Make Sure You Don't Lose Before You Win

Well that just makes me sick.

Only one time since the Browns returned in 1999 have they won on Opening Day, and I believed, as I'm sure a lot of you did too, that today would be the day where the Browns would usher in the Mike Holmgren Era with a big win on the road in Tampa Bay.

Nope.

Jake Delhomme has brought some stability to the quarterback position, but some of the decisions he made today left me shaking my head. The interception towards the end of the first half was really when the game took a turn for the worse not only for Delhomme but for the entire Browns team. That INT set up a touchdown that made the game 14-10 instead of 14-3 going into the half. What really struck me about the errant pass was how much it looked like Brett Favre - in a bad way. Favre has a reputation for trying to throw passes when he's about to go down for a sack that 85% of the time end up as interceptions (see the pick he threw Thursday night against the Saints), and that is exactly what Delhomme did. What was so frustrating to watch about it wasc the fat that 1 or 2 plays before, Delhomme did the smart thing when no receivers were open and threw the ball away giving off the appearance that he wasn't going to try to be a hero and make a play when there was no play to make. Unfortunately, that wouldn't continue to be the case.

I read this morning in a Plain Dealer article that Eric Mangini talked to his players about making sure they didn't lose the game before they could win it. With three extremely costly turnovers, two interceptions from Delhomme and a lost fumble in the red zone from Peyton Hillis, the Browns basically gave this game away. Don't get me wrong, I loved Hillis the first few times he ran the ball, blowing over defenders like they were nothing, but you cannot fumble in the red zone. When you're driving like that, and you've already had a fumble on the day that the team luckily recovered, you have to protect the football better than that. You just have to. To me, there is no excuse for fumbling more than once in a game. Get that ball high and tight, and then go get some points.

Though they were pretty much overshadowed by the poor second half play, there was a lot of great play by the Browns in the first half of the game. I think that with a good week of practice, the Browns should be able to shake this off and get a good win next week against Kansas City. They've just got to remember to not lose the game before they try to win it.

~MAS