Open Thread: Browns vs Houston Texans
November 23, 2008While We’re Waiting…
November 24, 2008
on
Today, I decided to do my bullets live as the game was happening. So, hopefully I won’t forget stuff because I am writing as it happens. So, I am going to break it down on first half and second half. On with the marathon of bullet points as they happened…
First Half
- The Browns apparently had a “tackling circuit” added to practice this week. I can’t tell you how embarrassing it is as a fan of a professional football team to hear this late in the year that they needed a “tackling circuit” added to practice. Tackling shouldn’t need practice by professionals this late in the year.
- The Browns opened the game with another horrendous defensive series. After a horrendous week of tackling against Buffalo, wouldn’t you think the Browns would come out with a lot of fire to prove that they can do exactly the things that they failed miserably doing in the prior week’s game?
- I don’t want to sound like I am down on Jamal Lewis, because I am not. Lewis is a consummate pro and one of the Browns’ offensive MVP’s if there is such a thing. That being said, why would you spend a lot of time using him on screen passes? You have two other guys who are really capable of breaking big plays. When Lewis fumbled on his screen pass reception, the Browns needed 20 yards for a first down. There is no reason that the personnel package in this situation should include Jamal Lewis who is averaging 3.6 yards per carry coming into the Houston game.
- The Browns defense holding Houston to a field goal following the Jamal Lewis fumble was a very important moment. If the Browns had let the Texans go up by 2 touchdowns early, rather than 10 points it could have spelled the end of the game in a big hurry. At least that is the way the game feels when the defense just continues to bend and bend for the opposing offense. This Browns defense doesn’t seem to force turnovers. Occasionally an opposing QB will give them an easy interception, but the Browns don’t force fumbles or put enough pressure on the QB to really take much of the credit.
- I know I mentioned it last week, but the commercials are insane. Especially the exchange where the extra point is kicked, the game goes to commercial, then they come back for the kickoff and immediately go back to another commercial break. So that is 8 commercials with one play (a kickoff) in between. They are ruining the sport for fans who attend the games.
- 13 minutes left in the 2nd quarter and we have our first Jerome Harrison sighting. I don’t have a point, just keeping this note.
- Meaningless stat of the game #1… the Browns are 19-1 when Jamal Lewis carries 20+ times in a game. The reason this is meaningless is because they brought it up in relation to Jerome Harrison’s playing time. This stat really means that the Browns are a good team when they are leading and can afford to run the ball because they aren’t playing catchup. Whether the runner is Harrison, Wright or Jamal Lewis doesn’t matter much.
- Kellen Winslow sometimes ends up being like Shaquille O’Neal. He is so big and strong that I think referees sometimes forget to call pass interference against defenders who hold him and hit him before the ball arrives.
- Could it be any easier for teams to find soft spots in zones against the Browns? Crossing routes are seemingly unstoppable if you watch the Browns weekly. I don’t know if this is attributable just to the players in the secondary or whether it (again) speaks to the complete lack of pressure on opposing teams’ quarterbacks. I am guessing a bit of both.
- 5:34 left in the second quarter Kam Wimbley gets his third sack of the year. He came from the flat almost as far out as you would expect a nickel corner to be lined up. Sure he was unblocked, but he got around the LT block on another Browns player to break into the pocket. The Browns and Wimbley’s detractors are always quiet when it comes to figuring out what ails the Browns’ OLB. In a world where people are looking to hire eye doctors and psychologists for baseball players, nobody seems to know what is wrong with Wimbley. I find that strange, but I would expect him to improve immensely with Romeo Crennel’s replacement next year.
- Scott says in the comments of the open thread, “If Rogers is double and triple teamed, doesn’t that mean that we have two guys that are unblocked every play?” I bring up Rogers because there is no Browns player, including Brady Quinn, who is more popular than Rogers. He just blocked a field goal to give the Browns the ball back trailing 10-3 with 3:34 left in the 2nd quarter.
- Brady Quinn underthrew Braylon Edwards on a 43 yard pass, but the whole play was notable. Quinn isn’t the same physical talent as Derek Anderson. We know this. On this reception to Braylon, the play was open because Quinn looked left, pumped middle of the field and then unloaded right for Edwards. He guaranteed that Braylon would get a one-on-one without a safety coming over the top. Even if you end up underthrowing Braylon, you have put him in a position where he can attempt to make a play on the ball one-on-one.
- Touchdown celebrations should be banned on kickoff returns unless there is guaranteed to be no flag on the field. Maybe there should be a flashing light in the endzones to let the returner know that there is a flag on the field so they don’t waste their good celebrations on a play that is going to get called back.
- The announcers (I don’t know who they are yet.) decided that it was a no-brainer for the Texans to go for it on 4th and inches from the Browns’ 45 yard line with just under a minute left in the half. Tell me again how that is a no-brainer? If the Browns stop them there and get a chance to have the ball back with 40-some seconds and all their timeouts from their own 45 yard line then it looks like a bad move to go for it. Of course Houston handed the ball to Ahman Green for 3 yards, but I am just saying…
- Thank goodness the Texans didn’t convert their 56 yard field goal try on the squib kick to end the 1st half. This is one of those plays that has Browns fans thinking like Browns fans. I was sitting thinking that the Browns haven’t played well in the first half and still they only trail 13-6. For another team’s fans this could be viewed as glass half full, right? As I was having this thought the Browns fail to receive the Texans’ kickoff and give up a 56 yard field goal try to end the half. Just pure craziness. Only to the Browns does this stuff happen.
Second Half
- Well, the first offensive possession of the second half leads me to believe that the Browns didn’t make any meaningful halftime adjustments. The Texans’ first play doesn’t instill confidence either as Walter finds his way into the soft secondary again. Walter has 7 receptions for 93 yards so far.
- The Browns finally forced a turnover and Brady Quinn gave it right back. We knew there would be growing pains with Quinn at some point, but this one was a really bad interception.
- Jamal Lewis is averaging 6 yards per carry, but at this point in the season, it is impossible not to wonder what kind of yardage Jerome Harrison would be putting up on this team. Again, I don’t want to undermine Lewis, but the Browns are really bad at rotating players. Why not switch backs in the middle of drives and not just on third down?
- Brady Quinn throws another interception on a promising drive. This time, I think it might have been Edwards’ fault. It was a slant, and somehow Edwards didn’t get the inside position on his defender. I know Brady Quinn can commit errors on his own and I am not trying to be an apologist, but sometimes it isn’t the QB’s fault. Now the announcers are backing me up blaming Braylon. I am not sure if this makes me feel more or less confident in my opinion.
- Cue the evil wrestling music, but Derek Anderson is warming up. Is there something wrong with Quinn’s finger, or is Romeo finally attempting to be a proactive manager as the last gasps of his coaching career sputter out? DA comes in and the boos come screaming down. If Quinn isn’t hurt this might be Romeo’s dumbest move ever after showing so much patience with DA early in the season, only to show so little patience for Quinn.
- While the game is on (another) commercial break, I need to point out that the unknown announcer (at least to me) keeps putting an extra syllable in the word “athletic.” I was going to let it slide, but he insists on using the word over and over again. Ath-AH-Letic and Ath-AH-Leticism are so pronounced it makes me want to scream. Sir, whoever you are, you TALK for a living.
- My wife, who is a Colts fan, just said to me, “I don’t want to root against your team, but I almost hope they don’t do well with Derek Anderson here.” It has taken a long time for my wife to understand my plight as a Browns fan. This, as Braylon Edwards commits a false start. It is a combination of disbelief, disgust, disappointment and dismay.
16! 16 (official) drops for Braylon Edwards, AH AH AH!- Browns fans have been reduced to Bronx cheers. After Braylon’s drop and a really bad play to Jason Wright underneath for 5 yards on 3rd and 20, the Browns fans gave the most sarcastic cheer ever when the Texans were called for a 5 yard illegal contact penalty giving the Browns an automatic first down.
- No game since the Browns came back in 1999 has appeared to go this weird and wrong, ever. Braylon Edwards looks like the worst receiver in the history of the game. The coach has replaced Brady Quinn with the guy who hadn’t produced in well more than half of a season. The same coach uses this time period with the old quarterback to finally give Jerome Harrison an extended shot on the field. Then with an important field goal opportunity to put the Browns down by only one score, the Browns’ MVP just smashes a field goal attempt wide left when he is having a season of historically significant accuracy. With 6:48 left in the 4th quarter, I have heard a chant of Cowher as Rosenfels throws an interception to Sean Jones. And it is still bad because as a fan, you can’t expect the Browns to score here even from the Texans’ 27 yard line.
- Kellen Winslow catches his first ball of the game and gets flagged for offensive pass interference. Replay shows that Derek Anderson stared Winslow down from the moment the ball was snapped. As I am typing this, the Browns fumble the handoff from DA to Jamal Lewis.
- I am currently crafting an email to psavage@clevelandbrowns.com…
- OK, not really. It is a good thing that Rick and the WFNY boys told me that this is a family friendly site before I started writing here. It would be tempting to go off on a tirade of epic proportions. I think I would make up new words for you guys.
- Stealing from Jim Rome… Memo to my local CBS affiliate. Every time you put up the “scroll” at the bottom of the screen to tell me to stick around for you fifth quarter show it kicks my HD coverage of the game to standard definition coverage. Don’t advertise another show if you are going to ruin the show I wanted to watch in the first place. It isn’t good advertising.
- I am done with bullets, at least the kind on this page that are followed by words about the Browns.
Shoot me. I can’t count the number of times I received the “I don’t know why I care” txt message from my friends today. Now, after Derek Anderson fails on another short passing attempt to Jason Wright resulting in an interception, I don’t know what to say anymore. This is the same passing problem that Derek Anderson has had all season. This is the same pass that he failed to make when he threw a screen pass interception against Baltimore. There was absolutely NO reason for Romeo to make a move to Derek Anderson in this game at this point in THIS season with THIS team won/loss record. Why would we try and see if Brady Quinn could respond to adversity in only his third game ever? Why would we?
Are you listening Mr. Lerner? That is the sound of silence as there weren’t enough Browns fans left in their seats at the end of this game to chant Cowher’s name. Actually, in all fairness to Lerner, what did we expect him to do after a 10 win season; fire Romeo Crennel? It was almost impossible after the Browns came together last year, even though they missed the playoffs. The real truth will take place now. Romeo was completely unable to follow up that 10 win season with anything at all but bad decisions and a team that has easily taken three steps backwards in almost every phase of the game.
Maybe these overwhelmingly bad feelings are the result of not waiting until tomorrow to post my bullets. Maybe I didn’t give this game proper space to sink in and be analyzed. I really don’t think so, but I guess anything is possible.
40 Comments
My Bullet Points
– Complete Losers
– Bad Coaching
– Under Achievers
I hate the Browns until training camp begins.
Let;s all email phil unit they all quit.
(left blank for a reason – nothing left to say)
Amen to you on this post. I currently reside in Virginia, having just moved here a few months ago from Columbus. I am a lifelong Browns fan who has just had enough. The game was not on local tv down here and this morning my wife asked me if I wanted to go to a bar to watch the Browns play today. For the first time in my life I said, no…I would rather not ruin my day watching that team. Thank god I said no because just following the gamecast on CBSSportsline was enough to make me want to throw up. I have had it with this coaching staff, and Phil Savage for that matter. This team is far and away the most pathetic Browns team I have ever witnessed. If Crennel is not fired this week, I will be extremely disappointed. He does not deserve to coach in this league at all, he is absolutely horrible. I wish I could find his email address…..:)
BTW…this is the greatest Cleveland blog that I know of…keep up the good work guys!! Reading it makes me feel closer to Ohio!
Can’t count the number of times my roommates and I made those exact same points throughout the game. I like the instantaneous edition!
(first time commenter, by the way)
I wonder if Edwards goes into hiding this week after an awful, awful game. He tends to not want to talk to media after games like this.
Shaun Rogers is the only one that plays consistently from start to finish – it’s just fitting that he’s also the only one that really can’t play every down from start to finish.
When Phil Dawson misses by about 40 feet, things are just bad.
And do you think Romeo is just showing off at this point? Like, hey watch me make senseless moves with my team…you won’t do anything about it, type stuff? And if it was performance-based for quinn, how does Edwards continue to get snaps?
Hey, the Cavs were great last night….
Great to have you Greg, don’t be a stranger.
Hey at least we’re not the Lions. LOL! or for that matter just Michigan sports fans at all.
When asked what he could have done differently to win, Romeo says…
“If I knew, we would have won.”
That’s our leader.
Scott,
I have been wondering the same thing about Edwards… If the coaches bench other players for sucking it up, why not him?
What are the odds Romeo gets fired this week?
If this were a normal, functinal franchise – I would put the odds at 50%.
Since we are talking about the Browns, I am sadly putting the odds at only about 7%
Well, at least the Crew brought home the W today…
This was insane. If the front office truly cared about their fans, they would have been handing them back their ticket money with interest as they left this poor excuse for a football game.
I felt like I was watching a practice with the offense like Braylon playing half-go. I don’t care what he makes he needs to be benched after that effort. What would Mike Singletary do with this team?
As a former Bengals fan, this was like watching the nadirs of the (pick one) Shula, Coslet, and LeBeau eras, when the team was so incompetent, so undisciplined, and so uninspired that you finally knew the coach would be fired at season’s end, if not sooner.
The move to DA was absurdly stupid. And I don’t know that I’ve ever seen an occasionally-successful player have a worse game than Edwards. Just epic in its horribleness.
I’ve never been a big Edwards hater but this guy needs to be benched until he can get his head out of his a*s. It’s so clear that he’s just going through the motions. I wouldn’t mind the drops so much if it wasn’t so clear that he had no focus or intensity out there. The guy is out there refusing to run crisp routes and basically got his QB benched because of his inability to get to the inside on that slant route.
Brady had a bad game today, but the offense was clearly out of wack from the beginning. Chud’s play calling is getting worse by the week – the Texans are one of the worst teams against the run on the road and his QB has a broken finger and we ran a completely unbalanced offense, with too much passing. I hate to say it, but we need to completely start over with ALL the coaches (except maybe the special teams coach… though that area looks increasingly suspect every week too).
Which of course brings us to Romeo. The fact that this guy is still a coach in the NFL is just a bad joke at this point. The team is clearly mailing it in every week and defense, his supposed specialty, doesn’t seem to want to hit anyone or bother to cover anyone in the secondary. The decision to bench BQ to bring in DA was just icing on the cake. It was one of the stupidest things I can remember seeing in a NFL game in a long time. And then every week he comes into the press room with this “Golly gee… I don’t know what went wrong this week” attitude. ENOUGH. The team lacks discipline, heart and professionalism – all traits that bear directly on the coaching staff. I’d fire Crennel this week and go NBA style with Phil f*ck you Savage patrolling the sidelines in the interim. At least he might get a little pissed off at the right people.
Can we bench the coach? I’m sure it would require a reinforced titanium steel bench, but what the hell.
The lack of concentration on this team is a direct reflection of the head coach.
I hate Braylon Edwards. I hated him when he played for that crap TUN, and I hated him the day we drafted him. I hate him. I want him suffer the same fate as Scott Tenorman.
Survivor Island = TampaBrett
I think Larry Hughes and Braylon are now 1a and 1b in terms of most unpopular player while active with their respective Cleveland franchises. I just don’t understand it. At least Larry Hughes had his reputation for being an injury-riddled softy to fall back on. What in the world is wrong with Braylon?
Obviously his performance is directly related to Michigan’s performance.
Words can’t explain the hate I have for just about everyone on this team and in the organization.
When will Romeo grow a pair and bench Braylon? If you are going to drop balls, you won’t play. I’d rather have Cribbs or Steptoe running routes at this point. Who knows maybe they will develop?
Bullet Points Missed:
** The Texans had the ball for 38 minutes today. I was at the game and got half way through my first beer and the 1st quarter was over. How can they hold the ball for 38 minutes with only 112 yards rushing?!?
** I think D’Qwell Jackson leads the NFL in tackles after 5+ yards gained. Andre Davis has to be steaming that DQ is surplanting him in tackles after good first down gains.
** My hope of a Browns come-back ended when Sean Jones was tackled during his interception return. If he could have taken that back for 6 and somehow we got the ball back, I have confidence in Dawson to hit from at least 60 (I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that the laces weren’t out on that bad bad bad FG attempt)
** My girl friend refuses to go to next week’s game. I am actually excited to see what Peyton Manning will do to our secondary. I don’t think he is intimated by Terry Cousins’ tenacious cover skills.
I usually don’t post on boards, but I moved from Ohio to Wyoming and I have no one to complain to about the browns. They are absolutely pitiful. Thats all I wanted to say.
I have never hated a Cleveland sports figure more than I currently hate Romeo Crennel. Do we know anything definitive about Brady Quinn after 2 games? No. Do we expect him to be perfect from the start? Absolutely not. He is going to have growing pains, but that is the only way he will get better. Taking him out was the dumbest thing a man could do, especially when that backup is Derek Anderson. I think he is a nice guy, but he has no chance of succeeding in Cleveland ever again. He is going to be booed relentlessly until he does something well, but he doesn’t have the mental toughness to overcome adversity. He might do alright someplace else but the chance of him ever playing well in Cleveland is just as high as Romeo Crennel ever becoming a good head coach. I have said in the past that firing a head coach midseason accomplishes nothing, but in this case, it is addition by subtraction. He is a detriment to the team. Get him out, get Quinn back in (unless he is really hurt, if thats the case then I’d prefer Dorsey over Anderson)
“A lot of times you just don’t know what you’re going to get,” Crennel said of his team. “How hard they’re going to try, how hard they’re going to execute and if they’re going to do the right things.
“If I knew the answer, I would definitely get it fixed.”
I hope they got that on video. That will make a great Coors Lights commercial one day.
If there is any game to point to when they fire Crennel, it is this game.
They are amazing, and I mean amazing, at getting field goals in the red zone.
There has got to be some sort of statistic on this out there right?
because i dont even want to talk about the game, i will agree with chris that as an expatriate who didnt even consider going to a bar and watching the thriller that was the texans/browns game today, i once again commend you guys at waiting for next year on your coverage.
shaun rogers blocking a field goal (this is his 2nd this season is it not?) puts a smile on my face.
so where do we start next season? trading up for laurenitis? well hell at this pace we wont need to trade up at all.
I’d rather have Malanuga than Laurinaitis… but maybe thats just me. This upcoming draft is stacked on the defensive side of the ball, however.
My patience for Phil Savage is drawing thin. I believe he deserves an offseason to turn this around, but it better be turned around
Phil Savage has blown it in terms of being a manager in-season. I think he has done a solid job in the draft and a solid job in free agency. The Shaun Rogers trade is certainly his most amazing achievement.
So, the Browns organization doesn’t need to get rid of Savage, they need to give him someone to manage the personnel side of the equation. They need to pick this person wisely as we already saw the Savage vs. Collins debacle play out.
My point is that unlike Romeo, we know Savage is good at SOMETHING. He makes trades and makes things happen in a league where big trades hardly ever occur anymore. He has an eye for talent and an eye for value. Unfortunately even if he was ever able to finish upgrading this rowboat to a yacht, he still has the worst captain in the world who constantly rams the hull of the boat into the bottom of the ocean.
I’m beginning to think that my fanhood of a team brings nothing but bad luck. I really wonder if i stop rooting for teams if they will immediately start winning again. Ever since i was old enough to comprehend sports my teams have been awful. Its kind of appropriate, considering my first two sports memories are watching the Drive and the Shot with my father. Sigh…
Did i mention that i attended notre dame during the tenures of Bob Davie, Ty Willingham, and the George O’Leary debacle. I even got to see Charlie Weis’ first spring game. Seriously… even ND hasn’t won a NC since i’ve been aware of sports.
On the bright side, i was volunteering on a church retreat this past weekend, so i missed this debacle, as well as the ND game, so my mood wasn’t too soured by either teams ineptness. That might be sad too… i really can’t bring myself to care about either team right now. Sigh…
Here’s to Next Year!
And to all the contributors to this site, THANKS for putting an amazing blog together. Happy Early Thanksgiving…
It comes down to coaching. I was thinking about the 2002 team that made the playoffs. If you go position-by-position, this team is more talented at nearly every position than that 2002 team. That shows you that Butch Davis was a better coach than Romeo. Yikes!!
Braylon Edwards is officially Chuck Knoblauch. We obviously have seen that he’s not THIS bad, but it’s now a giant snowball rolling downhill…
That said, as the resident UM fan/punchingbag of this site, allow me to editorialize. I get so tired of the idiots yelling “Go back to Michigan! You suck!” at the games (and I suspect other places). You didn’t think he sucked last season, and you didn’t care that he was from Michigan when he was catching 16 TD passes.
More specifically, I also get tired of the “the Browns need to draft [insert names of seven Ohio State players to coincide with the seven rounds of the draft] next year and hire Tressel.” Get over it, OSU fan. Not every single player that comes out of OSU is the best player ever at their position. I would draft Jenkins this spring, but I would pass on Wells (he seems to limp off the field at least once every other game) and Laurinaitis (as someone pointed out, I think there are better LBs at USC in this draft, for starters). That’s not to say that OSU doesn’t have some good players who will do well in the NFL. But, I remember a bunch of people wanting Troy Smith AT #3 IN 2007!!! #3!!
Obvioulsy, I’m not going to try to defend Edwards at this point, because he’s clearly not right in the head and his play has been atrocious most of the season. But, you don’t go from Pro Bowl-caliber to dropping 17 (or 25-30) passes in a season. You just don’t. There’s obviously something wrong (at one point yesterday, I posited to my friend that perhaps someone Edwards knows has him on a fantasy team, and BE is trying to sabotage that team for him). But to hate the guy simply because of where he played his college football is about the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of, because admit it: you didn’t care that he was from Michigan when he was playing well.
I mean, I’m sure you hated Steve Everitt and LeRoy Hoard when they were Browns, too, right?
Side rant: In addition to the commercials issue that Craig aptly points out, my other biggest annoyance at CBS is that they insist on playing Hang On Sloopy between the 3rd and 4th quarters of every home game. I’m not an OSU fan. The guy I go to games with is not an OSU fan. None of the players on the Browns played for OSU. It is not an OSU game.
And, to suggest that they need to “Hang On” while losing to the stinking Texans at home is about as stupid as it gets.
/end rants
DP, living in Columbus and really not caring about OSU football, I know exactly what you’re talking about. That being said, the Browns hurt my heart, this was not the season I was so looking forward to before spring training started. I feel like picking a surrogate team I can support through the playoff process, since once again I won’t be experiencing them in my orange and brown. Any suggestions for who to root for? (for God’s sake if anyone says Pittsburg or Dallas so help me…..)
Here’s the thing: I don’t like Ohio State (obviously). That said, if the Browns were in position to draft an OSU player that could/would help them get better, I’d be all for them doing so (I coveted AJ Hawk and even Bobby Carpenter in 2006).
To root against a player on your favorite team because of where he played college football is not only homerism at its purest, it’s just plain stupid.
Again, I can understand rooting against Edwards because he currently can’t catch a football, but to insinuate that he sucks because he went to Michigan is stupid. Exhibit A: Tom Brady.
I agree with what your saying, DP, but you would regret passing on Beanie Wells. AP got hurt all the time too, but Wells plays when he is hurt and is still good. That is all
Until Beanie Wells can tackle and/or cover WRs for our defense, I won’t regret passing on him.
And, more to the point, if we drafted Wells and he struggled, I wouldn’t say, “Typical OSU player. He sucks.”
Tron – I think you should root for the Cowboys.
Perhaps Romeo should follow the path of his namesake an visit the chemist.
Hey DP, I think you have some good points, but the majority of the fans at Browns games, and Cavs games and even Indians games at this point are really into the “Hang on Sloopy” thing. Also, the Cavs fans love to “boo” free throws when they put a Steelers logo or a Michigan logo on the scoreboard as an opposing player is shooting. Just because some Cavs fans might also be Steelers fans doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t do it. Just because some Michigan fans go to Browns games doesn’t mean that 95% of the crowd shouldn’t be fired up by “Hang On Sloopy.”
You are spot on with the player bashing, although I suspect Lions fans would have really given it to Chris Spielman any way they could find if he had all of a sudden started playing like pure and utter garbage. Two wrongs don’t make a right, but I don’t know what you expect. Fans, especially drunken football fans, say really stupid stuff when things aren’t going their way.
Just ask Philly and a certain jolly, bearded fat man who hangs out with reindeer.
Point taken, Craig. Yesterday, though, NO ONE was fired up about anything. The O-H-I-O hand motions were done by maybe 40% of the stadium.