Browns Halftime Blurb - 11/6 @ Texans

Turns out I lied—I don't have anything to do for a little while so here's the halftime blurb. And what an ugly half its been with the Texans leading the Browns 24-3 after two quarters of football.

All three aspects of the team have looked bad at one point or another in this quarter—offense, defense and special teams. I don't know about you, but I'm really, really sick of watching this crap. I don't know if it'd be right to fire Shurmur, but he looks completely overwhelmed out there. And it's not just growing pains at this point, it's just regular old fashioned sucking.

I know the Texans are a good team, but Shurmur has got to start planning for defenses to come after his quarterback better. Colt McCoy is running for his freaking life out there, and until he stops, the Browns won't be able to beat anybody. The one thing Shurmur seems to do relatively well is scheme for the 2-minute drill. Why that is, I'm not sure, but you could see it on the last drive before the half. The slant to Evan Moore is exactly what this team needs more of. And plays where Little and McCoy are on completely different pages is what this team needs less of.

I said in the Start Me Up that one of the defenses obstacles would be the offense, but really it's been a lot worse than that. The Browns haven't been able to stop to two headed monster of Ben Tate and Arian Foster all day. The former has four carries for 66 yards, and the latter has 10 for 64. In all, the Texans are averaging 8.8 yards per carry—a ludicrous total. Although I'm sure defensive coordinator Dick Jauron will make some good halftime adjustments, the Texans are going to ground and pound this one out.

But to get back to the offense, Colt McCoy is ___ with an interception, Chris Ogbonnaya has just 20 yards on 10 carries, and the longest run of the day was from newcomer Thomas Clayton for a stunning four yards. Goodness gracious this team looks horrendous on offense, and I'm telling you it starts up front with the awful play from guards Shawn Lavou and Jason Pinkston and tackle Tony Pashos. But when you only get 70 yards in the first half, it's more than that.

Shurmur is the problem.

I'm sure I'll have more on that in the Final Word later today. If there's any reason to watch the second half, look for the defense to come out more ready to play. And if you're a masochist, Colt McCoy might be killed with the shots he's been taking.

See you after the game.
~MAS