Some reason from Vinnie Iyer of Sporting News

[JÂy RÛßeÒ]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/sn/20081118/sp_sn/...oungbrownsbills

The Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills turned the battle of Lake Erie into a last-possession thriller on Monday night. Although the Browns got the winning field goal the Bills couldn't quite get in a 29-27 victory, both teams gave a relentless four-quarter effort.

 

Along the way, there were good and bad moments for second-year quarterbacks Brady Quinn and Trent Edwards, as well as ups and downs on defense and special teams. It's what you would expect from two teams with young nuclei -- equal parts promise and youthful mistakes.

 

The Browns and Bills have two of the most passionate fan bases in the NFL. They are small-market teams with blue-collar supporters. They have rich traditions dating back to bygone leagues, and as the teams go, so go the moods of the towns.

 

There is a hunger in both locales to get back to the days of consistent success. Neither franchise has really been successful since the days when University of Miami quarterbacks starred for them. Cleveland had Bernie Kosar in its previous existence, while Buffalo had Jim Kelly in its four-Super Bowl heyday.

 

It has been a long time, but it's important for both franchises and their fans to be patient. Each team can build around a core of talented skill players. That means the franchises' front offices should avoid drastic measures and stick with Romeo Crennel and Dick Jauron as their respective coaches.

 

The Browns were the "it" team going into this season after finishing 10-6 last season. In 2007, they used a rather soft schedule to build their confidence and a playoff-caliber record. However, they hit a wall with a brutal slate of games in 2008.

 

The Bills are facing the same thing this season. Just like last year's Browns, they are going through the training-wheel phase of winning. Their five victories in '08: Seattle, Jacksonville, Oakland, St. Louis and San Diego. All five teams are now below .500, but it's not the Bills' fault that the Seahawks, Jaguars and Chargers have all dropped from their playoff perches.

 

Bills fans should keep in mind that it's still better to beat up on "bad" teams than it is to be one. The bigger wins will come in time. Remember that Edwards and running back Marshawn Lynch haven't even played two full NFL seasons. Second-year starting middle linebacker Paul Posluszny is in first full season. Look around the roster, and Jauron has plenty of similar standout youngsters.

 

The Browns' schedule has made them slide from 10-6 last year to 4-6 so far this season, but think about their biggest win of '08 -- on another Monday night against the reigning Super Bowl champion New York Giants. That came from the confidence of knowing they can be a good team, which came from racking up all those wins in '07.

 

That was even before they made the switch to their true quarterback of the future, Brady Quinn. Quinn won't be an immediate savior after two starts. It will take him time to jell with the Browns' other young offensive stars such as wide receiver Braylon Edwards, tight end Kellen Winslow and left tackle Joe Thomas. Third-year running back Jerome Harrison also is making a case that he should be featured more in '09.

 

Crennel, like Jauron, comes from a defensive background, and he also has some good young defenders to groom, including inside linebacker D'Qwell Jackson and cornerbacks Eric Wright and Brandon McDonald.

 

Too many NFL teams fall into the trap of impatience. They look for the quick fix and the instant gratification of a playoff appearance. Sometimes, in the Browns' case last season and the Bills' case from earlier this season, some surprising early success can lead to unreasonable expectations. You almost expect another young, rebuilding team from a hungry small market -- think the Kansas City Chiefs -- to go through a similar situation next season.

 

That's the way NFL scheduling works -- it's a sneaky means of providing surprise parity from one season to the next. The key isn't just getting in the playoffs to go one-and-done, but rather building a strong enough team to be in the championship hunt for several years -- to which end Cleveland and Buffalo are on the right path.

 

When watching the Browns and the Bills go at it in Orchard Park on Monday night, it was easy to spot plenty of playmakers on the field.

 

Quinn and Trent Edwards, though struggling with their accuracy, made some key throws in tough situations. Harrison and McKelvin hit game-changing home runs. Braylon Edwards, Winslow and Lynch all wowed with their athleticism. Jackson and Posluszny showed why they are prolific tacklers.

 

Sure, Phil Dawson came through from 56 yards and Rian Lindell couldn't answer from 47, but win or lose for either team, it was unlikely that either would make the playoffs.

 

The Browns learned an important lesson in how to finish games, something they didn't do against two other good teams, the Ravens and Broncos, in blowing 13-point second-half leads the previous two weeks.

 

The Bills, who got several of their wins thanks to Trent Edwards' fourth-quarter play, are in the midst of learning how to avoid slow starts. Learning how to win games in every which way will pay off down the line as both teams mature at the key positions.

 

Crennel and Jauron have something good brewing. It's important both coaches get the chance to see their labor bear fruit in a year or two.

[outsidethebox]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/sn/20081118/sp_sn/...oungbrownsbills

Did he even watch the game? If we were playing the pats*, we would have been down 21-0 in the first! I need to get the rose colored glasses this guy is wearing.

[Dibs]

Did he even watch the game? If we were playing the pats*, we would have been down 21-0 in the first! I need to get the rose colored glasses this guy is wearing.

Maybe you should remove your sh-- coloured glasses instead. He was discussing a nucleus of young players for the most of it. He could have added the names Peters, Whitner and Greer to the list. You may not like it to be the case but we actually do have a very large amount of young talent on the roster that could see us in very, very good stead in the near future.

[outsidethebox]

Maybe you should remove your sh-- coloured glasses instead. He was discussing a nucleus of young players for the most of it. He could have added the names Peters, Whitner and Greer to the list. You may not like it to be the case but we actually do have a very large amount of young talent on the roster that could see us in very, very good stead in the near future.

Why so personal? I never said there wasn't any young talent on this team. All I said was the guy who wrote that piece must not have seen the garbage I saw last night. If your happy with a team that plays like that then fine. I personally don't like smoke blown up my a$$ by some no name reporter who hasn't had to sit through 20 years of this sh--.

 

The part in bold, who is wearing the sh-- colored glasses?

[JDG]

Maybe you should remove your sh-- coloured glasses instead. He was discussing a nucleus of young players for the most of it. He could have added the names Peters, Whitner and Greer to the list. You may not like it to be the case but we actually do have a very large amount of young talent on the roster that could see us in very, very good stead in the near future.

 

Amen.

 

I was as aghast as anyone at the coaching decisions made on that last drive - but Jauron is hardly the only NFL coach that would have made the same mistake. And again, the Bills are building a good nucleus here - you can't just panic and go back to square one and potentially hire the next Gregg Williams or Mike Mularkey to replace him.

 

JDG

[Dibs]

[/b]

Why so personal? I never said there wasn't any young talent on this team. All I said was the guy who wrote that piece must not have seen the garbage I saw last night. If your happy with a team that plays like that then fine. I personally don't like smoke blown up my a$$ by some no name reporter who hasn't had to sit through 20 years of this sh--.

 

The part in bold, who is wearing the sh-- colored glasses?

Sorry.....maybe I was a bit overly aggressive there.....

 

It does seem to me though that you(and many others) are veering towards negatively viewing things rather than seeing the legitimate situation. The garbage that you saw was IMO mainly caused by the garbage play from our QB. The OL did a very good job.....Lynch was fantastic, Jackson very good. The D(particularly considering injuries) did a great job. Returns were back to awesome......and coverage was good too. I know it was 'just the Browns' but apart from QB, our team played bloody good.

[SageAgainstTheMachine]

[/b]

Why so personal? I never said there wasn't any young talent on this team. All I said was the guy who wrote that piece must not have seen the garbage I saw last night. If your happy with a team that plays like that then fine. I personally don't like smoke blown up my a$$ by some no name reporter who hasn't had to sit through 20 years of this sh--.

The part in bold, who is wearing the sh-- colored glasses?

 

Vinnie Iyer is a no-name? I've heard of him. He does a good job, like most writers on the Sporting News. And now we're attacking reporters who deride us AND reporters who compliment us?

[cale]

Vinnie Iyer is a no-name? I've heard of him. He does a good job, like most writers on the Sporting News. And now we're attacking reporters who deride us AND reporters who compliment us?

 

I like Vinnie. He's always reasonable. However there's a difference between having good young players (I don't dispute this at all) and knowing what to do with them. I think Jauron is good at forming character on a team. It's not clear to me that he knows what to do with players on game day.

 

This team might have learnt all they can from Jauron. It's time for the next step in their evolution.

 

C

[jahnyc]

Maybe we have a nucleus of good, young players, but it is hard to be patient with the Bills after so many years of not making the playoffs. It also is difficult to watch Miami and the Jets turn things around so quickly in one year and to the point where they have superior records to the constantly building Buffalo Bills. The progress the Bills are showing is glacial, and it really needs to lead to a playoff berth soon, before some of these good, young players leave in free agency.

[GG]

When you build a nucleus, you don't regress in the middle of year three of the grand rebuilding project. Iyer highlights one or two plays out of 60 as something that fans should be hopeful about?

 

By year three, Levy's crew was running away with the Division. As was Chuck Knox. By year three, Wade hit a wall but that was after two playoff years. Shall we see what other good coaches have done with their teams by year three after taking over reclamation projects?

 

Meanwhile, by year three, Greggo's team went 6-10 after being a darling pick for the SB following two blowout wins to start the season and a boatload of young players over whom to get excited. Aside from the miracle 2003 season, Jauron's teams have struggled to get 7 wins/season. Yet Lovie was in the playoffs two years after Jauron was deposed, with Rex Grossman & Jeff Blake as his QBs!!

 

At a certain point, players can only overcome the position their coaches put them into.

[cale]

When you build a nucleus, you don't regress in the middle of year three of the grand rebuilding project. Iyer highlights one or two plays out of 60 as something that fans should be hopeful about?

 

By year three, Levy's crew was running away with the Division. As was Chuck Knox. By year three, Wade hit a wall but that was after two playoff years. Shall we see what other good coaches have done with their teams by year three after taking over reclamation projects?

 

Meanwhile, by year three, Greggo's team went 6-10 after being a darling pick for the SB following two blowout wins to start the season and a boatload of young players over whom to get excited. Aside from the miracle 2003 season, Jauron's teams have struggled to get 7 wins/season. Yet Lovie was in the playoffs two years after Jauron was deposed, with Rex Grossman & Jeff Blake as his QBs!!

 

At a certain point, players can only overcome the position their coaches put them into.

 

Yep.

[nucci]

As bad as it was, Lindell makes the kick and we win.

[Pneumonic]

The draft and free agency has seen to it that every team in the NFL has a nucleus of good, young players. Heck, we have had a nucleus of good, young players for some time and what has it gotten us? Didley and squat.

 

The root of the problems with this team exceeds far beyond the talent level of its players. This much is plainly obvious to anyone who has watched them play this last decade.

[Bill from NYC]

When you build a nucleus, you don't regress in the middle of year three of the grand rebuilding project. Iyer highlights one or two plays out of 60 as something that fans should be hopeful about?

 

By year three, Levy's crew was running away with the Division. As was Chuck Knox. By year three, Wade hit a wall but that was after two playoff years. Shall we see what other good coaches have done with their teams by year three after taking over reclamation projects?

 

Meanwhile, by year three, Greggo's team went 6-10 after being a darling pick for the SB following two blowout wins to start the season and a boatload of young players over whom to get excited. Aside from the miracle 2003 season, Jauron's teams have struggled to get 7 wins/season. Yet Lovie was in the playoffs two years after Jauron was deposed, with Rex Grossman & Jeff Blake as his QBs!!

 

At a certain point, players can only overcome the position their coaches put them into.

 

Good point; sad but true. Now, throw in the fact that Jauron seems to have final say on draft day for the next 3 years as well, and there would seem to be no way out of this mess.

[1billsfan]

As bad as it was, Lindell makes the kick and we win.

 

 

...and Jauron is rewarded for his "play not to lose" set up a 47 yarder with three runs up the gut with a minute left on the clock. Jauron's style is a losers mentality and is the reason he has such a long history of losing teams.

[Brand J]

As bad as it was, Lindell makes the kick and we win.

 

That's what you assume... Getting a first down would have served two purposes: 1) Getting Lindell in closer range. 2) Running the clock down to :03. There were still over 30 secs left when Lindell missed that kick. All Cleveland wouldve had to do is get into field goal range. Being a Bills fan, if you know anything you know that the seemingly impossible, is possible...

[Ramius]

jauron's style will never get you past a 1st round playoff loss. Teams win in the playoffs by playing to win, NOT by playing not to lose. Dick is an average coach who takes pride in hoping he can have a chance to win at the end of the game. That same mentality is reflected in his coaching record. jauron is going to coach a team to win 8-9 games, and hope that he gets some bounces his way and some other teams lose so we can finish 10-6 and make the playoffs.

 

Also, dick's unwillingness to play younger guys and let them learn and grow is mortgaging the future for the sake of the present. Lots of teams can win 24 games in 3 years. The difference is that good teams will go 5-11, 8-8, then 11-5 and into the playoffs. jauron is content going 7-9, 8-8, 9-7.

[nucci]

That's what you assume... Getting a first down would have served two purposes: 1) Getting Lindell in closer range. 2) Running the clock down to :03. There were still over 30 secs left when Lindell missed that kick. All Cleveland wouldve had to do is get into field goal range. Being a Bills fan, if you know anything you know that the seemingly impossible, is possible...

Agreed. We would have had a much better chance to win if he makes the FG.

[The Avenger]

We're always "a year or two" away from having our young players develop and take the next step! We've been that elusive "one or two years away" for a deade now! At what point do you stop taking comfort in the thought that we are "a year or two away"?

[nucci]

...and Jauron is rewarded for his "play not to lose" set up a 47 yarder with three runs up the gut with a minute left on the clock. Jauron's style is a losers mentality and is the reason he has such a long history of losing teams.

I don't agree with the last 3 plays. I was just making a simple statement.