CLEVELAND, Ohio (TheOBR.com) Good morning, Cleveland Browns fans! I’ll admit, it’s taken me a couple of days to shake off this latest Cleveland Browns defeat. The Browns’ 41-17 loss to the noxious Baltimore Ratbirds went about as badly as one could expect it to go and, when paired with 26 years of mostly futile hopes for the team, had me in a bit of a funk. But I think I’ve recovered now, partially thanks to this message in the Watercooler, and am ready to face what may be another long afternoon Sunday when the dangerous Packers come to town.
THE DAILY BLOVIATION
There is a bit of bravery coming from Berea right now as the team faces down what is possibly a 0-3 start to the season. There’s no panic coming from the team’s veteran quarterback, and a lot of discussion about the offense “just needs one big play,” and the team as a whole “needs a win” to get things straightened out.
The fact remains that the first six games of the season are just brutal, and aren’t showing much sign of getting easier. None of this should come as a surprise, as even the most hopeful of fans were eyeing a possible 2-4 record after the stretch, and most were predicting worse. That the team would start 0-2 isn’t much of a shock.
Nonetheless, the Browns fan base has already fractured between those advising patience and those who are fed up with the constant losing and blame the team’s front office for their current situation. One needs to look no further than the comments on yesterday’s bloviation to see the divide.
That the team’s front office is to blame for the current uninspiring situation is beyond dispute. The die was cast when the Browns dealt away a motherlode of draft picks, their integrity, and their salary cap flexibility for Deshaun Watson, a trade which is now being called one of the worst (if not the worst) deals in NFL history, perhaps in all of pro sports. There’s no turning back from a decision like that, and its utter failure belongs nowhere other than the team’s owner, general manager, and anyone else involved in the decision.
It was a big swing by a team that felt it was on the cusp of high-level competitiveness, and it was a disaster. That trade put the team in the situation it now finds itself: Short on talent, desperate for young players to step up, and constrained from a cap perspective.
Herein lies the divide. One group of fans either blames the owner for the deal or gives the then-younger front office a mulligan for the decision, and one group of fans does not. Jimmy and Dee Haslam have, after all, offered a mea culpa for the decision, blaming themselves, and continue to back their brain trust despite the deal strongly. Some fans don’t buy that and feel that the entire group is to blame.
There’s no right or wrong here, just differences in perspective. The latter group of fans can accurately point to the team’s descent to a three-win unit last year, say that is unacceptable, and demand the replacement of the whole front office. That’s a legitimate viewpoint.
One thing that’s impossible for your friends here at the OBR, however, is to write in a way that satisfies both camps in the analysis we produce. If the team does something well, for instance, the 2025 draft class, we’ll appropriately applaud the move. Even when dubious decisions are made, the team examines them analytically, starting with an understanding of why the move was made, consulting with people within the organization to explain it, and then offering our perspective on it.
So, when we’re accused of “defending” the organization, it’s more likely that we’re looking at each move individually, using the information we have to explain why we feel the move was made, and offering our opinion. I think the OBR would quickly become boring if the analysis of every move were to point to the Watson deal and last year’s record, say that the front office was inept, and blast it.
Like most things in this incredibly competitive space of the NFL, any decision the team makes will be picked apart and analyzed, and that analysis may not fit with everyone’s opinion of the skill set of the team’s decision-makers.
This team put itself in a giant, seemingly inescapable hole with the Watson trade, and very little looks good a couple of years later. We’re paying the price for a gamble that failed. That doesn’t mean that the team’s front office hasn’t learned from that or that every decision is as poor as that one. We’ll continue to look at each move analytically and let you know our opinion of it. If you disagree, we haven’t given up on allowing readers to comment with their opinion, like most sites have. Let us have it. But rest assured, we’ll continue to let our logic and analysis, not emotion or disappointment with a decision made four years ago, color all we do.
Have a good one! GO BROWNS!
BROWNS NEWS FROM THE OBRBROWNS VIDEOS
Inside The Browns Beat – ft. Kelsey Russo! – (youtube.com)
Two-Minute Check-In: September 17, 2025 – (youtube.com)
BROWNS 3D- BROWNS SHIFT THEIR FOCUS TO GREEN BAY – (youtube.com)
GARAGE BEERS LIVE – EPISODE 281! – (youtube.com)
BROWNS ARTICLES
Cleveland Browns 2026 Way Too Early Defensive Roster Prediction – Jack
Cleveland Browns News and Rumors 9/17: Quarterback Regret and Other Useless Emotions – Barry
PFF Report Card Grades and Data from the Cleveland Browns Week 2 Loss to the Baltimore Ravens – Sam
Cleveland Browns Joe Flacco Accuracy Charting Week 2 Update – Sam
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When not concerned about eyeball octupi, 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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