Browns Need to Win Now

As expected by virtually everyone on the planet, the Cleveland Browns made it official this morning, firing coach Pat Shurmur and GM Tom Heckert.

The chief reason was the team’s poor record over the last two seasons, winning just nine games and losing 23, the same mark achieved in the two years under the previous head coach, Eric Mangini.

However, there is a major difference between the end of the Mangini era and the current group of Browns who finished the season with three straight losses after a three game winning streak prior.

There is certainly more talent here right now, mostly due to the efforts of Heckert, who should get credit for the talent he’s brought into the organization.

When Mangini was let go after the 2010 season, here are the players on the roster who still remained contributors in 2012: On offense, T Joe Thomas, TE Benjamin Watson, TE Alex Smith, C Alex Mack. On defense: NT Ahtyba Rubin, CB Joe Haden, CB Sheldon Brown, and S T. J. Ward.

Of that group, Haden and Ward were drafted by Heckert and Brown was brought in via a trade with Philadelphia engineered by the general manager. Watson was brought in as a free agent during the off-season as well.

That means only Thomas, Mack, and Rubin were here before Heckert arrived.

Most NFL people believe the Browns are close to being a playoff contender in the AFC. Their primary needs going into the draft next April are help in the secondary, a pass rusher, and another outside linebacker. That’s a far cry from several years ago, when Tony Grossi referred to the roster as a group of special team players.

What this means for whoever will be the new coach and head of player personnel (Joe Banner wants to run things, so the new guy will not be the GM) is there is no grace period. Immediate results will be expected, so a one or two game improvement will not be tolerated by a fan base that has watched more than its share of losing football since 1999.

That is why people are concerned with Banner, that and the unflattering personality traits people here about from his days in Philadelphia. He seems like a guy who wants things done his way, and to the Cleveland football fans, that sounds like starting over once again, something seen five times since ’99.

It is time to build on what is already here and enhance it, getting the Browns back to the post-season. Of the teams with the top four choices in last year’s draft, only the Browns are packing up their lockers today. The other three (Indianapolis, Washington, and Minnesota) are all preparing for the playoffs.

That kind of turn around needs to take place in Cleveland.

One of the things new owner Jimmy Haslam and Banner have to seek in a coach is the ability to make adjustments according to the talent at hand. No more guys with the attitude of this is what I run, so we will try to fit a square peg into a round hole. Let’s try putting Weeden in an offense where he is more comfortable, so he can just play.

Let’s try to utilize Trent Richardson better, and not just have him run up the middle continuously.

It has been said many times that based on the cash Haslam put up for the team, he should get to put his own people in place. That is absolutely true. However, the Cleveland Browns need to start winning in 2013. A 6-10 or 7-9 record is going to get himself and Banner off to a bad start along the shores of Lake Erie.

In Last Game, Shurmur is True to Form

The Cleveland Browns 24-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers this afternoon was a microcosm of Pat Shurmur’s tenure as head coach, a tenure that will end after this contest.

The Browns outgained the Steelers 320 yards to 212, but mistakes made by the offense, mostly turnovers killed any chance for Shurmur’s team to put up points. In the 32 games under his head coaching, Cleveland scored more that 21 points just five times. They moved the ball, but couldn’t put it in the end zone.

The average NFL team scores 22.7 points per game, so to get to that figure and above just five times speaks to the philosophy of the guy calling plays, and that would be Shurmur.

He did show a little aggressiveness today, using a fake punt, but at the end of the half, he did not use a timeout despite getting a nine yard pick up on first down with about 40 seconds remaining. In your last game as head coach, with a 5-10 record and absolutely nothing at stake, why not try to score at least a field goal.

Shurmur supporters will point out that he didn’t want to turn the ball over, but really! You are assuming your quarterback is going to make a poor play? That’s terrible coaching.

Then again, on the last drive of the game trailing by 14 points, he refused to use a timeout until QB Thaddeus Lewis was injured on the games penultimate play. The team was moving the ball, but there didn’t seem to be much of a sense of urgency from the coaching staff.

Lewis acquitted himself well, completing 22 of 32 passes for 204 yards with a touchdown pass to Greg Little and a terrible interception in the first quarter. The Browns also ran the ball fairly well, gaining 138 yards, of which 35 came on the fake field goal run by Ray Ventrone.

Still, even without that run, Cleveland still outgained Pittsburgh on the day on the ground, with Brandon Jackson (remember him?) coming out of moth balls to gaining 54 yards on eight carries. Guess the fresh legs argument would apply to him.

Lewis did run a similar offense to what was run all year, an attack made up of mostly short throws and crossing patterns. He was accurate for the most part and looked like a guy who can play in the NFL.

The defense played fairly well, holding Ben Roethlisburger to just 121 net yards in the air and sacking him twice, both by DE Jabaal Sheard.

The two fumbles, one by Josh Gordon and the other by Travis Benjamin, set up the Steelers for two touchdowns on short fields, and that was the difference in the game.

So now, everyone in the organization is on the watch for when Shurmur and probably GM Tom Heckert will be fired. The latter has brought a lot of talent in the organization and should keep his gig, but won’t because the new boss wants his own man.

We have said this before, but here goes…Fire Heckert if you want, but the next guy has to be better than him. That’s the challenge for Joe Banner, who seems like a guy who was beat up by athletes in high school and now we wants to exact revenge.

Here’s hoping the new crew will put the offensive players in a system suited to their strengths, and add a pass rusher and some secondary help to the defense. If this is done, the Cleveland Browns could be looking at a winning record and a possible playoff berth as early as next season.

This isn’t a Browns team devoid of talent like after Eric Mangini’s tenure, there are pieces in place.

Hopefully, Banner and Jimmy Haslam understand that and don’t start another total rebuilding process. The fans of the Browns are tired of waiting and for the first time there is brightness on the horizon.

If Lewis Plays, Have Some Fun

There is no question that coaches speak their own language. Over the years in Cleveland we have been subject to a few of the great practitioners of “coach speak”.

From Pat Shurmur’s “battling Browns” to Eric Wedge’s “grinding Indians”, we have listened to some of the best people who can say a lot and tell you nothing.

Politicians have nothing on these guys.

The entire Indians’ front office does a tremendous job of trying to confuse its fan base as to what is going on with the organization. They talk much the way Fortune 500 corporations do, instead of conversing in baseball talk.

With Pat Shurmur likely preparing for his last game as Cleveland Browns head coach, he came up with a doozy when talking about his probable starting quarterback this Sunday, third stringer Thaddeus Lewis.

Shurmur said the offense would have to be pared back if Lewis has to go against the Steelers.

First, the obvious question would be “can they really pare back the offense even more?” What would happen? Every play would be a run up the middle?

Further examination though, would show that if Lewis doesn’t know the offense at this point, why does he still have a job?

Lewis has been with Shurmur longer than either of the other two QB’s, rookie Brandon Weeden, and Colt McCoy, who has worked with Shurmur for two years.

Lewis was with the Rams in Shurmur’s last year as offensive coordinator. In fact, the head coach’s high regard for him is the reason he is with the Browns.

He also went to Duke University, one of the nation’s finer institutes of higher learning. So, it’s not like Lewis is some kid just out of high school and barely got good enough grades to graduate.

The last reason to roll your eyes on the coach’s comment is that his football team is 5-10 and going nowhere. He should be calling every gadget play in the playbook this weekend because there literally is nothing to lose.

So why not let Lewis play with reckless abandon and let the chips fall where they may? If he throws five interceptions and completes less than 40% of his throws, who cares?

We will then know that he can’t play in the NFL.

On the other hand, he may do very well. There isn’t a high probability of that, but you never know.

Heck, Shurmur had a front row seat for an NFL team letting a passer with little experience just play when the Redskins did just that with rookie Kirk Cousins.

Certainly, Washington didn’t button up their attack for that game and there was far more on the line for the ‘Skins on that day than there will be for the Browns in week 17.

This is not to say that Lewis’ inexperience will cause him to make mistakes. No doubt Steelers’ defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau will dial up all kinds of disguises for his schemes to confuse someone playing their first NFL game.

But it speaks to Shurmur’s innate move toward conservative football that he wants to pare down the offense in a meaningless game. He’s been reluctant to let Weeden call audibles and really only used gadget plays against arguably the worst team in the league, Kansas City.

The coach is rare in that he’s an offensive coach, but he plays not to lose. Hopefully, the Browns next coach will try to win football games instead of avoiding defeat.

Passin’ Pat Ignores the Run, Which Was Working.

Cookie Monster loves cookies.

Wilt Chamberlain loved the ladies.

Pat Shurmur loves the forward pass.

Earlier during the high school football season, St. Ignatius coach Chuck Kyle said his best defense against Mentor QB Mitch Trubisky was the running game because if his team had the ball, it would be difficult for Trubisky to operate.

Perhaps Shurmur should have heeded Kyle’s advice today against the great Peyton Manning, because Manning put on a passing clinic, going 20 of 43 for 339 yards, starting from the opening drive of the game until he was mercifully taken out of the game with the Broncos well in command 34-12, which was the final score.

Judging by the score of the game, you would think the Browns needed to play catch up all day long, and although they did trail from the first drive of the game on, it was still a two score game at 21-6 heading into the fourth quarter.

Cleveland’s best chance would have been to control the clock with the running game, mixing in the pass, and the Browns did run the ball effectively when they put it into the hands of Trent Richardson and Montario Hardesty. They averaged five yards per carry as a team and even if you take away Colt McCoy’s 15 yard scramble at the end of the game, Richardson still picked up almost six yards a pop (9 carries for 53 yards), and Hardesty toted the pigskin three times for 14 yards (4.7 per rush).

Unfortunately, they only ran the ball 18 times for the game and only 14 of those were by design.

We get that it’s a passing league, and the most successful teams have explosive passing attacks, but think about this–the Broncos have a guy going to the Hall of Fame in Manning, and their running back, Knowshon Moreno carried the football 22 times.

Passin’ Pat and his aerial circus. That’s what the Browns should be nicknamed.

Instead, the coach decided to let Manning run 75 plays from scrimmage and have the ball seven more minutes than his team, exposing a secondary depleted by injuries to T. J. Ward, Tashaun Gipson and Sheldon Brown, and the odd release of Dimitri Patterson during the week, to his sophisticated passing attack.

After watching this game, does anyone still want to address the quarterback situation in the 2013 draft?

It is obvious that the Browns need help in the secondary because Manning pretty much stayed away from Joe Haden most of the time and instead looked where Brown was lined up before the veteran was injured in the second quarter.

The defense also needs another pass rusher because they couldn’t get near Manning hitting him only a couple of times on the afternoon.

Besides forgetting about the run, the defense couldn’t help the offense get the ball back, allowing 9 of 15 third down conversions, and two of those stops came with back up QB Brock Osweiler in the game.

And for those who predicted the Denver pass rushing duo of Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil would dominate, the Broncos only recorded two sacks while the game was in doubt, before they were able to tee off on McCoy, who replaced starter Brandon Weeden, who left with an injured shoulder after the second of those sacks with the score 21-6.

Weeden played well for the most part, particularly on the first two drives of the game, in which the Browns mixed in the run, hitting on 12 0f 19 throws for 104 yards. The Browns used a bootleg pass in which he completed a pass to TE Benjamin Watson, but that play (unlike the Redskins last week) was never seen again.

This ignorance of the run didn’t start last week. If the Browns did an internal audit, they would see their best games were the ones where they had a balanced offense. But too many times, Passin’ Pat goes back to what he loves, throwing the short pass.

It was funny that one of Weeden’s long completions to Greg Little, a 21 yard strike in the second quarter came off play action. However, if you stop running the ball, using play action has no effect.

Next week, the Browns will likely end the season without Weeden and Richardson, who injured an ankle late in the game (why was he in?), so critics of the two rookies will get what they want, a lot of McCoy and Hardesty.

After a three game winning streak, the Cleveland Browns have laid two gigantic eggs. It makes the decision that Jimmy Haslam and Joe Banner will make after next Sunday’s game a little bit easier.

Weeden Deserves Chance in Real Offense

After a poor performance in Sunday’s loss to the Washington Redskins, the fickle football fans of Cleveland now want the head of quarterback Brandon Weeden. They are ready to write him off after just 14 games.

Some people even went as far to say that the rookie from Oklahoma State should have been benched in favor of Colt McCoy in the last home game of the season.

Think about that for a second. If the Browns coaching staff thought McCoy was better, he would start. They, after all, watch both of them everyday in practice.

Still, Weeden deserves the chance to be the starter next season for many reasons. One, he was a first round draft pick, and although he hasn’t lit it up like fellow rookies Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, and even third round selection Russell Wilson, he hasn’t been god awful either.

He should get a chance to put what he learned during his first year into practice.

However, the biggest reason he should get another opportunity to start is to play in a better and more creative offensive scheme than the one run by his current head coach, Pat Shurmur.

While it is true that Weeden hasn’t set the world on fire with his play this season, it looks to us that he is similar to another passer who played in Cleveland recently.

No, not Derek Anderson, who most fans compare Weeden to because both have “big arms”, but his play and demeanor remind us of McCoy.

The major complaint about McCoy last season was that he checked down a lot and didn’t take shots down the field. Weeden can throw deep, but doesn’t, mostly because the coaching staff seems reticent to do so.

Both quarterbacks looked like they were afraid to make mistakes, something that obviously has been drilled into them repeatedly by Shurmur. There is a time and place to take chances in the passing game. Protecting the football is certainly important, but being ultra conservative on offense doesn’t score points, and not scoring points leads to losses.

Statistically, Shurmur’s offense has always been a dink and dunk attack.

In his two years as the Rams’ offensive coordinator, St. Louis ranked in the bottom three in the NFL in average yards per attempt. Last year, with Shurmur serving as both head coach and coordinator, the Browns ranked 30th in the league.

This year, Cleveland ranks 23rd, mostly because of the long passes Weeden has hit on with WR Josh Gordon, as well as Sunday’s bomb to Travis Benjamin.

In addition to the quarterback, the offense doesn’t help the running backs either. Most of the formations are so tight in design that the defense doesn’t have to cover the entire field. Do you think that helps Trent Richardson and Montario Hardesty?

Both high draft picks deserve the chance to play in an attack that spreads the field a little bit before making judgments as to whether or not they can be All Pro caliber players in the NFL.

It was remarkable to watch Washington on offense because they seemed to play to reserve QB Kirk Cousins’ strengths. That’s what coaching is. Looking at the talent of your team and developing a plan which gets the most out of them.

It’s tough to say Pat Shurmur’s offense gets the best out of anyone. Seriously, what player thrives in this scheme?

No matter who the Browns’ next head coach is, and we assume the current coach will not be back in 2013, he should see what Brandon Weeden can do in a real professional offense before making a change.

There is no problem with bringing in a veteran for competition, in case the 29-year-old passer can’t thrive in any offense. Weeden still deserves a chance to play in a system that successful teams run, not as offense that doesn’t spread the field, doesn’t spread the defense, and for the most part, doesn’t score points.

Browns Pass, Pass, Pass Offense Returns in Loss to Redskins

The Cleveland Browns seemed to have everything going for themselves as today’s game against the Washington Redskins unfolded.

The contest was at home, where the Browns had won three straight games. The weather was a balmy 60 degrees, incredibly warm for this time of year in Cleveland. And Redskins’ QB Robert Griffin III was inactive for the game because of a knee injury.

However, Pat Shurmur’s squad looked at all their good fortune and smashed them with a sledgehammer.

Washington hammered the Browns 38-21 and ended whatever slim playoff hopes this football team had.

One can’t help but think coaching had everything to do with today’s debacle, starting with a total ignorance of the running game.

When the Browns scored the first touchdown of the game following a T. J. Ward interception on a 6-yard run by Trent Richardson, it gave the rookie 24 yards on four carries, with a long run of 14 yards.

After getting a three and out, the next time Cleveland had the football, they ran just once, with Montario Hardesty getting the carry. It was just a three play series for the Browns.

The next possession by Cleveland featured a one yard run on first down, followed by two passes, one a six yard loss to Richardson, the other incomplete.

The Redskins scored after 34 yard punt out-of-bounds by Reggie Hodges to tie the score.

The subsequent possession featured six plays, five passes and a one yard run by Richardson, who now had 6 carries for 26 yards, a 4.3 average per carry.

The Cleveland defense held, but the offense gave it right back on three straight passes, one of which was a nine yard completion to Mohammad Massaquoi.

Meanwhile, Dick Jauron stacked the defense to take away the Washington ground game, which leads the NFL in yardage. Alfred Morris didn’t have a lot of success, but still the Redskins kept giving him the ball to keep the Browns’ defense honest.

Washington took the lead on the next drive to put themselves in the lead at 10-7.

The Browns scored the next time they got the ball using nine plays to go 75 yards. Five of the nine plays were passes, with Josh Cribbs carrying once out of the “wildcat” formation. The last two plays were Richardson runs totally four yards. He now had 9 attempts for 29 yards. He carried just twice more for the rest of the game, and one of those was the first play of the second half.

Weeden threw a terrible interception to open the third quarter which wound up giving the ‘Skins a lead they would never relinquish, but the Browns were still only losing by 3 points.

Richardson’s last carry came with 13:08 left in the third quarter, and the Browns only attempted one other run the rest of the game, that by Hardesty.

Even after another short punt led to another Redskin touchdown, the Browns trailed 24-14, but there were still 22 minutes left in the contest!

After the game, Weeden talked about the problems that occur when the offense becomes one-dimensional, but it wasn’t the Redskin defense that forced that, it was the play calling of the Browns.

Washington averaged less yards per carry than Cleveland for the game (3.5 compared to 3.9), but they didn’t stop giving the ball to Morris. They kept mixing up the play calls.

Meanwhile, Shurmur allowed the Redskin defense to play pass exclusively. It was a weakness going into the game for Mike Shanahan’s team, but when you don’t have to play the run, it makes the job a little bit easier.

It was the same trap the Browns fell into in past games. In the three game winning streak, the attack was much more balanced.

For those begging for the current coaching staff to stay in 2013, today’s game was a cold slap back to reality. The Browns need more imagination on offense. For inspiration, they need only to look at their opponents today.

Winning Streak, but Offense Still Leaves Points On Field

The dates were September 26-29 of this year. That’s more than two months ago.

What is significant about those dates? It was the last time a Cleveland major league sports team won consecutive games, and it was the Indians.

However, right now, the Cleveland Browns have a two game winning streak, as they defeated the Oakland Raiders 20-17 on the road to raise their record to 4-8 for the season.

That doesn’t mean there weren’t any anxious moments along the way.

After taking a 13-3 lead with 9:51 remaining in the third quarter, and dominating the game, things took a turn when Phil Dawson had his attempt at a 30th straight made field goal blocked. Instead of taking a 16-3 advantage, the Browns had just a field goal lead after Carson Palmer hit Rod Streater for 64 yards a little over a minute later.

When the next Cleveland drive stalled, the Raiders were on the attack. Going without a huddle, Palmer started peppering the Browns’ secondary moving the ball down the field with ease.

Then the game turned back toward Pat Shurmur’s team when CB Sheldon Brown picked off a deep throw. It was the veteran second straight game with a pick.

Given new life, the offense moved in for the kill. QB Brandon Weeden hit his tight end often in moving the Browns 94 yards in 14 plays, chewing up over six minutes, climaxing with a Trent Richardson three yard run to put the game away.

Weeden hit Benjamin Watson with passes of 22 and 7 yards, and hit Jordan Cameron for 23 more yards on the drive.

And the Browns came home with their first road win since September of last season against the Peyton Manning-less Indianapolis Colts.

Until that last drive though, it looked like the offense was going to have another week where their seeming affection for the field goal was going to do them in. And once again, even in victory, the Browns did not score 21 points.

This was the 60th game that Shurmur has been the offensive coordinator or head coach and his teams have scored over 2o points just seven times. His offense doesn’t score enough in today’s NFL.

The offense gained 475 yards and punted the ball away only twice. The Raiders came into the game giving up points by the bushel full, but Cleveland only scored 20 today.

The Browns averaged 9.5 yards per pass play and a little over four yards per run. They could have scored almost 30 points the way they moved the football, but they didn’t.

To be fair, if Dawson hadn’t had his field goal partially blocked, Cleveland would have scored 23 points today. And Weeden threw two interceptions, both deep in Oakland territory, which stopped drive which should have resulted in points.

Still, how many times have you seen the attack go ultra conservative when they get close. Even on the last touchdown, the last four plays were all runs.

Weeden did throw for 364 yards, his third game of the season over the 300 yard mark, and had a touchdown throw of 44 yards to fellow rookie Josh Gordon, who caught six tosses for 116 yards. He’s looking more and more like a #1 receiver.

Watson also had a productive day, catching six throws for 80 yards, and Greg Little had four receptions for 48 yards and had a crushing block on a 54 yard catch and run by Mohammad Massaquoi.

Richardson (20 carries for 72 yards) and Montario Hardesty (5 rushes for 39 yards) ran the ball well.

It was mistakes by the quarterback and the conservative nature of the coaching staff that allowed this game to be close at all.

Take the second drive by the Browns which resulted in a Dawson field goal. Cleveland had a third and four from the OAK 21, and called a flat pass to Richardson, on which he was tackled for a loss.

It’s no problem getting the ball to Richardson, but why not throw a five yard pattern to get the first down. It’s clear Shurmur doesn’t have confidence in Weeden’s ball security, especially after he throws an interception.

Now the Browns come home to take on the 2-10 Chiefs, who won an emotional game against Carolina today after the tragedy of yesterday. It will be another game where Cleveland will be favored.

It’s a chance to win three in a row, and also to surpass last year’s victory total. For once, progress could be shown in the win column.

The Case for Keeping Heckert

There are many rumors about an upheaval in the Browns organization after the season ends, mostly because of the new ownership.

Jimmy Haslam brought in Joe Banner as the team’s CEO, and much speculation has abounded that the latter will want to bring in his own people to run the football operations.

Here’s hoping that Banner doesn’t make judgments on any people involved based on anything besides their current performance on their job.

Mostly, this concerns the future of GM Tom Heckert.

Whether or not Heckert and Banner were friendly when both were in Philadelphia should have nothing to do with the former keeping his job.

If Banner has made up his mind about jettisoning the current GM, then it is likely a decision made out of spite. Meaning he simply doesn’t get along with Heckert.

Although many people were glad to see Mike Holmgren leave the organization, you can’t argue that the Cleveland Browns are in better shape now than they were when The Big Show arrived.

And one of the reasons for that was the hiring of Heckert as general manager.

There are many people around football, both coaches and media members, who believe the Browns are finally putting together a pretty solid football team.

There is no doubt that Tom Heckert is a huge reason this is happening.

Has he hit on every single draft pick he has made over the last three years? No, but name a general manager who does.

The misses are magnified here because that’s how it is, but other teams miss on choices as well.

That said, look at the Heckert draft choices that are making significant contributions to this football team. Lower round choices like DT Billy Winn, CB Buster Skrine, and CB Trevon Wade are all getting regular playing time.

And before people complain about Skrine, he does a fine job covering slot receivers as the nickel back.

Think about free agents such as LB Craig Robertson, CB Johnson Bademosi, and S Tashaun Gipson, who are all very important players for this team, especially Robertson who has made several big plays this season.

And while critics bring up the Montario Hardesty pick in round two, and some are questioning the pick of Brandon Weeden, look at the guys Heckert selected in the first few rounds of the draft.

Joe Haden is the Browns’ best defensive player and the Browns are 3-3 with him playing and 0-5 without him on the field. That reflects the impact he has on this defense.

DT Phil Taylor has missed some time with a torn pectoral muscle, but he is back now and together with Ahytba Rubin and two other Heckert picks, John Hughes and Winn to make up a defensive tackle rotation that is quite formidable.

And Trent Richardson and Weeden were starters from the first game this season, and both have shown promise.

These players were all picked in the first round.

The second round picks under this regime were S T.J. Ward in 2010, DE Jabaal Sheard and WR Greg Little in 2011, and T Mitchell Schwartz this year.

Critics will point out Little’s inconsistency, but the other three players are at the least solid starters. Others will point out the lack of free agents signed, but successful organizations build through the draft, and the free agents Heckert did sign last off-season, Frostee Rucker and Juqua Parker have been productive.

From here, it looks like Heckert has done a damn good job procuring talent and building the depth this franchises hasn’t seen since 1999.

Banner may have already made his decision, but keep this in mind. If he sends Heckert packing, he has to find somebody better to replace him. That won’t be easy based on the success he’s had in adding talent to the Browns.

Browns Dominated 1st Half Except for Scoreboard.

Another game, another loss today for the Cleveland Browns who fell to 2-8 with a 23-20 loss in overtime to the Dallas Cowboys in Jerry Jones’ football palace.

Yes, the Browns played well once again. Heck, they dominated the first half leading 13-0 going into the intermission.

Actually, that’s where the game was lost, because Cleveland should have led 21-0 at that point in the game, but they missed opportunities once again.

Defensively, the Cowboys offensive line couldn’t handle the Browns front seven, and they forced Tony Romo into bad throw after bad throw.

In the second half, the Dallas QB got into a rhythm, and the Cleveland secondary, minus starting cornerback Joe Haden couldn’t stop the Cowboy passing attack.

Still, after a Josh Cribbs punt return and a resulting horse collar tackle penalty, the Browns took the lead 20-17 with a little over a minute to play on Benjamin Watson’s second TD of the day, a 17 yard strike from Brandon Weeden.

But Romo drove the Cowboys right down the field, aided by two big penalties, an unsportsmanlike conduct call on S T.J. Ward and a pass interference call on CB Sheldon Brown for 35 yards.

One change the NFL needs to make is making pass interference a 15 yard maximum call. There shouldn’t be any penalty, especially a judgment call that results in that much yardage.

Dallas had the ball inside the Browns’ 10, but had to settle for a game tying field goal by Dan Bailey.

In overtime, Dallas ran 14 plays with just three runs, as they obviously decided they couldn’t run the ball against Dick Jauron’s defense. The Browns ran three play too…total.

That was kind of the story of the game, especially in the second half.

After the Browns first drive after halftime in which they ran 11 plays, moving 41 yards, their next two drives were three and outs, the one following that lasted just four snaps after a Weeden fumble. Dallas had the football pretty much all the time from 10 minutes left in the third quarter until five minutes remaining in the game.

The offense didn’t do its part to give the defense some valuable rest.

In the first half, Weeden, who would up 20 for 35 and 210 yards was erratic with his accuracy. He missed a wide open Josh Cooper on the drive that led to Phil Dawson’s first field goal, and was high and wide

A Watson dropped pass led to another field goal instead of a touchdown in the first half.

Trent Richardson didn’t break any long gains, but he and Montario Hardesty did total 118 yards on the ground, and Richardson added 49 more catching the ball.

Josh Gordon was productive again with five catches for 53 yards and Greg Little did well too, making three grabs.

Despite some predictions of Weeden having difficulty with the Cowboys pressure, he had plenty of time to throw for the most part, getting sacked just twice.

On the other side, Cleveland got to Romo seven times, with eight different players accounting for the plays. However, the absence of Haden once again hurt the Browns as WRs Dez Bryant and Miles Austin combined for 18 receptions and several pass interference or holding penalties.

It seems trite to say the Browns are the best 2-8 team in the NFL, mostly because there aren’t many teams with just two wins.

Still, it is disappointing that Pat Shurmur can’t put more games in the win column, especially because other teams with similar records last year and won more games.

For whatever reason, the play calling for the Browns gets very conservative when they get near the red zone. Why? That’s a question for the coaching staff.

Unfortunately, that lack of aggressiveness will likely cost the staff their jobs at the end of the season.

This season will likely be dubbed, “Close, but no wins”.

Why Can’t Browns Win?

This week, The Sporting News took a poll of NFL players which revealed that the Cleveland Browns are looked upon as the worst organization in pro football.

Having only two winning seasons since 1999 and going through coaches and general managers like some people go through underwear will get you that ranking.

It also doesn’t help that the franchise seems to be spinning its wheels currently either.

What frustrates Browns fans is the lack of progress in the win/loss record.

Most people would agree that from a talent standpoint, the Browns are better than they were a couple of years ago. But why hasn’t it translated into more wins?

The Indianapolis Colts finished 2-14 a year ago and allowed several veterans to leave via free agency. They did have the first pick in the draft and selected their franchise quarterback, Andrew Luck.

Right now, the Colts are 5-3. The Browns are 2-7.

The Rams had the second pick in last year’s draft with a 2-14 record. They are now 3-5.

Minnesota was 3-13 in 2011. They currently sit at 5-4.

Tampa Bay had the same record as the Browns at 4-12. They are 4-4 halfway through this season.

The question is then why can’t the Browns show the same improvement record wise?

The organization will tell you about how they have so many players with less than one year or one year experience, and that the schedule they play is difficult, with six divisional games against the Steelers, Ravens, and Bengals.

It is true that Cleveland is the third youngest team in the NFL. However, the Rams are the youngest. The Vikings are 4th and the Buccaneers are 6th.

So, it appears the age of the team doesn’t deter victories.

The Browns also can’t use the rookie quarterback excuse either, because of the Colts’ progress with Luck.

As for the scheduling issue, Indy has a win over the Green Bay Packers (6-2) and the Vikings. The Rams have beaten Seattle and handed the then unbeaten Cardinals their first loss.

Minnesota has a win over San Francisco (6-2) and also defeated a 2011 playoff team in Detroit. Tampa’s only quality win was against the Vikings, but they have won three of their last four.

So why don’t the Browns win more football games? It could be because those other teams show more aggressiveness, and that stems from the head coach.

Pat Shurmur may be a fine teacher and a great assistant coach, but he doesn’t appear to have what is takes to be a head coach in the NFL.

Here are a couple of things to ponder…

He spooked his own quarterback against the Ravens, talking about how he was afraid of Ed Reed. That made Weeden a dink and dunk passer for basically the whole game.

He had been very accurate on deep passes as of late, and his coach took that away from him.

Why not say that Reed is a future Hall of Famer, but you have to use good judgment in going after him?

And another thing, the Browns drafted Weeden because he had more arm strength than Colt McCoy. Why is the rookie’s average yards per attempt just slightly higher than McCoy’s was last year (6.2 vs. 5.9)?

You have to think the offensive scheme is the problem. Shurmur is making Weeden turn into McCoy.

You can understand the frustration of the fans with their football team. Teams make big turnarounds every season. This year, it’s the Colts, last year it was the 49ers.

Why can’t it be the Browns?

There is talent on this football team, so they can’t use that excuse anymore.

If Pat Shurmur can’t win games, then it’s time to bring in someone who can.