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  2003 Cleveland Browns

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We raised ticket prices slightly. A new stadium or a move is certainly in our future. Even so, we're the third most valuable franchise at $435,710,000.

We thought seriously about changing coaches, but decided to see if Martin Force can develop. Marco Lockwood, 47, is available, but he has poor skills in Young Talent and Avoiding Injury. If he can upgrade these, he will be a candidate soon. Our scout, Erik Johann, remains; he's only 35, and his only weakness is DL, where we are already well supplied.

With only five unsigned players, we franchise our kicker, Corey Rollins. The only real loss here will be our backup C, Hoskins, but our #3 is younger and has more balanced skills. We're only $4.2 million under the cap, so we'll need to be careful in free agency. On the other hand, the upcoming expansion draft may free up some cap room.

In general, our roster looks great, as you would expect coming off a 15-win season. If there is a weakness, it's at linebacker, where we don't have a strong run-stopper. No one is over 80 on run defense, although Roose has potential there.

Our scout recommends that we expose the following players to the expansion draft:

WR Chris Sanders
C Plaxico Carter
P Quinn Slay
CB Moe Jeter
S Pat Tillman

We decide to hold onto Slay, and expose LB Marlo Perry. We have eight LBs, and Perry's definitely on the downslope of his career. Jeter is a more than decent KR, with two TDs over the last two seasons. After some agony, we decide to protect him, and expose LB Schneiderheinze, earning the eternal gratitude of the poor old rapidly-going-blind Croatian seamstress who sews the letters onto our jerseys ! My real fear is that we loose Carter, since we let our other backup C go to free agency.

As it turns out we lose the two veteran LBs: Perry and Schneiderheinze. OK.

Trade offers come in for Mudgett, Whiting, Davies, and Bednarik; we ignore them.

We bid on Flozell Adams and Tra Thomas to beef up our OL. The only good LB is Paup, and he's got too much mileage on him for my taste. Hopefully there will be a LB stud in the draft and we can trade up to nab him. We finally sign Adams, after raising our offer significantly to $27MM over five years. I plan to renegotiate this backloaded (but within the guidelines) contract ASAP.

Have to think carefully about a trade offer: WR I. Bruce and a high 2nd round pick for Raleigh Roundtree.
Bruce would be an upgrade, but I think this would hurt cohesion in two areas, so I decline. The other trade, for DE Taylor, is even easier to decline.

Going into the draft we have all our own picks (30), plus a second round (16). My goal here is a top LB who can help us immediately; if one is available I'll trade up with whatever I need to. We have enough cap room, so I'll wait on renegotiations until after camp.

Well, it's a rich draft (nine prospects at 7.6 or better), but no really top LBs. The best one is Marvin Hipp, who does have run-stopping potential of 96 but only 52 endurance. I decide to wait and not trade up. But wait, we have 45 men under contract, plus 8 draft choices. Let's trade some deep depth now and see if we can move up in the first round enough to get one of the 8.0s or high 7s. There are two OTs, a DE, a DT and even an RB who have real promise.

First we trade our 4th S, Tillman, to Philly, with our 4th, 5th and 6th picks for a high second rounder (6).

Then, we trade WR Sanders to Atlanta, with our first-rounder (30), plus our three seventh round picks for their first (7). My feeling is that we can get free agents who are just as good as the seventh-rounders. Anyway, we were going to let Sanders go in expansion, and now we have a shot at a real prospect.

Three 8.0 guys are left for us to choose from. There's also a QB named Wendell Money rated 7.6. This is really my first major decision. Gee willikers ! This is too high a pick to go for the TE, so it's either the OT or the DT. Our need is clearly the latter, but the OT, Willie Guy, is more balanced at 45/100 37/88 95; while the DT, Jim Jessie, is 31/74 60/100 93. I go for Guy, thinking that we can create a real strength area here, at a super-key position.

Other picks are:
2 - TE Bobby Lofton, not a great blocker, but a big target at 6-6, and we need a backup
2 - FB Buddy Lester, a short bowling ball with 100 on 3rd down running
2 - C Scott Downs, for the taxi squad
3 - CB Leonard Eckman, KR material, if he makes the team

While we have to give Guy $3MM in bonus, the others sign cheap. They should - I don't see any of them starting on our team, except possibly Lester. We have 49 under contract now, and $6.3 million under the cap. On to camp.

We're able to resign everyone except LB Ridgway and KR Jeter and increase the kitty to $7.6MM. Renegotiating Taylor and Owens get us up to $9.65MM. Is there anyone who can help us in the pool ? Not really... What about trading for that stud LB ?

OK. I trade next year's 1st, 2nd, 6th, KR Jeter and backup LB Spruce for the best LB in the league: Rufus Duke from Dallas. Hes a 98/96/92/90 stud, out of Notre Dame, with 424 tackles in his four years in the league. We immediately sign him to a reasonable 3 year extension. This is BIG.

Adams at ORT and Rufus at MLB should help. I can hear them barking in the Pound, "RU-FUS ! RU-FUS !".

Exhibition:
Cleveland 34 San Diego 21
Cleveland 17 Washington 14 Even though I benched him, Duke gets a bad shoulder, out 3-5 weeks
Cleveland 35 Tampa Bay 9 Sheen, although also benched, same shoulder, 0-2
Carolina 14 Cleveland 12

Sheen is 100% for the opener; I decide to rest Rufus. Am I babying "my" guy ?

GAME 1 - @Cleveland 0-0 -8 Dallas 0-0
Mincy picks off Aikman, and Davies to Pickens gets us up 7-0. After much punting, Dallas makes it 7-3. Just before halftime, Davies hits Stark: 14-3. Then, in the 3rd, he hits Stokes: 21-3. At the end of the 3rd, Aikman heaves one in and they convert the 2-pointer for 21-11. Davies answers IMMEDIATELY to make it 28-11. Then Sheen runs it in from 30, and we add a FG in garbage time
Cleveland 38 Dallas 11
"The Browns are picking up right where they left off."
"A smooth well-oiled machine."
"Never in doubt"
The reporters like us...
Davies 21/33 265 4 TDs
Sheen 29/104 1 TD
Pickens 9/.108 1 TD

GAME 2 - @Cleveland 1-0 -9 Arizona 1-0
After one quarter, we lead 3-0. Then, in the 2nd, Davies goes out. No word from Melissa Stark on his condition. Still 3-0 at the half. Mamula recovers a fumble, and we add another FG. Sheen runs one in, but me blow the two-pointer: 12-0. After a shanked 26-yard punt, they kick one: 12-3. With nine minutes left, they try an onside kick, but Canty grabs it. We get another FG, and then Plummer finally connects with Delgado for a score: 15-10 with five minutes left. We hold on.
Cleveland 15 Arizona 10
Duke had 6 tackles, Mudgett 2 sacks, and Mamula 3
Sheen 20/26 1 TD
Clemons 11/19 102
Davies 5/12 78
and DAVIES IS ALLRIGHT ! Must have just been some cobwebs...
RB Barber has turf toe and LB Roose a bad knee. We could use Roose.


GAME 3 - @Cleveland 2-0 -9 Cinn 1-1
They get a FG on the opening drive, but after a punt we recover a fumble. Boom - Davies to Pickens for 33 yard TD. We miss one FG and get one: 10-3. Then we roll the length of the field and Sheen goes in: 17-3. Halftime. Then trouble: a 71-yard TD O'Donnell to Moulds. Then they get a FG to pull within four. We need a hero. And we get one: another long drive, Davies to Stark from 2 yards out: 24-13. Then Davies gets careless, and the next play is another long pass: TD. Now, after the conversion, we lead by three. And that's how it ends. I don't know; I thought we should have put them away earlier...
Cleveland 24 Cinn 21
Davies 21/32 243 3 TD
Pickens 8/129 1 TD
Sheen 21/108
Logan had nine tackles

We're very healthy, but with tons of cap room we sign a decent WR and a decent CB for the taxi squad.
After three games, Davies has thrown 7 TDs and only one pick.

GAME 4 - @Cleveland 3-0 -6 Baltimore 1-2
They score on the opening drive (again), Holmes pounding it in from the one. We come right back with a five-yard toss to Stokes. We capitalize on a fumble recovery: 14-7, but then Ogden picks up a fumble and rumbles over 70 for an answering score: 14-14. Marais hits Fenner for 46 and we're down 14-21.We get a FG and then a safety to make it 19-21. FG again and we lead 22-21. But Marais marches them down again with ease and it's 29-22 with the conversion. Two long passes and then Sheen gets in fron the 22. 29-29. Marais does it again and burns us with a Holmes 4 yard run. Then on a 3rd and 19, Sheen breaks loose for 71. Then, a few plays later for 7 yards and a score. This is a game ! We quickly recover a fumble and Davies hits Stokes, and we lead. Not for long. Marais is on fire ! 43-43. OT. They win the toss. We hold them, and Davies-to-Stokes wins it for us !
Davies 22/37 316 4 TDs (four-game 113.9 QB rating !)
Sheen 20/130 2 TDs
Pickens 6/94-1 (leads the league with 29 catches)
Stokes 6/61-2
Mudgett has 2.5 sacks, Whiting 2.0
Cleveland 49 Baltimore 43
"What a spectacle"
"The Duke Gets Six Again" (Rufus Duke has six tackles in each of his three games)
Our cohesion is 72/65/62/61

Briefer game stories - I promise.

GAME 5 - @Cleveland 4-0 -16 Jacksonville 1-3
Ahead 17-14 at the half we hang on. Barely
Cleveland 33 Jax 28
Davies 22/34 395 3 TD
Stokes 7/158 1 TD
Pickens 6/138 1 TD
Whiting 3 sacks
Ridgway pulls groin, which will give Roose a shot starting next week
"Living Dangerously"
"Can the Browns Handle Success ?"
The press and fans wonder why we can't (since Game 1) win by more then a TD. The Vegas books wonder why we're 1-4 against the spread. Our coach just wonders.

GAME 6 - Cleveland 5-0 -6 @Baltimore 1-4
Our first road game. Scoreless into the 2nd quarter, when we jump up 7-0. They come back to make it 7-10 Ravens at the half. Another nail-biter. We trade scores: 14-17. Bad field position and lots of penalties are killing us. Again we trade scores, and with 2 minutes left, we have ball on our own 32, down by 3. Nothing. Our first L
Baltimore 24 Cleveland 21
Davies 13/34 298 3 TD
Sheen 15/29
Duke 13 tackles and 5 assists

GAME 7 - Cleveland 5-1 +4 @New York Jets 4-1
Our first test against a good team, and the first time we're not favored. Roose starts again, Adams, dinged, stays in the lineup.
A track meet. We cruise.
Cleveland 55 NYJ 31
Davies 21/35 301 3 TD
Sheen 24/59
Owens 7/124 1 TD
No defenders shine here. We lead the league in scoring, but are 4th from the bottom in scoring defense. Our mid-years challenges will be understanding our D and Sheen's inconsistency.

GAME 8 - Cleveland 6-1 -8 @Cinn 2-5
A boring game.
Cleveland 31 Cinn 27
Again, we failed put an inferior team away early, but held on.
Davies 17/32 223 3 TDs
Sheen 16/125 1 TD
Stokes gets a hip pointer

MID YEAR

Pittsburgh is tied with us for the division lead, Tennessee back at 5-2.
We are tied for the league lead in T/O ratio at +9.
Davies has a 105.8 rating, 23/6 TD/Ints.
Sheen's average is up to 4.1, and he has almost totally reached his potential. I look for much improvement from him in the second half of the year.
Pickens leads the league in yards and is one catch (49) behind Chris Weber.
Whitin, with 9.5 sacks, is one off the pace.
Our problem is tackling, especially at LB. Only Duke and Mincy have over 40 stops.
Coming up 3 of our 4 out-of-division foes have losing records.
So far I have not called one play.


GAME 9 - @Cleveland 7-1 -9 Pittsburgh 9-1
The division leaders clash.
Blowout !
Cleveland 49 Pittsburgh 17
We cover the 9-point spread.
Davies 14/25 316 4 TD
Sheen 16/69 2 TD
Pickens 4/136 1 TD
Ridgway returns with 9 stops and a pick
We do have a rash of minor injuries.
.

We get the bye week.

GAME 10 - @Cleveland 8-1 -5 @Pittsburgh 7-2
A game to forget. Davies sacked three times and intercepted once. Sheen ran the ball twice.
Davies 11/23 110 1 TD
Barber 10/79 1
Pickens a mild concussion
Duke 12 tackles
Pittsburgh 21 Cleveland 13


GAME 11 - Cleveland 8-2 -4 @Tennessee 6-4
I just don't know. We jumped out to a 16-0 lead, then watched it crumble. Something is rotten in Denmark, or maybe we're just losing the close ones we won so consistently in the first half of the year. Either way, we reverse the trend or kiss the playoffs goodbye.
Tennessee 23 Cleveland 19
Davies 15/32 230 1TD
Sheen 7/37
Pickens 7/138
Now its
Pitt 9-2
Cleveland 8-3
Tenn 7-4

GAME 12 - Cleveland 8-3 -5 @Washington 4-7
It was not pretty. We were outgained, scored only one TD, gave up over 300 yards in the air, but won. Pittsburgh loses and we are tied for the division lead.
Cleveland 16 Washington 14
Davies 12/25 147 1 rushing TD
Sheen 17/83
Duke and Roose get 9 tackles each

GAME 13 - Cleveland 9-3 -8 @Philadelphia 5-7
UFB ! We get a 27-3 lead and piss it away to lose in OT ! If there is good news, Davies and Sheen both have good games and we come up completely healthy team-wide. However, we need to look in a mirror, and contemplate some lineup changes ! Pitt has the bye and we're half a game out.
Well, the bad streak coincides with going on the road... No lineup changes make sense at this point.
Pittsburgh 33 Cleveland 27
Davies 23/33 277 2 TD
Sheen 17/140

GAME 14 - @Cleveland 9-4 -8 Tennessee
The easy game we needed to get our confidence back. Everyone played well. We lead the league with +19 in takeway ratio. Tied for the division lead with Pitt.
Cleveland 34 Tennessee 10
Davies 22/33 338 3 TD
Sheen 21/70 1 TD
Pickens 8/140 1 TD
Duke 8 stops Carr 2 Ints

GAME 15 - @Cleveland 10-4 -1 New England 11-3
We'll need to beat teams like this is the playoffs. Maybe this team.
Sheen 15/34
Pickens 6/86 1 TD
Duke and Roose make 9 tackles each.
New England 19 Cleveland 7
A full game back in the division.

GAME 16 - Cleveland 10-5 -9 @Jacksonville 5-10
We make the playoffs as a wildcard. Let's focus on that for now. Mincy, Whiting, and Davies are dinged but all stay in the linup for the next game.
Jax 31 Cleveland 21
Davies 13/32 232 1 TD 1 INT
Sheen 19/21 1 TD

It's been a good news. bad news year. We finish 452-263 in points scored/allowed, compared to last year's 505/238. We have the third best Power Rating in the league, behind New England and Detroit.

Even when we were winning, I felt like we were missing the killer instinct. In five of our six losses, Sheen failed to get 40 yards on the ground, but he's far from our only problem. We give up 118 a game on the ground, versus a league average of 114, and 254 in the air, to a league average of 220. We retain our +19 league-leading takeaway ratio.

Cleveland 10-6 -2 NY Jets 11-5
We blew the Jets out in Week 7, but we're on a very bad streak right now. I can't see why we would be favored... The Jets still feature Vinny and Curtis.

They march up the field easily and Vinny hits Chrebet for a score. 0-7.Davies throws a bad ball, a pick run back for 22 yards to our 22. We need to stiffen here. Nope. 0-14.

Another pick. Run back for 32. A moral vcitory - only a FG, and it's 0-17 with four minutes left in the first quarter. Another pick. Run back for 9. But now Chris Canty intercepts. We needed that badly. Sheen for 19 in the air, Pickens for 15, and Sheen for 6 on the ground, and we're on the board. 7-17.

Burnett misses a 47-yarder and we get possession. Nothing, but a nice 55-yard punt and 1 yard runback. We hold, but Law is injured. Without him, we have NO pass defense. Buckley an 18-yard runback. An exchange of punts and Buckley gets hurt. A 42-yarder and it's 10-17 at the half. A real character-builder.

We go nowhere, and then catch a break. Burnett misses again, from 39 this time. Punts and more punts. Then Owens for a long gainer and Sheen breaks free up the middle for 36 and a TD ! Tied with 12:49 left.

They run the kick back 104 to get the lead right back at 24-17. We do nada and Vinnie gets hurt, but Gipson runs in the next play from 14 yards out and we're in deep trouble. Mudgett gets hurt. This is a war. Martin scores again: 38-17. They score again to make the final 45-17.

Penalties, lack of defense, falling behind early, too many INTs, etc., etc., etc..


SEASON RETROSPECTIVE

The division ends:

Pitt 11-5
Cleveland 10-6
Tenn 8-8
Cinn 7-9
Baltimore 7-9
Jax 6-10

The rest of the playoffs:

ROUND ONE
Chic 38
St Louis 13

Dallas 32
San Fran 17 (sorry Darkiller !)

Jets 45
Cleveland 17

Charlottesville 34
Pitt 6

ROUND TWO

Detroit 35
Chicago 21

Dallas 10
New Orleans 3

New England 38
Charlottesville 24

San Diego 14
Jets 10

ROUND THREE

Dallas 28
Detroit 19

San Diego 35
New England 10

FOF BOWL

San Diego 36
Dallas 0

Our own stats were as follows:

Davies 254/457 for 3790 yards 34/9 TD/Int 99.5 QB Rating

Sheen 290 attempts for 1190 yards 3.9 avg 10 TDs
Davies 74/387 5.2 2 TDs
Barber had 1TD

Pickens 87/1411/10
Stokes 49/838/5
Owens 43/581/6
Stark 36/573/5
Bednarik 19/233/0
Hatchette 13/169/4
Sheen and Barber had two TDs via the air

Rollins 25/27 FGs
Slay 38.1 average (and some key long kicks)

No return TDs, though Eckman averaged 24.4 on KR, 8.6 on PR
This area can be improved, as Barber had a 17.2 KR avg, and Buckley a 7.8 PR avg

Duke had 107 tackles, Mincy and Ridgway 78, Evans and Roose 69

Sacks: Whiting 13, Mudgett 8.5

Picks: Mincy and Law 5, Evans and Carr 4

In general we need to focus on defense going forward. We could use a kick-ass young WR as ours are aging, but our offensive core is rock solid. Our line is good, and our oldest man is a 9 year vet. Sheen and Davies are incredible; I feel Sheen was only having a sophomore slump and will continue to get better. We have two 12 year vets and one 9 year starter, and one 8 year in our DBs. Hopefully no one will retire and we can groom some youngsters. Actually, we may have the DBs of the future on the bench already. If Roose continues to develop, and Ridgway to perform way over his ratings, we may be okay at LB. I would not mind kissing Brandenburg and Logan goodbye, as they had 6 and 24 tackles total, with Logan getting 6 starts !Another DL gem will be a priority, ideally a run-stopper, probably via free agency, as we ditched our 1 and 2 picks for Duke.

Note that I called no plays, and did not touch the game plan. I don't think this hurt too much, as our offense certainly was balanced.

Subby:
versus the run
Whiting 72/76
Taylor 68/71
Mudgett 81/90
Peters 52/62

Ridgway 74
Duke 98
Roose 79/86

Law 88
Buckley 66
Carr 84/98
Mincy 90
Evans 47

Royal:
Yes, Force is FAIR on Motivation. He's young and may improve. His POOR on Secondary bothers me more as we got torched repeatedly for long pass plays despite decent corners. Also, the FAIR on Discipline hurt as penalties played a key role in at least three of our losses.

So, gentlemen, onto Next Year !

And death to New England !

      
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