Browns promise to get Hillis the ball more

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on October 13, 2011, 12:25 PM EDT
AP

The Browns haven’t given Peyton Hillis a financial apology after splitting up his workload in Cleveland’s last game, but coach Pat Shurmur is doing the next best thing.

He’s promising that Hillis will get the ball more. Don’t be surprised if Hillis catches a few passes against a Raiders defense that has had struggles covering running backs.

“Peyton Hillis is going to get the bulk of the carries, I can tell you that,” Shurmur said Thursday.

This reminds me of my days as a terrible waiter during high school and college. Customers that gave the nice compliments always gave the worst tips.  They thought the “verbal tip” replaced actual money.

A bigger workload is nice, but Hillis isn’t going to be satisfied until he gets a new contract.  And we’re not sure that’s going to happen for Hillis in Cleveland.

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28 responses to “Browns promise to get Hillis the ball more”

  2. Give the ball to your best player on the team. WOW.

    Glad it took a public lashing for our stupid coaches to realize that.

  9. If he doesn’t put up big numbers in a hurry, he’ll never get the money he’s looking for. I admire what he did for the team last year, but once the beating started to add up his production went down. His value to this team may be like Josh Cribbs, more of a face of the team to the fans, and less of a big time playmaker.

  13. I’ve been watching the Raiders for over 20yrs now and I welcome a smaller, big, slower back we do fine with backs like Hillis. It’s the Foster, LT type backs the Raiders have problems with.

    It makes it easier to gang tackle a back like Hillis because of the speed on the Dee, something the Raiders have plenty off.. It’s those slashing type backs that kills the Raiders.

    It should be a good game, but too many emotions will carry this team into the playoff’s.

    Raiders 31 – Browns 17

  14. You had one good season Hillis. And you still drop the ball too much. And you still miss blocks and make poor reads. You still play like a rookie. Go out there and EARN your money.

    That is, as soon as that mysterious “illness” clears up.

  18. Don’t forget, he’s a great blocking back, too. Not giving him the ball doesn’t mean he doesn’t have an impact. He’s done pretty well covering for the line and with blitz pickups.

  20. He should’ve taken the money they were offering. He had one outlier good year, which was overblown in the first place, and started fishing for top dollar.

  21. spunjmunke: “…His value to this team may be like Josh Cribbs, more of a face of the team to the fans, and less of a big time playmaker.”

    My memory can only go back to the mid 80s but I can’t ever remember Cleveland fans liking someone because they’re a “face of the team”. The fans have always liked whoever has produced and got it done. There wasn’t some fairy that came down and waved a wand over their head and said “You are now the face of the team.” Cribbs and Hillis are faces of the team because of what they do on the field. Trust me, if they weren’t making plays, the fans would stop caring about them fast.

    Remember Braylon Edwards? Fans loved him during his breakout year but when he completely forgot how to catch the ball the next year, they didn’t keep him in their hearts for sentimental reasons.

  22. “This reminds me of my days as a terrible waiter…”
    For some strange reason, when I first read that I just assumed that it said “terrible writer”

  25. channeling my inner “warren moon” this is clearly a sign of blatant racism

    the only reason hillis isn’t getting paid is because he’s white, and it’s impossible for a white RB to be a long term, elite player at the position in the NFL.

  26. Gotta love peoples’ selective memories. I keep hearing “one year wonder” and ” he isn’t what he was last year,” etc. Stuff like that.

    You’d almost think people had forgotten a couple of things… Like the fact Hillis sat out one game out of the 4 the Browns have played so far. There’s a whopping 25% less of a CHANCE to even gain any yards. In the last game, they gave him 10 snaps- and he was healthy. How the hell do you produce when you get 10 touches?

    The way I figure it, all in all, Hillis has had about 40% less playing time than he would have under normal cirmcumstances. Not exactly gonna help him look like the stud he was last year.

    Not to mention that Shurmur apparently doesn’t study game tape or something- Last year, the Browns ran Hillis outside the tackles around 20-30% of the time and it was pretty much a guaranteed 5 yards (or more) every time. This year, I don’t remember seeing a single run outside the tackles *except* a busted play where he ran into Lavauo’s back and bounced out- for a 24 yard TD run. Maybe if Shurmur would pay some attention to stuff that has worked in the past instead of insisting that Hillis run up the middle every time, he (Hillis *and* Shumur) would be looking a little better right now.

    Oh, and Vickers being gone isn’t helping either. Good thing Marecic can at least catch the ball or he’d be *totally* useless.

  28. Trickbunny – totally agree with you.

    Shurmur doesn’t seem to know HOW to use Hillis like Mangini did. Maybe he should humble himself enough to look at some of last year’s film. Wait…isn’t that what OC’s do???

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