The light on the Cleveland Browns’ season is flickering as they blew a golden opportunity yesterday at Cleveland Browns’ Stadium. The Browns led the Baltimore Ravens by two touchdowns half way through the third quarter, only to watch Baltimore score the last 24 points of the game and win 37-27. The brown and orange are now two games behind the Ravens and 2-1/2 behind the Steelers, and have a 1-3 record within the division.
It was the shortcomings that have plagued this team all year that caused them to lose yesterday: Run defense, inconsistent offense, and dropped passes.
Outside of the superb effort against Jacksonville, the Cleveland defense has struggled against the running game all season long. Injuries have plagued the line, but getting Shaun Smith back yesterday was supposed to bring relief. It didn’t. The Ravens ran for almost 200 yards (193) included a 60-yard run by rookie Ray Rice that set up a field goal, which put Baltimore ahead to stay. Look at the history of the NFL and you will see that teams that can’t stop the run do not win.
After putting up 20 points in the middle of the third quarter, the offense had exactly one first down the rest of the game. That’s first downs, not touchdowns! The one quality that drives coaches crazy is inconsistency, and that trait describes QB Derek Anderson to a tee. What happened after the touchdown pass to Jason Wright. I didn’t see the offense go conservative. You can’t win with a quarterback who runs hot and cold. It should be time to see if Brady Quinn is more even keel.
Which brings me to my least favorite Brown, Braylon Edwards. With the offense sputtering in the fourth quarter, Edwards got behind the Raven defense and Anderson hit him in the hands with a pass that could have put the team inside the Baltimore 20. However, Edwards dropped the ball. He missed another catch later. He now has dropped 13 balls of the season.
What’s worse is that he didn’t speak to the media after the game.
If you are going to run your mouth incessantly all season long about how the offense doesn’t get him the ball, etc., then be a man and stand up and talk about how you dropped two passes late in a game your team needed to win.
That brings me to Romeo Crennel. I agree with those who say that Crennel gets too much blame when things go wrong, and the coordinators get credit when things go well. That’s not fair. However, the head coach doesn’t help himself when he says things like his team didn’t have the energy to win yesterday’s game.
His comments indicate he is either covering for a bunch of players who have no heart, or he is guilty of not having them prepared to win games. He did an outstanding job of having the Browns prepared in the turmoil prior to the Jacksonville game, but what happens to this team after a big victory? I tend to blame to the players for this, but Crennel should stop protecting some of these prima donnas.
There are many players who leave everything on the field each and every week, and obviously I’m not talking about them. Guys like Josh Cribbs, Shaun Rogers, Jamal Lewis, and even Kellen Winslow are driven to win and there are more like them, however it’s obvious that the coach doesn’t see the same level of commitment from everyone.
The Ravens’ players said Ray Lewis wouldn’t let them lose yesterday. The Browns need a leader with the same fire as Lewis, particularly in a game where they led by two touchdowns.
At the end of the day, it’s the Browns who are watching the lights flicker on a season in which they expected to make the playoffs. What’s worse is listening to Ravens’ Coach John Harbaugh dedicate the win to the Browns former owner, whose name will be unmentioned here. Throw a flag for piling on for Harbaugh.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 