In the Cleveland Browns final home game of the season and with a three game winning streak in hand,The Browns looked to make a statement on the future of several pieces of the organization.Brandon Weeden,Pat Shurmur and Tom Heckert all could have taken a large step towards keeping their job with a Browns win.
At the end of the day,which featured a 38-21 loss to Washington,all three might have seen their final home game in Cleveland.
Four second half touchdowns by the opposition will do that often.
Trent Richardson rushed for two short yardage scores and Brandon Weeden threw a 69 yard TD to a streaking Travis Benjamin for the other score.
The now 5-9 Browns finish the season with visits to Denver and Pittsburgh....
Brownie Bits
1) Considering the total picture,three wins,game at home and Washington starting Kirk Cousins in place of Robert Griffin,I felt pretty strongly that the Browns had a real chance to win this one.
With a 14-10 halftime lead,the Browns then promptly laid an egg.
Total collapse on both offense and defense.
2) Brandon Weeden was just awful in this game.
Two interceptions with one caused by downright staring at the receiver and the other with a bad underthrow.
Only the long TD toss to Travis Benjamin gave the Browns anything from the QB position.
3) The Browns had the lead and the ball to start the second half when Weeden threw an awful interception deep into his own territory.
A few plays later,Washington scored and the game was all downhill from there.
Just an awful pass and one that you would think a quarterback would not make at this point on the year...
4) Trent Richardson ripped off a 14 yard gain on his first carry and then would carry just ten more times,finishing with 28 yards on the day.
Pat Shurmur reverted to form of not taking advantage of his top playmaker and decided to make Brandon Weeden the focus of the offense..
5) If you defend Brandon Weeden as being a rookie then watching Kirk Cousins play defeats your argument.
Cousins was selected by Washington in the fourth round in the same draft as Weeden,made his first start and showed the poise in the pocket that Weeden has rarely used this season.
It was just one game,but could you make an argument that another first level player in the first round instead of Weeden and Kirk Cousins in round three or four might have made the Browns a better team?
Short answer-yes.
6) Way WAY too many broken tackles against the Browns.
I counted three times where defenders went for the pad popping hit only to watch the runner bounce off them and continue on downfield.
Call me an old traditionalist,if you wish,but I remember a day when you made the big hit AND the tackle!!!
7) Bad day in coverage too as even Joe Haden was beaten a few times by Pierre Garcon.
Slow Slow Slow
8) Pat Shurmur is cooked and that is not a bad thing.
The Browns are not going to beat Denver and Pittsburgh on the road and that puts things at 5-11 with just two of the wins over respectable teams (Bengals and the non-Rothlisberger Steelers).
5-11 is not going to cut especialy when the best notes for keeping Shurmur in the three game win streak is that he didn't screw up in winnable games...
9) Sad to say it looks like Tom Heckert too.
I'd keep Heckert,but he might have have his fate attached to that of Brandon Weeden and that is a fading hope.
10) 5-11? Well,that looks like a draft pick between 6th and 11th according to tie breakers.
Another season of useless wins over bad teams costing top talent.
I don't see wins in the next two weeks,so the most fun might be rooting for wins from these teams-five wins (right now) teams-Buffalo,San Diego,Carolina,Arizona and four win team-Tennessee,Oakland, Detroit and Philadelphia.
GO ALL OF YOU GUYS!!!
Photo Credit:Cleveland Plain Dealer
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