This month, the Browns games are looking like the movie “Ground Hog Day” with Bill Murray. Each game looks remarkably like the game before. Can’t run the ball? Check.
Can’t stop the run? Check.
Strange use of the clock by the coaching staff at the end of the first half? Check.
This is not the formula to winning football, and that was proven again today as Cleveland fell to the Baltimore Ravens, 20-10, and fall to 5-10 on the season.
A loss to Pittsburgh next week means the Browns will end the 2010 season with the same record as last year, despite having better talent. That can’t bode well for Eric Mangini’s future here.
Let’s go back to the fiasco right before the intermission when the Browns scored a field goal to bring them to within three points at 13-10.
First, they left two timeouts on the board. Does the head coach think he can turn those in at the end of the season for coupons or something?
Following the two minute warning, Colt McCoy hit RB Mike Bell for 24 yards, putting the ball on the Ravens’ 28 yard line with three timeouts left! The Browns did not run another play until 1:16 was remaining, and that play was a 1 yard run by Bell. The next play came with :31 left, and it was a pass play, but McCoy was flushed out of the pocket and ran for 7 yards.
Cleveland then went to the wildcat formation and Josh Cribbs, who look healthy today for the first time in weeks, picked up the first down at the Baltimore 13. It was then that the Browns used their first timeout. So, they went 15 yards and used about a minute to do it all the while being in scoring territory.
The Plain Dealer’s Tony Grossi said it looks like the Browns go into these situations looking for a field goal, not a touchdown. It certainly looked like that today.
Then, the Browns tried an onside kick to start the second half and it failed when Phil Dawson only kicked it eight yards, instead of the required 10. Not going to blame Mangini for the aggressiveness, even though it seemed a bit forced. However, why not go for broke inside the Ravens’ 30 at the end of the first half?
McCoy played like a rookie for the first time this season, hitting just 15 of 29 passes for 149 yards and throwing three interceptions. The first one was excusable as WR Mohammad Massaquoi could have made a better effort to knock the ball down instead of letting Ladarius Webb pick it off. The other two picks were by Ed Reed, who is probably going to the Hall of Fame.
By when you give up 161 rushing to the opposition and you only get 102 yourself, it makes it difficult to win. Mix in four turnovers, and you have a recipe for defeat.
In a statistical anomaly, the Browns actually out gained the Ravens, 280 to 258 yards on the day. And McCoy was not sacked by the Ravens’ defense either.
Rookie CB Joe Haden had another solid effort, intercepting his sixth pass of the year, and he also had a sack of Joe Flacco, the only one recorded by the Browns. He looks like he can be a cornerstone on this team.
Cleveland’s only touchdown came on a trick play, a 29 yard pass from Massaquoi to Brian Robiskie, his second TD catch in as many weeks. Massaquoi had a mixed game because he also fumbled after a catch in the first half, and didn’t break up McCoy’s first pick.
There is one more game is this season, and the Browns are ending it in an opposite manner than they did last year when they won their last four contests. Unless they upset the Steelers, they will finish with the same record and four straight defeats.
Also, a loss next week means a 1-5 record in the division, which is unacceptable if you intend to compete in the AFC North.
The big news won’t be the game, it will be what follows, when we all find out Mike Holmgren’s take on the team and its coach.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 