CLEVELAND, OHIO (TheOBR.com) - Good morning, Cleveland Browns fans! The Browns had a big deal yesterday, curiously dealing off their 2023 hero to the Cincinnati Bengals after it became apparent that the statue-standing-behind-a-porous-offensive-line concept wasn't working out. I'm going to discuss that and some other miscellaneous topics this morning.
DAILY ESPOUSAL OF BLATHER
My reference to this introductory section as "The Daily Bloviation" has been questioned, as it has been misinterpreted as a running joke rather than what it is: a simple description. So, I've mixed it up a little over the last couple of days to show everyone that I'm capable of pulling the rug out from under my readers' collective feet at any time. I hope you are now more alert to the fact that I can make changes at will, and that this has disrupted your confident day-to-day reading experience in a positive way by increasing your alertness and attention.
BROWNS DEAL FLACCO: I am oddly undisturbed by the news that the Cleveland Browns have traded 40-year-old quarterback and edge rusher tackling object Joe Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals. This deal within the division indicates to me several things:
The Cleveland Browns are not afraid that Joe Flacco going to Cincinnati will cost them an increasingly remote chance to win the AFC North title in the weird 2025 edition of the division. This means that they don't consider Flacco and/or the Bengals to be a legitimate threat without Joe Burrow, or that they've lost faith in Flacco. Either way, the deal to move up several slots in the draft was considered worth it. Probably both.
If we've seen anything over the years, it's that this front office will do "favors" to players, such as dealing them off to a competitor who will play them rather than leaving them bored on the bench staring at a Windows Surface device when they would really prefer an iPad, because Apple gear rocks. That appears to be the case here. While fans may question being nice guys within the division, I believe that this approach might be perceived internally as helping things slightly in areas like free agent acquisition.I doubt that this actually pans out.
We still don't know if Shedeur Sanders is the backup quarterback. His elevation on the depth chart released to the media is meaningless, since it's not put together by the coaching staff. We'll have to wait to see whether Bailey Zappe or someone yet to be identified is moved to the #2 position to protect Sanders. But that won't stop aggregators and others interested in precious page views from yammering about it.
If Gabriel gets hurt - God forbid - and Sanders is inserted into the lineup, the number of Cleveland Browns articles will actually decrease because I personally estimate the heads of at least three dozen writers will explode in excitement. Mine will not be one of them. I'm a survivor.
Joe Flacco
This is another Browns ex-quarterback. (Photo: Getty)
MIKE TOMLIN IS NOT AN IDIOT: The depressing thing to a guy like me is that the Pittsburgh Steelers' perennial success ruins my ability to simplify the way I process the world. I am happiest when I can view anyone who enters the city of Pittsburgh and starts wearing their colors as a slobbering, knuckle-dragging primate, capable of only waving hankies and singing archaic Styx songs. This is backed up by nearly all available evidence, but their ability to consistently beat the Browns undermines this worldview, much to my frustration.
I have to admit that the Steelers' front office and coaching staff seem to be occasionally canny in their evil lizard-like way, and Mike Tomlin is among that number. He's already come out and said that he considers Quinshon Judkins to be "a complete back" and that he's plotting ways to stop him. This, to my also-primitive mind, means that they're going to go all-in to stop the run and stack the box against the Browns offense, challenging them to throw long.
It wouldn't surprise me if the Browns make a (potentially empty) gesture of throwing downfield early in the game to try to stretch the Steelers' defense, making me think that the team may start a bit slow offensively as they haven't been successful in this way to date.
This qualifies as a "prediction" from me, and my predictions are always wrong, so look for the Browns to get off to a quick start on Sunday.
FILM REVIEWS ARE UNDER THREAT: It was recently learned that Dan Orlovsky, who had been doing some brilliant film review work, has been blocked from posting analysis videos on social media. Like many other sites, the OBR uses film reviews to illustrate detailed concepts of how the game works, and our readers have found this valuable. Our foray into this arena has inspired other Browns sites to do the same and has produced spin-off sites that are almost wholly dedicated to film reviews.
If the NFL truly wants to undermine itself, it will step up to blocking film reviewers from getting away with using game footage. This is predictable, though, as the NFL's initial reaction to content creators reporting on them has always been fear rather than realizing that a better-educated audience has an even more profound desire for its product.
The NFL should be embracing content creators, rather than holding them at arm's length. But they don't.
NEWSWIRE CHANGES ARE COMING: I have been working furiously in the background here, between naps, to get the "news" back into the "newswire". Long-time readers of this nonsense will recall that it used to feature mostly links to Browns-related stories from around the web, along with snarky remarks about them inspired by my lack of enthusiasm for the rights of other Browns news sites to exist.
I want to get those links back into the Newswire, and I am taking various steps to make that happen, with some progress being made in that department. What I really want to do is have a constant ticker of news from this site and others on the front page, but 247Sports' template doesn't support that, so it's been relegated to its own page. But I'm working on it, and having fun doing it, so I'm hopeful that this daily Massive Morning Missive will have more value in the near future.
SUBSCRIPTION CHANGES ARE COMING: One of the things I've recently figured out is how to do VIP-only live video, so expect that we will introduce live events for our subscribers in the weeks to come. We host numerous free YouTube and Twitch shows for our audience, but we want to apply some of what we've learned from them to make the VIP offering even better. Stay tuned.
Have a good one! GO BROWNS!
Newswire Bloviation Archive
OBR BROWNS GOODIES
CLEVELAND BROWNS VIDEOS
Browns 3D-Cleveland Browns TRADE Joe Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals - (youtube.com)
Pete and Joe Discuss week 5 - (youtube.com)
CLEVELAND BROWNS ARTICLES
Cleveland Browns 2026 Defensive Tackle Prediction - Jack
Cleveland Browns Trade Joe Flacco to Cincinnati Bengals - Petet
Cleveland Browns News and Rumors 10/7: Three Questions about the 2025 Browns - Barry
Cleveland Browns Kevin Stefanski Said A Lot of Positives in Dillon Gabriel's First Start - Fred
PFF Report Card Grades and Data from the Cleveland Browns Week 5 Loss to the Minnesota Vikings - Sam
CLEVELAND BROWNS MESSAGE BOARD POSTS
ASK THE INSIDERS (VIP)
Seats getting hot in Cleveland?
Why Shedeur now as backup ?
Expectations this season and reality?
Follow up on Zzinter future
Seats getting hot in Cleveland?
Gabriel backup
Flacco Traded?
Deshaun Watson PUP
Flacco one team away from completing his afc north bingo card
HC candidates
A Global vs Local View
INSIDER DISCUSSION (VIP)
Holy crappe! Flacco trade?
THE WATERCOOLER
Dolphins Menu
The one constant…..
Browns move up 55 spots
Haslam: Tix at new stadium will average over $200
FA WR Odell Beckham suspended 6 games for PEDs
Cleveland Browns Trade Joe Flacco to Cincinnati Bengals
Rappoport: Flacco traded to Bungals
Joe Flacco traded to Bengals per Rapsheet
CBSSportsWilson: Mock Draft, 5 QBs go in the 1st, none named...
Dillon Gabriel starting QB - What we know and what we expect?
OT: NHL
On Clay Matthews and the HOF
Fred Greetham on Bloomdaddy (10625)
OT: Russia Invades Ukraine - Part III
ITS STEELERS WEEK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LiveWire Thread for 107 - Twitter, Video, Articles
THE LIFT
Positive news from the world of sports and beyond...
Babies' Brains Recognize Foreign Languages They Heard before Birth | Scientific - (scientificamerican.com)
This article was free for me, so I hope it's free for you as well, although I know Scientific American has a paywall. It's fascinating to me how much we're learning about the human brain's adaptability, right from birth. Jack Duffin's new daughter, for example, is already processing Jack's weird foreign language as if it were natural American English. Amazing.
Also, if I learned anything from this last week, it's that British people sometimes eat beans for breakfast, which is really and truly wrong. I hope they stop this.
WRAPPING UP
When not hacking away at web scapers, Barry McBride is the Publisher and Founder of the OBR and bloviates this nonsense every morning. You can follow him on Twitter @barrymcbride or write him at barry@theobr.com if you are so compelled.
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
CONTACT Barry to sponsor the OBR. We have plans for nearly any budget!
OBR Across the Internet
OBR on BlueSky
OBR on Twitter
OBR on Threads
OBR on LinkedIN
OBR on Youtube
OBR on Twitch
Handy Links
Sign up for our newsletter
Sign up for breaking news text alerts
OBR Unpublished RSS Feed
If you have made it this far, you must subscribe to the OBR. Them's the rules.