Ever since the Cleveland Browns re-entered the NFL in 1999, the franchise has been snake-bitten.
Consistent bad draft picks and injuries have accumulated, while the team has had a rotating carousel of coaches. Nothing has worked and it doesn?t appear to be working this year, either, as the team is 0-2 heading into this week?s game with the visiting Ravens. Some call it the “Cleveland curse.”
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Just this week, the team announced cornerback Daylon McCutcheon was placed on the injured reserve and will miss the rest of the season with a lingering knee injury. All of the team woes would be laughable if it weren?t so sad. Players have to be wondering, “What?s next?”
“You can?t think like that,” Browns quarterback Charlie Frye said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday. “If you think like that, that?s a losing mentality. You have to go out and concentrate on what you can do, and that?s taking care of business on the field.”
That?s easier said than done for a team that has gone 35-71 since 1999. Cleveland, of course, was without a team for three seasons after the original Browns moved to Baltimore.
When the team re-joined the NFL, top draft picks Tim Couch and Courtney Brown fizzled. In fact, four of the first-round picks in the team?s first five seasons are no longer with the Browns. On top of that, recent picks Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards have been sidelined at various points with injuries.
Frustrations are spilling over. Winslow, a tight end in his third season, expressed criticisms of the team?s conservative play to Cleveland reporters recently.
“Some of the coaches might just be holding us back a little bit,” Winslow told them. “I don?t mean to try to go behind their backs or whatever, but let?s go, let?s air it out, let?s run the ball, let?s make plays, let?s be exciting.”
Head coach Romeo Crenell, now in his second year, said he spoke with Winslow.
“He hasn?t been on the field for two years, and so he?s excitable,” Crenell said. “The thing I told Kellen was rather then air his complaints to the media, he should come and talk to me about any dissatisfactions he might have.”
Frye said Winslow is just passionate.
“You know Kellen ? he is a real intense, high-energy type of guy,” Frye said. “He is very competitive. So he?s going to want the ball on third down because he thinks he?s a playmaker and he can move the chains for us.”
With all of the turmoil, injuries and losses, including last week?s loss to the Bengals, Cleveland has struggled to find consistency in anything. Still, the Browns are not worried, according to Frye.
“I think the morale is pretty good,” he said. “Everybody was down after the game, but we?re just working to get our first win. Players and coaches have to pull together and go out there and try and get the win.”
