good for a 10.5% sack percentage which is almost two full points more than the next best team (Philly).
As I noted previously, the Browns have the lowest completion percentage in the league--55.6%, tied with the Jets and almost three full percentage points below the #30 team. But they have average more yards per completion than any other team--14.0 yards, which is 1.1 yards more than the #2 team (the Tennessee Inbreds). I guess this means that the Browns go for broke in the passing game and swing for the fences every time Brian Hoyer drops back. So it's odd that they have only 11 passing TD, 29th in the NFL. They do, however, have the second most rushing attempts and rushing TD, so maybe their plan is to throw bombs to get to the goal line and then pound it in from there. Or maybe they grind it out for the most part, occasionally taking deep shots down the field and being successful about half the time. Unfortunately for Buffalo, Josh Gordon returned to Cleveland's lineup last week after serving a 10 game suspension. In case you don't watch much of the NFL, Josh Gordon is really good at football, particularly the aforementioned "deep shots" aspect of football.
Cleveland's defense is stout against the pass (ranking ninth, eight, and first in passing yards, passing TD, and INT, respectively) and willowy against the run (ranking twenty-ninth, seventeenth, and twenty-eight in rushing yards, rushing TD, and rushing yards/attempt, respectively).
So on paper this should be a good matchup with both teams' strengths countered by the other's strengths. Ultimately though all of the previous comparing and contrasting was useless. Josh Gordon's return throws all those numbers out the window and Cleveland's offense will take a leap forward and will be too much for the Bills to handle. Further, Cleveland hasn't allowed more than 24 points in seven weeks (and only twice all season) while Buffalo has scored more than 24 points only three times all year and two of those games were against the Jets so they don't really count.
Plus if Buffalo wins this week then they have a good shot at winning eight games (the eighth win being Oakland in week 16) and that simply can't happen.
Final score: Browns 17, Bills 11
Tuesday, October 01, 2013
Episode VI: A New Hope for the Weary on Erie, Alternatively Titled "I Can't Believe We Have to Watch the Bills Play the Browns on Thursday Night"
Buffalo and Cleveland have lots in common: Lake Erie, high unemployment, snow. And of course, once-proud football teams that have been epically bad for over a decade.
As you have heard me whine too many times, the Bills haven't made the playoffs since 1999. From 2000 to 2012 they won 82 games and lost 126, averaging 6.3 wins and 9.7 losses. They've suffered four consecutive seasons with double-digit losses and have seven seasons with 10 or more losses over this time frame. But they have no seasons with double-digit wins and just one season above 0.500.
The Browns might actually be worse. I say might because they made the playoffs in 2002 (with a 9-7 record) and they have a season with double-digit wins (10-6 in 2007). But they only mustered 71 wins to 137 losses from 2000 to 2012, an average of 5.5 wins and 10.5 losses per season. That's atrocious -- they averaged double-digit losses for 13 years! They lost 10 or more games 10 times since 2000! They are currently on a streak of five consecutive seasons with 5 or fewer wins. Inspiring stuff. They were an expansion team in 1999 so they went 2-14. They didn't even exist from 1996 to 1998 so they had 0 wins over that span. And before that they had the best football coach of the past 25 years ... but they fired him and moved the team to Baltimore.
I therefore refer to fans of these teams in the 1999-2012 timeframe as The Weary On Erie.
The Bills and Browns have played 17 times since 1972:
As you can see, six of these games took place in 2004 or later. This is no coincidence; the NFL purposely schedules intra-conference games based on the previous year's standings. So the AFC division winners play each other, the second place teams play each other, the third place teams play each other, and the losers play each other. And as I've already explained, the Bills and Browns have done a lot of losing over the past 10+ years. In fact, they have each other as division losers 5 times in 6 years. The missing season was 2011 -- the 2010 Browns went 5-11 and finished ahead of the 4-12 Bengals.
Unsurprisingly, this series of futility is tied at 3-3 with a bunch of ugly scores. They pick up where they left off on Thursday night when the Bills make the trek out I-90 (aka the New York Thruway, aka the Ohio Purnpike, aka AMVETS Memorial Highway) to Cleveland in another divisional losers face-off. The Bills start rookie QB EJ Manuel and at times he looks like a rookie QB.
His stats aren't great:
But they're 2-2 with a win over the defending Super Bowl champions and a game winning drive against Carolina in the 4th quarter. Sure, he only completed 45% of his passes the last two weeks but he was facing two of the better defensive coaches in the league (Rex Ryan and John Harbaugh) so he deserves to be cut a little slack. So I'm once again cautiously optimistic that Buddy Nix got this pick right.
The Browns are also 2-2, riding Brian Hoyer's hot hand to a two game win streak. Although he isn't a rookie like Manuel, Hoyer has a few newbie-looking GIFs floating around on the internet too:
But I suspect that Browns fans, just like Bills fans, have hope that they've found their new franchise QB. Hence the title of this post, in honor of the 6th (VIth?) matchup between these teams in the past 7 years.
These teams have more in common than 2-2 records and questionmarks at QB. The Bills have a -5 point differential while the Browns are -6, with average margins of victory of -1.3 and -1.5 points respectively. Although the Bills have played much closer games (all decided by 7 points or less), it's safe to say that neither team relies on one particular side of the ball to carry them.
The Browns complete 56.8% of their passes, the Bills 56.9%. Accuracy ain't their thang. But uptempo offense is: both teams rank in the top 5 for plays run so far this year (Buffalo 288, Cleveland 280). Unfortunately, both teams rank in the bottom 8 for yards per play, so maybe they should focus on quality instead of quantity. And they're tied with 7 turnovers on offense, right around the league average of 6.9 (clicks).
There's more difference on defense. The Browns have allowed the 4th fewest yards while the Bills have given up the 5th most. The Browns have the stingiest yards-per-carry defense in the league (only 2.9!!) while the Bills are the 9th most generous (4.2 ypc but I'll take anything under 4.5 at this point). Similarly, the Browns allowed a league-leading 2 passing TD so far while the Bills gave up 8 (tied for 10th). The Browns also lead the lead in yards allowed per pass attempt (5.9) while the Bills are right around the league average (7.1). The Browns also lead the league in yards per completion (9.8) whle the Bills rank 29th (13.1). The Bills lead the league with 9 INT, and the Browns have but 3 picks. But they both rank in the top 8 in terms of opposing passer rating (70.0 for Buffalo, 73.5 for Cleveland).
Remarkably, both teams rank in the top 5 in defensive plays run (298 for the Bills, 279 for the Browns) so I guess we should expect to see a lot of action with little downtime on Thursday.
I don't believe in the Bills' running game even though they've racked up the 2nd most rushing yards per game, and I expect the Browns' defense to shut down Spiller and Jackson. Although I'm not sold on Brian Hoyer, I don't have a ton of faith in Buffalo's passing defense either. I can also see recently acquired Browns RB Willis McGahee running roughshod over his former team just to remind everyone that the Bills are bad at retaining talent. Like this guy who they got to replace McGahee, and who replaced with CJ Spiller:
Yeah, I'd trade this guy for a 4th round pick. Good value.
The Bills have players named EJ, CJ, and TJ, aka the Eedge, the Ceedge, and the Teedge. That's too many -dges for my taste, and the team with the most Teedges usually loses. So I'm picking Cleveland to win 16-13.
As you have heard me whine too many times, the Bills haven't made the playoffs since 1999. From 2000 to 2012 they won 82 games and lost 126, averaging 6.3 wins and 9.7 losses. They've suffered four consecutive seasons with double-digit losses and have seven seasons with 10 or more losses over this time frame. But they have no seasons with double-digit wins and just one season above 0.500.
The Browns might actually be worse. I say might because they made the playoffs in 2002 (with a 9-7 record) and they have a season with double-digit wins (10-6 in 2007). But they only mustered 71 wins to 137 losses from 2000 to 2012, an average of 5.5 wins and 10.5 losses per season. That's atrocious -- they averaged double-digit losses for 13 years! They lost 10 or more games 10 times since 2000! They are currently on a streak of five consecutive seasons with 5 or fewer wins. Inspiring stuff. They were an expansion team in 1999 so they went 2-14. They didn't even exist from 1996 to 1998 so they had 0 wins over that span. And before that they had the best football coach of the past 25 years ... but they fired him and moved the team to Baltimore.
I therefore refer to fans of these teams in the 1999-2012 timeframe as The Weary On Erie.
The Bills and Browns have played 17 times since 1972:
As you can see, six of these games took place in 2004 or later. This is no coincidence; the NFL purposely schedules intra-conference games based on the previous year's standings. So the AFC division winners play each other, the second place teams play each other, the third place teams play each other, and the losers play each other. And as I've already explained, the Bills and Browns have done a lot of losing over the past 10+ years. In fact, they have each other as division losers 5 times in 6 years. The missing season was 2011 -- the 2010 Browns went 5-11 and finished ahead of the 4-12 Bengals.
Unsurprisingly, this series of futility is tied at 3-3 with a bunch of ugly scores. They pick up where they left off on Thursday night when the Bills make the trek out I-90 (aka the New York Thruway, aka the Ohio Purnpike, aka AMVETS Memorial Highway) to Cleveland in another divisional losers face-off. The Bills start rookie QB EJ Manuel and at times he looks like a rookie QB.
His stats aren't great:
But they're 2-2 with a win over the defending Super Bowl champions and a game winning drive against Carolina in the 4th quarter. Sure, he only completed 45% of his passes the last two weeks but he was facing two of the better defensive coaches in the league (Rex Ryan and John Harbaugh) so he deserves to be cut a little slack. So I'm once again cautiously optimistic that Buddy Nix got this pick right.
The Browns are also 2-2, riding Brian Hoyer's hot hand to a two game win streak. Although he isn't a rookie like Manuel, Hoyer has a few newbie-looking GIFs floating around on the internet too:
But I suspect that Browns fans, just like Bills fans, have hope that they've found their new franchise QB. Hence the title of this post, in honor of the 6th (VIth?) matchup between these teams in the past 7 years.
These teams have more in common than 2-2 records and questionmarks at QB. The Bills have a -5 point differential while the Browns are -6, with average margins of victory of -1.3 and -1.5 points respectively. Although the Bills have played much closer games (all decided by 7 points or less), it's safe to say that neither team relies on one particular side of the ball to carry them.
The Browns complete 56.8% of their passes, the Bills 56.9%. Accuracy ain't their thang. But uptempo offense is: both teams rank in the top 5 for plays run so far this year (Buffalo 288, Cleveland 280). Unfortunately, both teams rank in the bottom 8 for yards per play, so maybe they should focus on quality instead of quantity. And they're tied with 7 turnovers on offense, right around the league average of 6.9 (clicks).
There's more difference on defense. The Browns have allowed the 4th fewest yards while the Bills have given up the 5th most. The Browns have the stingiest yards-per-carry defense in the league (only 2.9!!) while the Bills are the 9th most generous (4.2 ypc but I'll take anything under 4.5 at this point). Similarly, the Browns allowed a league-leading 2 passing TD so far while the Bills gave up 8 (tied for 10th). The Browns also lead the lead in yards allowed per pass attempt (5.9) while the Bills are right around the league average (7.1). The Browns also lead the league in yards per completion (9.8) whle the Bills rank 29th (13.1). The Bills lead the league with 9 INT, and the Browns have but 3 picks. But they both rank in the top 8 in terms of opposing passer rating (70.0 for Buffalo, 73.5 for Cleveland).
Remarkably, both teams rank in the top 5 in defensive plays run (298 for the Bills, 279 for the Browns) so I guess we should expect to see a lot of action with little downtime on Thursday.
I don't believe in the Bills' running game even though they've racked up the 2nd most rushing yards per game, and I expect the Browns' defense to shut down Spiller and Jackson. Although I'm not sold on Brian Hoyer, I don't have a ton of faith in Buffalo's passing defense either. I can also see recently acquired Browns RB Willis McGahee running roughshod over his former team just to remind everyone that the Bills are bad at retaining talent. Like this guy who they got to replace McGahee, and who replaced with CJ Spiller:
Yeah, I'd trade this guy for a 4th round pick. Good value.
The Bills have players named EJ, CJ, and TJ, aka the Eedge, the Ceedge, and the Teedge. That's too many -dges for my taste, and the team with the most Teedges usually loses. So I'm picking Cleveland to win 16-13.
Friday, December 10, 2010
G:TB Bills/Browns Preview Part II - Alternatively Titled "Bills/Browns Games are Like Herpes"
Last year's Bills/Browns preview became an internet sensation. I hope that this year's preview will be equally enthralling.
Athletes and venereal disease go hand-in-hand (or dork-in-muff?). Magic Johnson and Greg Louganis have
AIDS. Superstar Billy Graham has hepatitis C. Mickey Mantle's gonorrhea helped him lose the 1961 home run title to Roger Maris and Mike Tyson fought a championship fight while suffering from the clap. And many athletes are reported to have herpes, including Dave Winfield, Derek Jeter, and Michael "Ron Mexico" Vick.
Which smoothly segues into this year's Bills/Browns preview. This game is their fourth consecutive matchup since 2007. The Bills lost all three previous games by preposterously ugly scores of 0-8, 27-29, and 3-6. I see no reason why this game won't be just as ugly as the past three.
That's why this game is like herpes. It keeps coming back every year to blight the NFL's delicates. And it's a blight upon fans too. No one wants to turn on the TV and discover that they have Bills/Browns. There are warning signs before a flare-up -- when the schedule comes out and you see Bills vs. Browns, you say to yourself "I hope I don't get stuck with that shit." It's ugly. It's painful. You laugh at people who suffer from it. Bills/Browns games are, without a doubt, the most herpetic matchup in the NFL.
Luckily there's a cure for Bills/Browns; Cleveland won't finish last in their division this year and thus will likely spare us from Simplex Bowl V (Brought to you by Valtrex ... Valtrex puts the V in Simplex Bowl V!).
The 2010 Bills suck. As the Teedge sagely noted in this space, the Panthers are worse, but Buffalo is terrible. Gutless. Soft. Losers. And many other pejorative adjectives.
Their record is due in large part to their dearth of talent, which is due in large part to their dearth of drafting acumen, which is due in large part to Buddy Nix. Here's how their 2010 draft class performed through 12 games:
1/9: CJ Spiller - 48 rushes/199 yds; 20 rec/82 yds/1 TD; 33 kick ret/817 yds/1 TD.
2/41: Torrell Troup - 9 tackles, 9 assists.
3/72: Alex Carrington - 3 tackles, 1 assist, 1 sack.
4/107: Marcus Easly - has not played (IR).
5/140: Ed Wang - played in 4 games, 0 starts.
6/178: Arthur Moats - 1 tackle, 8 assists, 0.5 sack.
6/192: Danny Batten - has not played (IR).
7/209: Levi Brown - has not played.
7/216: Kyle Calloway - has not played.
To say that things didn't pan out at planned is an understatement. The most frustrating aspect of this drafting debacle is that the Bills took CJ Spiller #9 overall, even though they already had two decent-to-good running backs, and then gave him the ball 68 times over 10 games. What's the point? Getting a kick returner with the 9th pick is a luxury that bad teams (e.g., teams picking 9th overall) typically cannot afford. Perhaps they read my last Bills/Browns post and used the #9 pick on a running back in light of the whole Rob Johnson/Fred Taylor kerfuffle.
As I've ranted ad nauseum, the 2009 Bills could not stop the run and this year is no different. In fact the Bills are worse this year (ranked #32) compared to last year (ranked #31). Which makes Torrell Troup's poor performance particularly painful. When you have the worst run defense in the league, and you draft a DT in the 2nd round, and said DT can't get on the field ... you had a bad draft. Especially when you had the 9th overall pick in a draft featuring a number of good DT. At least Troup looks like a fun guy to bring to all-you-can-eat buffets.
Cleveland has played well of late and I expect them to win handily. Peyton Hillis is listed at 240 pounds; at least five of those pounds have to be the steroids coursing through his veins. He will demolish Buffalo's front seven and should rush for about 150 yards.
The one thing cutting in Buffalo's favor is Jake Delhomme's presence under center. When people think of Jake Delhomme, they think of soul. Not of a soldier, but of soul. Shining in the hearts of men. And crying. Soulfully perhaps, but not soldierly. And not ironically, not at all. And when I say "people," I mean some sad sack Panthers fans with video editing software. Mercifully I'm not one of them. Otherwise I would not only root for the worst team in the league, I would root for the worst team in the league alongside the same mope who put this video together.
So as you watch football this weekend, be thankful if you don't get stuck with a case of Bills/Browns, and be thankful for not being a Panthers fan. Otherwise you're gonna bring yourself down.
Final score: Browns 31, Bills 17
Athletes and venereal disease go hand-in-hand (or dork-in-muff?). Magic Johnson and Greg Louganis have
AIDS. Superstar Billy Graham has hepatitis C. Mickey Mantle's gonorrhea helped him lose the 1961 home run title to Roger Maris and Mike Tyson fought a championship fight while suffering from the clap. And many athletes are reported to have herpes, including Dave Winfield, Derek Jeter, and Michael "Ron Mexico" Vick.
Which smoothly segues into this year's Bills/Browns preview. This game is their fourth consecutive matchup since 2007. The Bills lost all three previous games by preposterously ugly scores of 0-8, 27-29, and 3-6. I see no reason why this game won't be just as ugly as the past three.
That's why this game is like herpes. It keeps coming back every year to blight the NFL's delicates. And it's a blight upon fans too. No one wants to turn on the TV and discover that they have Bills/Browns. There are warning signs before a flare-up -- when the schedule comes out and you see Bills vs. Browns, you say to yourself "I hope I don't get stuck with that shit." It's ugly. It's painful. You laugh at people who suffer from it. Bills/Browns games are, without a doubt, the most herpetic matchup in the NFL.
Luckily there's a cure for Bills/Browns; Cleveland won't finish last in their division this year and thus will likely spare us from Simplex Bowl V (Brought to you by Valtrex ... Valtrex puts the V in Simplex Bowl V!).
The 2010 Bills suck. As the Teedge sagely noted in this space, the Panthers are worse, but Buffalo is terrible. Gutless. Soft. Losers. And many other pejorative adjectives.
Their record is due in large part to their dearth of talent, which is due in large part to their dearth of drafting acumen, which is due in large part to Buddy Nix. Here's how their 2010 draft class performed through 12 games:1/9: CJ Spiller - 48 rushes/199 yds; 20 rec/82 yds/1 TD; 33 kick ret/817 yds/1 TD.
2/41: Torrell Troup - 9 tackles, 9 assists.
3/72: Alex Carrington - 3 tackles, 1 assist, 1 sack.
4/107: Marcus Easly - has not played (IR).
5/140: Ed Wang - played in 4 games, 0 starts.
6/178: Arthur Moats - 1 tackle, 8 assists, 0.5 sack.
6/192: Danny Batten - has not played (IR).
7/209: Levi Brown - has not played.
7/216: Kyle Calloway - has not played.
To say that things didn't pan out at planned is an understatement. The most frustrating aspect of this drafting debacle is that the Bills took CJ Spiller #9 overall, even though they already had two decent-to-good running backs, and then gave him the ball 68 times over 10 games. What's the point? Getting a kick returner with the 9th pick is a luxury that bad teams (e.g., teams picking 9th overall) typically cannot afford. Perhaps they read my last Bills/Browns post and used the #9 pick on a running back in light of the whole Rob Johnson/Fred Taylor kerfuffle.
As I've ranted ad nauseum, the 2009 Bills could not stop the run and this year is no different. In fact the Bills are worse this year (ranked #32) compared to last year (ranked #31). Which makes Torrell Troup's poor performance particularly painful. When you have the worst run defense in the league, and you draft a DT in the 2nd round, and said DT can't get on the field ... you had a bad draft. Especially when you had the 9th overall pick in a draft featuring a number of good DT. At least Troup looks like a fun guy to bring to all-you-can-eat buffets.Cleveland has played well of late and I expect them to win handily. Peyton Hillis is listed at 240 pounds; at least five of those pounds have to be the steroids coursing through his veins. He will demolish Buffalo's front seven and should rush for about 150 yards.
The one thing cutting in Buffalo's favor is Jake Delhomme's presence under center. When people think of Jake Delhomme, they think of soul. Not of a soldier, but of soul. Shining in the hearts of men. And crying. Soulfully perhaps, but not soldierly. And not ironically, not at all. And when I say "people," I mean some sad sack Panthers fans with video editing software. Mercifully I'm not one of them. Otherwise I would not only root for the worst team in the league, I would root for the worst team in the league alongside the same mope who put this video together.
So as you watch football this weekend, be thankful if you don't get stuck with a case of Bills/Browns, and be thankful for not being a Panthers fan. Otherwise you're gonna bring yourself down.
Final score: Browns 31, Bills 17
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
A Bills/Browns preview, alternatively titled "A Study in Self-Loathing"
Did you know that the Bills haven't made the playoffs since 1999? Did you know that the Bills haven't won a playoff game since 1995? That isn't a typo. Buffalo hasn't won a playoff game since the Kelly/Thomas/Reed era. Think about how much has happened in your life in the past 14 years. Since 1995 I graduated college, worked four different jobs, got two advanced degrees, lived in three major cities (and had 8 different addresses), got married and divorced, owned five different cars, attended three OBFTs, and lived with two different women. I gained about 30 pounds and lost about 30% of my hair. I even adopted a stray cat. And I don't really like cats.
Looking like the illegitimate love child of Fire Marshall Bill and Simple Jack, Jauron is the most maddeningly stupid and inept of the bunch, going 7-9 as regularly as TR's colon after his morning coffee. The other idiots were decent coordinators who got overwhelmed when they had to run the show. Jauron is a former defensive coordinator, but his defensive gameplans make no sense. Last week, facing the Dolphins in Chad Henne's first career start, the Bills gave up 250 rushing yards. Look, I'm an idiot, and I never played organized football. But I knew that the Dolphins were going to run the ball with Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams BECAUSE THEIR QB NEVER PLAYED BEFORE!!! There's no way in hell Henne was going to sling it around like Warren Moon. So stack your defense against the run. The Dolphins also apparently have some fancy offensive formation called "The Wildcat." You may have heard of it. The QB isn't involved too much in this formation. Their QB is new and likely scared, so I bet they will use this Wildcat thing quite a bit. Plan for it. The 2009 Bills are nothing if not a balanced team and were similalry useless on offense, going 1/11 on third down.
I could go on like this for 10,000 words. Maybe more. I could talk about how the Bills traded the #9 pick in the 1998 draft for Rob Johnson, and how that pick was used to draft Fred Taylor, and how Fred Taylor has twice as many career rushing yards as Rob Johnson does career passing yards, and how it makes me sad and angry that Rob Johnson has a Super Bowl ring but Jim Kelly doesn't. I could talk about Eric Moulds' career, how it should have been and how it was, how his abilities were wasted playing with a littany of shitty quarterbacks. I could talk about how the team constantly drafts good-to-excellent d-backs and lets them go in free agency. I could talk about how putrid Antowain Smith was, and how he became the featured back on two (two!) Super Bowl championship teams. I could talk about the abyssmal 2004 draft, which yielded only one player who is still in the league (Lee Evans) even though they had two (two!) first round picks (used on Evans and Losman).
I could talk about how sick I am of the media forcing stories about "long suffering" Red Sox and Cubs fans down my throat. They can kiss my ass. They don't know suffering. Try watching your team lose four title games in a row. Better yet, try watching your team lose to the Giants when you live in north Jersey, then move to Virginia right after they lose to the Redskins, and then deal with the bloviations of ubiquitous bandwagoneering Cowboys fans after back-to-back losses. That's real suffering. Well, it's not suffering like Fallujah-style suffering. Perspective. But it still sucks.
I stayed up late to watch the whole stupid thing. This is why I loathe myself.
So things have changed for me since the Bills' last playoff victory. The one constant is, however, the abject misery and self-loathing I experience as a Bills fan.
And it isn't just because they haven't won a playoff game, or failed to make the playoffs. It isn't just because they finished above .500 once, once, since 2000 (they went a whopping 9-7 in 2004). It's the way they do it.
Everyone remembers Scott Norwood's "wide right" kick in SB XXV.
That sucked.
So did the Music City Miracle "Home Run Throwback" play. That one hurt the worst. I still get angry watching it. I wrote a 1,000 word email about that play the next day. "rob" told me he was looking forward to the email as soon as the game ended. My Bills angst is predictable.
Ronnie Harmon's drop hurt too.
As did SBs XXVI through XXVIII. It got so bad that they had to bring in OJ to find the Bills' killer.
But there are so many other miserable losses.
Just last year I went to the Meadowlands with TR for Bills/Jets. The Bills were winning, they had the ball, 2 minutes left. Just run the ball three times and punt if you have to, right? This is elementary stuff. Instead, JP Losman rolls out on a pass play. As soon as Losman started to roll out I stood up, put my hands on my head, and started yelling "No! No! What the fuck are you doing?! No! No! Sweet God no!" I just knew the play would end poorly. Losman gets hit and fumbles. Jets return the fumble for a TD and win. The one cool thing about being a Bills fan is that you get this weird sixth sense that lets you sniff out the exact moment they'll shit the bed and lose.
This year the Bills lost to the Patriots to start the season because Leodis McKelvin, an otherwise fine kick returner, ran the ball out of the endzone with a lead and 2 minutes left on the clock. I yelled at my TV "Take a fucking knee you jackass!" Sure enough, Leodis fumbled. Three plays later, the Pats score a TD to win.
How about the 1996 playoff loss to the Jaguars? The Bills had never lost a playoff game at Rich Stadium, and they were facing a 9-7 expansion team, albeit a 9-7 expansion team on a 5-game win streak, quarterbacked by future Redskin All-Time Great Mark Brunell. Brunell (and his passion for the Christ) drove the Jaguars down the field for a TD to tie things up, and Mike Hollis banked in a FG, he fucking banked it off the upright, to go up by 3. After Jim Kelly's clock was thoroughly cleaned and he was knocked out of the game, Todd Collins came in to cement the loss in the final minutes. This game was really the beginning of my era of self-loathing as a Bills fan.
After that loss to the Jaguars, Jim Kelly retired and Thurman Thomas got old, so Todd Collins and Antowain Smith took over at the skill positions and the team went 6-10. Marv Levy retired, and Ralph Wilson unleashed a parade of horribles upon Bills fans, hiring stupid mopes like Wade (son of a Bum) Phillips, Gregg (why the two g's?) Williams, Mike "full of" Mularkey, and Dick (less) Jauron.
Looking like the illegitimate love child of Fire Marshall Bill and Simple Jack, Jauron is the most maddeningly stupid and inept of the bunch, going 7-9 as regularly as TR's colon after his morning coffee. The other idiots were decent coordinators who got overwhelmed when they had to run the show. Jauron is a former defensive coordinator, but his defensive gameplans make no sense. Last week, facing the Dolphins in Chad Henne's first career start, the Bills gave up 250 rushing yards. Look, I'm an idiot, and I never played organized football. But I knew that the Dolphins were going to run the ball with Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams BECAUSE THEIR QB NEVER PLAYED BEFORE!!! There's no way in hell Henne was going to sling it around like Warren Moon. So stack your defense against the run. The Dolphins also apparently have some fancy offensive formation called "The Wildcat." You may have heard of it. The QB isn't involved too much in this formation. Their QB is new and likely scared, so I bet they will use this Wildcat thing quite a bit. Plan for it. The 2009 Bills are nothing if not a balanced team and were similalry useless on offense, going 1/11 on third down.
I could go on like this for 10,000 words. Maybe more. I could talk about how the Bills traded the #9 pick in the 1998 draft for Rob Johnson, and how that pick was used to draft Fred Taylor, and how Fred Taylor has twice as many career rushing yards as Rob Johnson does career passing yards, and how it makes me sad and angry that Rob Johnson has a Super Bowl ring but Jim Kelly doesn't. I could talk about Eric Moulds' career, how it should have been and how it was, how his abilities were wasted playing with a littany of shitty quarterbacks. I could talk about how the team constantly drafts good-to-excellent d-backs and lets them go in free agency. I could talk about how putrid Antowain Smith was, and how he became the featured back on two (two!) Super Bowl championship teams. I could talk about the abyssmal 2004 draft, which yielded only one player who is still in the league (Lee Evans) even though they had two (two!) first round picks (used on Evans and Losman).
I could talk about how sick I am of the media forcing stories about "long suffering" Red Sox and Cubs fans down my throat. They can kiss my ass. They don't know suffering. Try watching your team lose four title games in a row. Better yet, try watching your team lose to the Giants when you live in north Jersey, then move to Virginia right after they lose to the Redskins, and then deal with the bloviations of ubiquitous bandwagoneering Cowboys fans after back-to-back losses. That's real suffering. Well, it's not suffering like Fallujah-style suffering. Perspective. But it still sucks.This is supposed to be a preview of this week's game against the Browns. The last time these two farcical squads faced off was a Monday night game in 2008. Brady Quinn hustled the Browns down the field in the 4th quarter to set up a Phil Dawson 56-yard field goal to go up by 2 with under 2 minutes left. After the kickoff, Trent Edwards completed one decently long pass. The Bills predictably ran Marshawn Lynch up the middle 3 times for a total of 5 yards to set up a 45 yard field goal, which Ryan Lindell predictably missed wide right.
Jim Kelly was on the sidelines. His reaction?
The new-look Browns come to town with Eric Mangina's steady hand on the tiller. Under his stewardship, the Browns are 29th in points scored, 31st in points allowed, and 31st in takeaway/giveaway differential. Note that Romeo Crennel is still involved here. The two-headed monster that is Brady Quinn and Derek Alexander have combined for 761 yards, 2 TD, and 7 INT in 4 games. The Browns have mustered 1049 yards of total offense over that span. Note that Drew Brees has 1031 passing yards and 12 rushing yards, and thus has nearly equalled the Browns' entire offensive output by himself.
Despite these statistical problems, the Browns are licking their chops at the prospect of travelling to Orchard Park on Sunday. The Bills are 29th in points allowed and 26th in takeaway/giveaway differential. So they suck statistically too. They are, however, 100 yards ahead of Drew Brees, with 1163 yards of total offense through 4 games. Marshawn Lynch is back from suspension just in time to take carries away from Fred Jackson, who is a better and more versatile player than Lynch, and Alex "don't call me Lucy" Van Pelt is determined to find ways to keep Jackson off the field.
I predicted that TO would hate playing in Buffalo with Trent Edwards after 5 weeks. This is the game that will break TO's spirit. He has 8 catches for 158 yards and 1 TD through 4 weeks. Against the Saints he had 0 (zero!) catches. Backup defensive end Ryan Denney had 1 catch for 25 yards and a TD that game. You don't think that pissed TO off? No? Really? He is going to go apeshit unless he puts up something like 6/150/2 this week. But that won't happen. Not with Trent Edwards making plays like this.
The Browns are going to run buck wild all over the Bills. I mean that literally. Well, I mean that the Browns will run the ball for 300 yards. The Browns don't have a guy named Buck Wild. The Dolphins did it with Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams, so the Browns will do it with Jerome Harrison and Jamal Lewis. Jauron will adapt at the half by switching to a dime package.
Final score: Browns 20 Bills 7
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