BROWNS RIDING WITH KIZER ON HORIZON OF 2017 OPENER 

The 2017 NFL season has arrived and none other than the hated dastardly Steelers are invading the Browns' lakefront stadium to help kick things off on Sunday. The practice games are thankfully over and now we truly get a glimpse of the fortunes to come of  this increasingly young team.

Don't expect an overabundance of sugar coating from this corner, however, particularly in light of a deceptive 4-0 preseason record. Yes, there are legitimate reasons for optimism and enthusiasm for this team, but, there are still numerous questions that need to be answered. And, frankly, the schedule maker kinda stuck it to the Browns right off the bat with four extremely difficult games. After the opener at home v. Pittsburgh, the team plays at Baltimore, at Indianapolis, then back home for an encounter against the Bengals.

As much as I hate to say it, the Browns could very possibly start 0-4. There may be a saving grace , however. QB's Joe Flacco of the Ravens and Andrew Luck of the Colts both are experiencing injury issues. The guess here is that Luck in particular may be in jeopardy of being able to go due to a surgically repaired shoulder that's been troublesome for quite some time. To say the Browns desperately need to win at least one of the first four is a major understatement.

There's been a considerable infusion of talent to last years forgettable inept edition of this once proud winning franchise, thanks in large part to three 1st round draft picks that for once, all seem to be very athletic talented "impact" type players necessary to succeed in the ultra competitive NFL. More on those three later.

Absolutely everyone, seemingly, on this planet is aware of the Browns' utterly pathetic record with a never ending long line of QB's dating back to the franchise's rebirth in 1999. And, of course, this season introduces yet another new starter, the 27th since the NFL undid Art Modell's unforgivable sin in moving one of the league's premier franchise's out of the city that could never be whole without it's beloved Browns !

The graveyard of NFL QB's is passing that unenviable torch to none other than Notre Dame QB, De Shone Kizer, drafted by Cleveland in the 2nd rd. of the April draft of college players. As someone who's seen every Browns QB since Bill Nelson in the late 60's, admittedly, I initially thought the drafting of Kizer was a wasted pick. I also badly wanted, Mitch Trubisky, the QB the Chicago Bears coveted enough to trade into the 2nd overall slot to pluck away from other teams after the Browns opted for Texas A&M DE, Myles Garrett. 

Well, I have no problem being wrong about a player and after having viewed Kizer get significant time in parts of three exhibition games, I'm honestly excited seeing this kid perform and have no issue with coach Hue Jackson's decision to start him against the Steelers. The only QB I recall seeing play for the Browns these past five decades with the arm and athleticism of Kizer would have to be Vinny Testaverde, who Bill Belichick unceremoniously picked to unseat Bernie Kosar as starter in the early 90's.

Kizer has a bazooka arm, plenty of confidence, stands in the pocket well, runs very well and throws well on the run among other attributes. Unlike Cody Kessler, he regularly is looking to throw downfield the way most of the better QB's in the league often do. He's also about 6'4", so no issues seeing over lineman there.

The Steelers will test him without question and are likely to throw the kitchen sink at him. In other words, multiple fronts, blitzes, mixed coverages and what not. Hopefully, the kid can weather the storm and hopefully the Browns' revamped offensive line can keep him upright and not flat on his back. And, here's praying the coach isn't afraid to attack and throw on 1st down, cause there's no sense starting him otherwise and they need to avoid 3rd and long situations.

That revamped OL consists of starting center JC Tretter, a key free agent pickup from the Packers, Kevin Zeitler, a high salaried free agent pickup from the Bengals, longtime stalwart, Joe Thomas at left tackle and 2nd year man, Shon Coleman at right tackle. The left guard will be Joel Bitonio, though he may not be able to go in game 1 due to yet another injury. At the moment, however, there doesn't appear to be much quality depth backing these guys up.

At the skill positions, the Browns have added three wideouts just in the past few days, namely Sammie Coates, an Auburn long ball specialist and speedster obtained in a trade with the Steelers. Clearly, however, until a couple out of this group establishes themselves as consistent quality NFL caliber receivers this is not a position of strength. The one veteran of the six is former Ram, Kenny Britt, another free agent acquisition and in essence Terrelle Pryor's replacement.

Wide receiver Corey Coleman, the Browns' speedy little 2016 #1 draft pick looks to be a prime target of the strong armed Kizer. The two connected on several passes in exhibition play and hopefully can ignite a much needed spark to the passing game. Ricardo Louis, along with Coates likely are the prime backups. Louis, as a rookie last year, another Auburn, Alabama guy showed spurts of speed and athleticism in limited action.

A "wild card" receiver so to speak is expected to be 3rd year man, Duke Johnson, who's previously been a running back often targeted as a receiver out of the backfield. Hue Jackson however, has said he will often be utilized out of the "slot" receiver position, a 3rd wideout in three receiver sets. When the Browns go to four receiver sets, I'd expect to often see TE, David Njoku, an extremely athletic fast receiver drafted as one of three 1st round picks out of U. of Miami.

If ex Brown, Joe Haden starts at cornerback for Pittsburgh, expect to see the Browns go deep often as he was burned deep for late TD's several times in his time in Cleveland. Surely, expect to see him as a 3rd corner at the least, which makes for quite a side story to this game. The Browns know his weaknesses well and of course, the NFL is a premier game of matchups as well as mismatches.

Also look for a lot of double tight end sets, featuring Njoku and 2nd year guy, Seth DeValve, who's emerged as a receiving threat. Njoku is listed 3rd on the 1st listed depth chart on the team website, but, take that with a grain of salt as Njoku is being counted on heavily to justify being one of the team's three 1st rd. selections.

Hue has said he would like to run the football more often this season. Take that observation with a grain of salt as well, as "game situations" and score are always determining factors as to play calling. Plus, coaches always say that. That said, the Browns are set with Isaiah Crowell as the featured runner out of the backfield. Frankly, he should have a great shot at a 1,000 yard season, what with experienced quality veterans at the majority of the offensive line spots. Johnson can also be used back there along with impressive looking rookie, Matt Dayes, a shifty, speedy little type.

The punting duties are in the very capable hands of, Britton Colquitt for another season, while rookie kicker, Zane Gonzalez was chosen over Cody Parkey, which is a debatable choice considering Parkey had a very good season last year and performed well in the just completed exhibition games. But, Gonzalez was a draft pick and it's well known teams always favor their draft picks when a competition is basically even.

Browns' punt returns may once again become exciting as talented rookie, Jabrill Peppers has easily stepped in to fill that role. Some guys just have an innate ability to return kicks and he's one of them. He's already had a few electrifying returns in exhibitions, so hopefully that added dimension gives the team much better critically important field position to work with.

Now for the defense.

Everyone insisted the Browns take defensive end, Myles Garrett out of Texas A&M with the 1st overall selection in April's draft. Well, they did and with it comes enormous pressure for him to produce bigtime right from the get go. No question the guy's got great "potential" with excellent speed and quickness, but, fans should temper their expectations a bit. He spouted off about sacking Steelers QB, Ben Roethlisberger, so the Steelers are gonna game plan to stuff the brash rookies' mouth.

Those thinking Garrett's gonna lead the league in sacks, or even register double digits should temper their enthusiasm. The intensity of real games will open any rookies' eyes. Consider this. At about 270 lbs., the average NFL OT blocking him will outweigh him by upwards of 50 lbs. ! He's now playing with the big boys. Hopefully, that speed and quickness gets him around the tackle straight to the QB.

2nd year DE, Emmanuelle Ogbah has comparable skills to Garrett in my view and the Browns are counting heavily on them both.


Those two bookends are expected to help anchor a considerably improved defense with an aggressive attacking blitzing style, rarely, if ever seen in Cleveland. Even the better Browns defenses of long ago were more known for a bend but not break presence. The entire defensive line is expected to be a major team strength, but, on paper don't count, production does.

New defensive coordinator, Greg Williams, with his intense, no nonsense style is a welcome site. Multiple alignments with various blitz packages designed to get to the QB have already produced positive results, though of course teams never game plan for the opposition in exhibitions, not to mention the utilization of numerous guys that have been cut from the roster.

Williams has instituted a base 4-3 defense, the old traditional NFL style defense, a switch from the 3-4 previously used. That means three linebackers with a middle backer and two outside, one on the strong side and the other at the weakside backer spot. The strong side being the tight end side, more often lining up on the outside of the right tackle. Joe Schobert, a reserve last season mans the middle, Jamie Collins is set on the strong side and Chris Kirksey has moved to the weakside spot.

Schobert is an unknown quantity but, has looked good thus far. Don't be surprised if Kirksey and Collins are sometimes flip flopped depending on matchups, or, remain on the field in tandem in a 4-2-5 alignment, something Williams' defenses are noted for. The Browns, however, are woefully thin as far as backups, so, pray the starters don't get injured.

The secondary is now minus longtime starter, Joe Haden, cut and immediately signed by the Steelers of all teams. He's now the enemy ! Jamar Taylor is solid at one cornerback spot with Jason McCourty taking over for Haden. Boddy-Calhoun is now the 3rd corner, but the Browns are also woefully thin as far as depth here as well. In fact, there's currently only one other corner on the roster which is quite curious considering teams often go with four receiver sets nowadays. So, what happens if even one gets hurt during a game, God only knows.

One of the safeties, the last line of defense would have to man a corner spot. Jabrill Peppers, the team's 3rd pick in the 1st rd. of the draft quickly took hold of the strong safety spot, while 2nd year man, Derrick Kindred starts at free safety. Expect those two to flip flop also, however. In fact, Peppers will line up in multiple spots most likely, including a linebacker spot at times or blitzing. He is expected to bring a dynamic presence to a defense sorely in need of "impact" players.

Ok, so, how many games will this version of the Browns manage to win ? The guess here is anywhere from four to six, nothing exhilarating exactly, yet, a heck of an improvement on last season's ineptness. And, as far as this Sunday against those hated Steelers ?

Hopefully it will be a competitive exciting game, but, it's a tall order to say the least for the Browns to knock off Pittsburgh. Wouldn't it be sweet to burn ole buddy, Joe Haden deep late in the 4th Q. for a scintillating come from behind victory !

Dave Burkey
Email: daveywriter@yahoo.com

AL CHAMPION INDIANS AIM TO WIN IT ALL

Fourteen games into the 2017 season, the A.L. Champion Cleveland Indians have been a bit up and down to start the season.

They've gone just 4-7 since the opening series in Texas where the Tribe completed a three game sweep of the Rangers. However, a major league baseball season is a true marathon and for the time being at least, there's no need to hit the panic button. The club has taken the first two games of a three game series in Minnesota against the Twins, coming away with a 3-1 triumph behind a solid pitching effort from starting pitcher, Danny Salazar and an 11-4 whooping with Josh Tomlin on the mound to even their record at 7-7.

Salazar seems to be quickly regaining the fireballing form he displayed the first half of last season when he landed on the A.L. All-star team. He did not, however, win a single game the entire 2nd half after being beset by unfortunate arm issues that landed him on the disabled list. This coupled with stellar starter, Carlos Carassco also landing on the DL for the entire last few weeks of  the magical 2016 season, as well as the entire post-season, played a significant role in ultimately derailing the Tribe in the World Series versus the Cubs.

Carassco appears to be healthy as well and the five man starting staff of former Cy Young winner, Corey Kluber, Carrasco, Salazar, Trevor Bauer and Josh Tomlin are set to carry the load until manager, Terry Francona's magnificent bullpen brigade takes over. Kluber got roughed up in his most recent outing similar to his start in Game 7 of the World Series versus the Cubs.

If Kluber doesn't prove to be the Kluber of old over the long haul, Carassco, Salazar and the others are really gonna have to step it up to take up the slack, otherwise the team could be in for some trouble. He's pitched a lot of innings over the past several seasons. Indians starters must be able to hold leads into the 6th inning at the least so that their stellar bullpen can take over.

It's a bit of a myth that this club has a power laden lineup. The dominating Indians teams of the mid 90's had a true power laden lineup top to bottom, this team doesn't. The key to this club repeating as both Central Division champions, American League champs and a World Series title is clearly the pitching staff. There are two legitimate 'power' hitters in the lineup and Francona chooses to continue to bat one of them, Carlos Santana , leadoff. That may or may not change when 2nd baseman Jason Kipnis comes off the DL in a few days.

I would bat Kipnis leadoff followed by Lindor, Brantley, Encarnacion in the cleanup spot, Santana, Ramirez, then the final three in the order. Those six are the Tribe's everyday regulars and while they'll probably hit a modest number of home runs, they can all smack the baseball around the park pretty darn good !

$60 million dollar cleanup batter Edwin Encarnacion, the huge free agent pickup from the Blue Jays is off to somewhat of a slow start, but, just clubbed his 2nd HR of the year against the Twins. There's a common assumption among fans and media that the former Toronto Blue Jay is a huge upgrade over Napoli. On paper, he should be. But, Encarnacion is past what have generally been considered a player's 'prime' years. Furthermore, the law of averages say no one can be expected to hit over 40 home runs six straight years or more.

That being said, maybe he'll go on to wallop 50 HR's ! With every huge contract come very high expectations and there are some fans whom are restless already, which is utterly ridiculous. There are exactly 148 games left to go in a very long season. Players have ups and downs all the time. Frankly, fans that get bent out of shape at a player's batting average with less than 50 AB'S (at bats) are irritatingly amusing. In this era of endless social media, there's ignorance everywhere.

The biggest addition, by far, to this year's lineup other than Encarnacion is the return of All-star outfielder, Michael Brantley. He walloped his 2nd HR against Minnesota and has been fairly consistently smacking the ball, including one huge game winning walkoff in Cleveland. A healthy Michael Brantley is a whale of a hitter and the club better cross it's fingers...and toes that he stays that way over the course of the long season.

3rd baseman turned temporary 2nd baseman, Jose Ramirez is off to a fantastic start and already has knocked in 15 runs to begin the season. With Kipnis' likely return in a matter of days, Ramirez will return to 3rd and Yandy Diaz, the rookie who's been playing there and doing a very commendable job will get sent back down to the AAA team in all likelihood. The spectacular SS, Francisco Lindor, who played very well on the national stage in the World Series is also off to a great start. The kid is just a refreshing jovial special kind of talent.

The catching situation is rather complicated for the time being. Yan Gomes, while being very early in the season, continues to struggle at the plate while receiving the bulk of the catching duties. He struggled unmercifully at the plate all last year when not injured, finishing with an entirely unacceptable batting average of under .170 ! Roberto Perez, who did a solid job in the post-season last year is primed to take over the fulltime duties behind the plate if Gomes and his toothpick bat doesn't get his average up to a respectable number.

Lonnie Chisenhall has been inserted in centerfield, at least for now, but, I'm not betting a dollar he stays there long. He's sort of a streaky hitter with only average power whom usually hits around .300 the first half of seasons only to tail off considerably in the second half. It was rather shocking that sophomore centerfielder, Tyler Naquin was shipped to AAA. The kid couldn't have been happy about it after hitting over .300 much of last year. It seemed like a rather odd move frankly.

Abe Almonte, suspended 80 games last season for PED use and Brandon Guyer are basically two journeyman types temporarily manning the right field spot. Almonte though has contributed more than expected.

Last, but not least, the magnificent bullpen brigade is a huge key to the fortunes of this club. Andrew Miller, the flame throwing versatile lefty strikeout artist acquired from the Yankees at the trading deadline has transformed this group to a feared bunch from the 6th inning on. Give these guys the lead at that point of the game and it's usually lights out for the opposing club.

Closer, Cody Allen throws a pretty hard fastball himself and generally can be depended upon to close out the game. Hard throwing lefty Boone Logan, another free agent off season acquisition just solidifies the group all the more. Dan Otero did a great job last season as well, generally appearing in the 6th or 7th inning. Then there's Bryan Shaw, who's done a superb overall job in a setup role the past few seasons.

If this club avoids injuries, it stands an excellent chance of winning the Central Division once again. The Detroit kittycats,  uh, Tigers that is, probably are the Indians' biggest threat within the division, possibly followed by the Kansas City Royals. The White Sox of Chicago and the pesky Minnesota Twins round out the division.

And, who knows, maybe, just maybe this 2017 edition of the Cleveland Indians advances to the World Series yet again, only this time they win the title for the first time in 69 years. Tribe fans, hold on for a scintillating season !

DAVE BURKEY
E-mail: daveywriter@yahoo.com

CAVALIERS (NOT) SET TO DEFEND TITLE

It's time for the enigmatic Cleveland Cavaliers to put their money where there mouth is, insisting they're ready to make a run at successfully defending their NBA crown despite losing their final four games of the regular season.

A fair amount of roster shuffling and mounting losses, including a 7-10 record in March would tend to indicate otherwise however. Granted injuries played a significant role,  yet a final regular season record of 51-31, while losing out to Boston for the top seed in the league's Eastern Conference are merely the tip of the iceberg amongst ominous signs that a repeat championship seems rather unlikely.

The Cavaliers' first round opponent, the Indiana Pacers finished with a 42-40 record, but make no mistake, they're a dangerous team. In a prelude of what's to come in fact, the Cavs and Pacers battled in a double overtime thriller in Cleveland on April 2nd, featuring a colossal scoring duel between Paul George of Indiana and LeBron James, ultimately won by the Cavs, 135- 130. George outscored James 43-41, in a contest the Cavs should've won in regulation but didn't, largely due to their usual mental lapses in effort and execution, particularly on the defensive end.

The Cavs were merely 23-23 after Jan. 10th with coach Ty Lue resting both Kyrie Erving and James several times on the back end of games on back to back nights. The practice was controversial as a national TV audience missed out on seeing the duo, even drawing the ire of NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver. To be fair, other teams have done the same thing with their elite players, marquee TV audience or not.

The one 'signature' win you might call it came on April 5th as the Cavaliers went into Boston and totally dominated the Celtics from start to finish to win going away in what was billed as the battle for top seed in the East. Unfortunately, that lead was rather short lived as the Cavs proceeded to come home two nights later for the first of two mystifying losses to the Atlanta Hawks. After the game, coach Lue was quite upset referring to it as a 'bad performance.' He also bemoaned the fact the team failed to capitalize on their huge Celtic victory.

In that AP story, Lue was also quoted after the game as saying, "...That's who we've been. That's who we are. I hate it. These games like this come back and bite you, especially down the stretch when you're trying to get some rest. ...." General Manager, David Griffin, the masterful chess player in manipulating the club's roster stated he was "pissed off" they blew the top seed while at the same time expressing the belief the team plays it's best with their backs to the wall.

We are about to find out, however, it's a dangerous viewpoint for any team to have in the ultra-competitive NBA. They certainly pulled the rabbit out of the hat in the finals last year to literally steal the championship from under the noses of  the Warriors, but last season was last season and there's no switch to turn on when a team decides it suddenly desires to sustain maximum effort all game long game after game.

Coach Lue has brought up the notion in post game comments to the media that he has some sort of 'secret' defense to employ in the playoffs. He'd better because the Cavs rarely stopped anyone when it counted and finished with a very poor ranking of 22nd in the league on defense. As much as I'd like to believe him, I suspect the idea may be more 'smoke and mirror's than anything. Maybe newly added 7'3" center, Edy Tavares can play superman late in playoff games where the team has a large lead and can come in and swat away some of the endless easy layups the team relinquishes.

Frankly, Tristan Thompson is sorely lacking as any type of legitimate rim protector on defense and while he's a top rebounder, he's a minimal scoring threat and a major liability on the free throw line. Andrew Bogut going down in less than a minute of play was admittedly a devastating injury.

The 'Big 3' of James, Love and Irving need more help from their friends in shouldering some of the scoring load. The team averaged 110 ppg., but, guys like J.R. Smith who played a key role in last season's title and Kyle Korver, the sharpshooter acquired from the Hawks need to step up and consistently hit some shots to make another title run. The bench was woefully inadequate much of the season, continually being unmercifully outscored by other teams' benches.

Love is a tremendous rebounder and outlet passer, leading the club with 11.3 rebounds per game and prior to the knee injury causing him to miss several weeks, had been averaging over 20 ppg. as well. The Cavs seemed to be playing their best in games where Love scored early and often, taking much of the load off Irving and James. Still, the team consistently let large leads slip away resulting in wins that should've come without having to expend so much late 4th Quarter energy.

Edy Tavares to the rescue !

Seriously, don't count on that, but, at 7'3" it brings a dimension the club could sorely use at the defensive end when the Cavs need to get stops. Now, if he can learn the plays as well as tendencies of his teammates....

The road to the championship runs through Cleveland. As LeBron James sets out to play in an amazing 7th straight NBA finals, he's the one player seemingly ready for the challenge ahead. Are the rest of the Cavaliers ? We're about to find out.

DAVE BURKEY
E-mail: daveywriter@yahoo.com