CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – There are 32 teams in the NFL and 30 NFL cities, every single on of them other than the Browns has tasted the Super Bowl in some way. The Browns, Lions, Jaguars and Texans are the only four teams that have never been to the big game. Houston has hosted three Super Bowls, Detroit hosted twice, if you include it’s suburb of Pontiac. Jacksonville held it once. One could argue that Las Vegas had joined the Browns in that capacity when the Raiders moved there, and while the city of Las Vegas hadn’t tasted the Super Bowl, the Raiders certainly have. Then Vegas was awarded Super Bowl LVIII and any argument that were on the list went away.
The best way for Cleveland to get off this island of solitude is for the Browns to make it. The idea of Cleveland hosting is pretty far fetched. They would need an enclosed stadium to even begin to make a case to host, and right now that is not in the plans. What is closer, the Browns getting to the Super Bowl or the city becoming an option for the league to play the game here? A new stadium is at best a rumor, but the Browns just came off an 11-win season. The team is ahead of the city in that race.
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For the second year in a row, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are looking for a new offensive coordinator. One of the first candidates to interview for the post in 2024 is Alex Van Pelt, who held the same job with the Cleveland Browns over the past four seasons.
Van Pelt visited Buccaneers headquarters on Monday as the team began its efforts to replace Dave Canales, who was hired by the Carolina Panthers as their new head coach last Thursday. The Bucs hired Canales, formerly the Seattle Seahawks’ quarterbacks coach, as their offensive coordinator last February. Van Pelt was familiar with the building, having worked as the Bucs’ quarterbacks coach on Raheem Morris’s staff in 2010 and 2011.
The Browns were the NFL’s 10th-highest scoring team in 2023, averaging 23.3 points per game. Cleveland won 11 games and made the playoffs despite having five different quarterbacks start at least one game during the regular season. Opening-day starter Deshaun Watson missed 11 games due to shoulder injuries and was eventually placed on injured reserve, leading to various starts for P.J. Walker, Jeff Driskel and rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson. Joe Flacco signed with the Browns in late November and started the last six games, winning four of them.
Cleveland ranked 16th in total yards per game (335.9) in 2023 and had the league’s best time of possession average at 32:19. The Browns finished 12th in rushing yards per game (118.6) despite losing star running back Nick Chubb to a season-ending injury just two weeks into the campaign.
Van Pelt played nine seasons in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills, finishing in 2003. Two years later he began his coaching career with the Frankfort Galaxy in NFL Europe, then returned to the Bills as a quality control coach in 2006. He was later elevated to quarterbacks coach and then offensive coordinator in 2009 before coming to Tampa in 2010. He spent six seasons in Green Bay as a running backs and quarterbacks coach, then spent the 2018-19 campaigns as Cincinnati’s quarterbacks coach.
