COREY KLUBER: A YEAR IN MEMES

I'm not sure that the Indians have another miracle in their sleeves.  But the real silver lining has come in the form of Corey Kluber.  As far as my Indians season has went he has undoubtedly been the star.  So here is my Corey Kluber year in review...

DID MIKE PETTINE AND THE BROWNS REALLY FLIP THE SCRIPT?

I've watched the Browns for long enough to know to always expect the worst.  They have managed to develop this weird template for losing that allows a key mistake help them end up on the short end of the stick week after painful week.  Last Sunday when the Browns were handling business against a tough New Orleans Saints team a botched extra point was sticking out in my head as the catalyst for our next impending loss.

I could see it all in my head.  The defense breaking down and allowing New Orleans back into the game.  The offense not executing and keeping the pressure on.  And eventually the Saints would complete a drive that normally would have tied the game, but due to that missed point and up giving them the the lead with about 3 minutes to play.  Just to end up with the Browns burning all of their timeouts only to give the ball back after throwing a horrible interception somewhere around midfield.  Saints take a knee and Browns fans are furious.

I could see the posts of people angry saying that we just lost a game because of a play that the league deemed so easy they are kicking around the idea of changing the rules of it.  I could see the Brian Hoyer meltdown posts.  I could see the people screaming for the coaches' heads.

Then the defense started to break down, the offense started to scuffle, and then they tied the game with a little less than three minutes to go... and they still had the extra point to kick.  The nightmare was almost there when Brian Hoyer and the Browns offense took the field needing a score to win.  The only real question was will they give it up on downs, or turn the ball over?

I was banking on turnover, but that didn't happen.  Gary Barnidge made a clutch catch to keep the drive alive.  Miles Austin pulled the double whammy by making a tough sideline catch and getting out of bounds for another first down.  The Saints defense got desperate and called an all out blitz that was picked up, and allowed Andrew Hawkins his own zip code in the secondary.  Hoyer stayed calm and delivered the ball for a big gain that setup the game winning Billy Cundiff field goal.

 
And with that not only did the Browns win their first home opener in a decade, they won a meaningful game against a quality opponent.  They won a game in which they didn't depend on the other team to make mistakes.  And most importantly the win comes before all hope is already dashed in the season.

In the end this team can hold their heads up high knowing that they simply outplayed one of the better teams in the game.  They hung on versus a team that they genuinely don't match up well against.  They overcame their mistakes, and were the better team.

Could it be a catalyst for something special?  To be honest I find it ironic that it is the Saints that we got this big win off of.  For years the Saints organization was very similar to what you have seen in Cleveland for the past decade in a half.  They couldn't do anything right.  They couldn't draft they couldn't utilize the talent they had.  They were a joke, a laughing stock, no one took them seriously... until one fateful day in Cleveland.

After acquiring Drew Brees and hiring Sean Payton in 2006, the Saints weren't expected to make much splash.  But they opened against the Browns in Cleveland and beat them in a tightly contested game 19-14.  The win catapulted the team into much bigger and better things as the Saints finally became the feared Saints team that nobody would have believed existed in the 80's.

To me it is a great thought to think that maybe the Saints would provide us with the spark we needed to create a sustainable winner in Cleveland.  It would be awesome, especially considering that we are without Jordan Cameron, Ben Tate and Josh Gordon.

During wins I usually like to name some standouts on the team and praise them for their efforts but this week is going to be hard.  This was a great team win so I am going to congratulate not only the 53 players on the active roster, but the coaching staff, and most importantly the 70,000 that were in the stands watching it, you all did it.

So hopefully this isn't just one of our annual five wins, and the team has genuinely flipped the script.  Only time will tell, In the meantime lets go ahead and soak this one in.

WHY WE SHOULDN'T FEEL SO BAD ABOUT THE TRIBE

The 2014 Cleveland Indians were an unlikely team.  A big batch of likable guys that just one season ago perpetrated a minor miracle to get into the post season.  Despite fizzling out in the wild card game last year, many fans were excited to see what this season was going to offer.  Unfortunately this season hasn't quite lived up to expectations.  But I really don't think that is very fair, because this team hung around in the playoff race much longer than they probably should have.  Here is my list of reasons that we shouldn't feel like this season was a waste, because we shouldn't even have been .500.

Corey Kluber:
In April our ace was Justin Masterson, and very quickly we realized that Masty was no ace.  In fact in the first couple weeks of the year it looked like we didn't have anyone that could even be close to considered an ace.  Then along came Corey Kluber.

The man who never smiles managed to continued to improve all season long.  And responded to an All-Star snub by becoming an elite Major League pitcher.  While I'm not going to bore you with his amazing stat lines from this season, you can see above that his efforts will not go unnoticed during the offseason awards.

We are among the bottom 5 payroll in all of baseball:
The Dolans are cheap, and where we stand in the rankings of baseball payroll doesn't exactly lump us in with the contenders, it barely qualifies for a team around .500.  To make matters worse most of that said payroll was used on Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn.  Bourn did a good job when he was out there, but spend a good amount of time this year on the DL.  And Nick Swisher was abysmal before his season ended due to knee surgery.  So the old saying, "You get what you pay for," doesn't seem to apply to this year's team.  We should be extremely proud that this team was able to keep themselves in it for so long.

So here's to hoping for maybe a little effort in the offseason combined with a healthy Bourn next year.  And a rebuilt Nick Swisher...

We didn't even have a left hander in our rotation to start the year:
No offense to the team, but the offseason wasn't exactly world beating.  We signed David Murphy, who really showed up during clutch situations, and John Axford who was essentially given to Pittsburgh.  But outside of that we were probably most hurt by not being able to get Scott Kasmir back in an Indians uniform.  Instead we went with five right handed arms, which is a dream come true for most major league hitters over the course of a three game series.

The bright side came in the form of T.J. House a young lefty, who was able to solidify his spot in the rotation at the season progressed.  Here at the end of the season he has almost done a better job than Kluber.  House provides us with a bit more stability in the rotation heading into this next offseason.

We were the worst fielding team in the MLB:
Not that is something to tip your cap on, but it is a testament to the pitching staff.  No team that is as bad at the fundamentals of defense should have won as many games as us... period.

We didn't hit well:
Once again a feather in the pitching staff's cap.  We were inconsistent at best on the offensive side of the ball.  In fact we scored less runs than even the last place Twins... let that digest.  Remind me again how we stayed .500.

We traded our ace and one of our veteran bats for prospects:
This was an issue that I probably caused the most people to lash out me for my opinion on.  While I agreed with many people that Justin Masterson wasn't performing well enough to stay in the rotation, I simply took the side that teams that contend don't make trades that don't improve the current roster.  It just doesn't happen that way.  Contenders buy veterans, pretenders sell them for prospects.

That is what made it crazier when the Indians traded mainstay Asdrubal Cabrera for a young prospect.  Once again a bizarre move for a team still in the playoff hunt.  Considering we didn't trade for any veteran help and just plugged in prospects to their spots, the team rallied time and again keeping them very much in the hunt for postseason.

We discovered Jose Ramirez because of the bizarre roster moves: 
In a year that had many people clamoring for minor league phenom Francisco Lindor to step up and take over the shortstop duties, when the job came available it was given to Jose Ramirez.  After a slow start he soon became a very solid player at the position.  In fact several of the prospects have come in and done a great job.  Again something you won't normally see out of a team in the playoff hunt.

So I'm not going to cry for the Indians.  I am going to sit back and see what happens to this roster in the offseason.  But I'm proud of this year's team, let's face it... they really shouldn't have been so interesting.

TIME TO PUT THE NAIL IN ROGER GOODELL'S COMMISSIONER COFFIN

This week I had planned on writing a review on the opening week of the Browns' season.  And guess what the story was?  Well yet again the Browns didn't show up ready for the season.  This shouldn't be shocking, Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini, Pat Shurmur, and Rob Chudzinski head a list of Browns coaches that tended not to get their teams ready for the year.

Mike Pettine already had his work cut out for him.  He inherited a team that was already in front office transition.  His team drafted the most enigmatic player in the draft in Johnny Manziel.  He had disgruntled veterans, tired of the constant turnover within the team.  Then on the 2nd day of the draft in early May, he was informed that the league's reigning receiving champion was facing banishment from the league.

With the laundry list of distractions that Pettine had to fight through, he and GM Ray Farmer were forced to sit and wait patiently for the Josh Gordon appeal to be heard.  Replacing the league's top receiver wasn't going to be possible, but not knowing what timeframe they were going to have to replace him made the scenario that much worse.

However the summer just ticked by, and by the time the league heard Gordon's appeal training camp was in full swing.  He was continued to be allowed to practice and play with the team throughout most of the preseason, until about a week and a half before the regular season began.  And after many of the roster decision had to be made, the team finally received the word that the league spent the entire summer dragging their feet to simply uphold their original ruling.

The Browns were then forced to make major roster changes to facilitate the hole in the roster.  Only to soon find out that Gordon may have been part of an elaborate ploy to force the NFLPA to agree to sweeping changes in the league's drug policies.  Suddenly there is word that Gordon and several high profile players could be removed from suspension if the NFL's demands are met, and the Browns and several other teams are now sitting and being teased with the notion of getting their players back. Wouldn't common sense dictate these issues should have been dealt with in the offseason?  But instead they are being dealt with as the season is under way.

While I am certainly not solely blaming the league office for the Browns issues last Sunday, you will never be able to convince me they weren't a factor.  Which to me begs the question, is the commissioner worried more about running the NFL like an asshole high school principal who treats his student body like delinquents, or is he more worried about the product that gets put onto the field on Sundays for us fans?

Goodell has been in the forefront of weeding out the fun factor of the game.  Celebrations of almost any kind are now frowned upon and can be penalized, effecting game outcomes.  The current Super Bowl Champions won the league due to a tough, physical secondary.  So what did Goodell do?  Well he tightened up the rules about how tough and physical a secondary could be.

Has the product suffered?  Without a doubt.  The league's insanely strict drug policy has promptly removed many of the top talent from the field.  Anyone who watched the preseason can testify how almost unwatchable the games were, as the referees were probably responsible for as much scoring as any of the players were.  So I think my question is answered, yes he wants to be that asshole high school principal.

So there I think that I have pleaded my case for Roger Goodell's removal from his position and not once did I even have to mention Ray Rice.

And for those of you that are wondering, yes I have a plan to go forward as well...

No this is not a joke, I will genuinely say that if I was building a model of what I think is the commissioner needed to save football, it would be former Browns safety Felix Wright (follow him at @FelixWright22)

I like Felix for the job for several reasons.  First off after an 8 year NFL career as a player, Felix has been in an authority position with the NFL since 2001 (where yes he delivers fines to players).  I think that Felix's unique perspective as both a player and authority figure would serve him well in the commissioner's chair.

Felix played the game clean.  Still to this day he shows a respect for his former teammates, and opponents.  Away from the field Felix has quickly become a tremendous ambassador for the Cleveland Browns.  Felix has taken to social media, where he is possibly one of the most personable and humble professional athletes that I have ever seen.  Felix routinely takes the time out of his day, to make a bunch of fans' days.  So please don't tell me the NFL couldn't use his PR help.

And something tells me he would be willing to do the job...

Follow me @BrownsMemes and help me out with #FelixWright4NFLCommissioner

I USE COMPUTER SCIENCE TO PREDICT THE SEASON

Imagine if this season Madden wouldn't be released until playoff time, and when you opened the package Brandon Weeden was the Browns' quarterback and Trent Richardson was your running back.  Sounds crazy right?  Believe it or not it wouldn't be unprecedented.

Many older sports fans remember the original Nintendo Entertainment System's classic football game Tecmo Super Bowl.  However few people realize that when the game was released during the playoffs of the 1991 season, that the game was already horribly outdated.  The game literally featured the rosters from the 1990 season.  To put the tardiness of the rosters into perspective the video game's most legendary player Bo Jackson (or Tecmo Bo) had literally been gone from football for almost a year at the time of release due to a career ending injury.

How times have changed, thanks to aspiring programmers Tecmo Super Bowl didn't fade into retro gaming obscurity.  Instead Tecmo Super Bowl has become a favorite of game modders who have continued to faithfully recycle the game into updated versions much better than even the original programmers of the game.  If you are interested in these versions visit tecmobowl.org

However I thought it might be fun to take an updated version of the game for a spin.  The version I selected was a modded version created by a modder called QBVikings.  His version has relatively updated rosters that didn't seem to favor any particular team.  The player ratings seemed fair and true to their real life counterparts.  So I figured why not let the computer predict the upcoming season?

Before I show the results I want to make it clear that I did not intervene in any of the games, I simply let the computer determine the outcomes.  Since this version included Josh Gordon on the Browns roster I relegated him to the bench and ensured that he would not get to play.  However I also decided that the result of this experiment would also count as my official Browns prediction for the season.  So how are we going to do this year?  Let's find out...

Even the retro video game version of Josh Gordon was suspended.

Week One:@Steelers

While in the opener vs the Stoolers it looked more like Norv Turner running the offense again, somebody executed, and that somebody was Jordan Cameron.  He made some huge plays to help the Browns move to 1-0 and win their season opener.

Week Two: vs Saints

Suddenly the rear view mirror got reattached at the Browns lost a stinker in their home opener vs the Saints. The Browns dropped to 1-1 and Twitter exploded.

Week Three: vs Ravens

The Browns showed some toughness as a defense that was getting torched seemed to find big plays at the right time.  And why did Ben Tate only have 97 yards in this one?  Simple, the end zone kept getting in his way. 2-1 going into the bye, hmmm.

Week Five: @Titans

As the virtual fanbase worried about losing momentum on the bye week, there were rumbles since the playbook was simplified to 8 plays that Johnny should start week 5 despite the 2-1 start.  This game dashed those rumbles as the Browns routed the Titans at home.  Although Kendall Wright was awesome around garbage time.  The Browns were 3-1 and even ESPN was on board with Johnny studying under Hoyer.

Week Six: vs Steelers

Billy Cundiff hit the game winner in a surprisingly stout defensive battle to complete the sweep.  Cleveland exploded because we were 4-1 with Jacksonville coming up.

Week Seven: @Jaguars

Ben Tate was injured at the end of a 20 yard boost to begin the game.  And although the Jags added some late drama, the Browns won in surprisingly smooth fashion to open some eyes at 5-1

Week Eight: vs Raiders

Even the most ardent pessimist was starting to come around, and with the struggling Raiders coming to town it seemed like there was a very winnable game facing the Browns.  Unfortunately the Raiders simply outplayed the Browns on this day dropping the record to 5-2.

Week Nine: vs Buccaneers

While the Browns offense struggled for the second straight week, Brian Hoyer found a way to pull this one out in the end.  At the half way point the Browns lead the division at 6-2.

Week Ten: @Bengals

At this point Kyle Shanahan was hearing it for being a little too much like Norv Turner, but in this game it only got worse.  However Brian Hoyer responded and the Browns opened up some distance in the division moving to 7-2.

Week Eleven: @Texans

At this point panicked fans had no clue how to react as the Browns moved to an AFC best 8-2.

Week Twelve: @Falcons

In an absolute wild, and sloppy game the Browns found a way to pull this one out behind Hoyer's career day. But don't let the stats fool you Ben Tate had two of the TD's in this one. Browns improve to 9-2.

Week Thirteen: @Bills

Hoyer's hot streak continued though the next week as the Browns literally found a way to improve their draft status and still win. This one looked closer than it actually was as the Browns win a fairly drama free game and move to 10-2 with an almost insurmountable lead in the AFC North.

Week Fourteen: vs Colts

"Win and we're in" was the mantra of the week, and guess what we did? Went to 11-2 and did something we have never done...

Week Fifteen: vs Bengals

Now as home field advantage for the playoffs became the goal of course we were going to dink and dunk all over the field and blow the game against Cincy. The Browns drop to 11-3.

Week Sixteen: @Panthers

It was quickly becoming evident that the Browns weren't playing their best football since clinching the division.  The Panthers played a very tough game, but in the end the Browns squeaked out the victory, but didn't clinch home field advantage as the Broncos kept pace. 12-3 going into the final week.

Week Seventeen: @Ravens

Some people wanted to see Johnny Manziel for the regular season finale.  However with a win giving the Browns home field advantage and a guaranteed bye already, the coaches let Hoyer finish the season.  And alarmingly the Browns came out and looked very flat against a Ravens team that was in a must win game for a playoff spot. This loss gave the Browns a 12-4 record to end the season. 

Divisional Round: vs Chargers

Fans that were terrified that the Browns closed the season so poorly almost met their worst nightmares in this game. The Browns barely hung on to tie the game in the late moments in the 4th quarter then won on a Billy Cundiff FG in overtime to win it.  

AFC Championship: vs Chiefs

The Cheifs looked scary, they had decimated both the Patriots and the Broncos to set up the unlikeliest AFC Championship game in recent memory.  Brian Hoyer went off, but the Chiefs hung tough, forcing the 2nd straight overtime game winner for new Cleveland hero Billy Cundiff.  With the win the Browns would face off against a surging Packers team that just redeemed their opening day loss against the Seahawks in the NFC championship.

Super Bowl: vs Packers

The Browns defense smothered the Packers throughout the first half.  However the Browns offense sputtered throughout the entire 2nd half.  Brian Hoyer threw two key interceptions late in the game to allow the Packers to come back and claim the NFL's World Championship.

And even after Brian Hoyer's 12-4 season and making it to the Super Bowl guess who the media asked for after the game...