I'm a little disgusted by the Browns 20-10 loss to the Falcons today, but when I really think about this game I know there's a lot the men in the orange helmets did well today. However, the injuries in this game were just too much for the Browns to overcome today and they really just didn't get anything going in the second half.
Offensively, I've got to start with Jake Delhomme's - to put it politely - less than stellar performance. He was only 13/23 for 97 yards and those two ugly interceptions, one of which was the knife in the stomach from defensive lineman Kory Biermann who tipped the pass, intercepted it on a diving catch, and then returned it 41 yards for the touchdown. Now, I'm by no means trying to justify Delhomme's poor outing today, but the guy was not the starting quarterback, and apparently for good reason. The guy was clearly not healthy and looked jumpy, skiddish, and all around uncomfortable in the pocket early in the second half. That being said, if he's healthy, which he hasn't been all season, I think he does give the Browns a decent chance to win.
On another hand we have the Browns (lack of) rushing offense today, which was plain old offensive. I don't have to tell you again how much I love Peyton Hillis, but he was also hurting today. This actually created an opportunity for Jerome Harrison to assert himself once again as an important piece of this offense, but he didn't capitalize on it at all. I wrote in the halftime blurb that he was running timidly as William Green used to do, and that continued well into the second half. Harrison only had 6 yards on 6 carries, the longest of which was a 2 yard run.
The fact that Harrison was totally uninterested in running the ball today just put more pressure on Brian Daboll to find ways of moving the ball down the field, which in turn put pressure on Delhomme to win the game all by himself. But I think Harrison also had an egregious mistake on Biermann's interception. When I saw that replay during the game, Bierrman came free, uncontested in his path to the quarterback. But guess who was coming out of the backfield to Biermann's side of the field for a pass? If you guessed Jerome Harrison, you'd be correct. On that play, Harrison has got to do something to break up that path - I don't believe that play lets the defender go totally free. I'm not saying Harrison has to go out and block him, because he was probably the intended target of Delhomme's pass, but he ought to at least chip that defender while he's coming out of the backfield. If that had happened, I don't know that Delhomme would've thrown that interception.
But that's enough about Harrison. I think we've got to once again give Rob Ryan and his defensive squad some props for holding the Falcons to one offensive touchdown and two field goals. The defense really tightened up when it got down there, and the only real mistake they made all day was the 45 yard touchdown pass from Matt Ryan to Roddy White. Though they gave up 165 rushing yards, this game was the first all year that they had a 100 yard rusher against them. And that wouldn't have happened without that brain fart of a 55 yard run for Michael Turner, who ended the day with 140 yards.
I was talking with my best friend Linus just after the game today, and he said something that I really think is true: The Browns are a 1-4 team that could be 5-0. When you look at it they've led 4 of their 5 ballgames in the 4th quarter, but right now this team just cannot finish. Again, today I really think that might have had more to do with injuries than anything else yet this is still a disappointing start to the season. On the flip side of that, I've got to hand it to the coaches because the Browns have been competitive in each and every game so far this season which starts with the schemes. However, the Browns need to get healthy this week and work in practice to eliminate the self-inflicting wound penalties that have killed us all season - especially today. Hopefully either Wallace or Delhomme will be 100% healthy next week, because if not it might be a grim day against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
~MAS
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