CLEVELAND, Ohio (TheOBR.com) Good morning, Cleveland Browns fans!
The AFC North is all shook up. It’s no longer the same old gauntlet that beat up on the Browns every year. Over the last decade or more, the AFC North has been a reliable annual source of year-in, year-out annoyance.
I knew where everything was. Then someone moved my cheese.
Mike Tomlin sat in Pittsburgh for 19 years. John Harbaugh had Baltimore for 18. Kevin Stefanski didn’t last that long here, but he was ours, so he gets a mention. All three are gone. As the Associated Press put it before the season, three of the division’s four head coaching jobs changed hands this offseason. Jesse Minter took Baltimore. Mike McCarthy took his hometown Steelers and kept Aaron Rodgers so they can swear at each other in a hilariously flustered and inappropriate fashion. We got Todd Monken.
The only man left standing is Zac Taylor in Cincinnati, who is now the second-longest-tenured head coach in the AFC, behind only Andy Reid.
Zac Taylor is the old man of the AFC North.
Yep.
I didn’t see that one coming. Riding QB Joe Burrow to a Super Bowl appearance is like employment paste.
The ex-coaches didn’t go far, either. Harbaugh is with the Giants, who are 3-1 and lead the NFC East, and Pete Prisco says he has “already turned this thing around.” Stefanski is in Atlanta, and his Falcons get the Ravens on Sunday night. Tomlin is on NBC. If you’d described this division to me three years ago, I’d have mumbled some remark about how coaches are only as smart as their quarterbacks play, and then returned to wishing my message boards weren’t horrible.
Initial indications don’t look horrifying from the Ravens’ perspective, but Pete Smith made a great point during Gang of Three about how Lamar doesn’t have to be out to hurt his team when dinged up. Injured Lamar isn’t the same thing as healthy Lamar, getting progressively more limited during the season is a Lamar thing. Meanwhile, the Bengals look to get J’Marr Chase (concussion) back pretty quickly, and Tee Higgins (hamstring) is expected to play soon. If he played for the Browns, Chase would be out a month. Still, a dingled up Bengals offense is a potential victim given the nature of today’s NFL.
What all that newness means, four games in, is that nobody in this division knows much of anything yet. The division’s coaches seem like a wild card so far, the injury reports are long, and the standings look like somebody shook the box.
MEANWHILE, IN BEREA’S TRAINING ROOM: We have our own problem, and it’s in the middle of the defensive line. Lane Adkins updated the current situation in Rumor Central. Mason Graham suffered a grade 2 MCL sprain and a grade 1 ankle sprain against Pittsburgh. Michael Hall Jr. left in a walking boot with an ankle sprain. The staff hopes the latter is available against the Jets and doesn’t want to rush it. Kalia Davis, on IR since late July with a quad injury, is due to be evaluated Tuesday or Wednesday, and per our Ask the Insiders thread, Elgton Jenkins (concussion) is on the same evaluation schedule.
The Athletic is already asking whether the defense can keep surging without Graham. The Jets managed 157 total yards against Chicago, so Sunday might be forgiving. Oct. 18 won’t be. With or without Lamar, the Ravens still hand the ball to Derrick Henry, and that’s the week I want every big body we’ve got.
JETS WEEK, BRIEFLY: The Browns are 1.5-point underdogs in New York despite being 3-1 against a 1-3 team. In the thread, the math crowd worked it out: on a neutral field Vegas has us 1.5 points better, and at home we’d be 4.5-point favorites. Fine. I’ll take the points. Aaron Glenn, after three straight losses, told reporters “we have too many people that want to think about history.” Monken handled the same question after Week 1 with a word I can’t print here. I liked his answer better.
THE REST, QUICKLY: Dillon Gabriel can open his 21-day practice window this week, and as our Insiders pointed out in Ask the Insiders, he doesn’t take a roster spot while the window is open. Daryl Ruiter says the Browns are not looking to trade Shedeur Sanders. Somebody asked about trading for Khalil Mack, and the cap math in that thread is better than most of what you’ll find elsewhere. Peter King, out promoting his new book, told 19 News that other owners want the Browns to be a competent franchise. Kind of them, considering the Haslam era sits at 81-151-1.
Have a good one! GO BROWNS!
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FROM THE FORUMS
THE LIFT
Positive news from the world of sports and beyond…
Star Quarterback Wants to Help Gen Z Handle Money with New Video Series ‘Finance with Fernando’ – Heisman winner and No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza, who also holds an MBA from Indiana’s Kelley School, is launching a money-management video series for Gen Z with U.S. Bank, on top of the half-million dollars he pledged to the National MS Society in honor of his mother. A rookie quarterback whose self-described true passion is fiscal responsibility. Cleveland has met a lot of rookie quarterbacks. Not that one.
WRAPPING UP
When not refreshing four injury reports in four different cities before breakfast, Barry McBride is the Publisher and Founder of the OBR and bloviates this nonsense every morning. You can follow him on Twitter @barrymcbride or write him at barry@theobr.com if you are so compelled.
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