First and 10: How many ways can a team find to lose

1)      Bottom line on Sunday's game in Detroit: Winning teams find ways to win. Losing teams find ways to lose. The Browns are now 1-9. Enough said.

2)      Look at Phidelphia on Sunday night. Up four against Chicago, the Bears take over at their 21 with 1:51 left. It was a situation very comparable to the Lions, except Detroit had farther to go and less time. Philadelphia allowed Chicago to gain 16 yards, then intercepted a Jay Cutler pass. They did something to actually win the game. That's what winning teams do.

3)      The Browns? They lose a game when the other team has to go 88 yards with a rookie quarterback and no timeouts. Eighty-eight yards. That's the bottom line. The Browns had 88 yards to stop the Lions, and Detroit had no timeouts. The Browns didn’t. They lost. They deserved to lose.

4)      I'm not going to blame Eric Mangini for calling that pass just after the two-minute warning because he tried to win the game right then and there. That's a good attitude. Too, his players didn’t exactly back him up. It was also good to see Mangini go for it on a fourth down in the first half, and good to see him try a fake field goal. But … there was a practical cost for not running the ball on third-and-5. Because he threw the clock stopped with 1:57 left. Let's suppose the Browns run. The play ends with 1:52 to go … the Browns run as much of the 45-second clock as they can and then punt … the punt takes 11 seconds. That means Detroit gets the ball back at about the 15-yard-line with 55-58 seconds left. With no timeouts. That pass gave Detroit an extra minute. The pass was a risk that didn't work, like just about everything else this season.

5)      I did not agree with the timeout as Detroit lined up for its extra ""untimed down." Daunte Culpepper was cold off the bench and the entire scene in Ford Field — the finest facility in the NFL — was chaotic. The Lions looked every bit as organized as the Browns, which is to say not very. Calling timeout allowed things to settle down, and allowed Matt Stafford back in the game (legally). I just don't like a coach on the sideline exercising that much control, especially one like Mangini who emphasizes preparation so much. If his team is prepared for the situation, it can defend the play — especially with the backup in the game.

6)      I also don't buy that the pass interference penalty on Hank Poteat was controversial. The guy had his back to the play, and he hit a receiver out of bounds while the ball was in the air. Poteat's play impeded the receiver and kept him from going for the ball. Next time a Browns receiver is blocked out of bounds while a ball is in the air, a flag should be thrown. It's a penalty Sunday, it's a penalty Monday, it's a penalty every day. The problem is that the impression was given that the penalty was on the guys jostling with Calvin Johnson. It wasn't. It was on Poteat for knocking Bryant Johnson out of the back of the end zone with the ball in the air. That's a penalty.

7)      Brady Quinn finally played a game like everyone expected of him this season. The difference? Well the Browns were playing the Lions. But at this point of this season you take this opponent and this game. Because the Lions, last I checked, are still in the NFL, and a 300-yard, four-touchdown game is big-time. The other difference? The Browns appeared to give Quinn a more complete game plan, and a more complete chance to succeed. Against Baltimore, it almost appeared that the coaching staff decided they could not succeed so they gave Quinn no chance to do so. Against Detroit, they gave him plays down the field and gave him a chance to make things work.

8)      This doesn't guarantee that Quinn is back in the team's long-term plans. But it sure puts him back in the thinking — provided he follows with some more success. Quinn was the team's most baffling player this season, because I never thought he was as bad as he looked. If he can get himself back on some solid ground, perhaps the Browns can go into 2010 with him as their quarterback.

9)      This streak Mangini has going is pretty amazing. Nothing he tries works. He calls timeout, Detroit scores. He signs Hank Poteat, he gets torched in an early game then interferes in the end zone. He decides to go against his natural inclination and be aggressive with a pass, it's incomplete and Detroit gets an extra minute. He tells Quinn to take the sack if he's pressured or the pass is not there to keep the clock running, Quinn throws incomplete. He can't score, then gets a 24-3 lead and see a defense blow a game. He calls a smart fake field goal thinking it'll be a touchdown, but a Lions player recognizes it at the last second and makes the tackle. It's amazing, really. Nothing that Mangini tries is working. Nothing. At this point he best not make any frozen orange juice on his own because it'll turn out to be rancid.

10)   Pixar should do a movie on the Browns. They're ""The Incredibles" of the NFL with the way they lose games. Has any other team in the history of any professional sport ever lost two games on untimed downs when the other team scored with zeroes on the clock? The Browns did it with Dwayne Rudd's helmet, and with now with Matt Stafford's miracle. After leading 24-3, they lost a game when they let a rookie throw five TD passes in an NFL game for the first time since 1937. And they lost with zeroes on the clock. On an untimed down. Bet none of us had ever heard of an untimed down until we all started following this team.

Three and Out

Dear Pat,

This is the from the NFL rulebook:

Timing in Final Two Minutes of Each Half

1.   On kickoff, clock does not start until the ball has been legally touched by player of either team in the field of play. (In all other cases, clock starts with kickoff.)

2.   A team cannot buy an excess time out for a penalty. However, a fourth time out is allowed without penalty for an injured player, who must be removed immediately. A fifth time out or more is allowed for an injury and a five-yard penalty is assessed if the clock was running. Additionally, if the clock was running and the score is tied or the team in possession is losing, the ball cannot be put in play for at least 10 seconds on the fourth or more time out. The half or game can end while those 10 seconds are run off on the clock.

3.   If the defensive team is behind in the score and commits a foul when it has no time outs left in the final 40 seconds of either half, the offensive team can decline the penalty for the foul and have the time on the clock expire.

4.   Fouls that occur in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter as well as the last two minutes of the first half will result in the clock starting on the snap.

 I understand Detroit would be allowed an untimed down as a result of the pass interference. However, with the trainers on the field and the referees announcing Detroit was charged with a timeout, what is the recourse for the Browns?

Should Detroit have been assessed a delay of game penalty, which would have moved the ball to the six?

It seems in this situation Detroit is allowed a fourth timeout without penalty.

Why also was Detroit’s tight end coach allowed on field after the touchdown? Should that not have been a 15 yard penalty?

All in all, a very poorly officiated game, not the reason we lost … but didn’t help.

Michael Donahue

Dear Michael,

I'm sorry to tell you this, but I'm told the officials handled everything properly. Note that in No. 2 above, the rule states a team is allowed a fourth timeout for an injured player "without penalty." Thus, no penalty.

Too, a game cannot end on a defensive penalty. The officials were required to give Detroit one more play.

As for the coach on the field, they missed that. Plain and simple. It should have been 15 yards. But … I honestly don't think it would have mattered.

The Browns had many chances to win the game.

They lost.

Officials did not cost the Browns this game. The Browns did.

Pat 

Dear Pat,

Really?  You think Hank Poteat clearly interfered with the Lions receiver?

In my opinion, there was no way said receiver had a chance at the ball, and another Lions receiver knocked two Browns defenders out when the pass was in the air.

The proper decision would absolutely be NO FLAG.

On the last play of the game, on a scrambling Hail Mary, you have to let them play unless the infraction directly effects the outcome.

Any other team in the league would have gotten away with that one.

Tom Crookston

Dear Tom,

I respectfully disagree. The guy Poteat interfered with could not get in the play because of Poteat. That's interference.

Note that the refs allowed the guys going for the ball to do just that, go for the ball.

The call was made because Poteat — by his own admission — knocked a guy out of bounds when the ball was in the air.

Sorry, but that's interference.

I actually credit the officials on this play. They let the guys fighting for the ball fight for the ball (Brodney Pool did intercept), but two guys saw Poteat's infraction and they had to call it.

Hi Pat,

What an unbelievable loss but at least it was entertaining! I find it interesting that none of the beat writers have so far printed Quinn's QB rating. When he and Anderson stink it is a staple of every game article written. Statistics about how historically bad they are, how they rank against others, etc. Finally he had a good performance and no mention. Not one so far. I don't get it?

Kyle St. Peter

St. Louis, Mo.

Dear Kyle,

All I can say is a writer only has so much space in the paper, and when a game ends like Sunday's did the emphasis is on the final plays. Not an excuse, but an explanation.

For the record, it was an entertaining game, and Quinn's play was impressive and encouraging.

His rating: 133.1

Hoo hoo!

Dear Pat,

The Browns have become like some strange, macabre fascination. Like watching an automobile accident. You can't avert your eyes. My only worry is that it will progress to the next level, which would be reveling in it and celebrating it, like a 1960s Mets fan.

Tim Abraham

Canfield, Ohio

Dear Tim,

Hope all is well in Canfield.

You are right about the Browns. And it's weird, even when they were up 24-3 there was this feeling that the game wasn't over. Even when Detroit took over at the 12 with no timeouts, there was this feeling that something could still happen.

It did.

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