And with the Browns 41-9 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, it wasn't a moment too soon. That was the ugliest game the Browns played the entire season and it really couldn't have come for a worse time if you're Eric Mangini, Brian Daboll and Rob Ryan. The former was, of course, fighting for his job today, the latter has is going to be interviewed to be the Panthers head coach. Daboll...well, he was probably going to be fired anyway. But I'm sure each of those coaches would love to have this game erased from their resumés.
To say the game was an offensive mess would be an understatement. We already knew that it was going to be difficult for the Browns to run against the #1 running defense, and #2 defense overall in the NFL, but I thought we'd be able to muster a little bit more than 43 total yards on the ground. Colt McCoy was actually today's leading rusher, with 4 scrambles for 19 yards. Mike Bell had 5 carries for 14 yards, and Peyton Hillis had 6 carries for 13. Just an all around bad day.
In the passing game, McCoy was 20/41 for 209 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. Yikes. Tight end Ben Watson was the leading receiver today with 7 receptions for 67 yards. Despite the fact that he played volley ball on his first targeted pass which caused an interception, Watson has really been one of the bright spots of the Cleveland Browns this season, and is clearly a great target for Colt McCoy as he threw to Watson 12 times today. I suppose it's elementary.
It's unfortunate that I have to ask this question again, but why oh why in the wide world of sports is Robert Royal being targeted for passes? He cannot catch! As Terry Pluto wrote in his "Halftime Scribbles" on Cleveland.com, Robert Royal had eleven catches and six drops last year, and this year he had five catches and four drops coming into the game. He is regarded as a blocking tight end, and I'm sure he's great at that. But why is he the one catching the pass on the bootleg down in the endzone? When you have a tight end who is your leading receiver, there's no excuse for putting in the butterfingers who has a reputation for dropping passes, and then drops a touchdown in the endzone. And yes, I'm looking at you, Brian Daboll.
I've been a big fan of Rob Ryan since he came to the Browns from Oakland last season - but this was clearly not his best effort. I think he and his brother Rex, head coach of the New York Jets, are great for football with their frank and outspoken nature, and I sincerely hope that Rob can become a successful head coach someday soon - but for now I would love it if he stayed and helped our Browns defense improve, no matter who our head coach is next year. They didn't show it today but the defense has improved leaps and bounds over where it was when Romeo Crenel was fired after the 2008 season, which means we've got to give credit to Mangini for that too.
I was going to take a look at the offensive numbers for the Steelers today, but the only one you need to know is 41 - the number of points they scored. That tells you enough about what went on.
So now that the season is over, I'm sure we will see in the next few days whether or not Eric Mangini will stay, whether or not Mike Holmgren will take off a suit and coach the team, or if he'll hire someone else. And I'm sure I'll have something to say about it if you want to check back.
Thanks for reading this season, Browns fans, it's been a lot of fun for me.
~MAS
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