Nobody expected the Browns to look like they did on Monday night against the Giants; and everyone was right. The defense was actually somewhat impressive, with the exception of giving up 175 rushing yards to Clinton Portis, who has rushed for at least 120 yards per game four games straight (and has already racked up 818 yards rushing in six games this season). Outside of that, the Browns defense held their own and are ultimately not to blame for today’s loss.
The game started slowly, with 13 consecutive punts before Shaun Suisham missed a field goal in the closing seconds of the first half. Both teams were tied at zero until Clinton Portis broke the tie with a 3-yard touchdown run in the middle of the third quarter.
The Browns offense then appeared to wake up, if only for a moment, and answered back with a 37-yard field goal before the end of the 3rd quarter.
The there were several more failed third down conversions and punts by both teams until Jason Campbell hit Santana Moss in the endzone with an 18-yard touchdown pass.
Cleveland put together a few impressive, albeit scoreless, drives before they cracked into the red zone with 5 minutes left to play. Washington was able to stop the Browns on 4th and Goal, and the game appeared to be over.
A fumble by Portis on the following play gave Cleveland another chance, and they quickly capitalized by driving the ball 29 yards on a 5-play drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Joshua Cribbs (Anderson really sold the run on a fake-naked-bootleg-pass). After a successful 2-point conversion, they Browns had cut the Redskins lead to three.
Cleveland got the ball back with just over two minutes to play, and drove the ball to the Redskins 36 yard line, where Phil Dawson missed a 54-yard field goal with 27 seconds left in the game.
WHAT WENT WRONG?
–Derek Anderson looked shaky, at best, until the last few minutes of the game. Perhaps this is because of the pressure he felt to put on a repeat performance of last week, or perhaps EVERY quarterback looks good against a bracket-defense guarding an eleven-point lead with 5 minutes to play. You be the judge.
–Dropped passes (see: Braylon Edwards).
–Jamal Lewis couldn’t punch it in when we needed him to.
–Romeo should have taken the field goal on 4th down. We needed two scores, and the first one didn’t necessarily have to be a touchdown. Perhaps he didn’t trust Dawson to make a 22-yard field goal.
–Phil Dawson can’t hit the deep ball. Had his game-tying kick been good from 54-yards, it would have been the longest field goal of his 10 year NFL career. He has not made made a field goal longer than 38 yards all season, and his career long 52-yarder was in 2003. You can’t win close games if you have to get inside the twenty to have faith in your kicker…
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