What Did You Expect?

Obviously, I haven’t blogged much this year. I can make up a lot of excuses, but it doesn’t make any difference. It’s not that I’m a fair weather blogger, who only blogs when the Browns are playing well (if that was the case, The Blawg Pound would never have existed in the first place).

The truth is, I’ve simply been too busy and this isn’t at the top of my list of priorities. That’s all.

I still watch the Browns every single week. From start to finish, I watch every down. Unfortunately, I’ve kept most of my opinions to myself and let others do all the talking (complaining).


Contrary to what you might think, I’ve been pretty positive this season (if you follow me on twitter, you’d know that). It seems everyone in Browns Town has some kind of gripe about the team this year. That’s pretty normal, really. Since I’m one of the few who hasn’t given up on this team, I have a question for everyone else: What did you expect?

OK, so maybe that’s not the right question to ask. Obviously, people expected more from this team; otherwise they wouldn’t be so upset. I suppose the better question would be: Why did you expect so much?

Here are the facts –

• At 4-11, the Browns are only one win behind last year’s record of 5-11 with one game yet to play.
• Pat Shurmur is a first-year head coach, who did not meet his players until August when the NFL Lockout ended.
• Colt McCoy is essentially a rookie. Learning a brand new offense.
• The offense has no playmaking wide receiver threat.
• Players get injured. It happens. And when at key player is hurt (Ward and Hillis for Cleveland, Manning for Indianapolis), sometimes the team suffers without him.
• This team is still very young.

If you can get past the final result of each game (usually a loss) and really look at the team as a whole, I truly believe you’ll see there has been some improvement. I know “close” doesn’t cut it, but the Browns really have been close in a lot of games this year.

The difference between an experienced, veteran team and a young, growing team is knowing how to win. The Browns don’t yet know how to win. Clearly, they know how to play football. They’ve got that down (nobody’s perfect, but they’ve been competitive in most games).

The Browns simply need to figure out how to win games. If they can win the close ones, they’ll be one step closer to being a good team. Once they figure out how to win the close ones, they’ll need to figure out how to win on a consistent basis. It’s fairly simply, really.

Anyone who expected the Browns to have that all figured out this season was only kidding themselves. Like it or not, this was another rebuilding year for the Browns. Let them rebuild. Let the experts (not the fans or the media) do their job.

Building a winner takes time. I’m not a patient person, normally, but I’m willing to wait for success from the Browns. I still believe.

Go Browns!

Rocco the Blawg Pound Mascot says:

"I think Browns fans just like to complain."