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Bradley And Gay Released

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  • XxDaBuckeyexX said:

    Free Agents wont come here for all the reasons you all are saying. Were not competitive. We wont overpay. Cleveland is the least glamorous city in the NFL. Its cold as fuck. Pittsburgh overcomes its downfalls with good management and player evaluation which leads to them always being competitive. Winning is number 1 in professional sports, the chance at a championship will trump all downfalls. Until we find a QB and the term "next year" actually comes to fruition we will not be able to lure big time free agents. But thats ok. We dont need Mike Wallace, we dont need Greg Jennings, we dont need nnamdi. Sure theyd help but if we can get a great QB and some mid level free agents, we'll turn the corner.

    While you presented sound logic and reasoning, you used the words "Cleveland", "less glamorous", and "cold as fuck", so it therefore will not be counted as a viable opinion to people on here.

    But I agree, nobody will come here until we start winning. The city isn't doing itself any favors by being a disgusting vat of filth, so until we start competing, we'll be stuck with cast-offs and second tier guys.

    @tim-couch-pulls-out said:

    While you presented sound logic and reasoning, you used the words "Cleveland", "less glamorous", and "cold as fuck", so it therefore will not be counted as a viable opinion to people on here.

    But I agree, nobody will come here until we start winning. The city isn't doing itself any favors by being a disgusting vat of filth, so until we start competing, we'll be stuck with cast-offs and second tier guys.

    Why don't you just go root for the Myrtle Beach Sand Crabs. What's that? Myrtle Beach isn't considered to be a viable major league city?

  • hell a lot of nfl cities are ugly. chicago green bay cleveland buffalo new england (actually foxborough) all are cold and dreary. the difference is those teams have won RECENTLY.

    maybe the pro football hall of fame should be moved to cleveland itself (probably some rule against it).

    or this regime needs to start a marketing campaign spotlighting the golden age of football and how dominate the browns were. during the season there should be browns' propaganda films, posters, etc. strewn across city blocks and hung inside and out the stadium, hotels (especially the one where the opposing team stays) and have 2 home games where the browns wear throw back unis...including the white and black.

    the whole purpose on those sundays should be to highlight the area around the stadium to leave visitors saying that cleveland is doing something right. don't they do a car race at the old airport next to the stadium? why not have that in september on a saturday before the game? how about the air show? hell if i were banner i would make sure there were friggin huge boats docked off of where the stadium lies. just to give it the look of a port city.

    @miktoxic said:

    hell a lot of nfl cities are ugly. chicago green bay cleveland buffalo new england (actually foxborough) all are cold and dreary. the difference is those teams have won RECENTLY.

    maybe the pro football hall of fame should be moved to cleveland itself (probably some rule against it).

    or this regime needs to start a marketing campaign spotlighting the golden age of football and how dominate the browns were. during the season there should be browns' propaganda films, posters, etc. strewn across city blocks and hung inside and out the stadium, hotels (especially the one where the opposing team stays) and have 2 home games where the browns wear throw back unis...including the white and black.

    the whole purpose on those sundays should be to highlight the area around the stadium to leave visitors saying that cleveland is doing something right. don't they do a car race at the old airport next to the stadium? why not have that in september on a saturday before the game? how about the air show? hell if i were banner i would make sure there were friggin huge boats docked off of where the stadium lies. just to give it the of a port city.

    Yea, Northeast Ohio is such a shithole that no way would two of the favorite pastimes of mankind like Football and Rock n Roll place their Hall of Fames here, now would they?

    OOPs! Fuck me. That is exactly where those Hall of Fames are located.

    Boy, the people making those decisions must have been dumbasses. Shouldn't those have been placed in Southeast Bugtussle or somewhere in the Sweat Belt?

  • @miktoxic said:

    hell a lot of nfl cities are ugly. chicago green bay cleveland buffalo new england (actually foxborough) all are cold and dreary. the difference is those teams have won RECENTLY.

    maybe the pro football hall of fame should be moved to cleveland itself (probably some rule against it).

    or this regime needs to start a marketing campaign spotlighting the golden age of football and how dominate the browns were. during the season there should be browns' propaganda films, posters, etc. strewn across city blocks and hung inside and out the stadium, hotels (especially the one where the opposing team stays) and have 2 home games where the browns wear throw back unis...including the white and black.

    the whole purpose on those sundays should be to highlight the area around the stadium to leave visitors saying that cleveland is doing something right. don't they do a car race at the old airport next to the stadium? why not have that in september on a saturday before the game? how about the air show? hell if i were banner i would make sure there were friggin huge boats docked off of where the stadium lies. just to give it the of a port city.

    Yea, Northeast Ohio is such a shithole that no way would two of the favorite pastimes of mankind like Football and Rock n Roll place their Hall of Fames here, now would they?

    OOPs! Fuck me. That is exactly where those Hall of Fames are located.

    Boy, the people making those decisions must have been dumbasses. Shouldn't those have been placed in Southeast Bugtussle or somewhere in the Sweat Belt?

    @the-gipper said:

    Shouldn't those have been placed in Southeast Bugtussle or somewhere in the Sweat Belt?

    LOL!! 😆 :lol:

    they couldn't afford to put those anywhere south. they wouldn't have had the budget to put in the hundred or so spittoons needed for jethro, mary joe and their 13 kids. they'd also have to make it 100% interactive where all the people would have to do is push a button and listen to the kiosk of let's say jim brown. yeah i know it'd be tough enough to expect them to be able to push a button but considering only 20% of dem dar folks can read.....

    oh and you'd have to have the museums/hall of fames segregated. no white man in the south is ever going to believe that elvis wasn't the king of rock and roll.

  • Why is Cleveland the only team in the NFL that players openly come out and say that theres no way theyll play there? (Manningham last year and Connor Barwin a couple days ago come to mind)?

  • who cares? fuck 'em if they don't want to come here.

    just wait until we start to win and the guy's a FA again and then he's hoping to sign....he can go fuck himself then too.

    i know it's tough to keep your mouth shut in this day of twats and twits and myface and spacebook but these guys should know there is a thing called 'burning bridges' and it's a dumb thing to do in life.

  • @tim-couch-pulls-out said:

    While you presented sound logic and reasoning, you used the words "Cleveland", "less glamorous", and "cold as fuck", so it therefore will not be counted as a viable opinion to people on here.

    But I agree, nobody will come here until we start winning. The city isn't doing itself any favors by being a disgusting vat of filth, so until we start competing, we'll be stuck with cast-offs and second tier guys.

    Why don't you just go root for the Myrtle Beach Sand Crabs. What's that? Myrtle Beach isn't considered to be a viable major league city?

    @the-gipper said:

    Why don't you just go root for the Myrtle Beach Sand Crabs. What's that? Myrtle Beach isn't considered to be a viable major league city?

    No, we lack the necessary homeless people shitting on the street and overwhelming diarrhea smell that Cleveland has.

    But in 10 years when Cleveland's population drops below ours, we'll see.

  • @the-gipper said:

    Why don't you just go root for the Myrtle Beach Sand Crabs. What's that? Myrtle Beach isn't considered to be a viable major league city?

    No, we lack the necessary homeless people shitting on the street and overwhelming diarrhea smell that Cleveland has.

    But in 10 years when Cleveland's population drops below ours, we'll see.

    @tim-couch-pulls-out said:

    No, we lack the necessary homeless people shitting on the street and overwhelming diarrhea smell that Cleveland has.

    But in 10 years when Cleveland's population drops below ours, we'll see.

    Face it. You are just lacking. In anything and everything.

    Just out of curiosity: Why are you even a Browns fan? Why aren't you the fan of some team from some faceless, colorless, characterless, generic, plastic town like Atlanta or Dallas or someplace you think is a "glamor town" since that is what you seem to think it is all about?

    (When we all know that football is about blood, sweat, tears, mud, snot, dirt...and some times even a little snow and ice).

  • Why is Cleveland the only team in the NFL that players openly come out and say that theres no way theyll play there? (Manningham last year and Connor Barwin a couple days ago come to mind)?

    XxDaBuckeyexX said:

    Why is Cleveland the only team in the NFL that players openly come out and say that theres no way theyll play there? (Manningham last year and Connor Barwin a couple days ago come to mind)?

    Have a link or is it more hear say?

    Who gives a fuck about manningham anyway the dude isnt shit thats why the NYG let him go. How bout some names with relevance.

  • @tim-couch-pulls-out said:

    No, we lack the necessary homeless people shitting on the street and overwhelming diarrhea smell that Cleveland has.

    But in 10 years when Cleveland's population drops below ours, we'll see.

    Face it. You are just lacking. In anything and everything.

    Just out of curiosity: Why are you even a Browns fan? Why aren't you the fan of some team from some faceless, colorless, characterless, generic, plastic town like Atlanta or Dallas or someplace you think is a "glamor town" since that is what you seem to think it is all about?

    (When we all know that football is about blood, sweat, tears, mud, snot, dirt...and some times even a little snow and ice).

    @the-gipper said:

    Face it. You are just lacking. In anything and everything.

    Just out of curiosity: Why are you even a Browns fan? Why aren't you the fan of some team from some faceless, colorless, characterless, generic, plastic town like Atlanta or Dallas or someplace you think is a "glamor town" since that is what you seem to think it is all about?

    (When we all know that football is about blood, sweat, tears, mud, snot, dirt...and some times even a little snow and ice).

    That's rich. You're an old, wrinkled bag of hate and ignorance, yet I'm the one who is lacking. You regurgitate trivia questions you found on "the google machine" and think that you're contributing to valid conversation.

    I'm a Browns fan because my father was and raised me to be. He also warned me of the fake, maudlin fans that cling to the past and twiddle their thumbs saying "woe is me, we used to be so good". Fans like you.

    I am a football player. I'm a division 1 scholarship athlete, with offers from two SEC schools. I chose to stay near home to be close to my sick father, so we could watch Browns games together. Don't tell me what it's like to play football. You know nothing of what its like to play, as the game hadn't been invented when you were a youth.

    I have a degree in this industry, ive had internships and volunteer work in this industry and I'll soon have a very good job in this industry. In a few years, you'll be bitching about the decisions I make, and I'm okay with that. Because ill have succeeded in something, unlike you.

  • XxDaBuckeyexX said:

    Why is Cleveland the only team in the NFL that players openly come out and say that theres no way theyll play there? (Manningham last year and Connor Barwin a couple days ago come to mind)?

    Have a link or is it more hear say?

    Who gives a fuck about manningham anyway the dude isnt shit thats why the NYG let him go. How bout some names with relevance.

    @erie-dawg said:

    Have a link or is it more hear say?

    Who gives a fuck about manningham anyway the dude isnt shit thats why the NYG let him go. How bout some names with relevance.

    http://www.dawgsbynature.com/2013/3/4/4065548/connor-barwin-doesnt-want-to-sign-with-the-cleveland-browns

    http://www.cleveland.com/ohio-sports-blog/index.ssf/2012/03/cleveland_is_not_a_hot_destina.html

    Its how were viewed around the league. Not just these guys.

  • @the-gipper said:

    Face it. You are just lacking. In anything and everything.

    Just out of curiosity: Why are you even a Browns fan? Why aren't you the fan of some team from some faceless, colorless, characterless, generic, plastic town like Atlanta or Dallas or someplace you think is a "glamor town" since that is what you seem to think it is all about?

    (When we all know that football is about blood, sweat, tears, mud, snot, dirt...and some times even a little snow and ice).

    That's rich. You're an old, wrinkled bag of hate and ignorance, yet I'm the one who is lacking. You regurgitate trivia questions you found on "the google machine" and think that you're contributing to valid conversation.

    I'm a Browns fan because my father was and raised me to be. He also warned me of the fake, maudlin fans that cling to the past and twiddle their thumbs saying "woe is me, we used to be so good". Fans like you.

    I am a football player. I'm a division 1 scholarship athlete, with offers from two SEC schools. I chose to stay near home to be close to my sick father, so we could watch Browns games together. Don't tell me what it's like to play football. You know nothing of what its like to play, as the game hadn't been invented when you were a youth.

    I have a degree in this industry, ive had internships and volunteer work in this industry and I'll soon have a very good job in this industry. In a few years, you'll be bitching about the decisions I make, and I'm okay with that. Because ill have succeeded in something, unlike you.

    @tim-couch-pulls-out said:

    That's rich. You're an old, wrinkled bag of hate and ignorance, yet I'm the one who is lacking. You regurgitate trivia questions you found on "the google machine" and think that you're contributing to valid conversation.

    It contributes to the entertainment of the people that enjoy it. Just because YOU are too dumb to answer any of the questions doesn't mean that others don't like it.

    Do I have to use google? Sure, because unlike you, I admit that I don't know everything.

    I'm a Browns fan because my father was and raised me to be. He also warned me of the fake, maudlin fans that cling to the past and twiddle their thumbs saying "woe is me, we used to be so good". Fans like you.

    Now you have shown your ignorance. Anyone who has bothered to pay attention to my opinions knows that is not me. It sounds more like you. You are the one that has proclaimed "woe is us, nobody likes us because (in your ignorant opinion) the city is terrible".

    Why do you transfer your own emotions on to others?

    I am a football player. I'm a division 1 scholarship athlete, with offers from two SEC schools. I chose to stay near home to be close to my sick father, so we could watch Browns games together. Don't tell me what it's like to play football. You know nothing of what its like to play, as the game hadn't been invented when you were a youth.

    Wonderful, but the fact that you may have played organized football at some level doesn't mean a cabbage fart when it comes to having an intelligent opinion about the game. Most of the dumbest guys about the game are former players. Besides...your opinion about the game has nothing to do with what we are arguing about. We are arguing about the state of the city of Cleveland. Is your degree in urban planning?

    I happen to know the city of Cleveland and environs to be an exciting vibrant place.

    I don't have the time to take advantage of all the great things it has to offer. And it has a LOT to offer. The only thing it hasn't had is a championship team recently. (thanks to Jose Mesa blowing a lead in the 9th inning of the 7th game of the World Series....if Jose Mesa saves that game would your opinion be different? Probably)

    I have a degree in this industry, ive had internships and volunteer work in this industry and I'll soon have a very good job in this industry. In a few years, you'll be bitching about the decisions I make, and I'm okay with that. Because ill have succeeded in something, unlike you.

    Great. You got a job. (I notice you didn't say what "this industry is". I have no clue what you do.) How do you measure success? Your opinions about things you apparently know nothing about are bitter and misinformed. In that regard you are a failure.

  • @erie-dawg said:

    Have a link or is it more hear say?

    Who gives a fuck about manningham anyway the dude isnt shit thats why the NYG let him go. How bout some names with relevance.

    http://www.dawgsbynature.com/2013/3/4/4065548/connor-barwin-doesnt-want-to-sign-with-the-cleveland-browns

    http://www.cleveland.com/ohio-sports-blog/index.ssf/2012/03/cleveland_is_not_a_hot_destina.html

    Its how were viewed around the league. Not just these guys.

    XxDaBuckeyexX said:

    http://www.dawgsbynature.com/2013/3/4/4065548/connor-barwin-doesnt-want-to-sign-with-the-cleveland-browns

    http://www.cleveland.com/ohio-sports-blog/index.ssf/2012/03/cleveland_is_not_a_hot_destina.html

    Its how were viewed around the league. Not just these guys.

    Yea, and it all has to do with the perception of the organization. 99 and 44/100ths of these guys opinions are all based on the recent instability of the team. It has nothing to do with it being cold in December on Lake Erie.

  • It certainly doesnt help.

  • name me one city that owns any pro team in the U.S. and i'll name something wrong with it.

    oooh. maimi. yeah the heat are full of celebrity players and the weather is great (until hurricane season). big bugs, beyond hot muggy miserable days, it's population made up of cuban, haitian and PR refugees whom 75% are criminals. HEY, BUT THERE'S SOUTH BEACH! who gives a rat's ass.

    IMO san diego is the spot with the best weather almost year round but who have they attracted in FA in recent years? if anything the team is rebuilding now.

    hell, baltimore is one of the biggest shit holes in the country and they don't have enough money to keep their super bowl team intact.

    it's not like these guys live in east cleveland or the projects of baltimore. most live in the wealthy suburbs of the city they play for, or like some have their family somewhere else and rent a nice place in a wealthy suburb of the city that they play for.

    and mark is right, i'd much rather hang with the laid back ohioan compared to the Aholes i see on a daily basis.

  • I have a bachelors in Sports and Recreation Management with a double minor in Marketing and Business Ethics and I also have an associates in Business Management.

    I measure success by how closely you adhere to following your dreams. My childhood dream was to play professional football, I'll settle on working in the FO of a professional team.

    I helped build and brand the area's semi-pro team, going from non-existence to winning the division in 3 years and making a deep playoff run in a league of over 200 teams that stretches all over the Eastern Seaboard. I've been a part of a Division 1 college program that has won their conference three out of the first seven years it existed.

    I've seen firsthand what it's like to build a team to succeed immediately. Granted, the NFL is a different beast entirely but some ideas still translate, and the Browns have not been using them.

    Whether or not you'd like to believe it, image and perception are awfully important to this generation. It's no longer just about how you play, it's now also about how you're perceived to the public. Hence the reason a majority of the players have image consultants. Tied into an athletes image is the team and city in which they play for. No athlete is going to play for a perennial loser unless that team either pays him a ridiculous amount of money or has other fringe benefits.

    The Browns image is that of a poor team of cast-offs and underdogs that play for blue collar fans in a dead industrial town. While that was a fantastic image back in the 70s and early 80s, it doesn't translate well to today. The emphasis of your generation was hard work and family, while the core tenet of my generation is appearance

    In order to get fans and FAs alike, change your perception. It's worked for the Seahawks. It's worked for the Lions. It's worked for the 49ers. All three teams have changed their identity, all three have experienced marked success.

  • name me one city that owns any pro team in the U.S. and i'll name something wrong with it.

    oooh. maimi. yeah the heat are full of celebrity players and the weather is great (until hurricane season). big bugs, beyond hot muggy miserable days, it's population made up of cuban, haitian and PR refugees whom 75% are criminals. HEY, BUT THERE'S SOUTH BEACH! who gives a rat's ass.

    IMO san diego is the spot with the best weather almost year round but who have they attracted in FA in recent years? if anything the team is rebuilding now.

    hell, baltimore is one of the biggest shit holes in the country and they don't have enough money to keep their super bowl team intact.

    it's not like these guys live in east cleveland or the projects of baltimore. most live in the wealthy suburbs of the city they play for, or like some have their family somewhere else and rent a nice place in a wealthy suburb of the city that they play for.

    and mark is right, i'd much rather hang with the laid back ohioan compared to the Aholes i see on a daily basis.

    @miktoxic said:

    oooh. maimi. yeah the heat are full of celebrity players and the weather is great (until hurricane season). big bugs, beyond hot muggy miserable days, it's population made up of cuban, haitian and PR refugees whom 75% are criminals. HEY, BUT THERE'S SOUTH BEACH! who gives a rat's ass.

    .

    You answered yourself. LeBron, Bosh, Wade, Ochocinco, and Reggie Bush give a rats ass.

  • I have a bachelors in Sports and Recreation Management with a double minor in Marketing and Business Ethics and I also have an associates in Business Management.

    I measure success by how closely you adhere to following your dreams. My childhood dream was to play professional football, I'll settle on working in the FO of a professional team.

    I helped build and brand the area's semi-pro team, going from non-existence to winning the division in 3 years and making a deep playoff run in a league of over 200 teams that stretches all over the Eastern Seaboard. I've been a part of a Division 1 college program that has won their conference three out of the first seven years it existed.

    I've seen firsthand what it's like to build a team to succeed immediately. Granted, the NFL is a different beast entirely but some ideas still translate, and the Browns have not been using them.

    Whether or not you'd like to believe it, image and perception are awfully important to this generation. It's no longer just about how you play, it's now also about how you're perceived to the public. Hence the reason a majority of the players have image consultants. Tied into an athletes image is the team and city in which they play for. No athlete is going to play for a perennial loser unless that team either pays him a ridiculous amount of money or has other fringe benefits.

    The Browns image is that of a poor team of cast-offs and underdogs that play for blue collar fans in a dead industrial town. While that was a fantastic image back in the 70s and early 80s, it doesn't translate well to today. The emphasis of your generation was hard work and family, while the core tenet of my generation is appearance

    In order to get fans and FAs alike, change your perception. It's worked for the Seahawks. It's worked for the Lions. It's worked for the 49ers. All three teams have changed their identity, all three have experienced marked success.

    @tim-couch-pulls-out said:

    In order to get fans and FAs alike, change your perception. It's worked for the Seahawks. It's worked for the Lions. It's worked for the 49ers. All three teams have changed their identity, all three have experienced marked success.

    The 4-12 Lions?

    What worked for the 49ers was getting a great coach to go along with top talent they were already accumulating before they were cool.

    The Seahawks got a franchise QB in the third round. They nailed it, good for them, but it didn't have anything to do with uniforms or perception.

    The teams in the NFL with a real identity are the teams with a great system, that draft consistently well, have solid coaching and nail the quarterback thing: Patriots, Steelers, Ravens, Packers etc ... those are who everybody would want to play for. Cold cities, ugly uniforms, great tradition of consistent winning year in and year out.

    The guys that chose warm weather cities usually end up on an 8-8 team watching the playoffs. The guys that chose a team based on its uniforms ... well, there aren't any of those guys.

    If the Browns start drafting right, nail the QB thing and get a solid coaching system to work ... they have just as good a chance of success as anyone else. Success breeds success and attracts talent.

    Zombo

  • Gotta love the off season.

  • @tim-couch-pulls-out said:

    In order to get fans and FAs alike, change your perception. It's worked for the Seahawks. It's worked for the Lions. It's worked for the 49ers. All three teams have changed their identity, all three have experienced marked success.

    The 4-12 Lions?

    What worked for the 49ers was getting a great coach to go along with top talent they were already accumulating before they were cool.

    The Seahawks got a franchise QB in the third round. They nailed it, good for them, but it didn't have anything to do with uniforms or perception.

    The teams in the NFL with a real identity are the teams with a great system, that draft consistently well, have solid coaching and nail the quarterback thing: Patriots, Steelers, Ravens, Packers etc ... those are who everybody would want to play for. Cold cities, ugly uniforms, great tradition of consistent winning year in and year out.

    The guys that chose warm weather cities usually end up on an 8-8 team watching the playoffs. The guys that chose a team based on its uniforms ... well, there aren't any of those guys.

    If the Browns start drafting right, nail the QB thing and get a solid coaching system to work ... they have just as good a chance of success as anyone else. Success breeds success and attracts talent.

    Zombo

    Zombo said:

    The 4-12 Lions?

    What worked for the 49ers was getting a great coach to go along with top talent they were already accumulating before they were cool.

    The Seahawks got a franchise QB in the third round. They nailed it, good for them, but it didn't have anything to do with uniforms or perception.

    The teams in the NFL with a real identity are the teams with a great system, that draft consistently well, have solid coaching and nail the quarterback thing: Patriots, Steelers, Ravens, Packers etc ... those are who everybody would want to play for. Cold cities, ugly uniforms, great tradition of consistent winning year in and year out.

    The guys that chose warm weather cities usually end up on an 8-8 team watching the playoffs. The guys that chose a team based on its uniforms ... well, there aren't any of those guys.

    If the Browns start drafting right, nail the QB thing and get a solid coaching system to work ... they have just as good a chance of success as anyone else. Success breeds success and attracts talent.

    Zombo

    The Lions that made the playoffs the year before that? The Lions with enough talent to beat the Browns with their backups?

    I never said anything about uniforms. I couldn't care less what we do with our uniforms. I said we need to change our perception.

    We're perceived as a cupcake game; a team that either shoots themselves in the foot or forgets to show up to the game. Under Mangini, we started to change that perception. We started hitting teams in the mouth, beating top teams in the league....then we regressed.

    Seattle went and changed their perception from a offense-first pro-style team to a hard hitting, take no bullshit defensive power. They got a coach who is great at recruiting and even better with the media.

    The 49ers changed their perception of their WCO/efficient passing/kill them with ball control team to a hardnosed, punch-them-in-the-mouth defense. They got a coach who not only is an innovator but is very outspoken and has become the face of the team.

    These are things we need to do. We need to find an identity.

    The trouble with drafting is that it normally takes a couple years for your draft picks to pan out. Realistically, you're looking at two solid starters a year and maybe a third if you hit later in the draft. By the time you see what you have, your coaching staff has been fired and the whole process begins anew. We need to supplement with FA talent until the draft picks begin to pan out, but no FA's want to come to Cleveland.

    You and Gipper say winning solves everything, but you forget to mention that in order to win we have to add FA's and in order to add FA's, we have to win. If winning were that easy, we would have been doing it by now.

  • Zombo said:

    The 4-12 Lions?

    What worked for the 49ers was getting a great coach to go along with top talent they were already accumulating before they were cool.

    The Seahawks got a franchise QB in the third round. They nailed it, good for them, but it didn't have anything to do with uniforms or perception.

    The teams in the NFL with a real identity are the teams with a great system, that draft consistently well, have solid coaching and nail the quarterback thing: Patriots, Steelers, Ravens, Packers etc ... those are who everybody would want to play for. Cold cities, ugly uniforms, great tradition of consistent winning year in and year out.

    The guys that chose warm weather cities usually end up on an 8-8 team watching the playoffs. The guys that chose a team based on its uniforms ... well, there aren't any of those guys.

    If the Browns start drafting right, nail the QB thing and get a solid coaching system to work ... they have just as good a chance of success as anyone else. Success breeds success and attracts talent.

    Zombo

    The Lions that made the playoffs the year before that? The Lions with enough talent to beat the Browns with their backups?

    I never said anything about uniforms. I couldn't care less what we do with our uniforms. I said we need to change our perception.

    We're perceived as a cupcake game; a team that either shoots themselves in the foot or forgets to show up to the game. Under Mangini, we started to change that perception. We started hitting teams in the mouth, beating top teams in the league....then we regressed.

    Seattle went and changed their perception from a offense-first pro-style team to a hard hitting, take no bullshit defensive power. They got a coach who is great at recruiting and even better with the media.

    The 49ers changed their perception of their WCO/efficient passing/kill them with ball control team to a hardnosed, punch-them-in-the-mouth defense. They got a coach who not only is an innovator but is very outspoken and has become the face of the team.

    These are things we need to do. We need to find an identity.

    The trouble with drafting is that it normally takes a couple years for your draft picks to pan out. Realistically, you're looking at two solid starters a year and maybe a third if you hit later in the draft. By the time you see what you have, your coaching staff has been fired and the whole process begins anew. We need to supplement with FA talent until the draft picks begin to pan out, but no FA's want to come to Cleveland.

    You and Gipper say winning solves everything, but you forget to mention that in order to win we have to add FA's and in order to add FA's, we have to win. If winning were that easy, we would have been doing it by now.

    @tim-couch-pulls-out said:

    The Lions with enough talent to beat the Browns with their backups?

    Maybe they need to play their backups, then, because their starters were worse than ours.

    Yeah they had a 10 win season two years ago, just like we did in 07. Problem is, it was sandwiched between 6-10 and and 4-12 seasons, so I don't quite think they have changed the culture there yet.

    You and Gipper say winning solves everything, but you forget to mention that in order to win we have to add FA's and in order to add FA's, we have to win. If winning were that easy, we would have been doing it by now.

    If you get a good QB, a good coach and top talent in the draft the free agents will come.

    If we go 9-7 next year and weeden makes the pro Bowl ... free agents will be jumping in for that three year window with Weeds and Richardson.

    If we fall on our face again it's time to hit the re-set button again at QB, which is another two year wait.

    We gotta get the QB situation solved. We are drafting good talent on both sides of the ball, finally. We have to win with them to get the attention of free agents. Or overpay. It is what it is.

    When a quarterback breaks through, everything will start to fall into place again with this franchise.

    Zombo