It’s been 96 hours since the event took place, but I think I’m finally ready to talk about the Browns-Cardinals game from last Sunday. I promised to do a running blog (which I did start but could not finish) and failed miserably. It was like being a Buckeyes fan during last year’s National Championship game. It started out great, but before I knew it, I was done. I was just not ready to do a Browns running blog. It was so bad that it took me until now before I could finally talk about the game. I’m over it now, and instead decided to just throw out some thoughts and observations from last week’s contest.
1) I picked Arizona in our pick’em league, so I had low expectations going into the game. Three things in particular flat out scared me about this game.
a) It was a road game - All season long Cleveland has struggled in road contests. They trailed Oakland 16-0 late in the 1st half before Joshua Cribbs went 99 yards for a kick-off return TD. They were shut out in the 1st half (20-0) against the Patriots with Derek Anderson throwing three INT’s. The winless Rams took an early 14-0 lead in week eight. It hasn’t always been a sluggish start either that has hurt the Browns. They had a 21-6 lead late in the 1st half against Pittsburgh but failed to score on offense for the remainder of the game, losing 31-28 in regulation. Baltimore scored 16 consecutive points in the fourth quarter to take a 30-27 lead with under a minute to go.
Yes the Browns could have easily won the Raiders game if Dawson’s field goal doesn’t get blocked. Yes they were only ten points down to New England with just a minute remaining in the game. Yes they came back and beat the Rams. Yes they won the Baltimore game in miraculous fashion. However, this doesn’t take away from the fact that Cleveland has, at times, been downright awful on the road. Enter Arizona. Like I said, I was scurred.
b) Too much playoff talk - I’ll admit, these Browns have exceeded expectations by about the same margin that Ronald Reagan pummeled Walter Mondale in the 1984 U.S Presidential Election (see I did pay attention during History class). Cleveland entered this Cardinals game with a 7-4 record including having won five of their last six. They were just one game back of a Pittsburgh team who still had to face New England. People were talking about how easy the Browns schedule was and how they should end up 12-4.
First of all, an easy schedule is only EASY if you take advantage of it. Yes, Cleveland doesn’t have to play Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, New England, Jacksonville, Tennessee, or San Diego, but that doesn’t mean they are going to have an easy time winning ball games either. Remember, this is the Any Given Sunday league. Nothing comes easy. The only team I would be SHOCKED to see lose would be the Patriots. The only team I would be SHOCKED to see win are the Dolphins. Everything else is up for grabs.
c) The Cardinals were facing a “must-win” game - Arizona lost a heartbreaker at home in overtime against the pitiful 49ers and entered the Browns game with a 5-6 record. The Cardinals were two games behind Seattle and a loss would have put them three games back with just four to play (in other words, they would have lost a chance to win their division). Also, as we currently stand there are five NFC teams with a 5-7 record. Three NFC teams boast a 6-6 record (including the Cardinals). Another loss to Cleveland would have meant they would be sitting at 5-7 with FIVE other teams, making it very difficult to climb into the playoffs.
It’s easy to sit here after the fact and pinpoint all of these reasons why I was afraid of this game, but these honestly were my feelings entering this week thirteen match-up. I’ve been wrong before (see Eric Wedge and the ‘07 Indians) but, unfortunately for me and the Browns, I was not wrong this time.
Back to the game itself.
2) Arizona did a great job of neutralizing Joshua Cribbs. Neil Rackers just did not kick to him. Yes the Browns usually started with great field position as a result, but you could get a sense that Cleveland was not able to maximize their weapons as well.
I got the feeling that Cribbs was starting to press as a result. That’s the only reasoning I could find after his muffed punt-fumble sequence. He didn’t have to catch that punt, but maybe, just maybe, he was trying to do too much. Cribbs did come through later with that brilliant two-point conversion play.
3) Too many turnovers. You just can’t expect to win any game in the NFL when you turn the ball over four times. It just doesn’t work that way. It’s amazing that they still had a chance to win in the closing seconds.
4) When you have a bend but don’t break defense it’s very hard to play catch up. Cleveland’s defense is not very effective at getting three and outs. Instead they are much better at letting the opposition drive down the field and then kick a field goal. When you are behind, like the Browns were all game, this works against you. It means that your offense has to basically score a TD every single possession, especially if it’s in the 2nd half. The Browns were not able to gain enough ground and ended up losing by six.
5) This team is young and at times immature. Leigh Bodden kicking the ball after the defense got a key stop, allowing Arizona to continue the drive and eventually score a touchdown. Simon Fraser with the head-butt after Cleveland had decent field position on their last drive of the game. It’s not just the young guys either. Jamal Lewis spiked the ball during the Ravens game which drew a fine and a 15 yard penalty. Great teams, scratch that, playoff teams don’t do that. Those need to stop now.
6) The referees were not very good handling replays throughout the entire game. They messed up Sean Jones’ INT (when the ball clearly hit the ground AND moved) and Braylon Edwards’ TD (he was clearly touched on the side before he hit the ground). Also, what took them so long on the Winslow play at the end of the game? They took a good five minutes trying to determine if Winslow got two feet in when it was completely obvious that it was not even close. Just a poor effort across the board.
7) In the long run this game should not kill the Browns. Let’s try not to overreact here. The Browns are sitting at 7-5 with four games remaining. If Cleveland can win both games at home (BUF + SF) while gaining a split on the road (NYJ + CIN) then they will end up at 10-6 and have a great look at reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2002. Did I mention it would be the first time they reached double digit wins since 1994? I had just turned nine.
8) Not everything was bad. Here were the highlights for Cleveland last week.
a) That goal line stand late in the game by the Browns defense. It was a MUST that Arizona only get a field goal to give Cleveland a chance to win the game. Anybody else have flashbacks of the Falcons game five years ago? I couldn’t have been the only one.
b) Kevin Hunt sending me text messages after every key play.
- “Just so you know that play alone made me crack open a Keystone … BALLS!!” (referring to the Anderson INT returned for a TD)
- “This team is full of frickin idiots. Helmets, spikes and now kicks. They might have seven wins but they’re still idiots (you should know what play he is talking about here).
- “What in the hell just happened?” (pick a play)
c) That two-point conversion to pull Cleveland within three at the end of the third quarter. I was screaming for the Browns to just kick the extra point. I felt that there was too much time left in the contest to play the numbers game. I’m a believer in not going for two until you absolutely have to. However, if you have a play like the Browns did (one that the defense had not seen yet - and if all goes well should get you the conversion) then by all means, do it to it. Straight out of Adam Sandler’s The Longest Yard the Browns fooled the Cardinals and were just down 21-18 entering the fourth quarter.
d) Braylon Edwards. He is emerging into a star. He had great presence to keep running on that bomb at the end of the third quarter. He was going to keep running until someone told him not to (kind of like with his mouth last year).
e) The loss was against an NFC team. At this point in the season, with only four games remaining, it doesn’t hurt to sneak a look at the possible tiebreakers for the AFC Wild Card spot. Conference record is the 2nd tiebreaker if the two tied teams did not play each other. Cleveland is not playing either Jacksonville or Tennessee this year. Which means, even though it was a loss, it could have been worse, like this upcoming week against the New York Jets.
Go Browns.
Until next time, “read it, roll it, hole it.”
No comments:
Post a Comment