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  2016 Cleveland Browns

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2015 Final Score 95/84/63/71--> 79

Well we had a great year last year, and hope to go one better and bring home Bowl Win.
Apparently Blaine Davies feels the same, as he shocks management and doesn't decide to call it quits. This could present some interesting scenarios this season as Clark will likely be the better pure passer, while Davies experience and leadership is a big plus. Obviously, as a keeper, Davies is tagged as our Franchise Player.

We do loose one player to retirement, FB Chester Tindale hangs up his cleats.

Please welcome Darrell Russell, Kordell Stewart and Curtis Enis to the league hall of fame.

And let me introduce, the Cleveland Browns' first Team HOF members:
WR Harvey Wallace, one of Davies favorite targets, and holder of both franchise receiving records.
DT B.J. Mudgett a 13 Year mainstay of our great defensive line
and...
You know him, you love him...
Number 35 RB Donnie Sheen!!!!
2002 Rookie of the Year, 2 Time FOF Bowl MVP, 3 Time 1st Team back, 2 Time Offensive Player of the year, 2 Time second team back and 2010 League MVP. Sheen holds all of the Team rushing records, and is one of the top 5 in the league in all rushing records. Sheen also averaged more then 34 catches per season, and racked up 20 receiving TD's , to go along with his 108 rushing TD's he may have been to the endzone more then any other player in league history(he has more then anyone in the HOF, and only 2 non-HOF players have more rushing TD's). And of course as you all know, this doesn't include his playoff numbers... When Donnie got to the postseason, he was like a man possessed, as shown by his 2 Bowl MVP awards.

We raise ticket prices, but not to the highest, we also don't request a new stadium, even though both Loyalty and Support are at 100. Waiting for V-R to come out in 2020.

We get some interesting trade offers, and again I wish I could see the Draft... For Rico Rodriguez, we are being offered the number 2 pick in the draft. Which would go nicely with our number 1, number 10 and number 19 choices. But with Rico's outstanding performance last year (although we do need to teach the boy about getting into the endzone), he's not leaving us this year.

I'm going to do 2 rounds of re-negotiations. First any player who is in their last year, and I can extend for the same or less I do. This gives us $35 mil under the cap, with $21 mil reserved for rookies. I plan to try to re-sign 2 of our non-Franchised Free Agents. TE Bobby Lofton, and DT Donny Downs (who filled in great as a one year pick up last year).

In some manner I need to pick up a backup FB, and if possible a future super star at T and WR. I also need to sign a starting TE (perhaps Lofton who is one of our FA's) And rework Davies contract after the draft. After the draft, I'll also use some of our Draft reserve to extend some of our star players who want more money.

In Free Agency we had no new pick-ups, but re-signed a few players (including Lofton). Saving most of our money for the draft, and more re-negotiations.

In the draft we hit a windfall.
Rnd 1(1) - Robbie Jeffries, WR, Kansas State
Rnd 1(10) - Scott Fleming, T, Marshall
Rnd 1(19) - Clarence Lee, FB, Colorado
Rnd 2 - Kenneth Stone, RB, Morningside
Rnd 2 - Bernard Cornehl, TE, Iowa

We then trade our final 2nd rounder for New England's late third rounder, and their 2017 Third. We then take the guy we saw back in the second as the best prospect.

Rnd 3 - Charles Whiting, CB, Washington State

After the draft we trade our 6th wide out, Terry Ellis, to the Broncos for their number one pick in 2019. He wanted 3 Mil more then he was making, and we had no room at WR with our 2 youngest additions. We trade our 5th OT, Buddy Donovan to the Saint for a third and first in 2019, and we trade our 6th OT Ernie Muldoon to the Colts for their Number 1 in 2018.

And we are informed that we have another sell out year, as we get ready to start the pre-season.

Cohesion : 73/75/87/90 w/ Clark at QB, and Coleman at C
vs. 96/80/87/90 w/ Davies at QB and Galyon at C

We finish the pre-season 2-2, Clark was less then impressive, throwing 5 interceptions in 4 games. We would start Davies to begin the season, but he got a broken nose in the little pre-season time he saw. We have a few people with nicks and scratches, but no one is out of action long-term.

2016 Regular Season

Week 1
Cleveland(0-0)-6 @ Jacksonville(0-0)
Turnovers killed us as we loose in OT. 2 Int's and 1 lost fumble, combined with Rico's -11 total rushing yards, doomed us in a game we should have won. Milne also missed on two FG attempts, in a game that was decided by 3 points.
Clark 45/27/347/2/2 passing and 13 rushes for 74 yards
Jefferies 7/104/1
Francis 5/122/1
Kobeski had 9 tackles
Wheeler had 5 and 2 sacks
Burnim added a sack
Copeland and Clinton combined on another sack
Browns 17 Jaguars 20

Week 2
Cleveland(0-1)-3 @ Tennessee(0-1)
OUCH!! The Titans schooled us in a manner I have never seen. They blocked 2 of our punts, and recovered both in the end zone. Clark hit less then 50% of his passes, and threw another Int. Rico had a nice rushing average, but didn't carry the ball enough to matter.
Clark 23/10/118/1/1
Rodriguez 14/67
Francis 4/61
Eddings had 8 Tackles
Wheeling and Porter had 7
Fujimoto had a sack, Clinton and Copeland combined on another
Browns 7 Titans 49

Week 3
Cleveland(0-2) @ Cincinnati (0-2)
Davies gets the start and helps turn this ship around. As he orchestrates a second half comeback after falling behind 11-6.
Davies 39/25/236/2/0
Rodriguez 14/95
Garcia 6/57/1
Jeffries 4/53
Wheeler 5 Tackles and an Int
Foster added another Pick
Clinton had 1.5 sacks, Hamilton and Copeland had one a piece, and Burnim helped with .5
Browns 22 Bengals 11

Week 4
Cleveland(1-2)-6 vs Milwaukee Mission(0-3)
My... I'm not sure how to say this... Davies got sacked 6 times and intercepted 6 times. I'm pretty sure that's some kind of record Obviously we lost.
Davies 42/17/255/1/6
Rodriguez 10/48
Dougherty 7/156
Wheeler had 9 tackles, he also combined with Swift for our only sack.
Mathews had our defense's only interception
Browns 17 Bengals 27

Week 5
Cleveland(1-3)-9 vs. Detroit(3-1)
We're giving Davies one more chance, before we go back to Clark.
Well we have fallen to a new low. Our defense had more holes then a sieve, as we allow scoring plays of:70,68,41,27,21 and 10 yds. Our offense helps contribute to the loss with 5 more turnovers, one of which was returned 67 yards for another score.
Davies 19/9/105/0/1 and 1 fumble
Clark 17/7/163/2/2 and 1 fumble
Rodriguez 16/207/2TD's and 1 fumble
Dougherty 4/73/1
Garcia 4/105
Jeffries 4/50/1
Kobeski 10 tackles
Hamilton 2 sacks, Clinton had 1
Browns 32 Lions 60

Week 6- Bye ... Thank Goodness
We are now a dismal -10 in turnovers, which is last in the league
We also just lost 3 starters , Page(G), Lofton(TE) and Coleman(C) for at over a month.

Week 7
Cleveland(1-4)+2 vs. Pittsburgh(3-3)
Back to Clark to try to get something new. But nothing seems to help, as big plays(a 50 yard pass) and turnovers(2 returned for TD's) continue to kill us.
Clark 26/12/173/0/1
Rodriguez 22/131/1 and 3 catches for 53 yards
Foster 8 Tackles
Copeland, Hamilton and Clinton had a sack a piece.
Browns 10 Steelers 36

Week 8
Cleveland(1-5)+9 @ Minnesotta (4-3)
This is getting depressing. We were in this one until the middle of the fourth quarter, when the Vikings scored 14 unanswered points to lock the game.
And again our defense couldn't create turnovers.
Clark 32/15/176/0/0
Davies 2/0/0/0/1
Rodriguez 19/47/0
Wheeler had 11 Tackles
Clinton and Copeland combined for the only Sack
Browns 10 Vikings 27

Week 9
Cleveland(1-6)+11 @ Baltimore (5-2)
Apparently Clark cracked form the pressure, cause he went postal on the Ravens. At first the game looked like another normal showing for this Season's Browns as Raven's defender Ricky Shabowski picked off a Clark pass and returned it for a TD in just the first minute of play... but then the tide turned. With 9:30 left in the half, and down 14-3 Clark threw his first TD of the afternoon... and never looked back on his way to winning O player of the week!
Clark 33/19/363/5/1
Rodriguez 21/106/0
Jeffries 8/152/3
Garcia 5/135/1
Ferderer 9 Tackles and 1 Pick
Monroe 9 Tackles
Eddings had a Sack
Clinton had a Sack and a Half
Copeland had half a sack
Browns 43 Vikings 28

Week 10
Cleveland(2-6)+4 vs Tampa Bay(4-4)
Clark continues to start, and continues to be inconsistent, this time showing none of the flair from the week before. The team is flat all around, and returns to their loosing ways. Clearly Davies diminishing skills, and the ensuing QB controversy has had a major affect on the team's psyche.
Clark 23/13/133/0/2
Rodriguez 17/88/0
Hamilton, Clinton and Ferderer each had a sack. Burnim and Eddings combined for one more. Again the D couldn't force a turnover. This has probably been one of the biggest changes form last season (along with the win-loss record )
Browns 3 Buccaneers 31

Week 11
Cleveland(2-7)+10 @ Pittsburgh(5-4)
Davies gets the start, again we try to get a spark. And It works... as with our last win things look bleak to begin with, this time Pitt 92 yard KO return started the game off, which they then repeated after we tied the score at 7. But their offense never got things going, while Blaine and Rico had one of their best games of the season to lead the Browns to victory.
Davies 35/20/278/2/0
Rodriguez 20/150/1
Garcia 9/136/1
Jeffries 5/87/1 - and quietly making a potential run for ORotY
Kobeski got 9 tackles
Our pass rush did some damage:
Clinton and Hamilton 1.5 Sacks each
Wheeler, Monroe and Copeland 1 Sack each
Champion and Mathews had .5 Sack a piece
Browns 28 Steelers 27

Week 12
Cleveland (3-7)+2 vs Jacksonville(7-3)
Davies(2-2, 59.6rtg) starts over Clark(1-5, 73.9 rtg). The fact we are only 2 point underdogs surprises me. We win the turnover war but loose the game, none the less. We can't produce anything against this years Central Division power.
Davies 24/9/96/0/1
Rodriguez 16/32/0 w/ 4 catches for 39 yards to lead the receivers
Foster 11 Tackles 1 Int
Wheeler 6 Tackles 1 Int
Ferderer 4 Tackles 1 Int
Champion had the only sack
Browns 6 Jaguars 30

Week 13
Cleveland(3-8)+0 vs Cincinnati(4-7)
Davies again gets the start, and is saved by Rico who has a nice game.
Davies 27/15/180/1/2
Rodriguez 19/144/2
Jeffries 6/85/1
Wheeler 11 Tackles and a Sack
Hamilton, Clinton, Eddings and Copeland each added a sack
Browns 21 Bengals 14

Week 14
Cleveland(4-8)+4 vs Baltimore (7-5)
Although Davies has been winning, Coach Force wants to see if Clark can torch the Ravens again. So Clark gets the start. And again Lee Clark receives OPotW for his performance against the Ravens. Good thing we get to play them twice a year!!
Clark 28/19/242/4/0
Rodriguez 21/100/2
Jeffries 6/77/1
Champion led with 5 Tackles
Edding got 2 Sacks, while Kobeski and Wheeler combined on a third.
Ferderer had one pick.
Browns 45 Ravens 14

Week 15
Cleveland(5-8)+3 vs Charlottesville(7-6)
Ahh the trials of a coach mired in a QB controversey. Davies gets the start, these aren't the Ravens. Rico got shut down, big time. And Davies didn't have quite enough in the tank to get us the win.
Davies 35/15/273/2/0
Rodriguez 15/12/0
Dougherty 4/75/1
Jeffries 2/115/1 (69 and 46 yards)
Rookie CB Whiting had 9 tackles as a reserve Safety in his first game action
Stuart had 7 tackles, a Pick and a Fumble recovery
Clinton made our only sack
Browns 17 Spangles 20

Week 16
Cleveland(5-9)+11 @ Seattle(9-5)
A heartbreaker, Down 18 at the start of the 4th we start to mount a comeback, but a Rico Rodriguez failed 2 pointer keeps us from taking it to overtime.
Davies 31/18/246/1/2
Rodriguez 27/153/1
Dougherty 6/103/0
Garcia 5/74/0
Kobeski 7 Tackles
0 Sacks 0 Ints
Browns 33 Seahawks 35

Week 17
Cleveland(5-10)+5 vs Tennessee (9-6)
Going with Davies one last time. This is our final Game of the season, and It's likely to be Davies last game here in Cleveland. The crowd gives him a standing ovation as his name is called in pre-game ceremonies. A warrior who's time has past him.
Davies 43/22/261/1/1
Rodriguez 16/65/0 and 5 catches for 42 yards to lead in receptions
Dougherty 4/88/0
Clinton 6 Tackles and 1 Sack
Hamilton added a Sack
and Copeland and Champion combined for another
Mathews 1 Interception
Browns 21 Titans 31

We finish a dismal 5-11 in a season I just can't explain. With essentially the same personell as last year's 14-2 Super Bowl run, this year we crashed and burned as Cellar Dwellers.

Post Season results and Stats and closing remarks to follow in the morning.

Playoffs

-Wild Card-
Minnesota 6
Atlanta 34

Denver 16
Buffalo 26

Washington 30
Detroit 24

Seattle 14
Tennessee 22

-Quarter Finals-
Atlanta 22
Chicago 25

Buffalo 16
Oakland 0

Tennessee 9
Jacksonville 7

Washington 31
New York G 16

-Conference Championships-
Tennessee 31
Buffalo 16

Washington 23
Chicago 29

-Bowl-
Tennessee 20
Chicago 17

Stats
Individuals
QB Blaine Davies (9 Starts) 150 of 297, 50.5%, 1930 yards, 6.49avg, 10TD/14Int, 62.7 Rating
QB Lee Clark (7 starts) 124 of 232, 53.4%, 1777 yards, 7.65avg(7th in the League), 15TD/9Int, 83.8 Rating

RB Rico Rodriguez 278 carries(9th), 1436 yards(1st in League), 5.1Avg(2nd), 9TD(7th),
and 45 Catches for 373 yards (8.2 avg) but no TD's along with his very first award All League 2nd Team RB

WR Darren Garcia 60 Catches, 891 Yards, 14.8 avg, 5 TD's
WR Robbie Jeffries 54 Catches, 859 Yards, 15.9avg, 11TD's(1st )
WR Hardy Dougherty 42 Catches, 720 yards, 17.1avg(7th), 5 TD's

We had 3 Lineman with more then 20 blocks, higher then 35%, and less then 10 sacks
G Cory Corbett (16 starts) 30 of 81 run blocks (37%), 7 Sacks Allowed
T Mitch Banks (14 starts) 27 of 56 run blocks (48.2%), 7 Sacks Allowed
C Dexter Galyon (8 starts) 27 of 63 run blocks (42.8%), 7 Sacks Allowed

P Harris Kindred had 94 punts(9th) with a 42.3 avg(6th) and 40 inside the 20(1st) and named All League 1st Team P for the first time
DE Dennis Clinton led the team with 12 sacks
DT Phillip Hamilton was second with 8.5 sacks
LB Alvin Wheeler 91 tackles 45 assists(2nd) 5 sacks! and 2 Int's for his very first All League 1st Team LB award
CB Chrisitan Ferderer led the team with a measly 3 Int's

All in all a poor team performance, starting with the QB's and going all the way through the team. RB Rodriguez may have silenced his critics, as he continues to excel, and Rookie WR Robbie Jeffries looks like he could set team records as his relationship with Lee Clark grows. Jeffries didn't get Offensive Rookie of the Year due to a RB who compiled a total of 1237 yards and 11 TD's of his own.

     
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