Cleveland Sports Fanatics Friday: Ask Ryan

Welcome to Cleveland Sports Fanatics Friday! This is your chance to be heard and voice your opinion. My mailbox was full of animated questions concerning the Cleveland Browns quarterback dilemma. Here are your questions from the past week.

What’s your prediction for Cavs’ wins for the 2013/14′ NBA Season and also for games played/stats for Andrew Bynum.  I will say 45 wins.  Bynum plays 62 games, averages 14.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. – Rob Vaughan (Cleveland, OH)

Hi Rob! Ahh, the Cavs start soon to ease the pain of the Browns disappointing season again. I am exactly like you Rob, I am predicting 43-45 wins. So the question is – does a 45-36 season land in one of the eight Eastern Conference playoff spots. It better! The Milwaukee Bucks won 38 games last year and landed the eighth spot in the East, so 43-45 wins for the Cavs should be in 5th-7th spot range. Playoff basketball, here we come.

Andrew Bynum is the million dollar question mark for the Cavs (literally). The Cavaliers and Bynum say that he is practicing on a regular basis. I guess, I’ll believe it when I see Bynum on the floor in an actual game. When healthy, Bynum is one of the best true athletic centers in the NBA. In this upcoming 81 game season, I see Bynum playing 40 of them, averaging 10.5 points, and  grabbing 8.5 boards per game. I think this may even be a stretch for a guy who hasn’t played in almost 1 1/2 seasons. Awesome question Rob!

It appears that Chud might bench Weeden. Do you think Jason gets the nod or they will try and find someone? – George Dawg Pound Lempeck (Cleveland, OH)
&
I heard that they are staying with Weeden for the KC game…….why in the hell they are, I have no idea……just so frustrated about this!!!!  We could win without all of the stupid Weeden crap!!! – Wilfred Schroeder (Cleveland, OH)

Thanks for the questions George and Wilfred! Since your questions are so similar, I’ll take my best shot at them together. I feel your pain.

For me, I would love to see Brandon Weeden and his lack of intangibles be benched. I have seen enough. He has five wins in 19 starts. Weeden is ranked 44th…yes 44th in the league with a horrible passer rating of 66.5! The sad thing is that if the Browns had a capable quarterback (like Hoyer) that could just manage the games, this team could win 8 games. Watching Weeden’s past three games and analyzing all of his throws, I have come to the conclusion on three things with his receivers.
1. They don’t pick the ball up very well because of the velocity (much like Derek Anderson used to do).
2. He makes them extend for the ball instead of putting it in a place where they can do something after the catch (in other words he “hangs them up to dry”). Defensive backs and linebackers are just waiting to clobber them.
3. Some of them, if not all of them, just don’t want to play for him and do not believe in him.
So one of the questions was, why are they staying with Weeden for the KC game? It’s because they are tanking the season. It’s not a matter of putting the best QB out there to win like they tell us, it’s the exact opposite. It’s terrible to think this, but Weeden gives them the best chance to lose.

George, they probably will NOT go with Campbell. Why, you ask? I do not believe things are going well in Berea between Campbell and upper management. A “birdie” close to the situation told me that after Hoyer skipped over Campbell to start, Campbell went ballistic on upper management. There are two main reasons. One is simple politics and messing with Campbell’s compensation. Campbell’s pay this year was highly incentive based. Ex. If he played 30% of the snaps, 1M bonus. Guess what? They don’t have to pay him “all of the money” if he doesn’t play. And two, it is a huge shot to Campbell’s ego. You’re talking about a guy they brought in that knows the NFL and has almost 80 starts as an NFL quarterback. There is some huge animosity there. In Campbell’s eyes, his credibility and body of work is being overlooked by upper management.

So, unless they sign Vince Young. (supposedly worked out on Tuesday for Browns, not confirmed though) or someone else, Weeden is the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. Huge painful sigh……

Do you think that the INDIANS would trade Perez to the TIGERS since they need a Closer ,,,, and he become a Star there like Peralta and Martinez ??? – Cat Velero (Clyde, OH)

Thank you for the question Cat!

I think anything is possible with the fire starter Perez. The Tribe would most likely not want to trade him within the same division and especially to a team they’re chasing every year. Peralta and Martinez have resurrected theirs careers in Detroit haven’t they?! I believe the issues with Perez are confidence and his psyche. His stuff is still pretty good. However, towards the end of the year, it also seemed like Perez was getting plumper. I don’t think Perez is a “team” player and would be better off somewhere else. But, like you previously mentioned, with our luck, he will go become the best closer in the game elsewhere.

Ryan Ruiz is the Cleveland Browns Beat Writer for The Inscriber: Digital Magazine. You can follow him on Facebook: Ryan (BrownsWriter) Ruiz and Twitter @ryanpruiz24. Ryan is also a Browns correspondent for The Sportsfix. Tune in every Friday at noon on www.thesportsfix.net. Email Ryan at [email protected]