There it is, masterfully shot by the Beacon Journal's Ed Suba Jr. There is Browns Pro Bowl receiver Braylon Edwards dropping that deep fourth-quarter pass Sunday.
With that drop, did the Browns season effectively (or ineffectively) come to an end? Did the end come earlier this year? Has the end not come yet?
We've had some spirited comments of late, keep them coming. Who knows, if they're good enough, maybe you'll get a guest post where you can rant & rave (trademark: me) about whatever Browns-related topic you'd like.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Yup. Season hit the toilet as soon as the Braylon's drop bounced off the grass in Cleveland. Good night. Hope we can get an impact LB and WR in the draft next year.
Edwards is a typical "Me First" WR, he's following the Keyshawn playbook… except Keyshawn could catch the ball. He'll be a total bust until the Browns get rid of him, then he'll turn into a hall of famer
I believe that there was another play a bit earlier that brought about the loss of the game, and underscores the tone of the season. That play was in the middle of the third quarter, when the Browns had scored to make it 27-13. In the drive following that score, the defense attacked Baltimore and forced them into 3rd and 16. Instead of attacking on 3rd and 16, they rushed 3 people and went into their 8 man coverage (prevent) and promptly gave up 20 yards. From that point on, Baltimore's office continued to gash them for big gains on the ground (mostly). Ironically, they kept running the same play, stretch run and cutback by Ray Rice, and just enough passing to keep the Browns confused. That first down totally energized Baltimore and totally deflated the Browns. They played conservative, overly-cautious football the rest of the way, with the exception being the dropped ball by Braylon Edwards. By the way, he probably wouldn't have scored, since the DB tackeld him immediately. They have been hesitant all season to get into attack mode on offense and defense. The result is a less than mediocre 3 and 5 record. When they go into attack mode, they get results like the Giants game and the Jacksonville game. I would rather get beat being aggressive than to continue to endure this soft team's efforts.
I agree with Mark's analysis regarding the Brown's conservative offensive play. For some reason, they are afraid to invoke an "aggressive" offense and seem to be playing not to lose, instead of aggressively "taking it to 'em". Who's decision this is, we can only speculate. Is it RAC or is it Chud?
Great analysis from Mark – teams that play not-to-lose, relying on the prevent when attacking is working end up, well, 3-5. This is a team that doesn't know how to win when something goes wrong. Baltimore (oh, how I hate to even type that word) was down 14 and got fired up on their sideline: the Browns start to lose momentum and seem to gradually give up. Even while they were still ahead, it seemed they were getting ready to throw in the towel. Edwards drop was bad, but as much as I want to see RAC do well, there is something wrong with the team's chemistry. We'll see if Quinn can mix it up and keep momentum rolling – or get it back when it goes bad.
The Browns have not only mastered the prevent defense, but they showed the league the prevent offense as well in that game.