Author Archives: Dave Algase

Eight is enough

In a season full of “signature” wins, Sunday’s whiteout shutout may have been the most encouraging of all. The Browns blanked the Bills in a blizzard, freezing them out of the playoffs while icing their sixth straight road win. With plenty to play for in the furious snow and winds, the home team played virtually […]

Deck the Hall

Quick: which Browns receiver was named to the NFL’s All Decade Team for the 1960s? No-brainer. Gotta be Hall of Famer Paul Warfield, right? No? Hmmm. Must be a trick question. Then how about Hall of Famer Bobby Mitchell, the halfback who put up more spectacular numbers in Washington after a switching positions? Nope. That […]

Flag football findings

Last Sunday’s Browns/Jets game was either the cleanest game all season or the one with the most laid-back officiating. In either case, it was encouraging that the Browns bucked recent trends and had their fewest penalties of the season, with just four flags for 29 yards against them. Still, it was the 12th of 13 […]

Some totals

Much has been made of the superlative stats many Browns skill players are putting up this year, and for good reason. But I haven’t seen these cited: This is the first season since 2004 in which two Browns running backs have rushed for at least 200 yards. It’s also now the first season with three […]

Breed’s hut hut hike

Way back in college freshman English, writing on a passage from Walden, I drew what I thought was an uncanny analogy with something from my personal experience, a probable arson fire that destroyed a tennis club I had frequented. The prof, a campus legend of intimidating brilliance, was befuddled by what must have been an […]

Airing out the laundry

Before I delve into the details of each of the Browns’ penalties this season, here’s an overview of the official tallies, which do not include penalties that were declined or offset by opponents’ fouls. Only once in 12 games were the Browns clearly the less-penalized team. In sum, the Browns have been flagged 95 times […]

Seeing yellow

In the NFL, penalties don’t correlate well with winning or losing. Why not? In theory, penalties reflect getting outplayed by an opponent or a lack of discipline or concentration. Those factors, plus the consequences of the penalties themselves, ought to track at least somewhat with a team’s overall success rate. Contrary to that, it’s easy […]

Cribbs counter-cowardice

Last Sunday, Arizona did what many thought Baltimore should have done: avoid kicking off to Joshua Cribbs. Let’s review each of the results: Rackers kicks to the 27 yard line, returned by Darnell Dinkins to the 34. Dinkins fields it at the 26, returns it eight yards to the 34. Deep kickoff to the 1, […]

Not in the house of cards

Winslow’s fine catch on the last play could’ve been called a force out, but for whatever reason, the officials very, very rarely make that call. Last year against the Jets, the Browns won on just such a critical no-call, as Brodney Pool knocked tight end Chris Baker out of bounds in the end zone to […]