DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum THE Ten keys to the Cleveland Browns of 2008.

Alright guys, been getting pumped and anxious for this season opener, so I figured I would share my thoughts with everyone on what the keys are to a successful 2008 season.

1.) Offense, Offense Offense.... People keep harping on how our defense is going to be better this year with the additions on the d-line. The fact is, we will not win games on the defensive side, our team is built around our offense. We need to consistently put up over 21 points a game to be a successful team in my opinion, and with the talent on that side of the ball, there is no reason it cannot be done.

2.) Derek Anderson must... BE PROTECTED!!! Some people seemed to think that Anderson was the biggest change in our offense last year, I will argue to my grave that our offensive line was the most important part of our team, even with K2 Braylon and Jamal. We looked flat out AWFUL against the Giants in the pre-season, to be honest I am not worried about it, but for us to be successful this year we need the same thing to happen along the line, one injury max (can't be to Thomas, Steinbach, or Fraley) and we need consistent play again.

3.) Braylon and Kellen must stay healthy. Without either one of those two players our offense is severely limited, we can make it without Jamal and have a slight drop off, but without Braylon or Kellen our offensive production will go down severely... I hope people realize how hard it is for teams to cover both Braylon and Kellen, they both demand so much attention, and with the addition of Stallworth and when ( ) Jurevicius comes back, were going to be unstoppable in the air.

4.) Cornerbacks - I really think our cornerback play will be fine this year, but they need to learn from the mistakes they do make... Our corners have to face plenty of challenges this year (TO and Witten in week one, Ocho Cinco and TJ twice a year, Holmes, Ward, Miller) The list just keeps going on, there are alot of good receivers in this league, once again, if we have an injury here we are in trouble.

5.) Don't challenge stupid plays - Please Crennel, dont throw that damn flag around like you're a ref in super bowl 40... We proved how much we like to screw around and make the game come down to our last drive, that extra time out really does matter.

6.) Don't get in above our heads - Seriously, we have like 5 primetime games, I hope players realize we haven't done anything yet and we cannot let the hype get to our heads, we are not the Patriots, we can't just steam roll opponents week in and week out, were gonna have alot of tough games, which leads me to the next point.

7.) 4-2 in the division. We need to at least accomplish this to make the playoffs, we need to beat Pitt and Cinci once, and sweep the Ravens. 5-1 would be ideal (Beating Cinci twice) but we cannot go 3-3, it hurt us last year (obviously.)

8.) PASS RUSH.

9.) STOP THE RUN FOR ONCE.

10.) Derek Anderson, show us you are the real deal. I do not want to see Quinn starting this year, that either means our starting QB is down with an injury or we SUCK. Anderson has a good arm, he just needs to know when to check down and not make the risky throws, with all of the targets we have Jamal and our third receiver or fullback or second tight end (whatever we have) should be open. I really like DA but he is also an easy guy to hate in the spur of the moment with all his stupid mistakes... CUT DOWN ON THOSE PLEASE... When BE has one on one coverage its O.K. to throw it up to him, he will probably come down with it... When Braylon is going over the middle with a corner on him and a safety closing in ready to knock his head off when he gets to the ball it is NOT O.K.

11.) GO BROWNS.

These are the keys as far as I'm concerned, in this order:

1. BE and Winslow must stay healthy. We'll always be a threat offensively if this happens.

2. Thomas must take the next step in what should become a tremendous career. He'll have much tougher challenges this year.

3. DA cannot be a one year wonder.

4. Wimbley must take the next step toward being a Pro Bowl player.

5. We need one of our inside backers to play like a Pro Bowler.

6. Wright and McDonald have to be better than average.

7. Jones needs to start playing like his press.

If these things happen, we'll be ok. We finally have some upper echelon talent in guys like BE, Winslow, and Thomas. These guys are so good, they make everyone else better ... so we should always be competitive. It's been a long time since we've had talent like that.

I would say if at least 4 of those 7 things do not happen, we could be in some trouble this year as far as not meeting expectations.

#1 TACKLE

2 BLOCK

3 RUN

4 MAKE CATCHES AND DON'T TURN THE BALL OVER, DON'T FUMBLE, IN SHORT " TAKE CARE OF THE FOOTBALL

5 MAKE FIELD GOALS and long net gains on punts.

6 FORCE TURNOVERS, GET SCORES FROM DEFENSE

7 TACKLE, TACKLE BEHIND THE L. O .S. AND BEFORE THE FIRST DOWN

8 BREAK UP PASSES DEFEND THE PASS

9 SCORE POINTS, SCORE ALOT OF POINTS ANY WAY POSSIBLE GET MORE POINTS EVERY PLAY.

10 CLOCK! CLOCCCCCCCCKKKK ! CLOCK! GAME CLOCK!

11 DID I MENTION TACKLING

12 PROPER TACKLEING TECHNIQUE

13 GET IN POSITION TO MAKE BLOCKS, AND BLOCK

14 TEAMWORK, in pass protection, in containment on defense, in everything.

15 COACHING, scheming, being innovative, coming up with thngs that work against things the opponent is doing, DUH! WHY DIDN'T I PUT THIS ONE FIRST!

16 DID I MENTION THEY HAVE TO MAKE A TACKLE, YOU CAN'T MISS TACKLES

17 IF THEY COULD JUST TACKLE LIKE THEY MEAN BUSINESS

18 on Espn they call it "you got Jacked UP! "

19 Tackle !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even teach the offense to Tackle, on turnovers.

20

good post, although you seemed to get emotional and lazy towards the end.

offence: its all going to be about our line play. jamal is great but needs a head of steam. anderson should be better but he gets rattled fairly easily. gotta keep him clean.

defense: shaun rogers. this is the first 3-4 D hes been in and there will have to be an adjustment period. nothing away from the man but it is not the same for him. same goes for williams. we would all like to see them perform well but if the transition takes time it will cost us. if these 2 guys do perform, you can forget about worrying on our secondary.

all that said, you cannot help but believe in this sqad. we have gamers. these players have bought in. confidence and more importantly confidence in their teammates will make a huge difference.

and of course, WOO HOO go browns!

Ha. I'm vaguely thinking you mean we need to tackle better. I don't disagree in the least.

-Eve