The effort for the browns and Josh Gordon returns
NO ‘A’ FOR EFFORT FOR THE BROWNS
By STEVE KING
My good friend and the longtime, and outstanding, Browns beat writer for the Canton Repository, Steve Doerschuk, and I talk whenever we can.
It is educational for me, I know, and perhaps for him as well. I don’t know. Anyway, when we talk Browns, which we do for much of our conversations, we agree only part of the time. But I respect his opinion and he respects mine, and we sometimes change each other’s minds.
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He did that to me on Sunday evening when we discussed the fact that Browns head coach Hue Jackson complained that his team once again lacked energy at practice.
Steve and I came to the conclusion that this was at least the third time that Jackson, who usually is pretty positive, had lamented that.
And it’s only the start of third full week of August. The Browns have played only half of their four-game preseason schedule. So this trek is just getting started.
All that – and the fact they had had a day off on Saturday, plus they are coming off an 0-16 season in which they were thoroughly embarrassed – and they don’t give great effort and focus? Are you kidding me?! Are you stinking kidding me?!
That’s not good. It’s not good at all. It doesn’t bode well for this team, and this season, which, again considering what happened last year, is downright scary. Steve agreed.
Then, as I was about ready to rip on the players some more, and perhaps even the coaches for not being able to do something about it, Steve mentioned to me something I hadn’t considered.
“Maybe it’s just young people being young people, and not having the experience and maturity to know that you have to work hard every day,” Steve said.
He’s right.
But this much Steve and I know – and I know you know it, too – and it is that until the effort for the Browns is their “A” game every day for practice, games or whatever is on the agenda, they have absolutely no chance to get appreciably better, which they need to do to become a playoff contender.
How long will Josh Gordon stay this time?
Josh Gordon is back – again – with the Browns not just in spirit anymore, but actually with his presence in team headquarters.
That’s not a surprise at all, as it had been expected any day now for some time. That it happened on Saturday was merely a formality – inconsequential, really.
How long he stays though, is another issue entirely.
The ultra-talented wide receiver is the ultimate tease. He’s like a ghost. He appears out of nowhere and is here for a while doing all kinds of cool, eye-popping, impressive things, and then, just as quickly, he lets everybody down by disappearing into the night, not to be heard from for who knows how long.
Will he stay for good this time? The answer you want to hear – the answer I want to give you – is an emphatic “yes.” He is that good. He is a game-changer, a season-changer. We all know that.
But at the same time, the answer of reality – the truthful answer — is “almost certainly not.” The demons of dependency don’t give up that easily. In fact, they don’t give up at all, and at some point, they regain their grip on these troubled athletes and drop them for a loss.
But while we’re mindful of what no doubt lies ahead with Gordon, we do ourselves a disservice by focusing on it. We, Gordon and the Browns need to, instead, revel in the here and now and enjoy all the good things that lie just around the corner once he gets his head and body back into football shape.
Think about this: The Browns lining up a four-wide receiver set that is made up of Gordon, Jarvis Landry, Antonio Calloway and Dez Bryant – yes, Dez Bryant who is still in the team’s plans – very much so – if the two sides can work through some issues that precluded him signing with the club after he spent 24 hours here Thursday and Friday trying to get a deal done.
Yes, the Browns still need Bryant – absolutely. As head coach Hue Jackson pointed out Saturday, the pursuit of Bryant and the arrival of Gordon are not tied to one another. So even though Gordon is back, the Browns still want to add Bryant. As Jackson has said many times since he came here. “You can’t have too many good football plyers.”
Indeed, because you never know when one might disappear.
