GOR, Week #2, Steelers-Browns, & Palin

Prediction
Steelers 27-24.

Yea, they’ll play better this week, but in the end, it’s hard for me to pick the Browns over a team that has had their number nine consecutive times.

What To Watch
Keep an eye on the Browns pass rush – or lack there of. Big Ben, who has never lost to the Browns, was sacked 47 times in 2007 and some 90 times in the past two years. Everyone else seems to be able to get to him except one team – the Browns. If this trend continues Sunday night, the outcome will not please Browns’ fans.

Secondly, Josh Cribbs is expected to play. As we stated in our season preview, he’s a huge part of their offense because of the positive field position he gives them on a consistent basis. Without him, the Browns special teams are average at best. With him, Cleveland wins that match-up most weeks. If he plays and is healthy, he could be a key to success in week #2.

Finally, the Browns offense has to score early and often. There is no excuse this week. The offense has to carry this team if this team expects to make the post-season.

Honeymoon Over
The national media is already jumping off the bus.

The Browns were the popular pick to be this year’s “breakout team.” After the debacle in week #1 versus the Cowboys, the media is starting to figure out this club still has major holes – especially on the defensive side of the ball. For example, you are starting to hear whispers the Browns are trying to fit a round peg into a square hole by acquiring a pair of 4-3 defensive tackles in the off-season and trying to plug them into a 3-4 set.

Of course, had Cleveland won against the Cowboys, such talk would only be whispers among player personnel folk and NFL GMs.

It will get a lot worse if the Steelers roll the Browns this week. Romeo will be under fire once again, the defense will be ridiculed to no end, and if the offense doesn’t awaken, DA’s status as the starter will once again be questioned. By the way, all three criticisms will be legitimate.

This observer stated on more than one occasion, last year’s 10-6 mark was due in large part to a soft schedule and good health. In this case, I’m from Missouri – they have to show me they are ready to move up the NFL leader. Simply stated - this corner is hoping for a split but expecting a 0-2 start.

One final thought on this week’s contest. Being competitive is not good enough. I have the Browns doing just that but finding a way to come up short – as they have numerous times against the Steelers in the recent past. You get NOTHING for keeping it close. There are no moral victories in the NFL. The hard truth is 0-2 is 0-2 regardless of the competitiveness of the contest. The organization, players and local media can spin it any way they want, but such a start would be devastating with eight road games remaining out of 14 left to play, not just a blip on the radar.

It’s not like this team has several consecutive playoff appearances to fall back on for comfort. The heat will truly be on if they lose this week, not only from media and fans locally, but from the national press that does not like to be made fools of.

Player Speak
I was able to catch several post-game interviews with Browns’ players and was concerned with what I heard. It was as though they (players) had built in excuses for losing to the Cowboys. I was hoping there was at least one player in that locker room that was truly embarrassed with that loss and said so publicly, which leads me to my point – a lack or leadership on this team.

The team looked lousy in pre-season, and they followed that up with a 28-10 opening week loss that was not even as close as the 18 point margin indicated.

Wake up gentlemen. There needs to be a sense of urgency this week and it needs to be maintained throughout the season.

Romeo Or Butch
One of the reasons I like Romeo C. is his simple, matter of fact approach with the media. He left that approach in his office when speaking to the media during his weekly press conference on Monday following the $#@-whipping by the Cowboys. Romeo stated, and I am paraphrasing here, that the game would have been much different had the Browns connected on the long drop and if the defense had come up with the interception near the Browns’ goal line on the Cowboys’ third scoring drive.

I will now translate – if Braylon Edwards catches that TD pass from DA and A. Davis comes up with that pick thrown right at him by Romo, Cleveland had a chance to stay in it. This may be true, but one can say that most weeks. It’s a sign of desperation.

By the way, those plays weren’t made because Edwards does not have good hands and Davis is not a playmaking LB. I just wanted to make sure we cut through the bull and understood the basics.

Remember when Cleveland’s own Jamaal Lewis was putting up Madden 2009 numbers versus the Browns several years back when he wore Raven colors?

Former Browns’ coach Butch Davis echoed similar thoughts. Something along the line of – If we had held him on those three long gains, he would not have gotten all those yards. Right.

Please Romeo, don’t go there again. It makes you look bad and insults the intelligence of the 2% of the population that “gets it.”

Palin Power
We wanted a qualified woman on the Republican ticket and McCain listened. Now she’s being hammered by the media for not being qualified. That’s a legitimate concern.

However, I haven’t seen the media ask the same question of the #1 on their favorite ticket. That’s to be expected I guess.

If Palin can stay above water during this current media blitz she’ll continue to be a huge asset and will swing some of those Hillary voters. Add the fact the left keeps taking cheap shots at her and her family, and that just drives more people to her camp – which translates into McCain votes in November.

As for the Charlie Gibson interview (Part I) – I give her a C. She looked uneasy talking about foreign policy – which is not her strength obviously. Otherwise, she held her own. As for Gibson, I don’t have any problems with his tough questions, just the condescending tone he took. He would not have done that with Obama, McCain, Hillary or Joe “I’m the smartest man in the room” Biden.

The McCain Camp just needs her to weather the storm. In other words, she’s already ahead on points as far as the majority of Americans are concerned. Palin appeals to “Wal Mart moms” because that’s what she is. They can relate.

The elite media doesn’t get that and never will. They will continue to probe for weaknesses. They don’t understand how McCain could put what they call an ideologue (in reality "pragmatic") young female governor, who earned her spurs as the mayor of a small town in Alaska, on the national ticket.

Meanwhile, many America thinks it’s a neat idea. The women is a governor, a mom and a wife, and they like that – so they’ll continue to cut her slack as long as she continues to sound like she has common sense.

You see, many American don’t care she doesn’t know who the president of Poland is. They figure McCain can handle that end until she learns the gig. Besides, what better place to learn about foreign policy from then from the #2 seat?

If I were McCain, I would declare immediately she will be in charge of domestic energy production - her strength, if their ticket wins.

Here’s my favorite part of this whole dilemma. The left and the majority of the mainstream media are focused on the fact that they believe she would be unqualified to be president because she doesn’t know a whole lot about foreign policy.

What do they think would happen if a worse-case scenario occurred and Palin had to take over the helm? Do they really think she would be making important foreign policy decisions on her own?

Of course not, but that’s what they want you to believe.

Last time I checked, a president hires the BEST OF THE BEST in all fields to give him/her informed opinions, including foreign policy.

It’s not like the conversation would go like this:

Palin: “Hey kids, gather around the kitchen table here in the West Wing – family meeting. The Russians are invading the Ukraine. What do you think we should do? I want everyone in the family to give me their thoughts – from oldest to youngest. Then when we settle this little matter, we’ll talk about our summer vacation plans.”

To date, all Palin has done is re-energized the base, allowed McCain to reach out to more female voters, confused the media elites and thrown the Obama Camp off its game. That’s pretty good work for less than two weeks on the job.

Our post-game analysis of week #2 will come on Monday.