Turning my attention to the Cleveland Browns, and then the Cavaliers

The Indians lost to the Orioles last night by a count of 14-8.  The Baltimore Orioles are 39-74 on the season.  What does that say about us?  We're losing 3-1 right now, and it's painfully obvious that the Indians season is a wash, and has been for a long time. 

On a postitive note, we are not in last place anymore in the division, (at this point I'm holding out hope that we simply end with a better record than the Kansas City Royals.)  Anyways, the Indians are quite pathetic at 47-66, possibly because the front office has yet again traded away key players capable of making an impact when it counts.

For all these reasons, my coverage of the lowly Indians will diminsh significantly over the next several weeks as we turn to two teams that actually has a chance of being somewhat respectable;  the Cleveland Cavaliers and of course the Browns.  I'm stating right now that I think both teams have a decent chance at making the playoffs, and if you look at both rosters that statement is not too far of at stretch.   

The Cleveland Browns might surprise some teams this year, as they drafted well under the brilliance of new team President Mike Holmgren. 

Cornerback Joe Haden is going to be another shutdown corner alongside an impressive secondary that includes Eric Wright and newcomer Sheldon Brown.  Expect Sheldon to be the hard-hitting force the defensive backfield has sorely missed over the last several seasons. 

Don't forget we added stud linebacker Scott Fujita who played with the New Orleans Saints last year, and all of these players play behind monster lineman Shawn Rogers.  Rogers might be the most underrated player on the Browns; His ability to demand double-teams and disrupt the running game must be considered, not to mention he has an incredible ability to block field goals which can determine football games.  You also have to love our Coordinator on the defensive side of the ball, Rob Ryan.  He's passionate and quite frankly a mad-man, and he knows how to coach an NFL defense.  I'll take him anyday over a Romeo Crennel.

Running back Montario Hardesty will also prove to be a great pick, as he will be featured as our downhill bruiser-back and the tandem of Jerome Harrison and James Davis will be more than enough for teams to handle.  That could potentially become a three-headed monster that could become a solid group of running backs. 

The Offensive Line will be solid this year, as Joe Thomas is the anchor and he has high expectations.  The 6 foot 6", 312 pounder out of Wisconsin is a force in this league, and should clear a lot of space for our running backs to get loose in the secondary.   

Of course, the most important position for the offense is the quarterback, and Jake Delhomme has a lot to prove.  Coming off what Delhomme considers himself to be an awful season, he must manage games and not throw the ball away like he did last year.  Even though Browns fans should be excited to see what Colt McCoy can do for this franchise at some point in the future, Delhomme is the starter and thus we must hope he succeeds if this team has a chance to do anything this year.  I don't think Holmgren will want to have a quarterback switch, because this team saw instability at the quarterback position last year and that always hurts a team's level of confidence.

Delhommme will be throwing to a group of young but talented receivers.  Cribbs, Mohamed Massaquoi, and Brian Robiskie should be a formidable group of receivers.  Robiskie has impressed in training camp, and I expect him to have a breakout season. (Brian played his high school football at Chagrin Falls, where I happened to graduate from)  Buckeye fans remember his big-play capability; Hopefully Delhomme targets him frequently. Another important piece of our offense will be the emergence of tight-end Ben Watson, who is talented player we acquired from the New England Patriots.

Arguably the most exciting time during a Browns game is watching our Special Teams ace, one Joshua Cribbs.  He has what I would call RFV, (ridiculous field-vision) to go along with breakaway speed.  Thus every time other teams make the mistake of kicking deep to him, Cribbs poses a threat to take it to the house every time.  The other players on the Special Team go all-out because they know if they can hold a block or even get a good chip on a player they might see Cribbs sprint by them on his way to the endzone.  Josh Cribbs is a unique talent and the Browns are lucky to have him.  He has the capability of completely changing a game on one play. 

Even as President, Holmgren has the ability to get the most out of players.  The Browns will be competitve this year, and although we're in a tough division I feel like we can still win on Sunday's even in the division.  The Ravens will be tough, and the Bengals have a solid team.  Pittsburgh will be without Roethlisberger for likely 4 games, and his return should be against the Browns which I'm sure will be a national story.  We will get to see what the Browns are made of on Saturday, as we travel to Green Bay for our first preseason game.  Hopefully we win the opening toss and Cribbs takes it back for 6.. then we'll know it's our year.

Cleveland Browns training camp: Offensive line workout