Sports Today: Browns reach new low with botched Bengals trade

Credit: Joe Robbins

Credit: Joe Robbins

I clocked out a few minutes before 5 on Tuesday afternoon to get ready for beggar’s night and boy did I miss a lot in the sports world.

This failed A.J. McCarron trade between the Browns and Bengals is nine kinds of hilarious if you're not a Browns fan.

Honestly, even if you are a Browns fan, it’s probably at least two or three kinds.

And at least now you know your suspicions this regime is absolutely not salvageable are true. That should provide some sort of solace.

Everybody loves being right, right?

But seriously: How do these guys still have jobs?

It was already pretty clear the front office leaders don’t know football. Now they can’t even do paperwork? I thought that was in their wheelhouse.

What is it they do there if not?

I try to avoid knee-jerk reactions, but if the reported version of what happened is accurate, the whole place needs to be cleaned out. Nothing else is acceptable. There is literally no excuse for failing to get that done in time.

This was my favorite part from the Pro Football Talk take:

By the way, this would have been a really dumb trade, too, unless they have already given up on DeShone Kizer.

Acquiring McCarron before the draft made plenty of sense. That gave you a veteran with some growth potential or at worst someone to lean on while building up that terrible roster.

Now they have a first-round talent in the building (Kizer). He was good enough in the preseason to win the starting job, so it’s not like he got there and suddenly they realized he can’t play.

A team like Cleveland shouldn’t be surrendering more assets than they used to get Kizer, especially when they already have multiple potential caretaker QBs in the organization. It’s ridiculous. And this is the group that values picks over people all the time!

They can’t even stay true to their own probably misaligned principles for half a season? Yikes…

As for the Bengals, I guess now we can conclude once and for all Andy Dalton is unbenchable. 

I never thought it was anywhere near likely, but seeing his meek response to adversity last year and this year kept a live a tiny bit of question about what this team might look like with a different presence in the huddle.

We can forget that now.

The deal is probably also confirmation they love Jeff Driskel.

I bet he’s the most talented of trio, for what that’s worth.

If McCarron were more talented than Dalton, I think we’d have a better chance of seeing him.

That would make going to him about more than a response to diminishing returns from a veteran who’s steadiness and accuracy are supposed to make up for other shortcomings but haven’t lately.

Oh well.

On to Jacksonville…

As for the first College Football Playoff rankings, Ohio State fans shouldn’t panic yet, but some worry is warranted. 

Sixth looks about right to me given the strength of schedules.

RELATED: First CFP rankings released

It’s a lot worse than being fifth, too, since only two teams ahead of them play each other (Georgia and Alabama).

The SEC isn’t getting two teams if Clemson, Oklahoma and Ohio State are all one-loss conference champs. Don’t worry about that.

But if everyone else in the top five win out, the Big Ten is probably going to be left home this time because the Buckeyes lost to the Sooners.

Of course Notre Dame is the wild card. The committee likes what the Fighting Irish have done so far better than Ohio State.

Would a win over a preferably undefeated Wisconsin and being conference champs be enough for the Buckeyes to jump ND?

Hard to predict, but the Irish resume could still get a lot better, too.

(Presumably Michigan will be ranked again when Ohio Stage plays them but Michigan State will not.)

The good news is history tells us the odds of none of those teams getting upset in November aren’t very high.

Weird stuff just tends to happen in college football.

Based on who they still have to play, I doubt Oklahoma or Notre Dame win out.

Clemson also has lose-able games, though probably fraudulent Miami is lurking behind Ohio State with a chance to improve drastically by beating Notre Dame and Clemson. (They won’t.)

I guess there are worse sports to have to rely on unpredictability than college football, right?

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