View From the Dawg Pound, Game 8

          This is going to sound a lot more like the monthly column I write for the   Orange and Brown Report and less like the previous blogs I have written this season after every game. But that’s alright, because what the Browns showed against the Chiefs was two fold, that they are an up and coming good team who can play against good teams on the road, and it isn’t all about who is playing quarterback.

            I really think there are only so many top tier quarterbacks. You know whom they are, the Mannings, Brady, etc., and who knows who is going to the ones that will come out of the next few drafts. The closest to a for sure thing is freshman Jameis Winston at Florida State, and he is two drafts away.

            And it seems that you need one of the big guys to win a Super Bowl, recent history definitely supports that. However, I think over the next several seasons, and as early as this year, a very good, but not great, quarterback is going to win a Super Bowl. It is going to be a quarterback who was the last missing link to a team that has everything else. It could be the 49ers with Colin Kaepernick at QB, or possibly Seattle with Russell Wilson. Both did not start out as traditional drop back passers. Both run a lot in college. And both have been molded into pro quarterbacks on teams that seem to have all the other parts in place.

            That is what I though about as I watched the Browns with Jason Campbell at quarterback this past Sunday. The Browns could be a team like Seattle or San Francisco, and not like Denver or New England. The team has a good, young core, a large amount of money under the salary cap, and a bucket load of draft picks for the 2014 draft.  Sure, draft a quarterback next year, but don’t blow all those draft picks to do it. They have the unique chance between the end of this season and the beginning of next to fill in most, if not all, their holes. Now it isn’t going to be easy, and it would take some very good drafting and the signing of two or three outstanding free agents, but it could be done.

            Keep two out of the three current quarterbacks along with a high draft pick. Then use the salary cap money and the rest of the picks to find another top tier defensive back to give Joe Haden and T.J. Ward some help; how about another big receiver to go with Josh Gordon like Mike Evans down at Texas A&M? The team needs a runner back to replace Trent Richardson, how about someone like Mike Davis at South Carolina? How about a solid veteran tight end to mentor the young talented ones we already have? What about adding to depth at linebacker and wide receiver? In our downfield passing game you can never have too many good receivers, and in an attacking defense the more hybrid linebackers you have the better the defense.

            Am I thinking too much? Are the Browns that good to being that close to a top tier team? They are 3-5 and on a three game losing streak. But if you added what I just mentioned to the team between now and next year, you have a pretty good team. And maybe, like the Niners and the Seahawks, a team strong enough so a rookie quarterback can step into to play because he won’t be expected to carry the team on his back.

            Imagine Jason Campbell last Sunday with just one more legit passing threat, and some break away speed in the backfield. Imagine the defense with just two more playmakers on it. It’s not like they need an overhaul on either side of the ball. Josh Gordon is showing he is a quality receiver. If they can smooth out their sometimes-erratic play, the offensive line is young and talented. Jordan Cameron is emerging as a tight end. The defensive line is solid, and Jackson, Krueger are very good linebackers.

            Again, that is what I thought about as I watched, and rewatched the Browns/Chiefs game.

            It was good to see some quality consistent play at quarterback. The Browns got it from the least likely source. Let us hope Jason Campbell stays healthy and keeps it up for eight more games.

            How do you explain the lousy play at Green Bay, and the poor second halves against Miami and Baltimore? Remember, this team is still very young, and it is once again playing for a new coaching staff. It’s third coaching staff in the last four years. Some things take time to jell, maybe that started in the second half against Kansas City.

            This week there are no pictures of cute bartenders or pretty girls in Browns uniforms. I watched the game alone in my living room, and I doubt you wanted a shot of a short, fat, bald (but still surprisingly good looking) old guy sitting alone in his living room and yelling at his TV.

            Big game this week. The Browns are back home against a division foe who they could have very easily beat earlier in the season. I’ll be back in my seats in the Dawg Pound, as Michael Stanley once said ‘amongst my friends again,’ hoping the team is on the path to good things.

            I waited until the passing of the trade deadline before posting this piece, and I am glad the Browns did not trade Josh Gordon. I can’t imagine what the Browns offense would be without him, especially with the season ending injury to Travis Benjamin.

Greg Cielec

Section 120, Row B, seats 3 and 4.