I have also decided in order to save time and hopefully to be able to work on other posts that I will be skipping the Ohio Sate demolition of Eastern Michigan.
Buckeye recaps will return next week.
For the third week in a row,the Browns held leads in the second half and for the third week in a row,they lost that lead.
This time the victor was the hated Baltimore Ravens,who escaped with a 24-17 win over the visiting Browns.Peyton Hillis was the star of the game with 144 yards rushing against the vaunted Raven defense.Cleveland returns to Lake Erie for the first of a two game homestand against the Cincinnati Bengals before hosting the Atlanta Falcons the following Sunday.
Brownie Bits
1) This game came down to one thing among many-the inability of Eric Wright to cover Anquan Boldin.Eight catches for 144 yards and all three of the Baltimore touchdowns were Boldin catches with Wright chasing Boldin in futility.
2) I don't think Wright is as bad as he looked,but the Browns are carrying just three corners with Wright,Sheldon Brown and Joe Haden,so there is no option to replace Wright.
Why this team has four tight ends on the roster and just three corners makes zero sense to me.
3) Two plays to me made the difference in this game other than anything that included Anquan Boldin.Number one was on the first play of the game when T.J.Ward would have walked into the end zone with a pick of Joe Flacco and the Browns could have put the Ravens on their heels early.
That was a seven point loss in a game lost by seven.
4) The other goes down to offensive coordinator Brian Daboll,who on a third and two and the Browns on what proved to be their final drive,threw the ball down the field on a sideline pattern that Wallace threw far out of bounds.
One part of this is that Wallace struggles so much with throwing anything above 15 yards and is even worse throwing to the sidelines and you call that play?
The other is that Baltimore hasn't stopped Peyton Hillis all day and here is your chance to use him on third down and you call that play?
That play call is THE indictment on why Brian Daboll needs to be replaced as the offensive coordinator.
5) Peyton Hillis was the first Brown ever to rush for over 100 yards against the Ravens and generally bullied the bully on the ground.
One would think that Hillis entrenched himself as the top notch runner over the injured Jerome Harrison,who will return this week,but remember Eric Mangini likes to play these little games with which runner will get more carries and never tips his hand from week to week.
In other words,if you have Harrison on your fantasy roster,I wouldn't get rid of him quite yet.
6) One thing that is clear about Seneca Wallace-he isn't using the wide receivers enough.
I know that Mohammed Massaquoi is far from a true number one wideout,but on this team,he is just that and to throw one pass his way?
The pass catchers are weak,but to refuse to throw to them at all makes you very easy to stop.
7) The above said-the Browns made no moves in the downtime to upgrade the receivers and they are paying the price for the lack of attention to upgrading.
8) Looking at the game,the Browns and Rob Ryan blitzed a bit too much.
I understand that the Browns only hope to generate a pass rush is to blitz from various positions,but Ryan needed to dial that back a bit when you consider the issues with Eric Wright.
9) The final killer was Matt Roth jumping offsides on the drive that ended the game.
Baltimore had to convert on the third down or punt and give the Browns a final chance for the tie,but Roth jumped offsides and basically ended the game.
10) D'qwell Jackson was placed on the IR and will miss the season with another pectoral muscle injury.Tough break for Jackson,who will likely be elsewhere in 2011.
11) The Browns signed another receiver after Jackson going on the IR using the open roster spot on former Patriot Sam Aiken.
Which gives them another wideout to ignore.....
Photo Credits:
Ward-Doug Kapustin/MCT
Hillis-Evan Vucci-AP Photo
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