I had a chance to catch up with the Chat Sports Browns feature writer, Jim Becker. We both discussed the upcoming game and asked each other some questions. Here is what Jim thought about the upcoming game and the overall status of the Cleveland Browns...
Q: The Browns are a pretty young team (i.e. McCoy, Little, DT Taylor, Sheard). Do you think they are moving in the right direction and can they maybe win division within the next couple of years?
- I do think they are moving in the right direction, but it is still going to take some time. They have put two consecutive strong drafts together when you consider they drafted 4 starters last year, and at least 3-4 this year. They need to find a superstar before they become true contenders though.
Q: What does Colt McCoy have to do to win this game for Cleveland? If he falls behind or the game comes down to the final minutes, can you trust the ball in his hands?
- Colt has shown flashes of brilliants, and gone through streaks of listlessness. The one thing he has consistently done well in his short career is take care of the football by avoiding costly turnovers. He doesn't have many weapons, so that is really the biggest thing you can ask of him. If he maintains his accuracy and avoids turnovers he will keep the team in many games this year. They may not win all of them, but they will be there. What he does in crunchtime remains to be seen.
Q: How do you like Pat Shurmur as head coach? He was known for being pretty conservative as the OC in St. Louis? Do you view that as a good or bad thing?
- Pat Shurmer is in a tough spot. New coach trying to run a new offense and defense in a strike shortened off-season. It's tough to really give him a grade so far, but he looked like a rookie Head Coach against the Bengals last week.
Q: Are you nervous at all about the ‘Madden Curse’ and Peyton Hillis? Can the Browns be successful if he goes down?
- Oh God yes I am worried about the Madden Curse. Being from Cleveland we feel like we are constantly cursed, so putting our guy on the cover of anything scares the hell out of us. Peyton was like a dream player for us last year, so losing him would be a big blow but it's always hanging over us because of the way he plays. The Browns don't have depth at that position, but second year guy Montario Hardesty looks like he could be a real stud in the league if he would just stay healthy.
Q: How much less intimidating do you view the Colts as now without Peyton Manning? Laughable or respectable?
- Wow, they are certainly toeing that line. It may turn out that Houston is a juggernaut this year and that their first game was an abberration, but it didn't look good. I would like to think one player couldn't have that much of an impact, but he isn't your average QB.
Q: Cleveland is making strides but its tough to see improvement sometimes in such a hard division. Where do you see them finishing in the division and what do you think their record will be at the end of the year?
- They would be hard pressed to surpass the Steelers or Ravens this year. They will probably battle Cincy for third place, but I have to think they will not finish in the basement. They do have a lot of pieces in place, and hopefully they can put some things together this year and get closer to repectability.
Q: Besides McCoy or Hillis, who has to step up today to help you win against Indy? Name an offensive and defensive player.
- One of our Wide Receivers. For some reason, the Browns decided that they were all set at that position with Mohamed Massaquoi and Brian Robiskie, but they clearly need help in that area. If they can find a go to guy, even if it is rookie Greg Little or TE Evan Moore, it would be a huge boost to the young offense and McCoy's confidence. On Defense, they need someone to put some pressure on the QB. They had 4 sacks last week, but a lot of those were coverage sacks and mistakes Bengals made. For the most part they didn't make the QB uncomfortable at all.
Thanks Jim for taking the time to answer my questions and discussing some football with me.
For my response to his questions, click here >> http://www.chatsports.com/cleveland-browns/a/A-Chat-With-Our-Colts-Writer-Curtis-Eves-10-27-160
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