We sure haven't gotten to talk about Cleveland much once, you know, the actual games of the 2008 season begain in early Septemeber. It's unfortunate for Phil Savage that things haven't materialized on the field this year like he had envisioned and spent the past several years building up to. But that's life in the NFL, where margins for error are razor thin and the difference between 4-9 and 8-5 is much smaller than one might imagine.
This could be a nice development for Bill Cowher. By that I mean if Marty were to take this job, he could avoid having to even be intoxicated by the temptations of $10+ million per year with full personnel control. Cowher can instead perhaps spend some more time with his family and wait for the Redskins job, which is looking more and more like it may be free much sooner than anyone might have guessed a few months ago.
Anyway, for the Browns, I think this would be a tremendous hire. Marty's regular season record is 186-124. The 186 wins are the 9th most in NFL history, and his .600 winning % speaks for itself. But really, I think what this group of Cleveland players needs is some hard-ass Tom Coughlin/Marty Schottenheimer type discipline. It took the Giants players a long time to get over the fact that they didn't like having to actually work hard and be accountable to each other and an authority figure, but eventually they did and are reaping the dividends. I have no doubt the Browns would become more consistently competitive and successful if Schottenheimer were hired.
We'll see what the ownership decides, but I think Cleveland fans might grow to like a little bit less of this:
And instead, a little bit more of this:
