Lebron James will truly be a "King" playing in New York posted by Colin Linneweber

Cleveland Browns Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown said this week that he hopes that Cavaliers basketball icon Lebron James remains in “The Forest City” after this season.

James, 25, the 2009 NBA Most Valuable Player who was born and raised near Cleveland in Akron, Ohio, will be a free agent this summer and many analysts have speculated that the “Chosen One” may opt to sign a long-term contract with an organization located in a larger market.

“Looking at the fact that this is a business, I put that first,” said Brown, 73, a three-time NFL MVP and eight-time First-Team All-Pro selection during his nine-year career with the Browns.

“But having said that, I would love to see him be here. I think it’s a terrific marriage. He does so much for this city and I think that he has an owner (Dan Gilbert) that tries to do everything he can. When you have an owner who is trying to do the best he can do and a player, it’s a terrific set of circumstances. But the business is the business.”

James, currently in his seventh pro season with the Cavs since that franchise selected him out of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School with the first overall pick in the 2003 draft, is arguably one of the greatest players in NBA history already.

Brown, who Cleveland chose out of Syracuse University with the sixth selection in the 1957 NFL Draft, was named by The Sporting News as the greatest football player ever.

Brown dominated the gridiron and James is absolutely overpowering the competition on the hardwood.

Cleveland Browns: What's more exciting? Free Agency or the Draft? Let's focus on the offense today... posted by Edward Stefanyak

Let's face it; if you're a Browns' fan, you already know that we have many needs. Our new GM, Tom Heckert likes to build through the draft, and we have 11 picks but is that enough? Probably not. We need some free agents to fill some holes, or we could also trade for players.

Offense:

After reading Amari Harris' blog, he's right. We need a solid QB. Keep in mind; I love DA's strong arm, and I want Brady Quinn to succeed but I'm not convinced that either one is the answer. But, what options do we have? We could look to free agency, but did you see that list of free agent QBs? The list includes Jason Campbell, Kyle Orton, Mike Vick, and Chad Pennington. Good luck with all that. Another option is to trade for a QB, but who is available? One option could be Kevin Kolb from Philadelphia. GM Heckert has ties to Philly, so maybe this could be an option....for a steep price of course. Kolb has a nice arm, and he has some experience running a WCO. Now, according to Harris' blog, he likes Sam Bradford...later in the draft, but I'm not so sure. I like Tony Pike from Cincy, Jevan Snead from Ole Miss, and Dan LeFevour from Central Michigan. All three QBs have had some success with less talent around them. Other QBs like Bradford, Tebow, and Clausen were surrounded by talent, and talent should win you games. Winning games equals success; success equals ESPN falling in love with you. 

If we re-sign Jerome Harrison, we will have three nice RBs: Harrison, Chris Jennings, and James Davis. If you are not happy with those players, there are some interesting FAs. FA RBs include LenDale White of the Titans, Mike Bell of the Saints, Darren Sproles of the Chargers, and Cadillac Williams of the Bucs. Other RBs appear to be up in age, part-time players, or restricted FAs. Also, the draft offers some interesting talent, such as CJ Spiller of Clemson, Jahvid Best of California, or Toby Gerhart of Stanford. Truthfully, the draft is loaded with great RBs. I just arbitrarily picked these three.

Are the Browns Playoof Bound? posted by Amari Harris

Although it is way too early to make any definitive statements about a 5-11 team, I definitely think these guys are headed in the right direction.  First they hired Mike Holmgren on as the president of football operations and then Holmgren decided to keep Mangini on as head coach.  I questioned Mangini’s tactics during the season but the fact is that the guy had to implement a culture change in Cleveland.  It was going to be a rough season either way, but once he was able to root out the guys that didn’t want to work and play smart football, this team ended the season on a 4 game winning streak that included the Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers.  The addition of Tom Heckert from Philadelphia will also give them a boost at the GM position. 

Joe's Final Drive: Week 17 posted by Joe Anello

Though it means nothing, I am required by football law to point out I was 7-0 in my Opening Drive predictions for week 17. Woot. Multiple teams lost because they did not keep their starters in while one NFC East leader got railed on. Now, onto the last week of the regular season with this edition of the Final Drive! 

(12-4) Minnesota Vikings 44
(8-8) New York Giants 7 

Way to not show up for the last two weeks of the season G-men. You're ensured some massive roster changes with your less-than stellar effort. Meanwhile, the Vikings jumped back into the two seed with the Eagles' loss, giving old man Favre a week off before mounting a Super Bowl run. There's cause for concern in Minnesota after the Vikings have failed to get Adrian Peterson going heading into the playoffs. We'll see how that plays out in two weeks.

(9-7) Houston Texans 34 
(10-6) New England Patriots 27

The biggest injury of the weekend is clearly the loss of Wes Welker for the Pats. For those of you screaming that Belichick shouldn't have been playing his starters, Welker was injured on the first drive of the game without being contacted. It could have happened warming up. His loss will leave QB Tom Brady without his favorite receiver and plenty of double coverage for Randy Moss. For the Texans, congratulations are due for the first winning season in franchise history, but they couldn't sneak into the playoffs. Regardless, QB Matt Schaub, who led the league in passing yards, gives them hope for the immediate future.

First down post.. on 4th and 2. posted by Andrew C. Fernandez

Hello Chargers fan! Loyal dieharders to erratic bandwagoners.. glad you are all on for the ride of this year and many more to come. I believe that as long as Rivers is OUR qaurterback we have a chance to make the Superbowl every year. That is my undying faith to San Diego, but also my belief in Philip Rivers. Props to the coaching staff(somewhat), the O-line, 6'4" recievers and up, and the backfield combo of Sproles and LT. Props to the defense the last couple weeks on creating turnovers, slowing down the run especially without Jamal, and our secondary which has become increasingly better without the pressure that we've put on the opponents QB the last couple years. Major props goto all the back-ups that are just inserted from all our injuries to make great contributions and keeping the team a cohesive "team".

This year has had its downs as well, though right now the team is riding way high and playing at a great level. My bone to pick with the coaching staff this first time around is.. short yardage situations. Though my argument is falling off due to the redzone production we've had the past couple games with LT, earlier in the year and a few more times in the last couple weeks we have been stopped short of converting first downs and/or touchdowns. I don't know if you guys have noticed, but I sure have seen Darren Sproles being used on 3rd and 3 or fewer to try to convert a 1st down. Why is he being used when you have LT, the touchdown machine, when we need a few yards he has the ability and hunger to get it. Not to take anything away from Sproles, but every situation I remember where Sproles was taking the handoff in these situations it was failing. The biggest time came earlier in the season against Ray Lewis and the Baltimore D that stuffed us on 4th on 2. Norv called a running play, when we were not running the ball well at all, but we were throwing the ball to get to the Baltimore 15 yard line. Instead of relying on a Rivers pass to convert or even LT to get us 2 yards.. we went with that play call, stretch left side, lose 5 yards. The really erked me when it happened because we had a great opporunity to win the game. I've watched closely to the times we've not ran LT on short yardage downs and its been fail. Mostly on a Sproles handoff. So if I could say one thing to the coaching staff, that they need to learn from, because obviously they haven't, it is to NOT use Darren Sproles for these downs. He's one of the best screen backs, he's a mismatch for any LB 1 on 1, but he's not going to bulldoze Ray Lewis for 2 yards when the games on the line. 

Cleveland Browns: 1 and sucks? Will Charlie Weis be our next OC? posted by Edward Stefanyak

Okay...I'm a die-hard Browns' fan, but I find myself throwing up on game day.

DEFENSE: 

1. With two LBs out for the season--D. Jackson and E. Barton--out for the season, we will continue to struggle on defense.

2. Is it just me, or does Brandon McDonald hit more like Ronald McDonald? Sorry, that might be offensive to Ronald.

3. I know that we are blitzing more, but we still aren't getting to the QB on a consistent basis. Furthermore, when we drop more players back in coverage, the QB somehow picks our D apart. How does this happen?

4. On a positive note, it seems like DC Ryan will do all he can to turn this around. I like the fire in his gut; he's very animated and some of his players feed off of this.

OFFENSE:

1. Okay...Brady Quinn had an awful game against the Ravens and a great game against the Lions. Now, he has three difficult games to prove himself...Bengals, Chargers, and Steelers. Will the real Brady Quinn show up? Here's hoping that the line blocks and the OC Dabol calls some decent plays.

2. Chris Jennings had the opportunity against the Lions to prove that he has starting potential. He ran hard, caught the ball out of the backfield, and moved the chains. Unfortunately, he dropped an easy TD pass from Quinn against the Lions.

3. With K2 and B. Edwards gone, I hope that our rookie WRs will continue to improve. Furthermore, I was hoping that Edwards would dominate with the Jets. That way, our draft pick from the Jets could be a second rounder instead of a third. Unfortunately, he has been a bust.

Brady Quinn is too muscular to play QB in the NFL posted by Colin Linneweber

Despite posting a pathetic 23.5 passer rating in Monday’s 16-0 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, beleaguered Cleveland Browns quarterback Brady Quinn has again been named the starter for this weekend’s game versus the Lions in Detroit.

Quinn, 25, who shattered a startling 36 records when he quarterbacked the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for four years in college, is currently projected to throw a porous two touchdown passes this season in comparison to an unsightly nine interceptions.

More troublesome for Browns fans is the fact that Quinn is presently completing a subpar 54.6% of his throws on the gridiron.

Quinn, who was selected by the Browns with the 22nd overall pick in the 2007 NFL draft, inked a five-year contract worth $20.2 million to play for the team he rooted for during his childhood.

Before Quinn was drafted by the Browns, he established the quarterback record for weightlifting at the NFL combine when he benched 225 pounds an astounding 24 times.

This past August, the native of Columbus was featured on the front cover of the magazine Muscle & Fitness.

In the article titled “The NFL’s Hardest Working Quarterback,” Quinn spoke about how he combines strength and agility exercises so that he does not become too bulky to perform under center.

Unfortunately for Quinn, his exhaustive workouts have simply become detrimental to his play and he needs to lessen the amount of time that he spends in the gym lifting heavy amounts of weight.

Joe's Opening Drive: Week 11 posted by Joe Anello

After three quarters of a boring contest, we finally got some action late in Thursday's Miami v. Carolina game. To anyone who had Ricky Williams on their fantasy team, good job. Now, we look to the weekend in the week 11 edition of the Oepning Drive!

(1-8) Cleveland Browns at (1-8) Detroit Lions 

This is the 2009 Suck Bowl Rebuilding Bowl. AKA the only game where the Lions should be healthy favorites all season. Say what you want about Detroit, they can put up some points with Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson. I'm not sure Cleveland is even aware that scoring six points at once is possible. The best part about the game is that one of these teams will reach two victories. (Though how classic and awesome would a tie be?

(5-4) Atlanta Falcons at (5-4) New York Giants

After solid starts to their seasons, both of these squads are heading in the wrong direction and are in serious danger of missing the playoffs altogether. Tom Coughlin's Giants have lost four straight while the Falcons have dropped three of their last four. Big Blue's vaunted defense has failed in recent weeks, but the offense is the real culprit. They've strayed from the running game and Eli Manning has turned the ball over with regularity. Atlanta's Matt Ryan is in a similar boat, with more interceptions through nine games this season that he had all of his rookie year. Whoever loses will almost certainly miss the postseason.

(9-0) Indianapolis Colts at (5-4) Baltimore Ravens

Looking Ahead posted by Randolph Charlotin

After the Patriots’ loss to the Indianapolis Colts, the first thing I did when I started my car was turn off the radio. I almost didn’t turn on my t.v. When I did, I absolutely didn’t tune in to ESPN or NFL Network. This lasted through the next day until the Monday night football game. I didn’t read the newspapers for almost two days.

Yes, I was disappointed by the loss, but more than anything I didn’t want to hear television’s talking heads compete in the “I can sound more outrageous than the other guy” competition or catch knee-jerk reactions on talk radio or through print media.

Two days later, it was still the talk of the town as people chose sides in the argument. Whether head coach Bill Belichick is still a genius or now is an arrogant doofus is your opinion. At this point, I’m done with it.

This argument of Belichick’s decision has been blown out of proportions because of Patriot Nation’s dislike of QB Peyton Manning. It’s a tough loss, but losing to the hated Colts and the commercial face of the NFL left many feeling sick. Feel free to call the ill effects the Manning Migraine.

But look at it for what it is. This was a loss to the best team in the AFC. Sure it has playoff implications, but this won’t determine home field throughout the playoffs. There’s no way the Colts will be caught from behind, even if the Patriots win the rest of their games. Indy’s two-game lead will be insurmountable.

New England’s battle is with the rest of the AFC in hopes of securing second place in the conference. Right now the Pats are still in great position to wrestle it away from the surprising Cincinnati Bengals or Denver Broncos. If the teams finish with identical records, tie-breakers will determine who gets the higher seed.

Cutler gets "Jay-Roughed" in Bears' win over hapless Browns posted by Joe Anello

It wasn’t pretty, but I’ll take it. The Bears put down the Cleveland Browns by a final score of 30-6 Sunday at Soldier Field. While a 24-point win against a number of other teams would have been memorable, that margin wasn’t enough for Bears fans who wanted to see domination like they saw in Cincinnati. Instead, they saw Lovie Smith’s squad do little more than take advantage of Cleveland’s never-ending mistakes.

After exchanging a total of five three-and-outs to start the game, the Bears finally broke through on the scoreboard with a Robbie Gold field goal. An interception and a fumble on the two following Browns possessions lead to another field goal and a Matt Forte touchdown, putting the Bears up 16. A Browns score made it 16-6 early in the third, which was too close, even though I never felt like they were going to get the upper hand.

Another Forte run and a Charles Tillman interception return put the game far out of reach, securing a 4-3 record for Chicago. Still, the victory was not without its major flaws, as Jay Cutler’s battered body can attest to. Chicago’s franchise QB was sacked five times, not including a “Jay-Roughing” penalty on massive Shaun Rogers which left Cutler’s mouth bloody. I’m officially coining the term “Jay-Roughing” to be used on roughing the passer calls. So I should get a quarter every time you say it. I hope I don't make too much money off it though, as Cutler needs to stay mostly upright during his lengthy stay under center for Chicago.

Browns release troubled WR Stallworth (AP)

[read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

NFL to reinstate Stallworth after Super Bowl

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says Cleveland Browns wide receiverDonte' Stallworth will be reinstated from his suspension forkilling a pedestrian while driving drunk. [read full article]

From FOXSports.com News for NFL

Browns WR Stallworth to be reinstated (AP)

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte' Stallworth will be reinstated from his suspension for killing a pedestrian while driving drunk. At his annual Super Bowl-week news conference Friday, Goodell said Stallworth's suspension will be lifted after the Super Bowl on Sunday. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Giants QBs coach Palmer retires (AP)

Veteran coach Chris Palmer retired after 38 seasons, including 20 in the NFL, with the last three coming as the New York Giants' quarterbacks coach. The Giants announced the retirement of the former Cleveland Browns head coach on Friday. Palmer, who helped Eli Manning develop into a Super Bowl-winning and Pro Bowl quarterback in his first season with the Giants, twice worked as an assistant... [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Browns fire top executive Keenan (AP)

The Cleveland Browns have fired Mike Keenan, the team's president before Mike Holmgren was hired earlier this month. Team spokesman Neal Gulkis confirmed Keenan's dismissal Saturday. Keenan had joined the Browns in 2006 after serving on the NFL management council. He was promoted to president in 2008. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports