So it behooves Cleveland Browns fans to take anything said about new coach Hue Jackson, the former Bengals offensive coordinator, with a giant grain of salt.
Then again, the sentiment that the Browns actually did something right for a change seems to be overwhelming in NFL circles and should not be ignored.
One positive is that Jackson, hired Wednesday and introduced at an evening press conference, actually has been a head coach, if only for one turbulent season in Oakland (2011) after which he was Chudzinski'd, which is to say one and done.
Incredibly, Jackson joins Nick Skorich (1971-74) and Eric Mangini (2009-10) as the only Browns coaches with previous NFL head-coaching experience, making him slightly less of a nobody than several who have assumed this position over the years.
There were extenuating circumstances with the Raiders. Owner Al Davis died and a new general manager, Reggie McKenzie, showed up and cleaned house after Jackson went 8-8 and missed the playoffs after the team had been 7-5.
Cleveland, of course, would throw a parade if any Browns coach won as many as he lost. Or — gasp! — more than he lost. That hasn’t happened since 2007 when the stars aligned and Romeo Crennel somehow went 10-6 with Derek Anderson at quarterback.
Since, no Browns coach has won more than seven games in a season. That’s eight consecutive seasons of seven wins or fewer.
The last three men to guide the Browns — Mike Pettine, Rob Chudzinski and Pat Shurmur — combined to go 23-57 over the past five seasons. No, the bar is not exactly set high.
So Jackson could enjoy an extended honeymoon period, even considering twitchy owner Jimmy Haslam, whose hand is seemingly always within reach of the detonator.
All Jackson needs to do is settle on a quarterback — reports say he'll want to end the Johnny Manziel drama — and show progress.
Anything more and he’ll be a candidate for coach of the year.
Demolition not folding — at least not today
The Dayton Demolition threw a scare into their cadre of ardent supporters Tuesday night as their broadcaster — he should know, right? — tweeted that the team had folded.
Not true, apparently, at least so far as Hara Arena marketing director Karen Wampler has been able to determine.
“I have heard nothing officially to indicate that the January 21 home game vs. the Danville Dashers won’t be played as scheduled,” Wampler said Wednesday in an email.
Confusion reigned Tuesday, and team owner William Dadds contributed to the social media firestorm with a Facebook post refuting the team's rumored demise.
It didn’t help that the Federal Hockey League schedule had eliminated all mention of upcoming Demolition home games.
Charlie Apap, director of social media for the FHL, issued this statement:
“There was confusion in regards to what was happening with the team due to management changes — this caused rumors to run rampant, which only made more confusion. The schedule was preemptively (and incorrectly) altered; it will be restored soon.”
Stay tuned. As we’ve seen, literally anything can happen. And you thought soap operas were out of fashion.
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