tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Storm Clouds Brewing In Believeland??

After last Sunday's disappointing loss to the Washington Redskins, the Cleveland Browns will play out the schedule as they head into an off season that once again will be filled with changes. There is no question that Jimmy Haslam's purchase of the team from Randy Lerner certainly was viewed as a positive as we were finally going to have an owner who cared about football. But my enthusiasm for Haslam has been tempered by the hiring of Joe Banner as President & CEO.

Banner has structured the organization in a way that the General Manager will report directly to him as opposed to Haslam. It is clear that Tom Heckert is out as GM and numerous sources are reporting that Mike Lombardi will be named the new GM. Lombardi's track record is horrible and would appear to be the perfect yes man for Bean Counter Banner. With Lombardi as GM, one has to wonder who will be the next head coach. I don't have a problem with Pat Shurmur being let go. Shurmur is not ready to be a head coach and Brad Childress has been a failure as Offensive Coordinator. But questions still remain: who will be the next head coach, will we still have a 4-3 defense, will the West Coast offense be tossed out and will Phil Dawson & Josh Cribbs be back? And probably most importantly, who will be the team's starting quarterback??

Since 1999, this franchise has seen numerous organizational structures, head coaches, general managers and starting quarterbacks. The one constant has been terrible football. Haslam and Company keep on talking about improving the fan experience at the Stadium. Instead of looking at changing the team's iconic uniform, the best way to improve the fan experience is to play winning football. For some reason I have a bad feeling. Storm clouds are on the horizon and how much more can we take in Believeland??