Mixed emotions as Jets beat Browns

The Cleveland Browns took a ten point lead into the waning minutes of the first half in New Jersey against the New York Jets and then,as has become the norm,went into halftime tied at ten with defensive lapses before being outplayed in the second half.
End result? A 24-13 Jets win that will rank pretty highly among the worst football games that I have watched in the seven year history of this blog.
Edwin Baker rushed for 64 yards and a score,which on this team makes him Leroy Kelly,if not Jim Brown and Josh Gordon finished with 97 yards receiving to lead an offensive offense.
The now 4-11 Browns finish up next week in Pittsburgh against the suddenly resurgent Steelers.

Brownie Bits

1) What a day.
The Browns play this ridiculously terrible football game,the Saints lose in Carolina with under a minute to play and looks like I am well on my way to losing my IFL title game.
About the only decent thing that happened all day in the virtual world was Jonna Spilbor of Fox News responded to a tweet of mine about the game.
Other than that-Bleech...

2) The Browns coaching staff confuses me.
Rob Chudzinski has been a gambler all year and suddenly in a game between two awful teams,he is kicking field goals?
Yet,he did that twice in this one,once in the first quarter and again in the fourth with little to gain with either.
The first quarter Billy Cundiff kick seemed submissive to me as in we aren't driving all the way down into Jet territory and coming away with nothing,but you are 4-10,who's going to rip you for trying?
I'm sure not....

3) Jason Campbell was not good as in under 200 yards,zero scores and two interceptions and continued to show why he is better suited to be a backup at this stage of his career.
Campbell looked flustered in the pocket and lacked poise.
The play that made me wince was an overthrow on a wide open Mar'Quis Gray on a third down attempt that not only would have earned a first down,but would have been a huge gain.

4) It wasn't all Campbell thought as he could have had two touchdown passes but watched Josh Gordon drop one and Greg Little drop another that was right to him (pictured above).
The Little drop was a huge one as it was on third down and resulted in a field goal.
I was on Twitter during the game (I've enjoyed using it during Buckeye and Browns games) and discussed Little with Marla Ridenour of the Akron Beacon-Journal.
We agreed on two things-one was Greg Little has loads of physical skills and the other is how long can you keep a guy based on that?

5) The line was not great either as Campbell was sacked three times,but harassed far more than that.
When I look at this game,Campbell might be below average on the day,but it was more than just his fault.

6) Edwin Baker might not be a long term answer or anything great in the short,but he showed enough speed and wiggle to deserve to stick around,
I like him better than Chris Ogbonnaya for sure and I think he could be a decent change of pace back.

7) Ray Horton's defense continued to break down when it counts as they allowed 10 pts at the end of the first half and the backbreaker of the Geno Smith TD run late in the game.
I was against the 3-4 because this team lacked enough linebackers and it still holds true,but since the switch was made-stick with it.
Changing things constantly does no one any good.

8) David Nelson was released in camp and would sign with the Jets.
Nelson grabbed two scoring passes and showed a return to form that made him a solid pass catcher for Buffalo.
I would not be too tough on the Browns for waiving him because he was still not back totally from injury,but it is glaring when you look at the pass drops by Greg Little and Davone Bess...

9) Josh Cooper finally got to play with the absence of Davone Bess and caught all that was thrown decently to him.
Cooper has great hands and has watched two coaching staffs not give him a chance to play.

10) Finally as bad as this game was and it was terrible.The Browns avoided what they always seem to do-win a meaningless game and drop in the draft.
Right now,Cleveland is one of four teams at 4-11 with 4-10 Atlanta playing tonight
So they could pick as high as 3rd or as low as 7th depending on next weeks results.
Tampa Bay plays at New Orleans,Jacksonville is at Indianapolis,Atlanta hosts Carolina and Oakland hosts Denver.
None of those look likely upset spots,but if Indy and Denver sit guys down ,the Browns could move up.

Photo Credit:Cleveland Plain Dealer....