Browns drop disappointing opener

The Cleveland Browns had about everything that a below average team could want to open their season with-a team that was their equal (if not worse),a home game and the opponent had quarterbacks that ranged from players making their debut to veterans that had failed in various stops.
All of that was not enough as the Browns and the supposedly superior West Coast offense had the game in their grasp only to lose it in the fourth quarter to the Cincinnati Bengals 27-17 at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
The dagger in the heart was a long touchdown pass to A.J. Green,who Browns fans like myself badly wanted in Cleveland,while the Browns defense generally milled around and looked unprepared as the Bengals snapped the ball and ran the play.
Cleveland travels to Indianapolis next week against the Peyton Manningless Colts.

Brownie Bits

1) I know it is just week one,but these are the type of games that below average simply HAVE to win for the reasons that I detailed above.
Now,if the idea to is to be bad to the point of adding impact players in the draft,that is a different kettle of fish,as I often have said/written the problem with the Browns is that they have been bad not awful.
The difference being 3-13 and picking in the top three and 6-10 picking 7th-10th.
Losing these types of games are how you go 3-13.

2) 11 penalties? ELEVEN?
Unacceptable for the home to commit that amount of penalties,when the team with the rookie and retread taking snaps commit just three.

3) Pat Shurmur might want to believe that the TD to A.J. Green might have been illegal due to the substitution rule,but he is just as much as fault as the players on the play.
Why? Shurmur was standing beside a ref,all he had to do was call a timeout.
He didn't = Ball Game.

4) New punter Richmond McGee was just awful in his debut as his weak punts especially in the first half consistently gave the Bengals great field position.
McGee could be out the door or at least challenged this week by a punter off the street.
If McGee is the punter against the Colts,he had better improve on yesterday....

5) Joe Haden was the player directly responsible for covering A.J. Green on the touchdown pass,but other than that-Haden was the best player for the Browns yesterday.
Green did not catch a pass other than that one and Haden batted several passes down.
Joe Haden has to be considered the Browns top player on defense and along with Joe Thomas,the best on the entire team.

6) D'Qwell Jackson played very well in his return to the lineup after two injury filled years.
Jackson was constantly around the ball and looked like he fits into the Dick Jauron 4-3 far better than the Rob Ryan 3-4 schemes.

7) Colt McCoy was pretty average 19/40 and two touchdowns.
Put aside the late interception,that was in desperation time under a rush (more on that shortly),the most worrisome thing for me was the passes being batted/tipped at the line of scrimmage.
One of the knocks on McCoy is his height and that knocked down passes could be a problem,it sure was yesterday.

8) The Browns offensive line looked shaky at times,which considering one spot was held by a rookie (Jason Pinkston) at left guard and two guys off the waiver wire (O'neil Cousins and Artis Hicks) at right tackle could be expected,but the issue was not just pass protection.
Peyton Hillis ran for under sixty yards,if this team is going to wear down teams with the running game-that is not going to cut it.

9) I did have some nice things on the defensive line to say until the clinching TD run on third down by Cedric Benson,which looked like he was running through the Grand Canyon.
That one was pretty bad,but the Browns have to feel good about Ahtyba Rubin and rookie Phil Taylor up the middle.
The Browns are going to tough to run between the tackles against by the end of the year with Rubin,Taylor,D'Qwell Jackson and then T.J. Ward guarding the middle of the field.

10) Solomon Wilcots said in the fourth quarter "this was a whale of a game".
Lacking the wisdom of Solomon,Wilcots was on this as it was anything but that.
What it was was this-a close game between two bad teams,not a good game...

11) Wrapping things up,I am not totally discouraged as there is a learning curve with new systems,which Cleveland seems to have every few years and this was Pat Shurmur's debut as a coach.
Although Shurmur made his mistakes and I am still confused on the penalty for accidentally knocking down an official,which I have never seen before,it was just game one.
All of that said-this is a win that they had to have and mistakes cost them this game against a team that might have been one of the few inferior teams in the league.
Onto Indianapolis.

Seahawks review later today,hopefully.