They say once is an occurance, twice is a tendency, and three times is a trend.
A bad tendency is rearing its ugly head for the Cleveland Browns, who have started out the regular season by losing two winnable games in the same manner.
A bad mistake by their starting quarterback in the first half, and being totally dominated in the second half.
With the Browns moving the ball well and with a 7-3 lead today, Seneca Wallace threw a pick six to give the Chiefs the lead. It was very similar to the mistake made by Jake Delhomme in the opening game on the schedule, and both cost the team a touchdown. Both games were ultimately lost by less than that margin.
More disturbing is the lack of adjustments being made at halftime by the coaching staff. In both games, the offense has not been able to move the ball, and the defense has been unable to stop what the opponents have been doing, but in their defense they are on the field quite a bit because the offense can’t do a thing.
Kansas City held the Browns to less than 60 yards total offense in the second half, and once again, Cleveland went away from the running game, attempting just 26 rushes for the game for 73 yards. The Browns also didn’t use Josh Cribbs in the running game, as he carried just once for one yard.
To be fair, Cribbs did provide a highlight, catching a 65 yard pass from Wallace for the Browns’ second touchdown. However, the wide receivers as a whole still continue to have subpar performances as Mohammad Massaquoi and Brian Robiske combined to catch two passes for 21 yards. That’s not an acceptable job.
Defensively, there was no pressure on Chief QB Matt Cassel as the Browns managed just one sack, by Marvin Benard, who now has two on the season. And they are still having problem covering the tight end as Tony Moeaki caught five balls, many in key situations.
However, whatever game plan the Browns have coming into the game works in the first half. If it weren’t for the picks thrown by the starting quaterbacks, the Browns would have had an 11 point lead at the half in both games. However, something is happening at halftime, and it is nothing good. Either the coaching staff is thinking the opponent isn’t going to change anything to combat what Cleveland is doing, or they don’t have a good plan to stop the adjustments made by the other team.
It’s either arrogance or bad scheming, and both are on the coaching staff.
The defense was thought to be the questionable unit going into the regular season, but they have been just the opposite, allowing really only 10 points against Tampa Bay and just nine points against KC. Despite some criticisms they are holding up their end of the bargain. If you hold teams under 20 points per game in the NFL, you need to come up with victories. Look at the early games today, teams that held their opponents to 20 points or fewer won 8 of 12 games.
There were other games like the Browns-Chiefs where both teams scored under 20 points.
It also has to be noted there was some strange officiating from the NFL as is usual. Jerome Harrison’s fumble could have been overturned, and a terrible roughing the passer penalty in the fourth quarter didn’t help the Cleveland cause. And the spot on the Chiefs’ final first down was questionable as well. It was a bad gamble by KC coach Todd Haley that worked out.
Why have replay if you are going to ignore it. And one more comment about the rules, if you have a rule that seems to be idiotic by virtually everyone (i.e. the rule nullifying Calvin Johnson’s catch in Week 1), then get rid of it immediately.
Now the Browns enter the meat grinder part of the schedule meaning if they continue to make mistakes, the opposition will be a little less forgiving. The Ravens are next on the slate, and Cleveland needs to start competing in the AFC North if they are ever going to turn things around. Everyone thought that Eric Mangini was developing an identity for the football team, and he may be.
However, instead of a tough physical football team, the identity might be one that can’t adjust in the second half.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 