Browns vs. Buccaneers – First Half Report
September 12, 2010While We’re Waiting… Pryor Over Harris, Missing Carlos, and Browns Reversion
September 13, 2010
I couldn’t have been more confident coming into today’s game. I take that back. I could have been more confident if the Browns were the Packers, Patriots or Colts going up against those same Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but you know what I mean. The Browns were still three point dogs most places that take action, but I just couldn’t understand it. Maybe it was the lack of turnovers for the Browns in the pre-season with Jake Delhomme. Maybe it was the winning streak to end last season even before Holmgren and Heckert got a chance to influence the team.
Yes, the Buccaneers probably got better too. After a year of upheaval with strange timing in firing coordinators during Raheem Morris’ first year as a head coach ever, the Bucs should be moving in a much better direction this season. Still, my assessment was that they were a year behind the Browns. Their young QB Josh Freeman is coming into his second year, but other than Kellen Winslow, his targets were younger than Jake Delhomme’s second-year guys.
Of course they still had to go out there and play the game, but my overriding feelings before 1:00 PM were that if the Browns didn’t win this game going away, they would have a lot of explaining to do. Even knowing that John St. Clair was rumored to be starting at right tackle instead of Tony Pashos.
Then the game started. The Browns were their own worst enemy. Peyton Hillis fumbled twice, losing one. Josh Cribbs fumbled. Jake Delhomme, who played a mistake free pre-season threw two bad bad interceptions. To make things worse, the Browns seemed to get gun-shy of their own mistakes by losing all creativity on offense in the second half.
The defense played really well for the most part. The touchdown they gave up to end the first half was a result of Jake Delhomme’s first interception. They forced an interception and a big fumble inside their own five yard line with the game hanging in the balance. The Browns were tackling pretty well, getting timely pressure on the quarterback and also holding their own in coverage. As I said, the defense gave the ball back to the Browns offense with just over two minutes to go in the game with a three point deficit.
The Browns had the ball at their own seven yard line with at least a prayer. After an awkward drive, Jake Delhomme finally overthrew Chansi Stuckey on fourth and long from the Browns’ own 14 yard line. Tampa took over on downs with under a minute to kill while the Browns could only use their final timeouts on the ensuing running plays.
The Browns did have one more shot, but there was nothing happening to end this dismal day for the Browns. All that optimism about new weapons and hopeful thoughts about over 5 wins for the season disappear much quicker than they were hatched over the summer.
Strap in Browns fans. It is going to be a rough week of talk. The Browns and Mike Holmgren are going to take a lot of heat for the Jake Delhomme acquisition. The Browns are going to take a lot of heat for turning the ball over and shooting themselves in the foot. The playcalling in the second half is sure to come under fire in Brian Daboll’s corner of the world.
Good news though. Despite the miscues in week one, all is not lost. The Browns can work with some things. Their defensive performance was very solid. The Browns’ offensive tapes from the first half are going to provide some building blocks for that part of the squad going forward. There are no excuses in the NFL, but the Browns took a big blow to their offensive line with the right side being very unhealthy as they started Floyd Womack and John St. Clair.
The choice is yours. You can decide that the season is over already and that the Browns have no hope, or you can decide that this is a long season and trust that the Browns can improve. I know this was one of the “winnable” games on the schedule, but this team is a work in progress. At the end of it all, the Browns lost, but it felt to me as if they had enough talent to win.
Scoring Summary, Analysis and In-Game Notes
The Browns took a 7-0 lead connecting on a 41 yard passing play over the top to Mohamed Massoquai. The safety was coming across, and if he had run a better route probably could have made a play on the ball. The announcers were talking about how lucky Jake Delhomme got, and maybe that he shouldn’t have tossed it. This was par for the course for Rich Gannon’s commentary for the day. Maybe Delhomme did get lucky, but he seemed to throw the ball high enough that either Massoquai was going to be able to get it or make a defensive play on it. Either way, the Tampa defender didn’t make the play and the Browns took a 7-0 lead on the Buccaneers.
On the ensuing Tampa possession, rookie Joe Haden was showing off against rookie receiver Mike Williams. He squared up on the receiver on a pass behind the line of scrimmage. Haden put a solid hit on him. Williams almost squirted out, but the hit was big enough that he was only able to stumble back to the line where a gang of linebackers were converging. On third down, Haden made a diving defense on another Josh Freeman pass. The Buccaneers were in field goal range and hit a 49 yarder to close the gap to 7-3 with just under a minute to go in the first quarter.
With just over 9 minutes to go in the second quarter the boos started raining down on the Tampa offensive unit. The Browns defense brought pressure against the run, caused a horrible pass on second down, and forced Freeman to go underneath ten yards short of the first down on third and long.
With under six minutes to go in the second quarter the Browns added to their lead. After fumbling the ball on the first play of the drive and getting it back, Peyton Hillis rumbled 10 yards for the touchdown. The Browns extended their lead 14-3. Jerome Harrison contributed the biggest play of the drive with a 39 yard run after getting loose over the right side of the Browns offensive line. The Browns and their fans must have been elated to put the lead up by more than a single score.
Jake Delhomme cost the Browns at least seven points, and potentially fourteen to end the first half. The Browns were driving when Delhomme threw a bad interception to Ronde Barber. Delhomme had some pressure coming his way and instead of falling down or throwing it into the ground, he threw toward Stuckey and Ben Watson. Unfortunately Ronde Barber was in between them. Barber returned the ball inside the Browns’ ten yard line where the Buccaneers converted on a lucky pass play off of Sheldon Brown’s hands. Lucky or not, the damage was done and the Browns took a 14-10 lead into halftime instead of holding the Bucs to just a three.
Jake Delhomme limped off the field to end the first half and by the second drive of the second half it was apparent that there was something wrong with Jake Delhomme’s foot or ankle. Delhomme kept playing and finished the game, despite the limp.
Limping is the perfect way to describe the third quarter unless you like defense. The Browns defense and the Buccaneers defense both held each other scoreless. The two teams amped up pressure and other than some short passes to Kellen Winslow and one long pass to Evan Moore the quarter was bleak offensively. The Browns best opportunity was derailed by a Peyton Hillis fumble. It was his second fumble of the game, though the Browns recovered the first one.
The Browns gave the game away in the fourth after playing some stout defense the whole game. Josh Freeman connected for 33 yards with Michael Spurlock. They picked on Browns rookie Joe Haden on the play and the lead was three for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17-14. It wasn’t awful coverage by Haden, but he did get beaten.
That’s the way the scoring went. We will have more on this game all week with further analysis of the game, stats, and the Browns’ reactions to the media.
(Photo J. Meric / Getty Images)
37 Comments
They’re through. They have to play the likes of the Steelers, Ravens, Jets, Patriots and Saints… They couldn’t beat the Bucs. I can’t believe I’m saying it… they couldn’t beat the Bucs.
I agree, Big Nick Z. This was supposed to be a “W” and when a team of this “quality” loses a game that is supposed to be a “W” it had incredibly bad premonitions.
A win next week will be major. A loss there and get ready for the first overall pick of Jake Locker from U of Wash. Or Ingram.
This is so g.d. frustrating.
I’m not devastated by this loss and I’m still very hopeful in this team. We’re not going to win a super bowl this year, or make it to the playoffs for that matter. If we build from this loss I’ll be a happy Browns fan. Just beat the Steelers, please.
Defense played well enough to bring home the win – offense was as inept as ever in the second half. I feel like we’ve seen this before…
Hilariously awful.
3-13 at best. That was an absoute embarrassment. Pathetic.
Nine carries for Harrison. Just 9. Didn’t we learn anything down the streach last season? Apparently not! Run the damn ball! Give it to Harrison until he drops. Crappy crap crap.
The biggest surprise to me his Hillis fumbling twice. Of all the ways we could have lost the game, I wouldn’t have guessed that. Maybe I don’t know enough about his past, but I don’t recall there being talk of him being a fumbler.
Well, maybe we can make up for not drafting Locker or Mallett last year by drafting one of them this year.
stepping away from the obvious post mortems.. i was in a bar and not paying usual attention. serious question for the crew here:
how was the right side of the line? seemed ‘ok’ but want your thoughts. because there is a pro bowl right guard available and i for one want to take a run at him. (logan mankins, pats.)
no words really for the ghost of DA vs cincy. liked hillis. watson was a let down. like moore. can we benard start NOW please? and i’ll admit i was secretly looking for seneca to come in when jake was limping.
Since that Dedos/Gannon team is the bottom of the barrel for CBS announce crews, I guess we’ll be stuck with them again next week. Be interesting to see if Gannon roots as hard for the Chiefs than he did for the Bucs. Other than than that, bring on Wallace at QB.
Holmgren came in, decided to let Mangini run his team, his coaching staff. Maybe time to have a chat with Mangini about Daboll. That guy is not an nfl caliber offensive coordinator. And after Delhomme made a throw/pick that I don’t think Colt McCoy would have made…we have to win next Saturday…HAVE TO…or we will be 0-9 before we can say WTF…question…how long does Holmgren let this debacle of a season go before he yanks Mangini? Is there any point to fire him if we are 1-8 or 0-9? I’m tired of the no continuity in our coaching staff but keeping inferior coaches is no good either.
@11: see map here: http://the506.com/sports/?cat=14 if ever a game rated bottom of the barrel, this was it.
I’m here to make excuses. You could say that it was lucky that that TD pass by Delhomme wasn’t intercepted. You can say it was bad luck that Hillis fumbled deep inside TB territory.
The Browns aren’t a great team. If things don’t go their way, they’ll lost regardless of their opponent.
All this being said, I think they need to run the ball more. I don’t know way they didn’t do that today. And, when things were shaky and Delhomme was hobbling around, I wonder why they didn’t put Seneca Wallace in there with Cribbs in the backfield to shake things up.
Ah well… nothing to do but keep watching. I’m not about to quit at this point.
Jeez people, I know it was a tough loss of a very “winnable” game, but can we put this in perspective? Our D kept us in the game and the only thing that really put us away was a lack of a running game (save for Hillis and one good play from Harrison) and Delhomme’s mistakes.
We still have a great O-line that, if we actually decide to RUN THE FOOTBALL, will win us some games in the later part of the season (when weather is cold), we play Kansas City next week (also a winnable game) and could definitely be 1-1 by this time next week. Our Defense with Rob Ryan in charge will always be something that keeps us alive. Joe Haden and TJ Ward look great. There is many reasons to retain faith.
If Delhomme is taking 40+ pass attempts a game, he is going to throw 2+ interceptions, guaranteed. I think Mangini is going to regret retaining Daboll in the off-season, and it may cost him his job.
Also remember, when compared to last year, Jake and Seneca are INFINITELY better than Brady and Derek. That alone will keep me watching.
What’s really perverse is that the frustration of losing this game DOES signal progress — it was clear that the Browns were the better team, had more talent, and absolutely should have won this game. Compared to previous years when the Browns marched a team on the field that could have a hard time winning in the Big Ten, it does show an uptick.
I’m not jumping ship because if the issue is coaching — and I lay this game squarely on Mangini and Brian Daboll for letting that first-half interception get into the head of themselves and the entire offense (which a well-coached team would never have allowed to have happened) — then we know Holmgren will make whatever changes need to be made to get better coaching in here. I’m aggravated, but I’m not gonna melt like they are on OBR or Cleveland.com.
On to KC, and let’s see what (or if) they’ll learn for a four-quarter game plan …
Am I the only one who saw an illegal low hit on Dellhome when he threw his first interception?
OFFER MANGINI A CONTRACT EXTENSION! HE IS THE BEST COACH!
– Cleveland Frowns
@robbie… with you on the seneca observation. and i wasn’t for it to create some qb controversy. i wanted seneca because he seems very competent and i’d be very comfortable with him at the command.
and yeah, run more. hillis was gashing them. more hillis.
Defense definitely played well enough to keep us in the game. I was surprised to see how many penalties we were racking up (especially that no-huddle off-sides by Womack on the 4th and 5 at the end) since discipline was at least one of the things we could count on from last year.
Even with the fumbles and interceptions we were still one small mistake from winning this game. Here I’m talking about Delhomme missing MoMass by like 3 yards after he’d burned 3 Tampa defenders and was sitting by himself in the endzone.
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who realized how much of a dick Rich Gannon was. I thought we were listening to some local Tampa Bay radio homers on CBS. So very strange.
This was just so typical. Glad to know I can do stuff on sundays now.
Adding insult to injury, Derek Anderson threw for just under 300 yards today. I wish I was able to laugh while saying that.
@11 I’m relieved to hear that somebody else thought the commentary was one-sided. I thought it was just frustration on my part (Tampa didn’t win – we lost), but it felt like I was watching local coverage.
I’m going to be in Columbus for the rest of the season; I have a feeling most of my Sundays will be in front of the computer, and not my television. Probably should start looking for a place to stream the games…
Why you have Delhomme throw the ball 38 times when you are gaining 4.5 yards a rush is beyond me.
While this year’s team is arguably better than last year’s, today’s game showed how the Browns have very little margin of error if they want to win a game. Turn the ball over three times and they are almost certain to lose.
Hopefully someone sits down with Daboll this week and gives him a hard critique of his play calling. That area needs to be fixed yesterday.
i gotta chime in on the color guy. holy moly – how many times can he call JD lucky? maybe he made the read on the safety taking a bad angle? i mean, Gannon killed us today. and, if nobody else caught it, i remember him saying “fortunately” when he was talking about the Bucs making a nice play one time. Definitely NOT objective.
Plusses in my opinion:
1. O-Line was great! Wow, did JD have time to throw some balls.
2. Jerome is not a “tough” runner. Just can’t be effective mixing it up. He may stick his nose in there but he can’t move the pile.
Minuses:
1. Regardless of the fumbles, Manstupid should not have benched Hillis. We lost all momentum when he took him out of the game.
2. Cribbs and Wallace were a nice thing to see. Can we see more? I’d certainly take Cribbs over our number 2 receiver. (who is our number 2 receiver?)
3. CALL A FREAKING TIMEOUT!!! The Browns cost themsleves 25 seconds and 5 yards on a penalty because they didn’t call a TO on that last 4th down play. C’mon Mansupid! You’ve gotta set that play up!
Browns will rally because their D is good and they seem to have heart. 7-9 this year.
Repost from the thread…
I only got to see the stats, so can some people answer some questions-
Why did Harrison only get 9 carries if he had 52 rushing yards?
Why did we have 23 rushing plays compared to 38 passing?
Was there any wildcat/cyclone?
I had a bad feeling that Mangini would use Hillis more then Harrison, and it looks like I was proven right. Why??? Harrsion gets over 500 yards in 3 games and they dont use him even tho Hillis has 2 fumbles?
Lots of questions. Just saw a highlight of Haden getting beat for the GW TD. awesome. Looks like Ward was solid at least.
Put it in perspective. The defense played great, against the Tampa Bay offense. They won’t play that well against the Pats and other high powered offenses.
@11 The commentary was bad, but Arizona @ St. Louis — Ron Pitts, John Lynch today was the worst commenting I’ve ever seen.
@28 – wow, the commentating was so bad that you could “see” it? wow – that’s bad.
the browns organization really must not like Jerome Harrison, cuz when the guy is on the field he makes plays, then he does, and bam they get him off the field! doesnt make sense.
At the beginning of the 4th quarter, I was fairly sure we were going to lose. We couldn’t get a first down to save our lives, the field position was slowly turning in TB’s favor, and the Defense was starting to get tired from being on the field the whole 2nd half. I had seen this movie before.
@ Justin – I don’t get it either. He wasn’t setting the world on fire, but he was running the ball fairly well. If we aren’t going to use the guy, might as well trade him and get something in return.
Defense played well, and looks like it can be good enough to keep us in most games.
If they can regroup and get a win at home next week, I can forgive this one. It’s not like the playoffs were an expectation anyway.
How is nobody talking about Eric Barton not picking up that fumble and running?
Brand new season…same old Browns = They find a way to lose games.
Harrsion should get a minimum of 20 carries each game unless he is hurt. Hillis runs hard but we can’t afford him fumbling. Unless he turns into Adrian Peterson, he better find a way to hold onto the damn ball. Delhomme made mistakes that would get a 2nd year qb in big trouble. This is his 17th year. Come on, man!!
Botton line: If Delhomme is allowed/expected to throw the ball 30+ times a game, we are not going to win very often.
“Why you have Delhomme throw the ball 38 times when you are gaining 4.5 yards a rush is beyond me.”
Seriously, going away from the run, which by the way lead Mangini to his “Job/Career/Life Saving” 4 victories at the end of the season makes no *EXPLETIVE DELETED* sense. The guy is a moron.
I’m no “NFL Head Coach,” but I do like logic, and throwing 38 times with an interception friendly QB is not a good game plan. The second it became clear he was forcing passes, we should have given them a steady dose of Harrison and Cribbs.
@bobby
Yeah, there were a few plays of Flash/Cyclone. A couple were Cribbs rushes up the middle for little gain, one was a Cribbs screen pass to Wallace who ran after catch for first down, and one was a Cribbs run right for the first down.
Also, in the first half it really seemed like they had a good mix of the two RBs. Hillis is good moving the pile after contact and he did a decent job of wearing down the defense which allowed for Harrison to bust out a 39 yard run and then Hillis busted through for the Browns’ second TD. After Hillis got his second fumble (recovered by Tampa) I don’t believe he went in again. We did end up passing too much after that, but Daboll kept calling runs up the middle that didn’t work.
Haden did better than that one highlight. He had a couple of nice deflections, but the offense was picking on him and eventually he made a mistake.
All this is not to make light of this loss. After the first Delhomme interception the Browns completely fell apart and couldn’t do anything on offense. They really looked like two different teams before/after the first Tampa TD and if the Browns keep playing like the second half team they’ll be picking top 5 again.
@33
I noticed that as well but I’m assuming he just wanted to play it safe and make sure he didn’t botch picking it up and TB getting it back. It sucks in a way because if he picks it up he has a lot of room in front of him for a big time play.