Monday, December 28, 2015

Browns run out of time vs Chiefs 17-13

The Cleveland Browns used a ball control offense to hang in there against the favored Kansas City Chiefs and had a chance late in the game to win.
However,a Johnny Manziel completion to Darius Jennings deep in Kansas City territory was the last gasp as the Browns could not get another play off in a 17-13 win for the home team.
Manziel threw for just 136 yards and an interception,but rushed for 108 with Isaiah Crowell adding another 88 for the suddenly ground-bound Browns..
The 3-12 Browns host Pittsburgh this week in the finale' of an awful season...

1) Johnny Manziel's passing numbers were pretty bad,but I'm not going to blame him-Manziel wasn't sacked,but he was constantly running for his life from either a fierce Chief pass rush or awful Browns offensive line (I think it's both).
Considering that fact,it was a miracle the Browns had any offense at all..

2) Manziel was inaccurate (13 of 32),but I loved the taking the blame for the loss in the locker room despite it not being all his fault.
Manziel may be immature off the field,but that is the type of thing that you like to see from a quarterback of any age....

3) The key part of this game?
Cleveland taking 12 minutes off the clock in the second half and coming away with just three points.
A touchdown would have tied the game and settling for three was the final score for either team in the game.

4) Isaiah Crowell continued his resurgence with the aforementioned 88 yards including the only Brown touchdown.
I don't think Crowell is ever going to be a Pro Bowl level back,but I think if you had another solid back with him in tandem-Crowell could be very effective in the right situation...

5) I'm not against Mike Pettine surviving for another year,especially if the tradeoff is the firing of Ray Farmer,but he made himself look bad again with the handling of Dwayne Bowe.
Pettine made Bowe a captain (former Chief) after so many inactives and was rewarded with an inability to get open on an afternoon that ended with zero catches on one pass thrown to him.

6) I have been critical of Ray Farmer's draft prowess,but Nate Orchard is beginning to show signs of having potential three down playing time.
Orchard finished with a sack and a interception and even thought he was drafted to increase the pass rush,Orchard has been surprisingly strong when used in pass coverage.
I'd still like to see Orchard used more as a rusher,but for a Ray Farmer draft pick,Orchard has been reasonably productive...

7) The defense did show up in the second half with a shutdown of the Chiefs as they kept Kansas City off the board.
They came up huge on a 3rd and inches stop in the fourth quarter and Danny Shelton has had his best two games of the year against Seattle and Kansas City.
Combine that with the play of Jamie Meder and I have a little hope for the improvement against the run for 2016.

8) The Browns secondary let the team down on both Kansas City touchdowns.
On the Jeremy Maclin score,Jordan Poyer didn't give any help to Tayshaun Gipson on the rotation inside and on Travis Kelce's TD,Tramon Williams was simply beaten on the ball and just was out of position..

9) In a league that has started using roman numerals and abbreviations for senior and junior on jerseys,can anyone tell me why the Browns have two players named Williams that play in the secondary and not use an initial?

10) If indeed,this report is correct and Mike Pettine survives this season-look back at a gutsy high effort against a playoff team on the road as a possible reason why.
Pettine has to show that his team hasn't quit on him to return and the Browns are outmanned,outgunned but not always outgutted.
It'll be interesting to see the effort next week vs the Steelers...

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