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| You think YOU are overmatched? |
I know,I know-Aunt Becky does not know her nephew that well,if she thinks that I think that way,but today we take the gloves off.
I cannot think of one good part of the Cleveland Browns 24-14 loss to the Buffalo Bills,other than the touchdown run by Trent Richardson,who bounced his TD run outside when the inside run showed no holes as the only part of a miserable day for Richardson and the Browns.
So to my beloved Aunt Becky-this one's for you!
Brownie Bits
1) Typical script for the Browns-Give away points early,get a score to make the game reasonably close,the defense cannot make the one stop that the team desperately needs and the offense sputters in the late going.
2) Yes,Brandon Weeden made a nice throw on the touchdown pass to Travis Benjamin,but every other pass of any distance was either overthrown out of bounds or surprisingly more often than not-underthrown.
I may be wrong (I'm not),but was it not that Brandon Weeden had a stronger arm and more accurate arm throwing the deep ball that was trumpeted as a prime reason Weeden was brought in over the lesser armed Colt McCoy?
3) Weeden also seemed to have a large number of passes batted down or deflected off the line of scrimmage.
This is not all on Weeden as the Buffalo defensive line dominated the line play all day,but some of that goes on him as the man letting the ball go.
Was it not another reason that Brandon Weeden was touted ahead of Colt McCoy that his height advantage would keep in the pocket more,less balls batted down and an ability to see more of the downfield area?Yeah,I thought so....
4) The template to beat this team is pretty straight forward.
Control Trent Richardson at all costs.
Make Brandon Weeden and his untested receivers beat you.
At this point,nothing that I have seen makes me think that is likely.
Follow that plan and even mediocre teams like Buffalo can defeat you.
5) Buffalo had lost their last eight games on the road before this game and yet they strolled in with two marches down the field,took the crowd out of the game and established that they were controlling this game.
Why the Browns always come out so flat at home is befuddling to me.
You want a reason that Pat Shurmur is toast sooner or later? That is as good of a reason as any...
6) I'll keep this common complaint brief.
Still tired of two yard pass routes when you need eight yards.
Although those plays do seem to work remarkably well AGAINST the Browns. Of course other teams have linebackers that can run and stop those players from running downfield,but that's beside the point....
7) I have tried to be a booster of Greg Little through all the dropped passes,but I've have enough of the Usain Bolt Arrow Shot.
Of course,I might be more tolerant if the performance was after a 80 yard gain or a touchdown,but after a 12 yard pass play?
Thanks for the show,Greg and thanks for the great two catches for 17 yard game as well....
8) The Browns injured C.J. Spiller in the first quarter after he had caught a TD pass of 32 yards that he walked into the end zone with.
So one would think that without Spiller and the previously injured Fred Jackson,the Bills and third string back Tashard Choice would have some problems running the ball.
That was not the case as Choice finished with 91 yards in three quarters of action.
Almost 100 yards to a third string back in three quarters.That says it all....
9) This is another common complaint-Sheldon Brown needs to play less.
Or not at all.
Buffalo picked on Brown in the same way that chickens pick on a injured member of the flock.
Wherever Brown was,the ball seemed to follow to that Bill receiver.
And it almost always was caught.
And not by Sheldon Brown.
10) The offensive line was offensive.
Mario Williams had been ineffective in the first two games and he was very strong against the Browns as was the rest of the Buffalo defensive line.
Mark Anderson,Marcell Darius,Kyle Williams,didn't matter as they dominated all day long...
11) Pat Shurmur has little stomach for any call that takes a chance.
Down 10 points with a little over six minutes to go with a fourth down on tap.
The ball is on the Cleveland 36 and that makes it game over if you don't make it,but it's game over with a punt too.
Shurmur's call-Punt.
Boo.
12) Lots of Bills fans and by the end of the game,the Buffalo fans outnumbered the long gone Browns fans.
Partially,the reason is that Browns fans are becoming so beaten down by the product,but the other is why I wrote in Talkin' Browns that Buffalo in the division made so much more sense than Baltimore-Proximity.
The division would have been so much more travel friendly with the Bills for opposing fans to travel around for division games....
13) Jimmy Haslam made an appearance in the CBS booth during the game and he strikes me as a guy that is in this business to win and even though there will be mistakes made,they will not be made out of ambivalence.
Haslam reminds me a lot of Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert in that winning will be paramount and the team will pay the price to do so.
Just a gut feeling,but I think Jimmy Haslam did not buy this team to lose...
14) This was the must win game and you have to think 0-5 is a layup with road games against the Ravens and Giants and the Bengals at home is not a gimme'.
Unless something unexpected arises,I do think you are looking at 0-6 going into Indianapolis....
15) Finish up strong as Vince Cellini used to say.
The Browns have not been blown out in any their games,but only the Eagles game was truly a game that I felt that got away.
The last two losses were deceiving in score,but I never truly felt the Browns were a serious threat to pull the game out.
Other than that,not much to feel good about...
Photo Credits;Cleveland Plain Dealer
1 comment:
Haha You still found a silver lining in the Trent Richardson touchdown. That's ok it was good and thank the stars he finally broke to the outside instead of staying inside. He was reminding me of Metcalf up the middle!!!
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