The Cleveland Browns were not expected to do much entering the Steel City for the season-ending game against Pittsburgh, considering that they were starting a third-string quarterback in Thaddeus Lewis and were without the main cog of the running game in Trent Richardson.Cleveland surprised me by hanging in for the entire game before falling to the Steelers 24-10 on a day filled with snow showers.
Thaddeus Lewis tossed a seven-yard touchdown pass to Greg Little early in the third quarter to tie the game at ten and the game was still in doubt into the late fourth quarter when a Steeler score put the game away.
The Browns finished the season at 5-11 and fired head coach Pat Shurmur and general manager Tom Heckert earlier this morning.
I'll be back later today or tomorrow with a more comprehensive look at the firings and either in that post or the following one, I'll take a look at some of the rumored candidates...
Brownie Bits
1) Thaddeus Lewis was better than expected, although those expectations were not very high.
Lewis finished with over 200 yards passing and threw just one pick.
The interception was a bad one as Troy Polamalu baited Lewis into throwing the ball and stepped in front for the easy grab.
That ended a drive that might have ended in a score, but all things considered, Lewis was more than adequate...
2) Lewis used Ben Watson as his safety valve as he caught seven passes, but Lewis had issues throwing the ball deep or even medium length as only one pass was completed for more than twenty yards on the afternoon...
3) Brandon Jackson made a rare appearance from the Pat Shurmur doghouse (Being demolished as I type) and rushed for over fifty yards on eight carries.
Jackson collected a lot of money for a lot of time spent on the injured list and being deactivated, so this was about what the Browns got for two years of salary.
4) Jabaal Sheard finished up a disappointing second season with a nice game against the Steelers O-line.
Sheard finished with two sacks in his return to his college home.
I hope Sheard is able to return to his rookie form and I believe that he will as this often happens to rookies as players learn and "get a book" on players.
How that player bounces back is how one looks at that player's career.
5) The Lewis interception was big but just as big was the Travis Benjamin catch and rise, which then resulted in a strip of the football.
Benjamin has become a larger part of the offense and I hope to see improvement next season...
6) Pat Shurmur showed more fire in this game than he has in two seasons.
We are all human and perhaps the knowledge of his coming release had him on edge?
7) Nice to see James Harrison show up with another helmet to helmet cheap shot.
Harrison is rumored to not be returning to Pittsburgh next season.
Baltimore would be a nice fit for this thug...
8) Nice day for the defense as they held the Steelers to just 212 yards on offense.
They were handicapped by field position, but it was a good effort on the whole...
9) Rumors have three college coaches at the top of the Browns list- Oregon's Chip Kelly, Syracuse's Doug Marrone, and Penn State's Bill O'Brien.
None do much for me.
O'Brien might be jumping the Penn State ship after getting the best mileage from a suffering program and has the Belichick stain (no Belichick assistant has succeeded as a head man). Kelly will be bringing a gimmick offense and makes me think of the failed Atlanta tenure of Bobby Petrino and Marrone is interesting with his success in New Orleans as their offensive coordinator, but Syracuse was not exactly a power.
Color me uneasy...
10) This started yesterday and never was finished, so sorry if this reads a bit disjointed!
My Apologies...
Photo Credit: Cleveland Plain Dealer
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