Well, Ireland's appeal was denied. Wrongfully, I might add. FIFA is a bunch of FOOFAs who don't know POOPa about sportsmanship and proper play. So Ireland suffers.

This other appeal, though, should be heard.

I really see no reason why Baltimore's Dwan Edwards should be fined for hitting Josh Cribbs while he was running downfield to try to make a tackle.

Cribbs agreed, saying: "It's football. Just as he hit me, I could've hit him blocking for my guy. It happened during the play between the whistles. They have rules in place to protect players, but I don't think it was intentional at all."

Josh Cribbs' agent said he was furious that the Browns had Cribbs in the game for the last play against Baltimore.

How's that again?

Cribbs is a football player, and he plays when there are plays called for him.

Besides, if Cribbs is not on the field someone else has to take his place (the Browns only put 10 on the field when the other team is about to score a touchdown).

Is it OK for the other guy to be at risk but not Cribbs?

I still question the play call, but implying that Cribbs is sacred at that point and someone else can be sacrificed is simply inappropriate.

Looking at the replay of Brady Quinn's hit on Terrell Suggs, I cut him a little slack (headline got ya, didn't it?). But not a lot. Quinn appeared to dive at the knees of Suggs for no apparent reason, but Chris Carr was returning the interception right behind Suggs. So there was reason … especially since Quinn said he didn’t see Suggs until the last second.

Quinn's reaction on the field was telling, too. Clearly he knew he had made a mistake.

The Ravens have right to be angry, but Quinn is not a dirty player and he immediately apologized and took his medicine like a man.

He's handled a mistake well.

It's time to move on.

Lost amidst all the this and that about the Browns is the fact that they lost their MVP Wednesday when punter Dave Zastudil was placed on injured reserve.

How's this team supposed to compete in Detroit now?

Well … I guess this gives Eric Mangini a built-in excuse.

Well  … the players are saying that the Browns coaches did not call the last play in the loss to Baltimore the other night. The one that sent Josh Cribbs to the hospital. They said the call came on the field, with Brady Quinn and Cribbs creating something on the fly.

Always good to know that the players on the field are thinking as clearly as the braintrust, eh?

Except it doesn't add up.

Cribbs caught the pass and looked for the lateral. Jerome Harrison started to run right behind Cribbs with his hand, calling for the ball. Robert Royal caught the lateral and looked for another.

It looked every bit like a called play.

Too, if it wasn't, why were the Browns throwing deep passes the previous two plays?

They treated that final series as if they were down five, not 16. Two deep throws and a hook-and-lateral. Seems like a team trying to score as if the game is still on the line.

One insider even told me that Brady Quinn threw the two deep balls out of bounds intentionally. That he knew the calls were ridiculous, so he heaved them OB.

It's always something, isn't it?

Meanwhile, this is what Steve Young had to say on ESPN about the Browns:

“I was part of a team like this in 1986 when I was with Tampa Bay. I remember thinking to myself when I got really depressed, 'Maybe I should go to law school. Maybe I should do something else.' It reminds me of what’s going on with the Browns. You can not say enough about the disaster that is happening in Cleveland right now.”

1)      I'm thinking that right now the Lions ought to be favored by nine.

2)      Imagine that. The Browns a more-than-deserving near-double digit underdog to a team that has one win since the start of the 2009 season. Say this for the Browns: They've earned it.

3)      For the second game in a row, the Browns opponent played down to the Browns level, yet won fairly easily. Baltimore played about as well as Chicago played against the Browns, which is to say pretty poorly. One mistake by a cornerback, one mistake by a quarterback — game over. With never a threat that the Browns would come back on their own to win. Expectations have been driven so subterranean that it's worthy of celebrating when the Browns hold a team to a scoreless half.

4)      Nothing Eric Mangini tries is working. Nothing. His quarterback competition. Working players harder. Bringing in his players. Forcing Cribbs into the wide receiver spot. Brian Daboll as offensive coordinator. George Kokinis. Calling timeout against Cincinnati, which only served to set up the Bengals touchdown that sent the game into overtime. Not calling timeout against Baltimore as his guys were trotting on the field when the Ravens lined up at the 13. Going no-huddle against Baltimore. None of it has worked. None of it. And were it not for a botched punt return by Buffalo, we surely would be looking at an oh-and-nine team right now. This is not bad luck, though. It's bad coaching. Bad coaching, bad decisions, bad everything.

5)      Calling that hook-and-lateral with three seconds left and the Browns down 16 was inane. What was the point? The game was over. O-v-e-r. Running that play only served to injure one of the Browns best players. Yes, injuries are sometimes bad luck. But in this case the Browns made their own bad luck with an ill-advised play call at a point of the game when that call was not necessary.

6)      It was almost as ludicrous as having Brady Quinn throw two bombs the previous two plays. Were those going to somehow tie the game? Even if they were .. . well … actually thrown inbounds.

7)      When we assess the Browns offense Monday night, let's not forget the Browns were coming off a bye. Which means they had two weeks to prepare for Baltimore. Two weeks and they come up with that performance. The NFL is a passing league, and most teams move the ball by opening up the field and running receivers in different patterns all over the field. Except … the … Browns. It seems obvious now that the Browns have two different game plans for Derek Anderson and Quinn, and that the coaching staff does not trust Quinn to throw down the field, except in the rarest of instances or when they are down 16 and less than 20 seconds are left.

8)      Eric Mangini said after the game that the Browns are trying to throw the ball downfield with Quinn. "We're not avoiding that part of the field," he said. Well it sure looks like they are. Just about every play Quinn ran was a quick rollout and quick throw. Usually for four-to-six yards. It looked like a JV offense for the high school team.

9)      People say that we now know about Brady Quinn, that he's not an NFL quarterback. I'm not buying that. I don't think we know anything more about either quarterback because it's next to impossible to judge them based on the offense being run and the plays being called. I would not shrink from bringing in a new quarterback next season, but I also would not give up on Quinn because of this season.

10)  I don't understand why Mangini didn't call for a timeout when he didn't have the players on the field with Baltimore at the 13-yard-line. The last Brown was trotting on the field as the ball was snapped. Mangini called that timeout earlier in the season against Cincinnati in a similar circumstance and he didn't need to. This time he needed to and he didn’t call timeout. Nothing is working. Too, how can it be that at this point of the season the Browns can't even get the right guys on the field for a critical play. Ten men with the other team lining up at the 13? This is the attention to detail that is stressed so much by this regime? What a joke.

Three and Out

Dear Pat,

 I don't always agree with you, but I certainly do with your latest article. It's blown my mind that this is the third season that Brady Quinn has been a member of the team and we still don't know if he's an NFL quarterback. One of the best ways to help Quinn's confidence is to run the football and limit how many times he has to throw it.  This is what Marty Schottenheimer did when they were breaking Bernie Kosar in 24 years ago.

It would be nice to see some close, competitive games in the second half of the season, huh?

Steve Bohnenkamp

Geneva IL

Dear Steve,

The Browns ran fairly well Monday night, but they had their backs run 24 times (including one WR reverse) and had Quinn throw 31 passes. This seems like forcing the pass to maintain balance, especially considering the passes the Browns threw.

As for competitive games … we've reached the point where we hope to compete against Detroit … Kansas City … Oakland.

Uncle.

Dear Pat,

Eric Mangini was such a terrible hire from the very start. My most pressing concern as a Browns fan is to see him gone. At the same time, I have this sinking feeling that the search for a new Chief Football Officer is going to be similarly botched—too rushed, too shortsighted, too fixated on a name. 

 Now, I don’t know if the Mike Holmgren rumor is for real or just one of those half-baked ESPN reports. But look at his resume in Seattle: In 10 seasons as coach he was 12 games over .500 (in a consistently pathetic division), he posted a 4-6 playoff record, and after four years on the job he was stripped of his GM duties (with a 31-33 record)—duties which he was denied in Green Bay.

 So is Mike Holmgren any good at having final approval on players or constructing and leading an organization? Isn’t that the job? I’m not saying he wouldn’t be an upgrade over the current regime. I mean, the bar’s been set right at about ankle level. But even a future Hall of Famer can be unqualified, and at this point I’ve seen enough unqualified people come through town.

Michael Stevens

Boca Raton, FL

Dear Michael,

Valid points on Holmgren. Let me address some of them:

1)      The Browns want him to be a candidate. Whether he becomes one is up to him.

2)      Holmgren had the record you mentioned in Seattle, but he also took two different teams to the Super Bowl. That says something too.

3)      He lost the GM job, but that's because he was doing two jobs. I think he's smart enough and knows football well enough that he could be a strong and positive guiding hand while doing one job.

4)      Would Holmgren look more attractive if he brought Jon Gruden with him as coach?

5)      Which of these names has the most rings: Holmgren, Bill Cowher, Brian Billick, Jon Gruden. Answer: All the above. They all have one.

6)      I think you'll see a different type search this time than the one Randy Lerner conducted in January. I think he'll involve more people, ask more opinions and get more feedback. This is good.

If the Browns can hire Mike Holmgren, I'm all for it.

Dear Pat,

I know a lot of fans were hoping the Ravens would embarrass the Browns to hasten the departure of Mangini and to secure the overall No. 1 pick.  And I kind of felt that way following the Bears game, amidst the intrigue of the Kokinis firing/resignation.  But by the middle of last week I was actually looking forward to Monday night, dreaming that the bye would be a reset, the staff would finally get it together, and that in his return Brady would become the Mighty Quinn and begin a Browns career that would place him up there with other Browns championship QBs, like Otto Graham, and Frank Ryan, and……umm….well, you get my drift.  And yea, the first half was OK because it was a draw and anything was still possible.  Then came the third quarter.

 And while it may be simplistic and unfair to distill this disastrous season down to one play, for me it all came down to one critical moment in this coaching regime's tenure.  Score 0-0, just gave up a big play to the Ravens, but an opportunity remains to take back the momentum with a stop, where even a Ravens' field goal would be a positive for the Browns.  And in the ninth game of the season, after two weeks to prepare, THEY CAN'T EVEN GET 11 MEN ON THE FIELD.  Honestly, how is that possible?  That, of course, led to Ray Rice's TD and that opened the door to yet another national embarrassment.

So while there is a lack of talent on the Browns, and competing with such a deficit is extremely difficult, it is now clear to me that this is really a secondary problem.  The first problem, and one that will ensure failure regardless of the talent level, are the people coaching and preparing the team.  Lerner must jettison Mangini now because he has no future with the team.  Keeping him for the remainder of the season will only serve to scare off talented candidates for GM who don't want to worry about being stuck with an awful coach or don't want the hassle of having to fire him.  Really, this is the only option that remains.

Dan Hough

Dear Dan,

I really can't disagree with much of what you say … but comparing Brady Quinn to Otto Graham? Wow.

That’s even worse than this colossal failure of a season.

(Want to be recognized in “Three and Out”? It’s a rare treat. Comment here or send an e-mail to pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com, and put “First and 10” in the subject line.)

Can Browns fans tolerate seven more weeks of this kind of "professional" football?

It might seem that Brandon McDonald can't.

Below is a screen shot sent to me this afternoon of McDonald's Twitter page (he goes by the Twitter name macmane22).

Note the second post: "7 games left .. Da countdown has begun."

Interpret it as you will.

Players are off today, so McDonald won't be asked about the post (which apparently also was on his Facebook page) until Wednesday. His page has a photo of McDonald, and also has a background of handcuffs with the word "lockdown" on them. On one cuff are the words "Cleveland Browns," on the other B-Mac 22 — McDonald's nickname and number.

McDonald "protects" his Twitter posts, meaning he approves those who can see them. So he didn't post this for the general public, but he did post it widely enough to be seen.

Here is the screen shot:

From the Ravens, as reported by the AP (tho many were present in the locker room when the statements were made):

Ray Lewis on whether Quinn's hit on Terrell Suggs was a cheap shot: "Heck yeah, it was a cheap shot When you're running down and you're looking at the quarterback going at somebody's knees who doesn't even have the ball … I want to see if he gets the same fine I got or even higher. Now this man is out four or five weeks because of some baloney like that."

Check.

Ravens veteran defensive lineman Trevor Pryce on the play call that led to Cribbs' injury: ""With five seconds left in the game, and you're down 16-0, to throw a hook-and-lateral, what's the point of that? I'm not trying to question their coaching, it's none of my business. But you see what the result was. You do a hook-and-lateral play with a whole bunch of guys that are big and run fast, people are running around crazy and someone is going to get hurt."

 Check.

Finally, from Dwan Edwards, who hit Cribbs: "I was just hustling to the ball. He had just pitched it and I reacted. … I consider myself a hustle player and I tried to hustle and make a play — not let them get a score."

Guess we got those issues straightened out.

Worth a listen:

The Browns looked woeful again in losing to Baltimore. Still think the coach deserves another year?

But … the game ended bizarrely, with Josh Cribbs on the ground after having been run into by Dwan Edwards on one of those goofy lateral plays.

This hit did not appear intentional. Edwards was running to get into the play and ran headlong into Cribbs and appeared to catch Cribbs in the throat. He lay on the ground for several moments before being taken off on a cart and board. Coach Eric Mangini said Cribbs had feeling in his body and that he was taken off on a cart for precautionary reasons.

You almost wonder why the Browns ran that play, and if the injury was as much their own fault for running it in that situation. It started with three seconds left, and the Browns were down 16. Even had they scored the Browns would have gotten nothing for it but a loss. Running it did nothing but put players at risk, and Cribbs took the shot. It was an unnecessary call, and the result was an unnecessary injury.

The Ravens, though, will be plenty steamed about Brady Quinn throwing himself at the knees of standout defensive end Terrell Suggs during an interception return in the third quarter. Chris Carr was returning a pass Quinn intercepted when Quinn threw himself at Suggs' knees when Suggs was not looking. The Pro Bowler wound up leaving the game with a sprained knee and could miss several more weeks.

To his credit, Quinn apologized to Suggs and the Ravens. But the damage was done. This will not go over well in Baltimore, nor should it go over well in New York when fines are assessed this week. Quinn acted like he was blocking Suggs — and Baltimore had the ball.

LATE ADDITION: Said Robert Royal of Cribbs: "He was cracking jokes down there, so that was a good sign. He was waving his limbs. We don't know the extent of the injury, but at the same time we think he will be all right."