We have been a proponent over the past few years that a successful football team needs to run the ball to win, especially in the division the Cleveland Browns are in, the AFC North. The past two weeks, coach Eric Mangini’s squad has shown improvement in that area, having 100 yard rushers in each game. Even in yesterday’s 27-14 defeat in Pittsburgh, Cleveland averaged 4.0 yards per carry.
The "wildcat" formation worked well in the first quarter yesterday, but after Josh Cribbs finally threw a couple of passes, and God forbid, one was picked off, the formation was shelved until midway through the third quarter. That’s a coaching mistake.
However, they have no passing game whatsoever.
Yes, they did show some improvement because they completed two passes in the first half of the game, compared to two successful throws in the entire game against Buffalo. That meant in their last six quarters of football, the Cleveland Browns completed just four passes. Collegiate wishbone attacks of the 1970’s and 80’s had a better throwing game. It really is absurd.
The Browns put together a nice drive in the third quarter by passing with Derek Anderson hitting a long one to Mohammed Massaquoi to set up a TD toss to FB Lawrence Vickers to cut a Steeler lead to ten points. However, that was pretty much it in the air, as Brian Daboll’s "air attack" netted just 106 yards for the game.
The thing we’ve learned is it doesn’t matter who the quarterback is, Anderson or Brady Quinn, the offense philosophy designed by Daboll is archaic at best. Experienced receivers or not, there have to be play designed to get guys open. I believe we have found Bernie Kosar’s first assignment in his new position with the organization. Design a pass pattern that will result in an open receiver.
In regards to the quarterback, he continues to have problems playing decent on the road. This is a problem because the NFL mandates that half of a team’s games are away from home. He also continues to struggle on short passes with touch. Chansi Stuckey was said to have "dropped" a ball that he got one hand on running a short, maybe 10-yard pattern. He really didn’t have a chance to catch the ball, it was a poor pass.
Defensively, you knew it was a bad day when Kamerion Wimbley was sent home with the flu. The team missed his pressure, although David Bowens did okay putting some heat on Ben Roethlisberger. There were open receivers all day long in the porous Browns’ secondary, as Big Ben threw for 417 yards. Many times, Steeler receivers didn’t have a Cleveland player within ten yards of them, as the coverage schemes were ineffective.
The defense did control the running game, holding Pittsburgh to under four yards per attempt, and that includes a 21-yard end around by Mike Wallace, who gained some extra yards after a missed tackle by CB Brandon McDonald, who Deion Sanders thinks is a poor tackler. Seriously, McDonald’s tackling is a huge problem which may land him on the bench next week.
Despite his interception, Cribbs was the bright spot of the game. He ran for 45 yards in six attempts, and scored on another kick return, this one for 98 yards on a kickoff. He is clearly one of the Browns’ best players regardless of position. Mangini and Daboll should be getting him the ball from scrimmage at least 10 times per game.
Who knows what the score of this game would have been had Pittsburgh not turned the ball over four times? It could have been 48-14. The Steelers looked like a sloppy football team yesterday, and their lack of a decent running game doesn’t bode well for their future success.
Also, I’ve never seen a game where the officials blew a measurement. The league said it was a bad camera angle, but the players who were a yard away from the chains didn’t have a bad angle. It was a terrible call and hopefully the NFL will apologize for it this week.
In the same vein, maybe the Browns will also say they are sorry they haven’t put in a passing offense.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 