The Texans were also “a quarterback away”. The number of Pro Bowlers on a team doesn’t tell you anything about how good the team is. Ask anyone what they thought the Browns’ chances were before the season and they’ll laugh.
So the Browns have been 4-12 or 5-11 for 6 seasons now. Have they overachieved each season, since they were destined to be once-in-a-decade-bad 1-15 teams, or were they more talented in the previous 5 years compared to the last one?
Two Stooges Down
I remember an interview on a Cleveland sports talk radio show soon after word came that Jimmy Haslam was buying the team, they were talking to one of the Eagle’s beat reporters to get some background on Joe Banner. Great business guy who should not be involved with personnel decisions was the upshot. But he was involved in them in Cleveland.
I hated them bringing Mike Lombardy in, much of the “positive vibe” the new ownership group brought with it died out when the hire was announced. Banner wanted to be involved in personnel matters and that limited the teams options in landing a GM so we got stuck we a guy no one else in the league wanted.
Twice in two years Banner and Lombardy failed to land their first, second or even third choice for head coach. Looks like that may have been enough to get a light bulb to go on in Jimmy’s head and he kicked Larry and Curly to the curb.