When Romeo got his contact extension last January, guaranteeing him something like $16 million over the next four years, I pretty much shrugged.
If Savage and Chud were getting theirs, far be it from me to protest Crennel getting a little more gravy. So what if he already had two years left on his original five-year contract and is already the NFL’s oldest coach?
After all, it’s not my money. It doesn’t count against the salary cap. So it could only be for the better, further stabilizing a program that showed growth and promise in delivering a 10-6 season.
Now, this could get really ugly.
Turns out that growth may have been a mirage. The winning record of 2007 may have had more to do with a rare respite from injury, a new offensive scheme taking the league by surprise, and a stellar special teamer who shares his initials with a certain deity incarnate.
Yes, Romeo deserved some credit too. He’s a level-headed, reliable leader. I’d rather have an honest, if unrevealing, coach admired by his players than a dissembling egomaniac responsible for poisoning the psyche of a generation of Cleveland Browns. (If you don’t understand the comparison, you probably don’t remember what PHD used to stand for around these parts.)
But here’s the thing: while Romeo is every bit the high-character guy that I was glad to see hired back in 2005, he has not sufficiently grown in some of the critical skills required of an NFL head coach.
Almost four years ago, I identified some criteria by which fans could evaluate a head coach. Apply the first section, “Coaching Ability,” to what you know about Romeo, and see if he merits a passing grade.
In the meantime, consider the bottom line: he’s 0-7 against Pittsburgh. His overall record is 20-30, a worse percentage than his predecessor (you know, the one sent packing within a year of his own contract extension).
Granted, he doesn’t get to choose his players. He’s not even in full control of his coaching staff. But look at some of the choices he did make. Mo Carthon. Frye over Anderson. The underuse of Jerome Harrison.
More importantly, look at what’s clearly under his ultimate control: strategy and game management. Whether it’s kicking versus going for it on fourth down, or when to throw the challenge flag, or getting the most from each tick of the clock and time out, or his team’s overall sense of on-field discipline and organization, Romeo Crennel continues to come up short.
If I could bear it, it would be easy to find dozens of dubious decisions, more than a handful of which are so head-scratchingly ill-advised as to be inexcusable. There’s no good way to estimate what this costs the Browns in wins and losses. Maybe a well-run two-minute drill would’ve netted another play or two, but DA might still throw a pick. And who’s to say whether they could’ve converted on fourth-and-seven last night (even if a failure would’ve given the Browns’ defense more time and better field position than they got doing it Romeo’s way)?
The point is, his basic conservatism and decision-making acumen are unlikely to change. And now that starters are again dropping at the weekly rate we’re accustomed to, the margin for error is even thinner. Lose to Baltimore or Cincy and the wheels might just come off this baby.
Lose ’em both and Romeo deserves to go.
