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| Photo Courtesy:Joshua Gunter Cleveland Plain Dealer |
The problem was the Browns did little under two quarterbacks when a touchdown would have won the game before Ryan Succop won the game 12-9 for Tennessee in overtime.
The now 0-7 Browns travel to London next Sunday to face the Vikings in a game that I'm sure the fans in the United Kingdom cannot wait for.
Brownie Bits
1) Just an awful football game, but there were a few good things to take away from the game, but first
what a battle of two awful uniforms.
The Browns, who looked like a bag of Reese's Pieces with too many brown's and not enough orange's and the Titans with their two-toned light blue and white featuring the worst of the 90's-bleech.
2) The one thing that the Browns have improved in another bad campaign is stopping the run.
The Titans are a run-based team with strong backs like DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry and Cleveland shut the pair down to 72 yards on 31 carries, particularly Henry, who finished with 13 yards on 13 handoffs.
Want one bright spot to hang your hat on for this season? Stopping the run.
3) This was the best we've seen from Gregg Williams this year and they did it without two starters in the secondary as Jason McCourty and Jabrill Peppers each missed the game with injuries.
Granted, Tennessee's passing game is almost as bad as the Browns and aren't often confused with a powerhouse with the football, but it was a quality outing that honestly deserved a victory.
4) And they held Tennessee on four shots at the goal from the one yard line in the third quarter.
It's the occasional plays such as those that give me fleeting glimmers of hope.
I've really seen Danny Shelton mature as the type of run stopper that the Browns drafted him for and perhaps become the Haloti Ngata type player that teams place for years as bulwarks of their line.
5) One final piece of good news was the three field goal outing for rookie Zane Gonzalez, who had his struggles earlier this year.
The game-tying boot from 54 yards out fluttered more than a Phil Niekro knuckler at the same location (remember Niekro's 11 wins for the 86 Indians at 47 years of age?), but accuracy in situations such as that one is huge for a bad team that needs every point they can get.
6) The worst news comes from the triceps injury to Joe Thomas that will likely end the season of the All-Pro left tackle.
Thomas has been the best in the game for so long and an injury like this at 33 could end a career.
Biceps and triceps injuries inhibit the ability to extend your arms and has ended the career of many pro wrestlers and offensive linemen, which need this range of motion to play their positions.
I don't always feel bad for athletes, but I do for Joe Thomas to play at such a high level for so long with such awful teams...
7) Hue Jackson just head-shakingly dumb in benching DeShone Kizer.
Look. I know Kizer threw two bad interceptions (one in each half) and has shown that he is prone to the big error, but in the last three games, Kizer has been pulled twice and benched once.
If Hue Jackson didn't want to play DeShone Kizer, he should have never returned him to the starting lineup.
I don't see how Jackson can start Kizer again, he might have ruined any chance Kizer has of having success in Cleveland as Kizer will now be looking over his shoulder to the sideline for Jackson.
8) DeShone Kizer hasn't made it hard for Jackson to pull him though as these interceptions were hardly excusable.
Add to that the fact that Kizer's attitude doesn't seem to be the most mature in handling adversity and even though I disagree with Jackson's decision, Kizer has not shown many signs of being "The Guy" that Browns fans had hoped for.
9) One more quarterback note as the move to replace Kizer with Cody Kessler smacks of a panic move by Hue Jackson.
Jackson has to know that his job is in trouble and he's desperate for wins no matter who takes the snaps- Kizer, Kessler, Kevin Hogan or the guy with the Pumpkinhead in the stands (I really like him best of all the Browns SuperFans) and he wants to do what it takes to win.
Which I am fine with, but what changed in seven weeks to think Cody Kessler is suddenly the best choice?
Didn't we go through weeks of training camp to help sift out who the starter was going to be?
What changed other than the desperate grasping for victories from Hue Jackson?
10) Hue Jackson has other problems with players apparently not following his rules as injured Kenny Britt and Corey Coleman were sent home early from the Houston game for missing curfew.
Britt continued his Dwayne Bowe impersonation with two catches for seven yards and dropping a long Cody Kessler pass in overtime that would have put the Browns into field goal range for a potential win-Woof.
11) The lack of a running game still kills this team.
The lack of any type of consistency under center (and Hue Jackson's comment at his press conference where he said he could move QB's in and out all season didn't anyone any good at all) means the Browns, if they truly wanted to try to win, should move into time control and running the ball.
35 yards from Isaiah Crowell isn't going to win games in that capacity.
12) I'm not usually tossing around compliments towards Michigan Wolverines-past or present, but Taylor Lewan's coming onto the field to offer condolences towards Joe Thomas was very classy.
Nice touch from a talented player.
Hope to hear from any of you tonight on FightHeads!
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