The Final Word: Only in Cleveland

It would've been more surprising had they actually held on to win the game.

That's what I thought to myself as I sat watching the Eagles offense take a knee after Brandon Weeden threw his fourth interception of the day to seal a 17-16 victory.

Ah yes, Weeden's fourth interception.

Wow.

This morning, I prepared myself to sit down and write a post defending the 28-year-old quarterback if his debut didn't exactly go well. But now...

I mean, the numbers speak for themselves. Shield your children's eyes: 12/35 for 118 yards. 3.4 yards per completion. Four interceptions. And—the kicker—a horrific 5.1 quarterback rating.

Now we can all talk about how bad Weeden was, how Colt McCoy is better and should be playing, and to be honest, I really can't make an argument to counter that other than let's give Weeden a few more games. But to me, the bigger concern was the Browns startling lack of a running game.

I wrote in the Start Me Up today that Trent Richardson really is the key to all the Browns offensive hopes and dreams, and if you look at his numbers from today you can easily see why the good guys lost.

Richardson carried the ball 19 times for just 39 yards. His longest run was just nine yards, and it came on the play to the right were he truck sticked an Eagles defender into next week.

Obviously 2.1 yards per carry is not ever going to get the job done. And on a team that traded up to draft Richardson 3rd overall, 39 yards on 19 carries in an entire game is simply unacceptable.

To be honest, however, I really wasn't expecting Richardson to get the ball so much. I'm not sure why Pat Shurmur didn't spell him a little bit with Brandon Jackson for some carries. Yes, Jackson did make a key catch for a first down, but Richardson hadn't taken a handoff in a live game since the National Championship Game in January when he was still playing for Alabama. You can't tell me he was prepared to go 19 carries in his first NFL action.

That being said, the Browns were embarrassing on short yardage run situations. Yes, Philly loaded up the box constantly when it was 2nd or 3rd and 1, but with a RB like Richardson, you must get to the point where you know, I know, the defense knows—everybody in the NFL knows he's going to get the ball on 3rd and short and he makes it anyway. That's what a dominant running game looks like.

That's what the Browns need to strive for.

I'll kill Shurmur for many things over the course of this season, but I can't be too mad about not going for 2 after D'Qwell Jackson's pick-six. After the touchdown, there was 13:59 left to go in the game. That's a whole lot of time. And honestly, the way the Browns offense was going, was there really a realistic chance that they'd make it? At least because they kicked the extra point, two field goals would've just tied the game, instead of winning it.

Not that it really matters.

In the end, we're stuck with yet another gut wrenching loss. I long for the days when we'll be happy after games like this instead of stuck feeling the same old way game after game, week after week, year after freaking year.

Until next week...
~MAS