CHAPTER THREE: THE 1999 SEASON
Op-Ed Contributor
Will the Browns be the first team in history to go 0-16?
Cleveland Plain Dealer
By William Ross
Published: September 6, 1999
Watching rookies Paris Johnson, Brad Ware, and Dee Miller walk out of the Browns training facility yesterday, one couldn’t help but feel a little bad for them. Just five weeks ago Ware and Johnson were named the starting safeties for the 1999 Cleveland Browns, and Miller was named the #2 wide receiver. “It’s their job to lose,” head coach Gary Moeller told us after making the controversial decision to start almost every rookie on his team despite never even seeing them play once in person. Well, to the surprise of nobody except Moeller and Browns President Wayne Fontes, the plan fell apart almost immediately. Miller lost his job in the second week to veteran Leslie Shepherd due to poor play, and after a mind boggling four dropped passes and a two fumbles in a 35-3 loss to Philadelphia in the final pre-season game last Thursday, he lost out to fellow rookie Donald Driver for the final slot on the 53-man roster and was ingloriously cut.
The Browns finished the pre-season 0-4 and were outscored 159-12 in those four games. And although Moeller and Fontes were absolutely giddy about the so called “powerhouse defense” that would be headed by DE Jevon Kearse, the Browns D-line looked confused and overmatched after giving up 55-points to the Bears in their third pre-season game. By then even the increasingly clueless Moeller had to concede that starting safeties Ware and Johnson were not going to pan out in the NFL. He quietly renamed veterans Marquez Pope and Corey Fuller as the starting safeties on a team that is dangerously short on talent and leadership. The series of boneheaded draft day trades and questionable picks are coming together to form the perfect storm of mediocrity. The Browns were not expected to do well this season, they were an expansion team and expansion teams struggle. But as it stands now, there is not one player who looks like he can be an NFL superstar. Not one. We passed on Tim Couch, Ricky Williams and Akili Smith and all we have to show for it is a team with a few attractive defensive players (none of which have even touched their alleged potential as the 55-point drubbing from Chicago proved) and not one solid offensive player. In four games the Browns have yet to score a single touchdown. Doug Flutie, Todd Collins, and undrafted Chris Wallace from Toledo have all struggled to find their rhythm, and with running backs Tyrone Wheatley and Olandis Gary averaging 34 yards and 21 yards a game respectively, one has to wonder if this may be the worst offense in the history of the NFL.
Cleveland fans will be patient of course. We’ve waited four years for an NFL team and we are willing to give them some room to grow. But we still shouldn’t be blind to the fact that this team could be a lot better. Sure, we weren’t going to be a contender overnight, but this…this is a train wreck waiting to happen. Wayne Fontes and Gary Moeller have robbed Browns fans of a future, and for that we should be mad as hell. If the Browns go 0-16 this season, one can hope that owner Al Lerner recognizes the mistake of hiring Wayne Fontes, a man who single handedly took a Super Bowl caliber Detroit Lions team and destroyed it. It may be too late for this season, but if there is a bright spot to all of this it is this: some of these rookies have shown some promise. Defensive players Joey Porter, Dat Nguyen, and Jevon Kearse look like they might make some noise in a year or two, and left tackle Jon Jansen has done an admirable job protecting Flutie and Collins, who both have been sacked a combined three times in four games. It looks like all four will be get a lot of playing time this season, and that could bode well for the Browns in 2000, assuming Wayne Fontes and Gary Moeller are no longer making the draft picks.
________________________________________________
1999 Cleveland Browns Starting Lineup:
QB Doug Flutie
RB Tyrone Wheatley
FB Marc Edwards
TE Desmond Clark (Rookie)
WR Peerless Price (Rookie)
WR Leslie Shepherd (Rookie)
LT Jon Jansen (Rookie)
LG Jim Pyne
C Todd McClure (Rookie)
RG Edwin Mulitalo (Rookie)
RT Orlando Brown
DE Jevon Kearse (Rookie)
DT Darius Holland
DT John Jurkovic
DE Derrick Alexander
LB Joey Porter (Rookie)
LB Dat Nguyen (Rookie)
LB Wali Rainer
CB Daylon McCutcheon
CB Ryan McNeil
S Corey Fuller
S Marquez Pope
Notable Bench Players:
QB Todd Collins
QB Chris Wallace (Rookie)
QB Moxes Moreno (Injured Reserve)
RB Olandis Gary
FB Terry Jackson
TE Mark Campbell
WR Donald Driver
G Zach Piller
____________________________________________________________
Browns destroyed by Steelers in first game since 1995
The Cleveland Plain Dealer
April 21, 1999
(CLEVELAND) – The off season troubles of the Cleveland Browns continued into opening day, as the Browns stumbled (and fumbled) their way to a 35-3 loss to division rival Pittsburgh. Doug Flutie continued to struggle as he tried to find his comfort zone with wide receivers Peerless Price and Leslie Shepherd, going 13 for 26 with two interceptions. The dismal passing game was amplified by the struggles of running back Tyrone Wheatley, who ran for an embarrassing 33 yards on 13 carries.
“It was a rough night,” Browns Head Coach Gary Moeller admitted after the game, “this was not the way we wanted to start the season. Needless to say, we have a lot of work to do between now and next week.”
The Browns play division rival Tennessee next week in Nashville.
______________________________________________________________
The strange thing is the media was unbelievably harsh on the Browns in 1999, and that sort of fed into the team’s anger. It all started in Detroit, where Wayne Fontes remained one of the most unpopular men in the state of Michigan over his failed tenure as Lions head coach. The Detroit media began to just brutally attack Wayne Fontes, questioning his decisions in the draft and ending every news piece about the Browns with “what the hell were they thinking in hiring that guy?” This word of mouth campaign soon spread to Toledo, where many locals picked up Detroit stations. From there is moved down the Ohio Turnpike until it reached Cleveland. The decision by Gary Moeller to name rookies as starters for almost every position only added to the confusion and anger. After getting crushed in four pre-season games, the Browns were destroyed by the Steelers on opening night, losing 35-3 in a game that wasn’t really as close as the score would indicate. By then reporters in Cleveland were calling for Wayne’s head. But then a strange thing happened. The Browns started finding their rhythm. The rookies started to mature into viable starters and Doug Flutie started to grow comfortable with Peerless Price and Donald Driver. Tyrone Wheatley became hot as a pistol, and by the midway point of the season, the Browns were a respectable 4-4, having defeated division rivals Baltimore and Cincinnati, as well as having put forth a very respectable performance against division leader Jacksonville in week six.
Jon Gruden on ESPN Radio (July 11, 2012)
CHAPTER THREE: THE 1999 SEASON
Op-Ed Contributor
Will the Browns be the first team in history to go 0-16?
Cleveland Plain Dealer
By William Ross
Published: September 6, 1999
Watching rookies Paris Johnson, Brad Ware, and Dee Miller walk out of the Browns training facility yesterday, one couldn’t help but feel a little bad for them. Just five weeks ago Ware and Johnson were named the starting safeties for the 1999 Cleveland Browns, and Miller was named the #2 wide receiver. “It’s their job to lose,” head coach Gary Moeller told us after making the controversial decision to start almost every rookie on his team despite never even seeing them play once in person. Well, to the surprise of nobody except Moeller and Browns President Wayne Fontes, the plan fell apart almost immediately. Miller lost his job in the second week to veteran Leslie Shepherd due to poor play, and after a mind boggling four dropped passes and a two fumbles in a 35-3 loss to Philadelphia in the final pre-season game last Thursday, he lost out to fellow rookie Donald Driver for the final slot on the 53-man roster and was ingloriously cut.
The Browns finished the pre-season 0-4 and were outscored 159-12 in those four games. And although Moeller and Fontes were absolutely giddy about the so called “powerhouse defense” that would be headed by DE Jevon Kearse, the Browns D-line looked confused and overmatched after giving up 55-points to the Bears in their third pre-season game. By then even the increasingly clueless Moeller had to concede that starting safeties Ware and Johnson were not going to pan out in the NFL. He quietly renamed veterans Marquez Pope and Corey Fuller as the starting safeties on a team that is dangerously short on talent and leadership. The series of boneheaded draft day trades and questionable picks are coming together to form the perfect storm of mediocrity. The Browns were not expected to do well this season, they were an expansion team and expansion teams struggle. But as it stands now, there is not one player who looks like he can be an NFL superstar. Not one. We passed on Tim Couch, Ricky Williams and Akili Smith and all we have to show for it is a team with a few attractive defensive players (none of which have even touched their alleged potential as the 55-point drubbing from Chicago proved) and not one solid offensive player. In four games the Browns have yet to score a single touchdown. Doug Flutie, Todd Collins, and undrafted Chris Wallace from Toledo have all struggled to find their rhythm, and with running backs Tyrone Wheatley and Olandis Gary averaging 34 yards and 21 yards a game respectively, one has to wonder if this may be the worst offense in the history of the NFL.
Cleveland fans will be patient of course. We’ve waited four years for an NFL team and we are willing to give them some room to grow. But we still shouldn’t be blind to the fact that this team could be a lot better. Sure, we weren’t going to be a contender overnight, but this…this is a train wreck waiting to happen. Wayne Fontes and Gary Moeller have robbed Browns fans of a future, and for that we should be mad as hell. If the Browns go 0-16 this season, one can hope that owner Al Lerner recognizes the mistake of hiring Wayne Fontes, a man who single handedly took a Super Bowl caliber Detroit Lions team and destroyed it. It may be too late for this season, but if there is a bright spot to all of this it is this: some of these rookies have shown some promise. Defensive players Joey Porter, Dat Nguyen, and Jevon Kearse look like they might make some noise in a year or two, and left tackle Jon Jansen has done an admirable job protecting Flutie and Collins, who both have been sacked a combined three times in four games. It looks like all four will be get a lot of playing time this season, and that could bode well for the Browns in 2000, assuming Wayne Fontes and Gary Moeller are no longer making the draft picks.
________________________________________________
1999 Cleveland Browns Starting Lineup:
QB Doug Flutie
RB Tyrone Wheatley
FB Marc Edwards
TE Desmond Clark (Rookie)
WR Peerless Price (Rookie)
WR Leslie Shepherd (Rookie)
LT Jon Jansen (Rookie)
LG Jim Pyne
C Todd McClure (Rookie)
RG Edwin Mulitalo (Rookie)
RT Orlando Brown
DE Jevon Kearse (Rookie)
DT Darius Holland
DT John Jurkovic
DE Derrick Alexander
LB Joey Porter (Rookie)
LB Dat Nguyen (Rookie)
LB Wali Rainer
CB Daylon McCutcheon
CB Ryan McNeil
S Corey Fuller
S Marquez Pope
Notable Bench Players:
QB Todd Collins
QB Chris Wallace (Rookie)
QB Moxes Moreno (Injured Reserve)
RB Olandis Gary
FB Terry Jackson
TE Mark Campbell
WR Donald Driver
G Zach Piller
____________________________________________________________
Browns destroyed by Steelers in first game since 1995
The Cleveland Plain Dealer
April 21, 1999
(CLEVELAND) – The off season troubles of the Cleveland Browns continued into opening day, as the Browns stumbled (and fumbled) their way to a 35-3 loss to division rival Pittsburgh. Doug Flutie continued to struggle as he tried to find his comfort zone with wide receivers Peerless Price and Leslie Shepherd, going 13 for 26 with two interceptions. The dismal passing game was amplified by the struggles of running back Tyrone Wheatley, who ran for an embarrassing 33 yards on 13 carries.
“It was a rough night,” Browns Head Coach Gary Moeller admitted after the game, “this was not the way we wanted to start the season. Needless to say, we have a lot of work to do between now and next week.”
The Browns play division rival Tennessee next week in Nashville.
______________________________________________________________
The strange thing is the media was unbelievably harsh on the Browns in 1999, and that sort of fed into the team’s anger. It all started in Detroit, where Wayne Fontes remained one of the most unpopular men in the state of Michigan over his failed tenure as Lions head coach. The Detroit media began to just brutally attack Wayne Fontes, questioning his decisions in the draft and ending every news piece about the Browns with “what the hell were they thinking in hiring that guy?” This word of mouth campaign soon spread to Toledo, where many locals picked up Detroit stations. From there is moved down the Ohio Turnpike until it reached Cleveland. The decision by Gary Moeller to name rookies as starters for almost every position only added to the confusion and anger. After getting crushed in four pre-season games, the Browns were destroyed by the Steelers on opening night, losing 35-3 in a game that wasn’t really as close as the score would indicate. By then reporters in Cleveland were calling for Wayne’s head. But then a strange thing happened. The Browns started finding their rhythm. The rookies started to mature into viable starters and Doug Flutie started to grow comfortable with Peerless Price and Donald Driver. Tyrone Wheatley became hot as a pistol, and by the midway point of the season, the Browns were a respectable 4-4, having defeated division rivals Baltimore and Cincinnati, as well as having put forth a very respectable performance against division leader Jacksonville in week six.
Jon Gruden on ESPN Radio (July 11, 2012)
Last edited:
