Writers of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

printable version

Extra Points

Articles from around the Web

Need Help with KUBIAK or Premium?

blog advertising is good for you


29 Dec 2008

Crennel Out in Cleveland

...and so it continues. Head coach Romeo Crennel is out in Cleveland (following GM Phil Savage out the door), which is what happens when your team doesn't score an offensive touchdown in its final six games.

Posted by: Doug Farrar on 29 Dec 2008

14 comments, Last at 31 Dec 2008, 10:46am by Chris

Comments

1
by MC2 :: Mon, 12/29/2008 - 12:13pm

I can't really blame the Browns for thinking that a change was necessary, but I do feel a little sorry for Crennel. Between all the injuries (especially at QB), the brutal schedule, and the unrealistic expectations created by the team overachieving last year, I seriously doubt that any coach could have done well enough to satisfy the fans and the ownership this year.

4
by Richie :: Mon, 12/29/2008 - 3:10pm

Expectations may have been high, but the team was horrible this year. 4-11 with no TD's the final 6 weeks. I'd have to think that if they had been competitive most of the year and finished 7-9 that he might still have a job.

I just went and looked at their performance this year. Their putridity really began after Anderson and Quinn got hurt. I retract my original paragraph. Crennel may be the fall guy for some injuries. How many coaches are going to be able to make a mediocre team look good after losing 2 QBs?

- A Dolphins fan wrote this.

9
by sundown (not verified) :: Tue, 12/30/2008 - 4:03pm

Uh, why are you retracting your original paragraph instead of simply deleting it and making your point? And thanks for disproving the persistent rumor that Dolphins' fans can't write. As for the rumor that they don't know how to delete? Well, there's always tomorrow.

2
by MJK :: Mon, 12/29/2008 - 2:25pm

Wow, bad day for members of the Parcells coaching tree. Belichick's team misses the playoffs, and Mangini and Crennel get fired.

I feel bad for Crennel as well, but from what I'd gathered, he's at best a decent, but not great, head coach. I think the Browns need a master to turn them around. Too bad Cowher is not considering it...

3
by Eli (not verified) :: Mon, 12/29/2008 - 2:56pm

Why fire Phil Savage? While I thought he was a little aggressive with trading away draft picks and he shouldn't have re-signed Derek Anderson, was the problem with the Browns poor talent?

7
by jonnyblazin :: Mon, 12/29/2008 - 7:10pm

Seeing as how Savage came from Baltimore, where he was Newsome's right hand man, you'd think he'd at least be able to draft some good defensive players. Aside from Wembley, who's ok, he really didn't do much there.

5
by roguerouge :: Mon, 12/29/2008 - 3:13pm

Any chance of a rehiring by the Pats in some capacity?

6
by MCS :: Mon, 12/29/2008 - 5:17pm

Hopefully, Green Bay will soon be in the market for a Defensive Coordinator.

8
by Theo :: Tue, 12/30/2008 - 9:26am

He looked prety un-inspiring for a Head Coach.
Maybe he could motivate some trees to grow.

10
by Chris (not verified) :: Tue, 12/30/2008 - 4:24pm

Why does everybody always say things like, " I feel sorry for Romeo"? Why is that? Because he is nice? Because he is fat? He isn't a very good head coach, his team didn't score an offensive TD in 6 weeks! What on earth makes you think he is even average? He spent his entire tenure trying to adapt the Browns to the schemes he knew, rather than " fighting with the army he had" which I stole from MJK in another thread. Don't let the door hit your butt on the way out.

11
by MC2 :: Tue, 12/30/2008 - 5:54pm

If you had bothered to read the rest of my comment (beyond the first sentence) you would have seen a whole list of reasons why I feel sorry for Romeo.

However, there's one reason I forgot to mention: even though he's fat and not a great coach, at least he's not an asshole like you.

12
by Chris (not verified) :: Tue, 12/30/2008 - 6:02pm

Injuries at QB? Many people thought Quinn was better than Anderson anyway. They only went through the other 2 at the very end of the year when they were done anyway. The fans and ownership are most likely sick of losing.

No need for personal attacks. I just see the " feel sorry for Romeo" all the time and it is unwarrented. Are you going to feel sorry for Norv when he loses his next job? He's a nice guy.

13
by MC2 :: Tue, 12/30/2008 - 10:06pm

I apologize for the "asshole" comment, which was probably uncalled for. It's just that I've heard a lot of people calling for Crennel's head, even though, as I said before, given the injuries and the brutal schedule, it's totally unrealistic to expect any coach to have lead the Browns to the playoffs this year. I personally think Romeo has done a much better job with the talent available to him in Cleveland than, for example, Marvin Lewis has done in Cincinnati, but no one is calling for Lewis to be fired.

As for Norv, the big difference is that he has failed repeatedly as a head coach, and yet he just keeps getting another chance, mainly on the basis of being a good assistant/offensive coordinator. However, Romeo has also been successful as an assistant/defensive coordinator on multiple Super Bowl teams, under both Belichick and Parcells. We'll see if he gets as many shots at being a head coach as Norv has gotten. My guess is that he won't.

Also, it really has nothing to do with being a nice guy. Marinelli was a nice guy, but he did a terrible job as a head coach, so I didn't feel sorry for him at all.

14
by Chris (not verified) :: Wed, 12/31/2008 - 10:46am

Romeo also did a terrible job. You cite schedule and injuries, but what bad team didn't have injuries. The Lions went through how many starting QB's? How about losing Carson Palmer, the Rams injuries last year? The Browns showed nothing.

Bellicheck lost the best player in the NFL and his offense didn't go scoreless for 6 weeks.

Comparing Norv's jobs to Romeo's isn't perfectly fair as one is an offensive guy and one is a defensive guy. San Diego already had a good offense in place and the owner obviously wanted to keep it good. He paid a premium by hiring Norv as his head coach.

Norv is a better head coach than Romeo but neither are anything to write home about.

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

More information about formatting options

CAPTCHA
To skip this, please log in.