I believe this is the moment where I get to say: "Gee, I hate to be negative … but …"
The Browns stunk up the joint in Denver on Sunday. They played a team that many thought they could beat, and they lost by 21. It wasn't even that close. Denver could have had two more field goals. Other than their first possession when Denver fumbled the opening kickoff, it's tough to find the rest of the points the Browns left on the field.
This was not Minnesota.
There's no finding a silver lining in saying the Browns a team ready for the Super Bowl.
There is no silver lining at all. Because this Browns team looks far closer to the one that Peter King predicted would go 2-14 than one that can even remotely think of challenging for the playoffs.
There are many problems on this team.
Just like there were many last season.
Let me list a few:
Suspect corners.
Brandon McDonald was torched on a complex out that Jabar Gaffney turned into a big gain. Eric Wright ran alongside Correll Buckhalter for seven yards without even trying to tackle him.
No nickel corner. Brandon Stokley made catch after catch after catch after catch on Hank Poteat.
Right side of the offensive line. Elvis Dumervil tied a Broncos record for sacks in a game with four, and John St. Clair added a false start penalty for good measure.
Tight end. Robert Royal catches some, doesn't catch others.
Depth at WR. Tell me who is dependable after Braylon Edwards, who is on again and off again when it comes to dependability. The Browns are forcing Josh Cribbs into the No. 2 receiver role and he's not a No. 2receiver. He's a great football player, but he's not a No. 2 receiver. It might be time to put Mohammed Massaquoi on the field, or take Brian Robiskie out of mothballs. Cribbs is an excellent returner and can contribute when used wisely, but it's not as a No. 2 receiver.
Brady Quinn has some wondering if it's time to go to Derek Anderson. Imagine that one. Quinn deserves time, but he's not inspiring confidence.
Coach Eric Mangini apparently is the fine master. Various reports have it that he fined safety Abram Elam $1,701 for taking a bottle of water from a hotel room ("I don't know where that came from," Elam said when asked) and other reports have Mangini fining guys for other middling offenses. A player should pay for his water, of course, but this team seems close to being fractured.
Second halves. They've belonged to the other team. Minnesota and Denver have outscored the Browns 41-7.
The offense has gone eight games without a meaningful touchdown. That's one-half a season.
Sunday the Browns called timeout down 21 with 1:52 left. Last season Romeo Crennel was lambasted for that kind of decision. When Mangini was hired, the quip was that the Browns had hired ""Romeo Light." Perhaps the quip had foundation.
Mangini looked anything but confident as he spoke after the game.
That's kind.
He looked like he'd been hit by 38 sacks of potatoes.
He's 0-and-2 and heading to Baltimore.
Meanwhile, Rex Ryan, whom the Browns didn't interview, beat New England and is 2-and-0 with the Jets.
Josh McDaniels, whom the Browns did interview, is 2-and-0 in Denver.
Early in the game, Denver had the ball at the Browns 2-yard-line and called timeout. They came out with tight end Tony Sheffler split and lined up opposite linebacker Kamerion Wimbley.
Touchdown.
The Browns got to the 7 after Denver fumbled the opening kickoff, ran Jamal Lewis twice and then Quinn followed Mike Furrey all the way across the field and overthrew him by five yards.
Mangini insited the Browns have enough players to win.
He pleaded for consistency, consistency, consistency.
He's getting consistency.
t's just been the wrong kind.
Random thoughts …
–Good thing the Browns brought in those ex-Jets to shore up the defense.
–John St. Clair has struggled badly at right tackle. Elvis Dumervil tied a Broncos team record with four sacks in a game.
–With Shaun Rogers back at nose tackle, the Browns have given up 225 and 186 yards rushing in consecutive games.
–Quinn had a couple throws over the middle that he made with authority, but he had a few that sailed high and/or wide. He deserves time, but the next defense he's facing in Baltimore won't exactly be a salve.
–The Browns do have excellent kickers.
—Hoo hoo!
—I got nothing left.
What they said:
Denver QB Kyle Orton: "They do quite a bit of stuff on defense, exotic stuff. You want to be aggressive, but you do not want to make mistakes early in the game. We took care of the ball and kind of figured out what they were going to do.
KR/WR Josh Cribbs: "'m a little embarrassed on how we played today, and how I played today."
LB Kamerion Wimbley: "We just have some little things to fix and we need to do that for next week."
Mangini: "We have plenty of players that we can win with. We need to adjust the problems that we have. It's not a big mystery. There are things that are correctable and controllable, and we need to get in control of them."
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Pat,
Being a young Browns fan, this might have been the worst game I have ever watched (I'm 18). I have to say that the game against the Vikings was better than this weeks game.
Next week may turn into another nightmare too!
Eric, I guess this means you cannot possibly appreciate the fact that I watched the game while wearing my Barry Darrow throwback jersey.
It's been bugging the hell out of me who Rob Ryan looks like. Then today, it suddenly hit me. Billy Connolly.
http://xr.com/lezz
http://xr.com/0wk
Never heard of him, but looks like we was a great player back in 1975-1979. Had to google his name.
Actually, Eric, he was a stiff. A joke. A guy who had absolutely no business being on a professional football roster. Which is why Barry Darrow popped into my mind today.
if mangini is truly "romeo light," it's only by a few pounds. he can rant and rave about his methods, but when we've got results like this, who in the world would listen besides lerner?
Alan T.
Sounds like he is something like the entire Browns team now! HA HA
Wow. Watched the Giants game after practically falling asleep watching the Browns go 3 and out. Even my wife commented on what a difference watching a real team play is. The Browns could go 0-16 playing like that. Dismal. Rotten. Just awful. They truly have 1 target right now at wide receiver. Anderson, Quinn, it doesn't matter right now. Mangini and fans are in for a loooong season.
That pillow fight w/ the Lions in November has potential for being a contest between the two worst NFL teams of all time. Looking more and more like Randy Lerner has absolutely NO clue about hiring a coach, so the only way the Browns will ever be any good is if/when the chump sells the team. Seems like he is cursed by a combination of stupidity and bad karma from his dad helping Art move the team
watching the browns "offense" does nothing but offend the viewer. they've taken their game-planning to the absolute extreme of conservatism, even when it's proven ineffective two games in a row. mangini looks so caught up in how he's going to run the team that he forgets there are actual football games to worry about every sunday, in between his little behavioral experiments. and greg, i had the same thought, the only winnable game appears to be the lions at this point…though even that may be a long shot, as they're actually showing some signs of improvement from week to week.
I intend to turn down the TV volume next week awhile listening to my Mom's old Barry Mannillo records .."can't live with out you…just can't live without you" serenity for 3 hours as I witness lethargic, pathetic, horrendous, terrible, boring so called NFL football…no wait, at least one of the two teams not wearing an orange helmet is considered an NFL football team..
I found my "make it look like I'm doing something at work project" for the day: I'm going to see if the Browns have led all of the NFL is sacks allowed since 1999. I'm guessing I might be right on my hunch.
I only watched about 10 minutes of the game, but I've seen the same thing over and over again. How can you move in a pocket that 2 seconds after the snap allows you a space of 3 ft. to work in?
I appreciate Cribbs trying to take some of the blame, but he seems to be the only guy out there willing to learn a new position or "roll with the punches".
I have a feeling that this is the year of weeding out people. Its like a college team: you hire a new coach and he can't win with what he's got till he gets "his guys in". Lets hope that includes some offensive linemen!
Eliz, just how is Mangini (who I frankly do not trust as a coach or person) gonna "get his people" onto the team? Where do you find, say, 30 "better" players than what we have now? Certainly not the draft. He showed us his "skill" in that area, didn't he? Mack? Robiskie? They're real contributors, eh? Sign 30 free agents? Could never afford that, and players don't wanna come here, anyway. Trades? Not happening.
The Browns have fallen into an endless cycle of mediocrity, with no apparent way to get out of it. Yes, it's unwatchable, but it's no different than the past nine seasons (sans '07, with the easiest sked on record). Modell and his accomplice, Lerner, accomplished the unthinkable: They've made Browns football irrelevant in Cleveland. I guess Art really DID get the last laugh.
At least now I know why they are playing in pantyhose.
I think, Jonah, its going to be a season-long process – kind of like the 2009 Indians season. You'll either be converted by the end of the season or you're on your way out and he'll find a free agent to replace you in 2010. It doesn't make sense, I will admit, but that's what this seems like to me. Delusional – you bet – but not out of the norm for some of these coaching/management types.
Elizabeth, you might be right about which team has allowed the most sacks since 1999– but only because Houston didn't start playing until 2002. Over the last 7 seasons, it hasn't been close– Texans 324, Browns 260.
To save you the trouble of hunching that the Browns' offensive line has still been worse than the Texans, in some respect, here are two more tidbits:
1. If we compare the teams in their seven seasons since the expansion draft, Houston wins 324-313.
2. The Texans two worst seasons for sacks were 76 (in 2002) and 68 (in 2005). The Browns' two worst seasons in franchise history (well, since 1982, when the NFL started keeping the stat) were 60 (1999) and 54 (2006).
More importantly, your general point is wrong. Brady Frye didn't get sacked for the first time until the first play of the third quarter. And it was the only time he was sacked in that quarter.
He had a long, long time to throw on many of his attempts in the first half– but he still gained only 57 yards (on 8-12 passing).
Once they went up 20-6 (with 2:38 gone in the fourth quarter), the Broncos started to come after (alternate snarky name) Tim Quinn on every play. But that was on the Browns' tenth offensive possession. When the line breaks down after giving up only one sack in nine drives it's not entirely appropriate to point fingers at the blocking.
I would agree with the general proposition that the offensive line sucks. Alex Mack, apart from being a huge reach, isn't playing well. The right tackle won't even win the distinction of being the "best St. Clair in Browns history." And any team who signs a player nicknamed "Pork Chop" really deserves what it gets.
(Let's see… we've had Big Money, Mad Dog, Turkey, Pork Chop… What kind of nickname would scare this franchise off a player? "White Powder"? "Cheese Ball"? "ACL"? "Packin"?)
The problem is that Mangenius brought them all in, so it's tough to say "Give him time." Matter of fact, 22 guys of the 52-man roster weren't here a year ago– that's 42% of the roster.
The Browns went 4-12 a year ago, but had the legitimate extenuating circumstances of (a) a tough schedule and (b) injuries that compelled them to play Bruce Gradkowski and Brady Quinn's blue bankie at QB for four games.
This team looks like it's going to be a lot worse, against a weaker schedule. And they haven't had any injuries of consequence (No, Rex Hadnot doesn't count).
Looks like they just suck.
Those brown pants make huge asses appear even larger than they already are. I wonder what Kim Kardashian would look like if she was shoehorned into a pair of those pants. That would be awesome.
Great stuff from Alan and Geoff. Really good stuff Beckham, Greg, Elizabeth, Johah, et al.
You did very well, too, Patrick.
It must be acknowledged this is Mangini's show, Mangini's Way, Mangini's personnel decisions. Things are happening as they are in no small part because Mangini thought he wanted things this way and/or that the makings of what helped make things this way were thought by Mangini to be good enough. What else should we conclude? So, this doesn't bode well.
There are some good things to note. But so much is very bad that the good may not last. It's already failing to show endurance beyond halftime.
Not that I suspect we necessarily failed to, but we all may need to brace ourselves, as this was only Week Two.