The Sports Mixer - The Cavs Struggles and Browns Relevancy

How many of you thought it was going to be easy for the Cleveland Cavaliers?

LeBron James, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, and the rest were just going to seamlessly blend under the guidance of David Blatt and become the greatest team in the history of the NBA. They were going to win more than 70 games and walk to the first championship in Cleveland since 1964. Every game was going to be a party and they were going to win by more than 20 every night.

If only it were that easy.

Three games in and the Cavs are far from a finished product. Blatt has no idea yet who to play together and when, and the overall effort from select players has been questionable at times. James looks like he's either irritated with the team, or in considerable discomfort from his back being worse than we're being led to believe.

An opening night loss to the New York Knicks was followed up by a gritty overtime win against the Chicago Bulls. Then last night, after playing even with the Portland Trailblazers through the first quarter, the Cavs were completely blasted the rest of the way, losing 101-82. James was clearly disappointed in the effort put forth by some of his teammates, and probably himself as he didn't appear completely engaged.

What does it all mean?

According to Twitter, it means that this team is destined to fail, James is going back to Miami next year, Blatt will be fired by mid-season, and Dion Waiters will be traded in the next two weeks as he clearly can't exist on this team.

It's easy to overreact though. It's easy to watch the game and see all the things that are wrong with this team. It's easy to forget that many of them are playing together on an NBA team for the first time.

In other words, it's not going to look great right away.

It's a bit of a cop-out, but the best example is to look at the Miami Heat from 2010-2011 when James first joined that team. It was a disjointed effort through the first 17 games as the Heat were 9-8 and many wondered if this "superteam" was a bad idea. Then they ripped off 10 straight wins and 20 out of 21 to silence the critics.

Will the Cavs do the same? I doubt it. This team has multiple players (Love, Irving, and Waiters) that are deficient defensively, and while you can hope for some improvement, Irving and Waiters in particular showed some of their bad habits last night. Waiters in particular seemed lazy on the defensive side and while Irving has shown some effort, it seems when his man starts to score on him, he shrinks defensively. Damion Lillard had struggled from the floor his first few games, but last night couldn't miss and often Irving failed to even attempt to close out on the shot.

Yet they may only need to make small strides defensively if the gel on offense. Right now, players still aren't sure where they need to be on the floor. More than once, we've seen a pass made to a player that's either vacated the spot, or failed to move to where the pass was intended. These type of errors will disappear as they become comfortable with one another.

The more disappointing thing from last night was that the ball movement screeched to a halt once the team faced adversity. It turned into 2013 all over again with Irving and Waiters taking turns dribbling the ball into oblivion, then hoisting a last second shot. Compounding things was the fact that they both shot the ball poorly. Waiters overall is only shooting 30% on the young season, and while there's still the likely possibility that he'll get it turned around, he clearly is out of whack.

Waiters was the one that worried me, as well as most everyone else. He has the potential to be a borderline all-star, or completely flame out depending on how he fits in, or doesn't fit in. The point that can't be overstated is he needs to show more consistent effort on the defensive end. I truly believe he could be a top 10 defender if he tries, but more often than not, he fails to do so.

On offense, he needs to find where he fits in on this team. He seems undecided whether he's going to pull up and shoot the jumper, or drive to the rim. On the few drives he's made, he seems more concerned with drawing contact than actually trying to make the shot. He's not getting the calls, he's getting frustrated (as is James on his drives), and then fails to get back defensively.

Maybe he does need to come off the bench. I don't know, and he doesn't seem to know either. This is just one of the pieces that Blatt has to figure out going forward.

Blatt also needs to figure out a consistent bench rotation. This is another trial and error thing that the team is going to struggle with initially. Remember, most of these guys haven't played with each other. It's going to take time. Blatt not only has to find the right mix of guys on the floor, but they have to figure each other out as well.

You could make the argument that's what training camp and the preseason is for, but the reality is that until you're playing the games, you'll have no idea how it's going to go. Teams are very vanilla in preseason, so how you were defended then is vastly different from how you'll be defended come the regular season.

The important thing to constantly remember is that it's going to take time. If after 30-40 games they still haven't come together at all, I'd be concerned then. Right now? I'm looking to see how the team responds to adversity, not just in the game, but from one game to the next. Tonight I'm going to want to see how they respond to last night's game when they play the Utah Jazz.

I don't think they'll ever be a defensive juggernaut, but I do think by the end of the season, they will have figured it out and will be a lot of fun to watch.

It just takes a little bit of patience.

Brownie Bites

The Browns have been a fascinating team to follow this year. They probably have no business being 5-3, but yet that's where they're at going into tomorrow night's massive match-up with the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday Night Football. This game has divisional implications for both teams. Both teams are trying to keep pace with the suddenly surging Pittsburgh Steelers and the team that loses faces a dramatically more difficult path to the playoffs.

The Bengals, like the Browns, have been Jeckyll and Hyde type of team. They've looked great offensively at times, then at other times they've looked bad. They looked great on defense early on, but haven't been as good of late.  They have the advantage of being at home and facing a Browns team that has really struggled on offense of late.

I don't know what's going to happen with this game. Brian Hoyer has looked awful at times, yet when it comes down to crunch time, he's gotten the job done more often than he hasn't. He's 7-3 as a starter in games he's finished, yet he could easily be 5-5 or worse. But what-ifs aren't really valid points in an argument and the fact is, the team has won with him at quarterback.

It's been very disheartening to listen to certain local talk show hosts (Chuck Booms of 92.3 The Fan comes to mind) push and push for Johnny Manziel to start, and Booms argument that Hoyer has been terrible is slightly misguided at best. I find it odd that a guy who has largely been supportive of the local teams and players is so against the local product as quarterback, but Booms has had a strange love affair with Manziel from the start.

The problem with Hoyer is he has made some bad throws, making it harder to defend him at times. You could argue that more than few throws, if on point, would've led to easy touchdowns and you'd be correct. Yet some of those throws aren't as easy as the detractors want you to believe. The throw to Ben Tate against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is a prime example of that. Hoyer had to wait for the route to develop, then had to make the throw right before being blasted by a defender. Could the throw have been better? Yes, but it certainly wasn't as easy as some have made it out to be.

You'd think from the critics that he had all day to set his feet and throw the ball and it just sailed on him. The disheartening thing is the talk makes it sound like the Browns have lost the last two weeks. Yes, the games have been ugly, but the bottom line is Hoyer has made enough plays to get the job done.

Do I think his performance warrants bringing him back next season? At this point, no. But it does allow Manziel time to learn as much as possible so that when it is his time, he's prepared. At the same time, if Hoyer suddenly catches fire and finishes the season strong, that changes the whole dynamic of the upcoming offseason.

It's just sad that because some want to see Manziel play, they'll find anything on Hoyer to rip. He has a new center in front of him that was shoved to the ground on three different occasions, leading to negative plays. The run game has been non-existent for three straight weeks. Jordan Cameron has been out due to a concussion (that was improperly blamed on Hoyer by some).  Oh, and some guy by the name of Josh Gordon has not played at all this season due to his bogus suspension.

Yet Hoyer still has the team 5-3. Nitpick all you want, you can't argue with the overall result. Hoyer's play, while not always pretty, has been inspiring and he's continuing to soldier on despite the lack of a running game.

Lost in all the hoopla over Manziel vs. Hoyer is the defense playing much better the last few weeks. Granted, you have to consider the level of competition, but it's been nice to see the defensive backs make some plays and while the defense is still prone to getting gashed in the run game, they've been able to stem the tide when they need to.

Joe Haden has raised his level of play of late and you can't understate the importance of Donte Whitner and Tashaun Gipson in the back end. Buster Skrine has had his ups and downs and Justin Gilbert has still struggled some, but the unit overall has been better and should continue to get better.

Which leads us back to the game tomorrow night. It's a big one and if the Browns find a way to win, the fans will start thinking a division title is possible. If they lose, the cries for Manziel might get louder.

Hang on fans, it's going to get wild.

The Sports Mixer - New Cavs and Browns Win

As is often the case with me, it's been a while since I've written in here.

Sure, I've had a lot of thoughts about the Indians, Cavs, and Browns, but time has often been the biggest issue. Most of my free time has been spent playing with kids and doing work on my YouTube Channel, so it's taken a backseat, but I felt after watching a riveting display of football yesterday it was time to resume.

I'll try to get something on the Indians in the future, but there isn't much to say other than I feel like this year was a missed opportunity by the Tribe to really make a good push. The issues were many, and yet they still hung around until the last week of the season. Not great, but not horrible either.

Cavalier Caveats

I'll start with the Cavs since their most recent preseason game was a highly anticipated match-up against the Miami Heat from Brazil. It was LeBron James facing his new former team for the first time and it followed some interesting remarks from Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh that the media tried way too hard to make a story line.

This of course has been a dominant issue with the national media, who still can't seem to grasp that James is a Cavalier again. Remember, last time I wrote he hadn't decided his future and I was okay with the team either way.

I won't get too deep in how I think this team has been constructed, but it's been put together smartly by David Griffin and David Blatt seems like a good choice thus far to coach these players. Kevin Love committing beyond this season will be huge, but the Cavs did a nice job and I'm really interested to see how Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, and Kevin Love play with James.

Early preseason results have been promising offensively, as was expected. Obviously, this team is a liability defensively, especially with Love, but it may not matter when they can't be stopped at all on the other end.

The game from Rio was pretty fascinating as the starters pretty much had their way with the Heat, building up a 15 point halftime lead without James doing a lot of scoring. What he did though was provide 8 assists and allowed Love, Waiters, and Anderson Varejao to do the scoring. Tristan Thompson also had a nice game, showing that the Cavs are not going to struggle with offense and rebounding.

The game went to overtime, primarily because the reserves to the reserves let up and the Heat reserves tied the game, but the Cavs pulled it off in overtime 122-119.

The main thing I continue to take away from this team is the ball is going to move. No one stood and dribbled until AJ Price came in and started dribbling around the court. Everyone was involved offensively and the Cavs went to Varejao early and often to establish a post-up game. Varejao didn't disappoint his home crowd, dropping in hook shot after hook shot to the delight of the crowd.

Defensively, there are holes, but unless Love and Irving suddenly stop being turnstiles, there isn't much you can do there. The Heat were able to penetrate with ease in the first quarter, but that seemed to be corrected in the second quarter, when the Cavs took control.

What is clear about this team is that it isn't going to be James and/or Irving dribbling for 15 seconds before using a pick to try and make something happen. The ball is going to swing from side to side, inside back out, and fast breaks are going to be especially fun. I'm most interested to see how Waiters fits into all of this. He's been very good the first two preseason games and is showing interest on the defensive end of the floor, which is going to be huge.

I still don't know who's going to start, but it's going to be a fun year.

Brownie Bits

That was fun yesterday, wasn't it?

It didn't seem like it was going to start off well as the Pittsburgh Steelers marched right down the field, primarily running the ball, but the drive stalled and they settled for a field goal. Then the Browns went three and out again and once again the Steelers were marching down the field. Then luck turned to the Browns and the Steelers botched a field goal attempt.

A few plays later, the Browns were in the end zone and leading 7-3 thanks to a big play from Jordan Cameron from Brian Hoyer and a nice run from Isiah Crowell. The Browns held the Steelers on the next possession and once again the Browns struck with a big play, this time a 51-yard touchdown pass from Hoyer to Cameron on 3rd and 1. It was a perfect throw following a nice play-fake from Hoyer that completely fooled the Steelers defensive backs.

Little did we know at the time the route was on and the Browns went on to win 31-10, scoring at will in the second and third quarters before the Steelers finally got a late touchdown with under 4 minutes remaining in the game.  At that point, the outcome was not in doubt and the fans were celebrating in the stands, shooing away the yellow towels that usually inundate the stadium in the third and fourth quarters.

The first thing I'm going to take from that game is the Browns continued commitment to the run, but also ability to be aggressive when the opportunity knocks. Ben Tate didn't have a great game rushing, but he and Crowell kept the Steelers thinking about the run enough for Hoyer to hit his receivers down the field. Hoyer only completed 8 passes, but 7 went beyond 10 yards and kept the crowd ignited. Crowell busted a couple of larger runs, but came down with a case of the yips with some fumbling issues.

The defense, while not entirely stout, did what it had to do to keep the Steelers flustered on offense and avoided the big play, something that had bit them a few times. Buster Skrine in particular had a nice game, bouncing back from last week's disaster.

Special teams have completely cleaned up their act. There haven't been any big returns, but the tackling has been sure and the field goal issues have largely disappeared. They don't kick a lot of them though since Hoyer likes to score touchdowns as opposed to field goals.

The big downside is the injury bug hitting this team hard. Alex Mack was lost for the season most likely with a broken leg when he was caught under a pile of players. Armony Bryant is also done for the year with a torn ACL, further hampering a defensive line that was already missing several players.

They were still gashed pretty badly in the run game, but the defense held together at the right moments and were aided by the Steelers surprising decision to all but abandon the run game once the deficit grew. This is in contrast to the Browns, who have shown that they will run whether down by 3 or 23.

All in all, it's hard to complain and hard to find reasons for first round pick Johnny Manziel to even sniff the field at this stage. Hoyer has shown this is his team and he's not going to just give it up.

The next three games will be far bigger tests to me though. All three should be very winnable, albeit not entirely easy. First up is the Jacksonville Jaguars, who were a blocked kick away from their first win. You also have games against a suddenly competitive Oakland Raiders team along with a seemingly demoralized Tampa Bay Buccaneers team. How they approach those games will show us how far they've truly come.

Yes, it's possible that the Browns will be 6-2 once they hit a big showdown with the Cincinnati Bengals, but they first need to focus on next week's game and carry this performance over.

Oh, and they might want to get healthy too.

The Sports Mixer Looks Back - Browns vs. Bills

It's been a while since I've written.

I've tried to stay away from it while focusing on my YouTube channel, but last night's game was something else between the Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills.

For starters, it was a game of momentum shifts. The Bills jumped out to a 10-0 lead, then the Browns stormed back to take a 17-10 lead, then the Bills regained the momentum and took a 24-17 lead before the Browns scored the last 20 points to grab a 37-24 win.

Of course the big story was the season-ending injury to Brian Hoyer, who tore his ACL attempting to run along the side-line. That brought Brandon Weeden and the boo-birds out as Weeden's first couple of passes were a tad off to say the least. He did make a couple of nice throws, but for the most part, it was the same old stuff we've come to expect from Weeden.

This game demonstrated to me the differences between Hoyer and Weeden. See, I was one of the supporters of Weeden who claimed the line wasn't giving him the time needed to make a good throw. I said a running game and better blocking would help Weeden.

Truth is, after watching Hoyer for 2+ games, I've come to realize that while the line has sometimes had its ups and downs, but with Hoyer, the protection didn't seem to be much of an issue. The ball would get snapped, Hoyer would take his drop, and the ball came out.

Last night after Weeden came in, the ball was snapped, Weeden would take his drop, and stand there. And stand there some more. Then get sacked or throw the ball very late.

So I sat and thought about the things I've seen from Weeden and the things I've seen from Hoyer and came up with some simple conclusions that most rational fans should be able to agree with.

With Weeden, the biggest problem is his inability to make a quick decision once the ball is snapped. He holds the ball and if he doesn't get sacked, he throws late and the receiver has little chance of making a good, clean catch. He also has a very bad habit of staring his receiver down from the moment he takes the ball, which helps a defense tremendously. His lack of mobility and feel for the rush work against him as well.

That said, his arm is strong and he can throw a mean deep pass when he has the time to get the ball off as demonstrated on his successive throws to Greg "Mr. Dependable" Little and Josh Gordon to tie the game at 24 in the third quarter.  Unfortunately, he still continues to be off with his throws more often than not, mostly throwing behind his receivers, again giving them little chance to make a good play on the ball.  In essence, if he learned to look from one side to the other and throw the receiver open, he'd be a successful quarterback.

Which brings me to Hoyer. He may not have the same arm strength as Weeden, but his accuracy and timing are far better than Weeden's. He often would throw the ball with the receiver not yet out of his break yet and when the receiver would turn his head, the ball was on its way. This helped the receivers tremendously and the chemistry was immediate between Hoyer and Jordan Cameron, as well as with Gordon.  Whereas Weeden holds the ball, Hoyer would take his drop and more often than not, the ball was gone when it was supposed to be.

Whether his decisiveness would hold up for a full season remained to be seen, but for two games, his ability to make quick decisions, get the ball in the endzone, and not make terribly costly mistakes had endeared him to Browns fans. Weeden will need to show that he can do the same if he wants to remain viable and I'm not sure he can correct his biggest issues during the season.

Brownie Bites

• The biggest spark in the game was clearly the punt return for a touchdown by Travis Benjamin. It gave the Browns the lead shortly after the Browns had tied the game and then forced a quick three-and-out by the Bills. Benjamin took the ball from the right sideline, weaved his way through traffic to the left, dodged the punter, spun out of another tackle, and darted to the middle of the field before running it in. Bills fans will complain about the lack of a block in the back call, but the contact was minimal at best and I doubt those fans would be crying if it had been the Bills returning the punt.

• The defense was gashed a couple of times by the Bills running attack, but the Bills are unique in that they have three running backs who can hurt you. CJ Spiller had the biggest run, a 54-yard scamper that tied the game to start the second half, which for the moment sparked the Bills again. But after that run, the Browns locked back down against the run and forced the Bills to pass, which became a huge issue once EJ Manuel had to leave with a knee sprain. Jeff Tuel was clearly overmatched and the pick-six to TJ Ward sealed the deal late after the Browns had regained the lead.
• Buster Skrine continues to impress and the biggest thing I've noticed his he's getting his head turned around now to find the ball, something he hadn't done very well even early in the season. He's demonstrated he can run with the best of them and get to the receiver, but more often than not he'd plow into the receiver without finding the ball, thus drawing the pass interference penalty. Several times he has now batted the ball away without the extra contact and his open-field tackling has been superb. He and Joe Haden have both made sure that once the ball is caught, that's it.
• You can't say enough about the job the coaches have done with this team so far. Dead and buried at 0-2, Trent Richardson traded, Weeden hurt, Hoyer given the starting job, and it seemed like the Browns were ready to throw the towel in. Except the team itself didn't get the memo. Rob Chudzinski deserves props, as does Norv Turner for optimizing the offensive talent on the field and Ray Horton for getting the defense up to play week in and week out. You can't say enough about the last three games, but let's hope this isn't a flash in the pan type of situation.
• Greg Little is such an enigma and probably always will be. Clueless off the field, sometimes with it on the field, it becomes frustrating when he does make a play because you can see the talent he has. Unfortunately, he and Gordon sometimes have concentration issues, although Gordon's aren't nearly as frequent as Little's. On the tying touchdown drive in the third quarter, Weeden unleashed two good throws, the first to Little who peeled the ball off his helmet and secured the ball. After a bad, bad penalty on John Greco, Weeden launched a pass into the end zone for Gordon who caught it off a couple of deflections, got the feet down, and made sure to keep possession. It's maddening sometimes.
• I'm neutral on the Jim Brown topic, but it was nice to see he and the team stop squabbling and put together a nice halftime ceremony celebrating his legacy and induction into the ring of honor. He then received a gameball after the victory, which I'm sure meant a lot to him.
• The team has 10 days to get as healthy as possible. The hope is Jabaal Sheard, Quentin Groves, and others will be back and ready to play the Detroit Lions, who will present a tougher challenge, especially for the offense. While I don't think Josh Freeman is in the cards for the Browns, I would be surprised if they don't try to sign another quarterback.
• The Browns are for now leading the AFC North at 3-2. Go ahead and try and tell me you saw that coming, especially after the first two weeks of the season. You can't. Now I'm not sure they can maintain this (Weeden scares me tremendously at this point), it's at least nice to be above .500 for once and leading the division, rather than 2-3, 1-4, or 0-5 like we've been so many times in the past.
• Props to Willish McGahee for stepping in and keeping the running game stable if nothing else. His numbers won't jump out at you, but he ran hard and had a couple of decent runs during the game. Not the long-term solution by any stretch, but isn't giving you much less than you got from Richardson, which is what makes getting a first round pick for Richardson all the more remarkable. It will be tough sledding, but McGahee has helped keep the ship afloat.