Much like every other season, there’s no shortage of head coaches who find themselves on the hot seat heading into Week 10. What is a bit of a new trend, however, is fans calling for Jon Gruden to be the one to pick up their team’s headset.
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Now that the Cleveland Browns are back to having a 2-6 record for a second consecutive season, many are beginning to wonder if Gruden, or perhaps even John Dorsey as a general manager, could be the ones to help put an end to the misery. During the latest episode of Sports4CLE, one fan called in to inquire about just that, but according to host Dave Bacon, fans shouldn’t hold their breath when it comes to either of them.
“They are so analytics based,” Bacon noted in reference to Cleveland’s front office, “Neither of those two guys would come into something like the Browns organization. You might need to get rid of Paul DePodesta in order to get a quote, unquote ‘football guy’ and I’m just not sure if Jimmy Haslam is ready to do that.”
According to Bacon’s cohost and the senior Browns analyst at the OBR, Fred Greetham, that’s likely the correct assessment to make. Nevertheless, he, along with the bulk of the fan base, believe that it’s time to “blow up the analytics department.”
“It hasn’t been very successful,” Greetham highlighted. Of course, it’s going to take more than a few managerial changes to get the Browns out of this rut, and for that reason, neither of them believe that it’s worth firing someone simply “for the sake of firing them.”
Simply put, “these things need to be worked out in advance,” and there are a lot of uncertainties surrounding characters like Gruden. Still, something needs to change, and in the eyes of Bacon, the front office is more in need of some change than the coaching staff.
“It makes no sense to fire Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski and keep Paul DePodesta and the analytics mode. Analytics mode is one of the reasons you are where you’re at. It ain’t working.”
Greetham also pointed out the obvious, that being that this system has produced nothing more than two playoff games since DePodesta first came aboard. Much like everyone else in Cleveland, he has little faith for the final outcome of the season, but he still maintains that there’s a sense of pride which should be instilled and protected here.
“Even if you don’t make the playoffs, you want to be playing your best football in the second half towards the end so you have something to hang your hat on.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear as if the league is interested in giving Cleveland a hat rack.
The back half of their schedule includes teams like the Baltimore Ravens, the Buffalo Bills, and the San Francisco 49ers. If the Browns want any sense of optimism, they are going to have to earn it, just like everyone else.
The only problem is that they don’t seem to be anywhere near the form that would allow them to do so, meaning that, until further notice, it’ll be more of the same from the same old Brownies.
