Road Woes Plague Browns' Offense in 14-11 Loss to Redskins
by Chris Pokorny on Oct 22, 2008 4:49 PM EDT
in 2008 Game Reviews
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After Sunday's loss to the Washington Redskins, clearly there is only one man to blame: Phil Dawson. Only kidding, of course, as it was clearly the underachieving offense that cost us yet another football game.
Just think about that -- the Browns, potential-wise, are supposed to have one of the best offenses in football.
We held one of the AFC's best teams, Pittsburgh, to just 10 points. Result? Loss.
We held one of the NFC's best teams, Washington, to just 14 points. Result? Loss.
This week, it wasn't the playcalling that was the problem. The adjustments that Rob Chudzinski has made over the past several weeks were still on display. However, if you can't even execute a screen pass to a receiver at the line of scrimmage, you can't move the chains to set up the remainder of your gameplan as a coordinator. The goats of the game this week are back again, and although a major case can be made for two of our players on offense getting the award, I'm going to substitute one of them for a defensive player.
Goats of the Game (The Reason We're Not .500)
- Derek Anderson: For as many steps forward as he appeared to take against the New York Giants, he took a lot of those steps back against the Redskins. I wasn't too surprised due to all of his road woes last season, but I was certainly discouraged. I don't think he's lost the right to his job yet. Right now we're 2-4 and still far from the season being over.
- Terry Cousin: I was flabbergasted when I read that Mike Adams would be inactive for the game. Although the defense played well, Cousin was Ralph Brown-esque. I believe I remember most of Jason Campbell's success coming on crossing routes over the middle. Each time, including Santana Moss' touchdown, Cousin was in on the coverage.
Awarding Game Balls (Fewer Than Last Week)
- Eric Wright: He has really made amends for fumbling an interception against the Bengals several weeks ago. After intercepting an Eli Manning pass for a touchdown last week, he came up with a huge strip on Clinton Portis when it looked as if we were dead and buried. Credit Wright for hustling on the play when Portis was already a step ahead of him.
- Jamal Lewis: He may still be averaging under 100 yards in most of these games, but he is fulfilling his duties by running for over four yards a pop. His effortless hurdle in full stride for a 22 yard gain was a sight to see. Not being able to punch it in down at the goal line with several cracks was discouraging, but that's where you also need the threat of a capable quarterback.
General Thoughts (Random Tidbits on the Game)
- IN for the TOUCHDOWN?: Forgive me if I have missed confirmation that shows otherwise, but a major factor in this game came with about a little over 8 minutes to play. Derek Anderson dumped a screen pass off to Jamal Lewis, and Lewis followed lead blocker Rex Hadnot down the field. Lewis was ruled down at the one-yard line...but why? On replay, it looks like Lewis merely stumbled while trying to use Hadnot as a shield, and tripped himself down at the one-yard line. Still untouched though, his momentum carried his body and the ball into the end zone, where a defender then touched him.
- No Red Flag: Remember when we used to complain so much about Romeo Crennel wasting challenges? Well, apparently he's gone into a shell now, because through six games, I don't even recall him throwing it once. Had he thrown it in this instance and if the play had been ruled a touchdown, we would've had a lot of time left to come back and win. Granted, failing to get the ball in with four attempts is no excuse, but neither is missing this call.
- Running Wild: The Redskins might just have the best running back in the league. Clinton Portis dazzled once again, rushing for 175 yards on 27 carries against the Browns. The high yardage count is still attributable to some of our defensive shortcomings, but overall he just deserves props on being one of the best, and perhaps most underrated, players in the game.
- Still Missed It: I joked in the opening line that Dawson was to blame for this loss. In all fairness, he does deserve a share of the blame. He showed tremendous leg strength in the preseason, connecting on a couple of 50+ yarders. Last week's miss from beyond 50 yards didn't have as much relevance because we ended up winning big. But, in Dawson's first pressure kick opportunity of the season, he failed to come through. Remember, we won at least two more games last season because of late kicks by Dawson (Seattle and Baltimore).
- Eight Punts: From no punts to eight punts. At least Dave Zastudil didn't show much rust, as he booted the ball well throughout the game.
- Late Defensive Stop: One of the most surprising things this season came on the Redskins' final "true" drive of the game, when they had a chance to run out the clock. After running all over the Browns all game and only needing a first down, I thought our depleted defensive line would be toast by the second carry. To my surprise, the unit reached down deep and played their hearts out until the final whistle, fighting through fatigue and the misery of watching a crappy [Browns] offensive effort.
- Kellen Winslow: The friction between Winslow and the team is not good for overall team morale. Staph infections remain a huge problem, and it's getting laughable to try to accept that all of the infections with Cleveland players specifically are merely a coincidence. Whether his suspension is lifted or not for next game though, right now, we are a better football team when Steve Heiden starts for several reasons -- blocking, chemistry with Anderson, and having more respect from the coaching staff.
- By the Way: Did we draft Martin Rucker and Beau Bell just to sit them all season? Just wondering, because right now our starting tight end is at odds with the team and Andra Davis remains invisible.
- Sean Jones & Ryan Tucker: With the positive news of Sean Jones returning, there was the negative news of Ryan Tucker being listed as inactive for the game, and possibly for the near future as well. Jones played "ok" and led the team with ten tackles, but he seemed to be a beat off. After having a game's worth of live action under his belt again, I expect the rust to have worn off by the Jacksonville contest.
- Offensive Line: Anderson was hit a lot more against Washington than he was against the Giants, but that isn't an excuse. On many of his throws, including the failed one to Braylon Edwards right before our field goal attempt, he had plenty of time to make the appropriate throw.
- Harrison's Involvement: Several users complained about the team not using Jerome Harrison earlier in the game, but would that have really made a difference? Lewis was running the ball fine, and the real problem were things like Anderson overthrowing Donte Stallworth on a screen pass, or Edwards completing missing the hot slant route on a Redskins blitz. I think fans were automatically thinking "Harrison = Spark". In truth, the plays were called all had "Spark" written all over them, with a little asterisk * mentioning the failed execution. Bottom line: I felt Harrison was intended to be used correctly for the third game in a row -- it just didn't come off that way.
- Cribbs' Hit: Cribbs showed a lot of toughness by returning to the game after taking a huge blow earlier in the contest. Credit goes to Gerard Lawson though, who had arguably our best kick return of the season in place of Cribbs -- a tough, bounce-off-defender return for 43 yards.
- Slight Steps Forward for Wimbley: I saw a few things I liked from Kamerion Wimbley, particularly once when he almost had an interception dropping back in coverage. Wimbley needs to drop back more often to mix up the play calls and leave the opposing team's left tackle wondering whether or not he's actually going to come.
- Brownies: While only having two catches for the second week in a row, I thought Donte Stallworth opened up the offense again...Steve Heiden was heavily underutilized in this game...although Edwards had several drops again, most of them would've netted minimal yardage...can the team clone Shaun Rogers?
"1/8 from the one-yard line is a high percentage in my book. So much, that I won't throw the red challenge flag."
Believe it or not, the Redskins game was losable. It kills me that we didn't seize the advantage and get back to .500, but we still showed that we can compete with a very good football team, even on the road, until the final seconds.
The bigger game comes this week against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Why were we left out of the postseason last year? Because we had a horrible conference record in comparison to Tennessee.
Right now, we're only one game back of a tie for the wildcard. One game! That is no reason to give up hope. The Jaguars will be competing for one of those wildcard spots though, so if we can take them out this weekend, that will be a huge step forward in getting our season back on track.
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Pardon me, but blaming the defense or any defensive player for giving up a total of 14 points to a pro offense seems ludicrous. Same with your field goal kicker. The defense did a fine job on Sunday and is the only reason to watch the Browns at this point. Of course the defense is going to allow the occasional play, that’s expected. You ask any coach if they would give an opponent 14 points without having to field the defense all game, and they’d grab it in a heartbeat. This is like blaming your pitcher for giving up 2 runs and losing 2-0. The offense and only the offense must stand accountable for blowing Sunday’s game.
Although the defense played well, Cousin was Ralph Brown-esque.
I did not blame the entire defense. I labeled one individual, Terry Cousin, as being on the defending side of pretty much every single big play the Redskins had. I understand you can’t ask for perfection every time, but this is a recurring issue with Cousin. Really, my main point of emphasis was my frustration of Adams not being active when he is clearly a better player at this point of his career.
In all fairness, he does deserve a share of the blame.
Regarding the field goal kicker, I didn’t say “we lost this game because of Dawson”. I said he failed to come through with a game-tying kick. Is that wrong? I don’t care if Anderson threw five picks for defensive touchdowns — if we were still in position to tie the game at the final seconds with a field goal kick, Dawson still takes his lumps just as much as everyone else would.
I’ll use a similar baseball reference. In a pitcher’s duel, a team is winning 1-0 all game, and the closer comes in the ninth inning. He gives up a two-run homer. Sure, his team’s offense deserves a bulk of the blame, but when put in the position, the closer still had a job to do.
Dawgs By Nature - Find out why Pittsburgh still sucks.
by Chris Pokorny on Oct 22, 2008 5:22 PM EDT up reply actions
Defense: I don’t care how many mistakes Cousin made. This is still a team sport and when the defense yields only 14 points, everybody gets credit.
Kicker: Sure, Dawson missed a very long field goal attempt, but it has nothing to do with why the offense put him and us in a position to fail. Your analysis is about the outcome and how we got there, not about whether Dawson can make a low percentage field goal. How we got there, is that the offense repeatedly played like warmed over crap, again.
Dude, Cousin played a terrible game. That’s all he’s saying. Was it his fault we lost? No. Did the defense play well? Absolutely. Could he cover anything? No.
If the Browns had lost 38-35, there would not have been any goats found on the offensive side of the ball, even though not everyone on offense had contributed. And perhaps fans have some bias favoring offense in that regard.
Cousin contributed the least in holding Wash. to 14 points. But the outcome had absolutely nothing whatsover to do with the Cleveland defense. It’s the off coord’s job at Wash. to decide the weak link and attack it. He decided it was Cousin and told his qb to go to work there. The end result of this strategy was to put a resounding 14 total points on the board. This game was extremely winnable and the entire defense made that possible.
Something is being lost in translation here. What you are saying — the fact that Cousin was a weak link and that the defense kept us in the game — is the same exact thing I (or rufio and I) am/are saying.
Dawgs By Nature - Find out why Pittsburgh still sucks.
by Chris Pokorny on Oct 24, 2008 11:15 AM EDT up reply actions
If we lose 38-35 and Braylon Edwards drops 15 passes, I think it would be safe to say he could earn Goat honors. Especially if a few of those passes came in critical situations.
I believe the reasons Chris tags “Goats” and gives “Gameballs” is to highlight particularly good or bad individual performances. Truly, football is a team game and all 53 guys on the roster can take credit for a win or blame in a loss as one unit. Pointing out individuals who played well or poorly can only help describe a part of why the Browns won or lost a game.
No one is pinning the loss on Cousin and only Cousin. He contributed to the loss by playing poorly, as did many other Browns. If Cousin steps up and plays like a big boy, Washington’s O coordinator has to look somewhere else to find the “weak link”, and that helps the Browns. He failed to do that. He did not play well, and was the “weak link” on D most of the game.
That’s a head scratcher for me. I fail to see how any member of the defense can be blamed if the end result is giving up 14 points, maybe it’s just me.
Granted, the fact that the Browns (lack of) offense was a major contributor in this loss. Still, I think that Cousin has to be a point of concern for the defense in any future game, and opposing offenses will probably continue to attack that weakness whenever they can find that matchup until Cousin proves that he can cover those routes or until he is replaced by someone who can.
All of that being said, this still seems by far the best defense the Browns have fielded in a long time.
54 yards, and he FAILED to come through. Jeez he has been the best Brown for a long time. If the Browns didn’t jack up the clock ( once again) on the final drive ( Andersons QB sneak, then runs to the sideline, then runs back, then run a play, instead of spiking the ball), the Browns might of have a gained a few more yards. If the field goal is inside of 50 and he misses it, I will put some minor blame on him, outside of 50, can’t get on his case.
"Have You heard of the Boom on Mizar 5?"
But, in Dawson’s first pressure kick opportunity of the season, he failed to come through.
Really, I think you guys are reading too much into what I’m saying, almost making it seem like I’m overly pissed off at certain players, lol. When I said “he failed to come through”, it was the same intention as simply saying “he missed it”.
I still have all of my faith in Dawson, of course — all I really did was state a fact in that statement. And, I was also trying to reference the fact that we (or at least I) were excited after Dawson had nailed a couple of 50+ yarders in the preseason.
In reference to me giving him a share of the blame, the blame was a very, VERY tiny percentage compared to the offense. On a scale, it’s probably not even measurable in comparison, considering the circumstances. When you see Sebastian Janikowski nail a 57-yard game winner right after our game finished airing though, it does make you think “oh, hell”, in a way.
Dawgs By Nature - Find out why Pittsburgh still sucks.
by Chris Pokorny on Oct 23, 2008 8:35 AM EDT up reply actions
Chris,
I respect your opinion, but for the life of me I don’t understand anyone who is still saying DA shouldn’t be taking a seat to see if Quinn has anything to offer. DA has been HORRIBLE 80% of the time this season. He’s pretty much single handedly lost us 2 games, and a third if you count the Pittsburgh game. Why not put Quinn in at this point? Do we have to have a lost season in order to put Quinn in?
I was trying to state it in a way as projecting what I thought Crennel would do. Meaning, he hasn’t lost his right to start in Crennel’s mind just yet.
Dawgs By Nature - Find out why Pittsburgh still sucks.
by Chris Pokorny on Oct 22, 2008 5:13 PM EDT up reply actions
But you wrote “I don’t think he’s lost the right to his job yet.”
Do you agree DA should be benched and Quinn named the starter? I think we all know what Crennel is not going to do.
Brady Quinn will be on high alert this week. ;)
Dawgs By Nature - Find out why Pittsburgh still sucks.
by Chris Pokorny on Oct 23, 2008 8:38 AM EDT up reply actions
By the Way:
Did we draft Martin Rucker and Beau Bell just to sit them all season? Just wondering, because right now our starting tight end is at odds with the team and Andra Davis remains invisible.
No kidding! I’ve been itchin’ to see Bell in there either blastin’ into a RB or leveling the QB. At the very least pluggin’ holes in the trenches.
The only reason I can imagine Bell not getting in is because of Andra Davis being the main guy with the defensive headset. Which, is ridiculous…considering this is the first damn year the thing is being used (meaning it shouldn’t be used as a make-or-break decision when it comes to playing time).
Dawgs By Nature - Find out why Pittsburgh still sucks.
by Chris Pokorny on Oct 22, 2008 5:26 PM EDT up reply actions
We need to see what these new kids can do. Now’s as good a time as any.
I think, from my limited observations, that Bell has a legit future.
Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.
by BringBackKosar on Oct 23, 2008 6:55 PM EDT up reply actions
Role Reversal
I’m still struggling to understand how we went from last year’s problem of putting up lots of points but not being able to stop the other guys from putting up more, to stopping the other guys but not being able to move the ball ourselves.
Actually I do understand what happened with the defense. New players, new coordinator, new dynamic.
But the offense was largely unchanged. It should be gobbling up yards, but it isn’t. Yes, QBs sometimes have errant throws and WRs sometimes drop passes, but whatever is going on with Anderson and Edwards defies explanation.
I agree with your assessment that Romeo will not bench Anderson yet. I think he’s going to give him the first eight games no matter what. And if the Browns beat just Baltimore or Jacksonville, Anderson will probably get a pass until at least week ten. Quinn probably won’t get a shot until the Browns are mathematically eliminated from any playoff hopes.
It sucks to see your team lose, but it sucks even more when they are losing because their Pro Bowl players are consistently failing to execute at even a basic level.
BTW, if Heiden is limited, do you think we’ll get a chance to see Rucker?
Na, I think they’d just start Dinkins. The latest report indicates that Heiden will play though.
Dawgs By Nature - Find out why Pittsburgh still sucks.
by Chris Pokorny on Oct 23, 2008 8:42 AM EDT up reply actions
Both had minor knee surgery during camp, but they’re both healthy and practicing now. But yeah, they have a lot of catching up to do.
Granted, all of this is sort of theoretical since we’re not at practice, but…
Like exposition said, the word is that they’ve been capable of returning for awhile now. Because they missed a good portion of the season, they are “behind”. I find no excuse in that — it’s not like we’re asking these guys to be Pro Bowlers. Don’t our coaches know how to work specific plays in for these guys?
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised after it took them so long to utilize Jerome Harrison, and hell, they never even bothered with Travis Wilson.
Dawgs By Nature - Find out why Pittsburgh still sucks.
by Chris Pokorny on Oct 23, 2008 8:41 AM EDT up reply actions
Beau Bell might have an excuse to be behind. He has to be ready to react to whatever the other team does. They can simplify things for Rucker and ask him to run a few routes or look for a few blocks in certain areas. That shouldn’t take months. Sure, you tip your hand so that whenever Rucker is in he might do one of only 6 things, but that’s still enough to keep a D guessing.
So, what do we think will happen (not what should happen)? If the offense is terrible in the first half, do we see Quinn play after halftime? I expected a change in Cincy when DA was terrible and nothing happened. Then he threw a pick in the third quarter and nothing happened. We finally got a couple TD’s in the fourth and won the game, but DA didn’t play well. How much longer do we have to put up with this? What do you think it will take for Crennel to put in Quinn? Is DA going to survive off the Giants game for another month?
The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay
8. Yes please. Just designate Jackson to have the radio, or pair Bell with Davis or always have Bell and Williams on the field together. Can’t be much worse than the ILBs right now. Rucker could be huge in place of a suspended Winslow, or an ailing Heiden or as another person who can both get open and catch the ball.
9. Ryan Tucker = big loss.
11. Harrison needed to play earlier. I stand by it. DA doesn’t even need to throw it to him. Sometimes just the threat that he poses can do good things for other people. Give him a draw up the middle instead of running Lewis for no gain on 2nd and long. Put him in motion from the backfield to WR or vice versa. Maybe the threat of the screen or draw or swing pass to Harrison holds a LB and Winslow is 10 yards open and sitting in a hole in the zone instead of 3 yards open. He didn’t need to get touches, just be in the game. (but yes, we did need to execute what was called WAAAYYYYY better if we wanted to win).
14. They put Stallworth in motion a LOT. That might have been why it looked like a lot of the offense was missing earlier in the year. It was either him or Cribbs, but a WR went in motion from the bottom of the TV screen upward toward Joe Thomas. I think it was actually Stallworth. Whoever it was laid a huge block “against the grain” as Thomas and someone else (Vickers I think) went out left to block for Lewis. They paved the way and it was a nice gain. NO WAY does Steptoe lay that kind of block. Also; more Joe Thomas on the move, please.
article about Rucker
it suggests he may be active on Sunday, please follow link:
http://news-herald.com/articles/2008/10/23/sports/doc49000707ba7a7956286130.txt
Any reason why the Browns shouldn’t use Abdullah this week instead of Cousin? It seems to me like a “can’t get any worse” situation. It was my understanding that Abdullah was a decent player, and he should have been able to learn enough about the defense by now.
by JustBob on Oct 23, 2008 3:51 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Heiden = victory
Mr. Rucker, Mr. Martin Rucker, Please pick up the courtesy phone, your opportunity is waiting.
Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.
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