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Browns looking for right horse to ride
It takes more than just attitude to win in NFL
By Patrick McManamon
BEREA - There are three double-digit underdogs in the NFL this weekend.
One of them plays in Cleveland.
It's come to this for the Browns, the team that suddenly can't get things right.
Ten-point underdogs to the Bengals for Cincinnati's home opener in Paul Brown Stadium.
Inept 19-14 losers in the season opener to the New Orleans Saints, a 3-13 team a year ago.
A combined regular-season record of 36-77 since the team returned in 1999. Since 2003, a record of 15-34.
Kellen Winslow pointed out this week that the Bengals used to be ``a joke.'' Who's the joke on now?
The last time the Browns won two games in a row was October of 2003, nearly three years ago.
Already, teams are writing the Browns off -- predicting a lost season.
``They will,'' Winslow said. ``They always will. Everybody will -- until we start winning around here.''
What is different in Cincinnati that needs to change in Cleveland? To Winslow, it's attitude.
``They just decided they want to win,'' Winslow said. ``That's how we need to be. They just decided as a team they were going to be better.''
This statement is, of course, a gross oversimplification. If being good just meant making a decision, every team in the league would decide to be good. Talented players such as Rudi Johnson, Chad Johnson, Carson Palmer and solid coaching have helped the Bengals' attitude change.
Winslow said the Browns' attitude as a team needs to change as well.
``That's how you got to start coming in for (offseason work),'' he said, ``with the attitude that you're going to win. When I was at Miami, we never thought we were going to lose.
``We went into every game thinking we were going to win, no matter what.''
The attitude showed in Winslow's play against the Saints.
He clearly was the most revved-up player on the team, and he was one of few who produced consistently all day. He said he needs to play a high-intensity game.
``It's a manly game,'' he said. ``So let's go.''
There was a decided edge to coach Romeo Crennel all week. Crennel was typically patient and gracious, but he was clearly seething at the way his team played.
Asked a question about veteran nose tackle Ted Washington, Crennel said: ``He needs a lot of coaching.''
He continued.
``Everyone who plays needs coaching,'' he said. ``That's why I have a job, for a short while anyway.''
Crennel's anger seems to come not from the fact that the Browns lost but the way they played.
The coach and the front office both seem weary of penalties, silly mistakes and poor plays.
General Manager Phil Savage told a lunch crowd at Massillon on Tuesday there was no excuse for what happened, that it's time for the Browns to win, according to the Canton Repository.
Winslow said the Browns will win -- and win this year.
``I guarantee that,'' he said.
Because?
``We put in too much hard work not to win,'' he said.
Which, again, also oversimplifies things.
Every team puts in hard work, so it takes more than hard work. Crennel knows that. He doesn't care how he gets it, he just wants a win.
``If that means throwing the ball to Kellen (Winslow) 88 times in the game, that's what it will be,'' he said. ``If it's throwing the ball to (Braylon) Edwards or giving the ball to Reuben (Droughns), that's what it will be.
``We have to figure out exactly what it is. That changes from week to week because game plans change. Sometimes you have to go with the horse that brought you.
``If that horse isn't getting things done, you try another horse.''
Lately for the Browns, finding that horse and that formula has been like grabbing smoke.
Which leaves the team talking about the simplest of things as it tries to erase the negatives of that terrible opening weekend.
``We are going to work on the things that we feel we need to work on to improve the team,'' Crennel said. ``Some of that is straight blocking, running and better tackling.''
Or, as he said, take the things the team does well and try to get those things right.
Which really isn't a lot to ask.
Today's game
There was some consternation in Berea that Daylon McCutcheon will not play today.
That's because it's evident there is a difference between McCutcheon as the nickel back and Ralph Brown.
Brown gives his best, but he isn't McCutcheon.
The concern?
The Bengals' trio of receivers -- Chad Johnson, T.J. Houshmandzadeh (questionable with a heel injury) and Chris Perry. All are playmakers, and the sight of Browns corners giving Reggie Bush a 12-yard cushion last Sunday isn't a comforting one for this week.
Worth watching
The Bengals' Johnson promises he will not be deterred by the league's new rules on celebrations.
``Any rule that is made, there's a way around it,'' Johnson said.
He said the ban on props -- a la his using the pylon to ``putt'' the football -- will not deter him.
``I'm going to be using the fans as props,'' he said. ``So I'm not going to get in trouble anyway. It's going to be a very exciting year.
``You'll love it. Trust me.''
Not safe
Charlie Frye saw what happened to Trent Green last week when he slid, and so did the league.
Green was knocked out when he was hit by the Bengals' Robert Geathers, but the league correctly ruled that Geathers had already left his feet -- in part because he'd been blocked -- before Green started his slide.
No cheap shot, no fine.
``Sometimes things like that happen in the game and they are close,'' Crennel said. ``It's good that the league recognized that it was not intentional.... It's good that they recognized the facts.''
Frye noticed what happened to Green.
``That's why I don't slide,'' he said.
To Frye, sliding means giving up ``half (his) body,'' which increases the odds of injury. He's not going to be an idiot, though.
``Unless I know a linebacker is coming full speed, I'm not going to hit the deck,'' he said. The Browns want Frye to slide, though.
``I think he's smart enough to know to protect himself when he can and he'll slide when he has to,'' Crennel said. ``He's smart enough.''
Brownies . . .
? Crennel on whether Winslow is a team leader: ``I think that somewhere down the road he can be a leader. He has only played a couple of games. I think he wants to be a leader, so if he continues to grow and develop it's not out of the realm of possibility.''
? The Browns want center LeCharles Bentley to stay off his injured knee. He's using crutches, but Savage said in Massillon that a guy as big as Bentley could have trouble with crutches. ``It's one of those things where we want him to stay off of it and give it a chance to heal,'' Crennel said.
``LeCharles is an aggressive kind of guy. If he thinks he can walk, then he thinks he can run. We want him to be slower with (the injury) than he wants to be.''
Patrick McManamon can be reached at [email protected]
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