Cleveland Browns: Terrible Loss to Baltimore

by Jerod Morris

That was terrible. It was pathetic. It was ugly. As I type this I am watching Derek Jeter speak to the crowd after the final game at Yankee Stadium. Jason Giambi is standing one person to Jeter’s left, so he and his sellingly (that’s my word for a mustache if you didn’t know…a combination of Selleck and Mattingly, who sported two of the greatest mustaches ever) are on full display. Why do I mention this? Because it’s the only thing I’ve seen today that’s uglier than the Browns’ performance this afternoon at Baltimore.

I’m still trying to figure out what happened. We led 10-7 at the half, and it felt like we were somewhat in control of the game. We were running relatively well, Derek Anderson seemed to be throwing the ball better, and the offensive coaches remembered that Jerome Harrison is on the team and got him a screen pass that he promptly turned into a touchdown. Plus, the defense had forced two turnovers and seemed primed to make it a difficult day on rookie QB Joe Flacco.

Then the second half started. And…well to be honest I don’t want to talk about. I’d prefer to not have nightmares when I got to bed after writing this.

I’d much prefer to look forward. What can the Browns do to turn this season around and get back to some semblance of respectability?

If you said nothing, I suppose I can offer no rational contradiction except that we were only 1-2 last year and coming off a loss to Oakland when we played Cincinnati and turned the season around. Obviously we are 0-3 this year, and looking even worse than we did last year…but I refuse to give up on the season after 3 games. Call me crazy or an irrational optimist (you might be right)…but there is still a path towards respectability and success.

1 – We have to have better quarterback play. Say what you want about the defense, about the injuries, about the poor coaching decisions that have been rampant this year. If Derek Anderson throws a TD at the end of the first half against Pittsburgh and nothing else changes in that game, we win. Today, if he doesn’t throw 3 picks and instead can manage the game and engineer a couple of scoring drives in the second half, we have a good chance to making today’s game competitive. In a close game, I’d like to think a guy with 20 career starts could find a way to beat a guy making his second start.

But those things didn’t happen. And Derek Anderson didn’t just throw 3 picks, they were BAD interceptions. One went back for a TD that pretty much ended the game. So what’s the problem?

To me, it starts with Derek’s confidence. It looks like he has none. He is missing Joe Jurevicius, his security blanket on 3rd down. He is missing another experience WR like Donte Stallworth who could provide a deep threat and take pressure off of Braylon and Kellen. And he is missing the consistent protection he had last year, when he was sacked only 14 times. But most importantly, he is missing the rhythm and confidence that he had airing the ball out last year and producing big play after big play. Teams are defending the Browns as they should be and not giving us the deep stuff. The problem is that Derek is not having success throwing underneath, and it is leading to streaks of incompletions that wear on everyone’s confidence, and game-changing interceptions that make it very hard for the Browns to have a chance to win.

Next week we play Cincinnati, who Derek torched in one game and played awful against in another. If it were up to me, I would start Derek next week and see if he can recapture the magic and confidence he had in the first meeting with Cincy last year. Give him a few sets of downs, see if he can get in a rhythm, and see where we’re at after one quarter. If the offense resembles what we’ve seen over the first three weeks, we have no choice but to pull D.A. and see what Brady Quinn can do. If teams are going to play zone and for us to throw shorter passes over the middle, we need to go with the QB who is more efficient at doing this. [tag]Brady Quinn[/tag] is better in this area than Derek is, and perhaps he can spark us. I would not start Brady right off, because Derek deserves one more shot to get it right and it allows Brady to be a potential mid-game spark. If Brady starts and struggles, what the hell do we do then??? Let the Bengals prepare for Derek, and if he can’t get it done change the momentum with Brady and do it on the road where there is less pressure than in front of the home fans. At this point, what other choice would we have?

2 – Jerome Harrison has to get the ball more. He is electric every time he touches it. I’m not talking 15-20 carries here, but a few rushes, a few swing/screen passes as a pace changer. Look at what Felix Jones is doing for Dallas. Jerome Harrison may not be that talented, but he can provide a similar style change to the power of Jamal Lewis. Terry Pluto from Cleveland.com made a great point in his post-game article. As a senior at Washington State, this guy led the Pac-10 in rushing. He may be small, but he has proven that he can be productive. And has anyone else provided even close to a spark on offense this year besides him? Granted, part of his success has probably come from the surprise factor since he is not used often. But a savvy coaching staff can find a way to maximize his abilities and potential and work his skills into the offense. If the coaches do not make this adjustment against Cincinnati and get him at least 5-10 touches I will become convinced that they are either foolishly stubborn or simply not watching the same game I am.

3 – Kellen Winslow needs to have an “I’m a soldier outburt.” For fun, let’s watch it again:

Sorry, but that never gets old. Now look, obviously an outburst like that to the media means nothing. But I hope in the locker room Kellen or someone got angry and reminded the team that it’s “all about these Browns.” Was it just me, or did this team have no fire today? Baltimore got riled up and emotional and absolutely smacked us in the mouth and the most disappointing thing of all was that it didn’t seem like we smacked back. Cincinnati has nowhere near the potential that Baltimore does to get riled up and become almost unbeatable at home. Maybe the Browns had no chance to win today once the momentum turned in Baltimore’s favor. But where was the fight? Romeo Crennel’s strength is not serving as the emotional barometer for a winning football team…but the problem is that he served as our emotional barometer today. I said it last week and I’ll say it again: we need someone like Kellen to get fired up and lead this team. We are 0-3, we’re struggling, and our season is hanging in the balance. We do not have a fiery coach, and we do not have a confident quarterback. Where will the leadership come from? If this question isn’t answered, and answered well, this season could quickly spiral out of control

4 – We need some breaks. We need some big plays. We need Joshua Cribbs to bust a long return. We need Carson Palmer to trip over his center, drop the ball, and have Shaun Rogers pick it up and rumble 60 yards for a touchdown and flop into the endzone. EVERYTHING has gone against the Browns this season. Any turnaround to the 2008 season will have to be 99% as a function of the team doing a complete 180 in terms of the competence of its play. But with our schedule, it is not unreasonable to hope for a few fluky plays, a lucky bounce, an off-day from an opponent, to help provide a push back up in the standings. Is it kind of pathetic to list this as something that needs to happen for the Browns to turn things around? Sure. But we’re 0-3 and facing a touch matchup every week in a league where the line between wins and losses can be so small. If a playoff berth or competing for an AFC North title is in this team’s future, we may just need some serendipity along the way.

And remember: Pittsburgh and Baltimore have to face the same tough schedule. So if the Browns can beat a few teams they aren’t supposed to beat, and can win their remaining games against their rivals in the AFC North, there could still be hope for this season. Any hope is quickly fading with performances like today, and I can’t say I would bet any of my money on the turnaround I’ve described above because there has been little through 12 quarters this season to make me believe it is imminent.

But…we have 13 games to go, and I’ll be watching them all, so forgive me if I am slightly irrational while I desperately cling to home for the 2008 Season of Great Expectations that is quickly slipping away from the Cleveland Browns.

[tags]cleveland browns, nfl, derek anderson, baltimore ravens[/tags]

Tags: afc north, Baltimore Ravens, brady quinn, Cleveland Browns, derek anderson, joshua cribbs, kellen winslow, NFL

---------------

If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing with your friends: