Cleveland added its Vice President of Player Personnel, Andrew Berry, who will sort of be the GM. He'll do player evaluations, make the original draft board, and have input on the final roster (although final say goes to Sashi Brown). Waiting For Next Year has an awesome write-up. Overall, it seems like a great move,…
A bevvy of new coaches for Cleveland
Cleveland has a new defensive coordinator (same as the old coordinator?) and a bunch of offensive assistants now. I don't like Ray Horton. I'm mystified as to why Hue Jackson hired him. He's not Jim O'Neill, so +50 points for that, but Horton was mediocre at best in the past. Maybe he'll turn things around,…
End of Madden 16
I haven't officially traded it in yet, but I've deleted it from the PS4, so there's that. I thought I'd share some final thoughts about Madden 16 and what could be improved for next year. -- The email system needs an overhaul. I would love to get useful emails, like "Joe Thomas retired and entered…
No more Flip :(
Hue Jackson decided to retain special teams coach Chris Tabor (yay!), but since he is calling his own plays, decided not to have an offensive coordinator. That means the Coach Flip (FLIPFLIPFLIPFLIP) era is now over. If Minnesota approves, we'll have our running back coach too. For defensive coordinator, the situation is murkier. Terry Pluto…
The Browns have a new head coach
He was #5 on my list, but he was #1 in the opinion of Jimmy Haslam and company. Say hello to Hue Jackson, new coach of the Browns! On one hand, I like the move: Cleveland will need a good offensive guy to (finally?) get the running game working again. On the other hand, I…
Buffalo’s Defense Will Be Worse
The Bills hired Rob Ryan. Rob and Rex will run the defense while "defensive coordinator" Dennis Thurman will handle defensive backs. Considering that Rob Ryan is probably the worst defensive coordinator in the NFL and that Rex Ryan took a 4th-ranked defense and turned it into near the bottom of the barrel, this is a…
Browns coaching candidates, ranked
Terry Pluto has a good list of candidates. DBN has some more, including who is getting ready to interview. I'll rank them. Note that Cleveland hasn't actually scheduled interviews with some of them, so it's pure speculation on his (and my) part. I've left Jerome Henderson off the list because he's probably going to Miami…
Vladimir Guerrero: Hall or Not?
Fangraphs says probably not, given that Jim Edmonds and Larry Walker were clearly superior, yet nobody's heart would be broken if he got in. I personally liked him quite a bit. He was fun to watch. He's got good, not great, numbers. Unlike the other two important guys on the HOF ballot next year, Ivan…
Go go Team Analytics!
As time continues, more is revealed about the ouster of Pettine and Farmer. While Pettine and Farmer fought each other, they also teamed up to fight Sashi Brown and Alec Scheiner. The latter two would basically say "you guys suck and here's why, try sucking less next time?" The first two would say "You guys don't…
Your 2016 Hall of Fame Class is…
Mike Piazza and Ken Griffey Jr. Full voting results are at Baseball Reference, and paint an interesting picture. To whit: -- Bagwell has 71.6% of the vote, while Tim Raines has 69.8% and Trevor Hoffman has 67.3%. One or all of them could make the Hall next year. There's one obvious first ballot guy in 2017…
36 Chambers - The Legendary Journeys: Execution to the max! 