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GM Ray Farmer Conducts Interesting State of the Browns Press Conference

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How will this movie end Mr. Farmer?

“The same way I have written the script already. You have to try to do things a little bit differently have historically have done them. You can’t follow the same road map and get to a different destination. In my mind it comes down to we do things a little bit differently than people have done historically.

“With no risk comes no reward. It doesn’t mean we are going to be without bumps in the road. It doesn’t mean we aren’t going to struggle. There are bumps. There are turns. It comes down to where inevitably we have to find a way to write the right end to the movie. That is something we are going to have to focus on and bring to fruition on our own.”

You have to wonder if Farmer and Pettine are on the same page?

It is hard to believe that they can be right now. Just take a look at the quarterback situation. Pettine clearly wants to go with the 36-year old veteran Josh McCown, when healthy. It appears Farmer has reached the point where he wants to see his draft pick of 2014, Manziel, play the rest of the season and see what he can do.

Do the general manager and head coach speak about football moves?

“We talk daily. That’s what it comes down to. Our relationship has not changed. As we go through post-game after-action reports, as we go through pre-game analysis of how we should try to attack our next opponent I give him whatever advice and resources I can. If he needs something to happen from a player perspective because this player is hurt, or this player is out or this guy is missing and we need to go in a different direction — we have those conversations and we work in unison to try to put together the best roster together to go into a game.

“There is no decision that I make in a vacuum. I think Pett would say the same. I don’t think he sits up there and decrees that this is what is going to happen. We have those conversations. Those conversations lead to the decisions that we make.”

All of this talk sounds like the Browns are heading in the right direction, but clearly they are not and Farmer could be feeling the pressure. While Farmer addressed all of the media’s questions on Tuesday afternoon, you could see Farmer sweating a bit and having to drink a lot of water when he could. So how is he going to fix a roster that is currently 2-6 and heading toward another double digit losing season.

“How do we fix it? We continue to do exactly what we have done, which is work hard, put in the effort the time and the energy, unearth better players, unearth better opportunities for our guys and try to grow it as we see fit.

“That’s really what it comes down to is that we have to try to make the best out of the guys that we have and add better guys as we go forward, and the coaches that do their job and try to get the best out of the guys that we have and move forward daily.”

Farmer’s draft picks have come into question, and so has his moves in free agency, in particular the signing of wide receiver Dwayne Bowe. Farmer gave Bowe a two year contract with a guarantee of $9 million. Bowe did suffer a hamstring injury during the preseason, but Bowe still doesn’t have a catch in the regular season with the Browns and has only been active for three of the teams eight games.

Bowe was even listed behind wide receiver Marlon Moore on last week’s depth chart. Moore is pretty much a special teams player, Bowe is a veteran wide receiver who had double digit receiving touchdowns during his career in Kansas City. How can Bowe not get on the field with this team of wide receivers and did they over rate him during free agency?

“That’s an interesting comment. I don’t know if we overrated him. I think we made a decision as a team to bring Dwayne Bowe to the Cleveland Browns.

“I don’t really have a take on that other than my job is to try to help bring the talent here and do what we can to come to some conclusions as to what we need to do to improve the roster, and we have conversations back and forth in all of it. Any decision that’s made is a Browns decision, and we stick with those.”

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Scott Piker has spent over 15 years in the Cleveland media covering news and sports with experience in radio, television, print and digital media. He has covered everything from high school, college, Indians, Browns, Cavaliers and Buckeyes. Scott spent five years as the sports producer at WEWS NewsChannel 5, the ABC affiliate in Cleveland and also has his sports work featured on examiner.com. Scott has also received an emmy award in television news. Scott was born and raised and still resides in his hometown of Madison, Ohio.

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