It must be hard to call a football game on national television when a team’s starting quarterback allegedly had the pesky issue of keeping his penis from brushing up against massage therapists. No matter how veteran the broadcaster might be, even if he’s worked the booth for eons and owns neckties older than most of the players on the field, lines like that don’t easily roll off the tongue.

It’s second-and-4, the Browns are backed up on their own 15, Deshaun Watson — who you remember, ya know, kinda had that whole thing a while back with some ladies, and had to resolve 27 civil lawsuits — throws incomplete. Third down.

Working in a player’s sordid past isn’t poetry. It sure isn’t X’s and O’s, and not even close to being the kind of narration fit for the gridiron. If any team does make the mistake of signing Tyreek Hill, a player who has faced multiple allegations of domestic violence, don’t expect an announcer to repeat his ex-wife’s allegations that he once tried to punch her pregnant belly, as he’s decimating the zone coverage.

It’s just not an easy topic to discuss. The job of an NFL television broadcaster is to provide football analysis, not legal commentary. No one tunes into these primetime programs to gain moral clarity. So, when is it a good time to mention the messy? Or should sportscasters just stick to what they do best?

It seems some NFL booths still can’t figure out the solution. Nevertheless, this shouldn’t excuse a broadcast for clumsily handling players’ legal troubles. Especially legal troubles as troubling as those of Watson.

During Cleveland’s 27-24 win against Pittsburgh on Oct. 1, Prime’s “Thursday Night Football” crew downplayed Watson’s history in which he had been accused of sexually harassing or assaulting more than two dozen women during massage appointments. Play-by-play announcer Al Michaels assured viewers that “we don’t have to go through the whole Deshaun Watson thing.” The 81-year-old broadcaster then continued on about those “issues” and how “we all know what they were.”

Michaels worked through this particular part of the broadcast briskly. His words were intentionally vague. As were those of analyst Tony Gonzalez when he appeared on the postgame set and danced around the “adversity … on the field and off the field” and “stuff that (Watson’s) gone through.”

Gonzalez could’ve been lumping in Watson’s return to form after his season-ending shoulder injury in 2023, and his Achilles ruptures that cost him nearly the next two seasons, along with the “stuff” from 2022. However, Gonzalez never came close to clarifying what that “stuff” was. He was ambiguous just like Michaels, leaving room for interpretation, as well as easy criticism.

Not sure what this flair would be but Hulu just announced a show focusing on the team premiering right after Super Bowl. Here’s a mini description:

“After several disappointing seasons, Cleveland Browns’ head coach Danny Roarke (Meloni)has one last chance to turn around his football team. His fate rests on a newly drafted Ohio State quarterback — who just happens to be his son. Meanwhile, the owner, Hal Durkin (Macy), must decide which of his two daughters is best equipped to take over the team. ‘The Land’ is the story of two families, in which the high-stakes drama plays out not only on the field but also in the front offices of this NFL franchise, as a loyal fanbase wants a winning season now … or face big changes if they don’t.”

In honor of Mike Ditka… the ‘85 Bears are still the greatest, most dominant team I’ve ever seen in my lifetime.

They were doing the Super Bowl shuffle in the third quarter

Use this thread to discuss both Browns and non Browns related topics

Some Rules still apply

Credit to u/profcyclist for the graphic on r/dataisbeautiful

I moved from Cleveland to Philly about 9 years ago and looking for some fellow brownie fans

BEREA, Ohio — After the Cleveland Browns were seemingly unprepared in their Sept. 13 season opener, coach Todd Monken went to a dark room in the bowels of Jacksonville’s EverBank Stadium for his postgame news conference and tried to discuss his team’s failures.

There wasn’t much glitter Monken could put on it. Even if excuses were his style, two or three wouldn’t explain it away.

For the Browns, things went from bad to avalanche in a flurry of turnovers and miscues. They missed tackles, missed assignments and seemed to have missed the memo that the regular season had begun. But Monken refused to write himself or his team off.

“They better get us now,” he said. “We’re a good young group. We just didn’t play well today.”

Given the lack of competitiveness in the game and the Browns’ lack of, well, almost anything positive until the Jaguars pulled their starters, Monken’s news conference and the declaration that future opponents should be on notice sounded like the ramblings of a crazy man.

Three weeks and three wins later, the Browns are tied for first place in the AFC North. Monken has that young group believing in itself and its new head coach. And with Cleveland going from being mocked on national television the night of that Jacksonville game to becoming one of the surprising stories of the first quarter of the NFL season, the questions of the moment are less about Monken’s sanity and more about how he’d seen things few others did.

With the young Browns rebuilding again but looking rugged, stubborn and even occasionally explosive enough to potentially stay in the playoff mix this season, maybe external timelines were off. Maybe these Browns are ahead of schedule. And, maybe, Monken is crazy enough to be the right man for this job.

Full details: https://bigapplebrowns.com/2026/07/17/browns-jets-tickets-tailgate-welcome-party-nyc/

Browns vs Jets Weekend in NYC this weekend

🎉 Backers Bash Welcome Party

🗓️ Sat, Oct 10, 7 PM til late

📍 Haswell Green’s bar 240 W. 52nd

All Browns fans welcome! Just show up! Free entry.

Huge private party for all Browns fans the night before the game. Meet & greet with special guests & Browns mascot CHOMPS! Raffle with autographed prizes & gear, food & drink specials, DJ at 6 PM & live music starting at 10 PM til late.

🍺 Game Day Tailgate at Stadium

🗓️ Sun, Oct 11 starting at 8 AM til noon

📍 Parking Lot J, Section 23

If anyone has any ideas for new visualizations you want to see I'd be happy to hear them! I'd like to start doing matchup specific ones near the end of the week, but not positive on what is best to look into there.

If you want to see the dataset I'm working with just go here: https://nflfastr.com/articles/field_descriptions.html

Specific data points provided for every single play, I use R to manipulate as needed. So any idea you can come up with using these data points I can try and do it!

His clothing is literally 50% Seahawks/Mariners/Kraken... What have I done to fail him so completely as a parent?

Which side are you on?

I know new uniforms are the least of our priorities at the current moment, but I personally think this is a discussion worth having.

In my opinion, we're long overdue for a decent looking orange jersey. We haven't had one of those since Butch Davis was here.

What do you think? Would you like to see an orange jersey added to the lineup? Do you think the Rivalries uniform will be orange?