This is not the first time the Browns have lost a game where they were supposed to win this season, but it has got to be the worst. I'd go as far to say that this is the worst loss of Eric Mangini's career as coach of the Cleveland Browns. That's not to say that he should be fired, but I do know someone who should based on his play calling today...
You know what, I'm going to shift gears and start with something more positive - the Defense. Positive being a relative term, of course, Rob Ryan's crew only gave up 13 points today, and that should be a number that is good enough to win a ballgame. When you're talking about points, all things considered 13 is a pretty good number. The passing defense contained Ryan Fitzpatrick to just 142 passing yards and a touchdown, also pretty good. But what concerns me about the defensive performance is that they gave up a whopping 192 rushing yards. That was led by Fred Jackson, who had 112 yards on 29 carries, then Fitzpatrick who had 49 yards on 4 carries, and rookie CJ Spiller also gashed the Browns for 33 yards on 8 carries. Yikes. Still, the end result was only giving up 13 points, and that really should have been good enough to win the game.
But, of course, it wasn't. This game was so bad, offensively, I'm not even sure where to start. I'll congratulate Peyton Hillis once again for gaining 1000 rushing yards this season, and being the first white running back to do it since 1985, but that's it for the positives. Jake Delhomme's numbers? 12/20 for 86 yards and an interception. Those are Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson kind of numbers, if you ask me. I thought those days were over. You can argue that the interception was not really Delhomme's fault because he got hit as he threw the ball, but guess what? He still fumbled the ball and failed to execute plays time and time again on third down.
When I was watching the game, though, it was almost like Brian Daboll was setting up the offense to fail. When you have the defense lined up against you that's dead last in the run, and you have a big bruising back, you really ought to be running the football the whole game if you know your quarterback is inconsistent. Now, I'm not an offensive coordinator, but I do know that when Colt McCoy was in at quarterback we ran a lot of bootlegs because it appeared to be one of not only his but the offenses strengths. My question is, why did we not run one of them today?
I'll tell you, there were plays today where we lined up and I could just tell that we weren't going to get anything, especially on third down. One of them came with about seven minutes left to go in the fourth quarter when the Browns lined up with third and three and ended up throwing to Robert Royal. Now, someone, anyone, please tell me why oh why in the wide wide world of sports would you throw to Robert Royal on third down and three with the game on the line? Brian Daboll, what are you thinking?!
The Browns had a grand total of five possessions in the second half and did absolutely nothing with them. The two that came in the third quarter were of 5 then 8 plays, and both resulted in punts. In the fourth quarter, it was 3 plays and a fumble, 3 plays and a punt, and 3 plays and an intercepted pass. You're clearly not going to win with that kind of lack in execution of, really, anything.
Obviously this is a frustrating game for the players, the coaches, the organization, the city and the fans. It's back to the drawing board as the Browns will take on the Bengals next week. And as we now know, defeating a 2-win team is not going to be any small task.
See you next week,
~MAS
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