The Cleveland Browns did not play like a team that had nothing to lose yesterday. They played like a team trying not to lose. The Browns dropped to 4-9 with a 28-9 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday afternoon, their third straight game without scoring a touchdown. The offensive was very vanilla, which made me wonder how much time was spent on the game plan.
The game was lost in the first quarter. After a promising opening drive that resulted in a field goal, D’Qwell Jackson picked off a Kerry Collins pass on the Titan 25 yard line. Unfortunately, the Browns didn’t try to pounce, running three conservative plays and settling for another Dawson three pointer. Romeo Crennel and offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski could have went for six points, but decided to play close to the vest.
To turn a phrase, the Browns brought field goals to a touchdown fight. The Titans had four scores to the Browns three, but the final score was lopsided because Cleveland never got close to sniffing the end zone.
The offensive game plan left me shaking my head. Josh Cribbs finally threw a pass, however. However, it came with the brown and orange trailing 28-9! Why wasn’t the play used after the Jackson interception? Why didn’t Crennel go for a first down on 4th and 1 in the fourth quarter when his team was losing 21-9? If you play not to lose, that is precisely what will happen most of the time.
Cribbs played his heart out, carrying the ball, returning kicks, making tackles on kick coverage. He was by far the most effective runner, as he had 24 yards on six carries, the only Brown to average more than a yard per carry. He had a 30-yard run called back because of a holding penalty on Darnell Dinkins in the second half.
By the way, this just in, Jamal Lewis’ career has hit the wall. His last effective season was 2007.
On defense, despite D’Qwell Jackson’s great day (he had two interceptions and 15 tackles), it was another case of not being able to stop the run. The Titans rushed for 235 yards, an average of 5.5 per carry, and came within one yard by LenDale White of having two runners gain 100 yards in the contest.
Quite frankly, I couldn’t understand why Collins was throwing at all early in the game. He was doing the Browns a favor by not running the ball. In the tenth year since the team returned to the NFL, they still cannot stop the run.
Look at the Titans. They are 12-1 with a simple formula: They run the ball and stop the other team from doing the same. It’s a little easier to win when you can do those things. That should be the goal of the organization in the off-season. Make strides to run the ball and stop the run.
If the players enjoy playing for Crennel, they have a funny way of showing it. If Crennel believes he needs to win to save his job, he’s going about it the wrong way. Trying to keep the score close doesn’t get it done, and playing this brand of football is not going to get the fans on your side. The Crennel regime has three games left; this season can’t end soon enough.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 