Browns can’t find the end zone in 10-6 loss

What a great weekend!!!!  Between the Buckeyes, the Sun Devils, the Indians, and the Browns, I was 0-6 this weekend.  I should have stayed in San Diego this weekend and spent the time on the beach.

The Browns were given many opportunities to take their first win in 10 tries against their arch rival Pittsburgh.

The Browns blew a perfect chance to score a touchdown prior to the end of the first half.  It would have been a perfect answer to the Steelers touchdown on their previous drive…but noooooooo.  Romeo and his mistake prone players had to put an end to that threat.  With under a minute in the half and the ball at the Steelers 16 yard line, Derek Anderson fumbled the ball and got called for an illegal shift.  The Browns had a choice to lose their final timeout or 10 seconds off the clock.  They opted for the 10 seconds.  44 seconds left.  A pass to Jason Wright made it third and 1.  Derek Anderson took the ball on a QB sneak for the first down with 8 seconds left.  We had 2 plays, 10 yards, but took 36 seconds off the clock.  Derek Anderson was given one more play to try for the TD.  He tried to force a pass to Syndric Steptoe that was picked off by Polamalu.  These are the types of mistakes he needs to avoid this year.  Don’t force it.  If nothing is there, throw the ball away!

Down by 10, the Browns finally got on the board late in the 3rd quarter on a Phil Dawson field goal.  On the drive the Browns were assisted by a roughing the passer call and a taunting penalty.  The took advantage of the situation by shooting themselves in the foot when they got 2nd and 4 from the Pittsburgh 5 yard line.  First they tried to run Lewis up the middle.  Lewis was averaging about 2 yards per carry at that point.  The Steelers were stuffing the run and we were having some success with short passes and screens.  Then on 3rd and 7, Winslow gets called for motion.  Now we have 3rd and 12.  Brilliant!!  Another blown opportunity.

The Browns had a nice long drive in the 4th that ate up nearly seven and half minutes only to end up with a field goal.  On 3rd and 7, from the Steelers 20, our Pro Bowl receiver and quarterback failed to hook up on a pass that would have gotten us a first down.  Anderson didn’t place the ball in the right spot and Edwards failed to get a good position on the defender.  Fourth down and time for another field goal.  I can’t fault Romeo for kicking the field goal, the defense had done a decent job of stopping Pittsburgh from running the ball.  At the time, Parker had 21 rushes for 81 yards.  Unfortunately, the defense allowed Big Ben to beat them with a signature completion to Heath Miller for a first down.  Then if that wasn’t enough, the D gave Fast Willie the best run of the night for 19 yards.  That was the dagger.  Had we gotten to Big Ben on the pass play to Miller, we may have gotten the ball back with just over 2 minutes left.

Overall, I am glad the defense showed up.  They never gave up and played better than I expected.  It was nice to see Joshua Cribbs returning the ball again.  Braylon Edwards only dropped one pass, as did K2.

Well, maybe it wasn’t such a bad weekend…my fantasy team is 2-0.

Go BROWNS!!!

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Last post (s) by Tom Kuhman

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