Week 3 Open Thread: Browns at Ravens
September 26, 2010While We’re Waiting…The 0-3 Edition
September 27, 2010
The Browns had a second half lead! The first play of the fourth quarter was a play-action fake to Peyton Hillis and a pass to a wide open Benjamin Watson for a Browns lead 17-14. Unfortunately for the Browns, it wouldn’t get any better than that. The Browns, again, couldn’t stay out of their own way with penalties and mistakes in execution. Ultimately the Browns gave up two more fourth quarter scores to lose by a touchdown. Of course, one of those touchdowns was to Anquan Boldin who ended up torching Eric Wright and the Browns for eight catches, 142 yards and three touchdowns on the day. Still, it wasn’t all bad.
As I said before, the Browns had a second half lead. Today’s game against the Ravens was a coming out party for (THUNDER!) Peyton Hillis. Hillis might have cemented his spot as the featured running back for the Browns by running for 144 yards on 22 carries and a touchdown. He burst through holes, bowled people over and even leaked out for a 48 yard gain on one rush, delivering punishment along the way. He also had seven catches for 36 yards on top of it. Josh Cribbs also played pretty well. He had five catches for 58 yards and a run out of the wildcat that went for 19 yards.
Statistically it looks like Seneca Wallace had a decent day, but it is a bit deceiving. Wallace threw for 141 yards by completing 18 of 24 including the one touchdown to Ben Watson. He didn’t throw any interceptions, which was a nice change of pace from the first two weeks. Still, it is tough to say how many plays were left on the field without going over the game film. Wallace fumbled on a miscommunication in the backfield with Peyton Hillis in the most inopportune of moments. The Browns were down 21-17 and had the ball at their own 20 yard line with just over nine minutes remaining in the game. With 80 yards to go, Wallace pitched it to nobody and recovered the ball. That made it 2nd and 27 from the Browns’ three yard line. From there, you could just feel that the Browns mistakes were too plentiful to overcome.
As the Browns were flagged for a neutral zone infraction to give Baltimore a first down to end the game, it was fitting for this day. The Browns and Ravens were both flagged eight times for 60 yards, but it seems much much worse when you come out on the losing end of the game. The Browns put themselves behind the eight ball with those penalties all game long. The Browns were 4-11 on third downs and penalties had an awful lot to do with that.
So the Browns drop to 0-3 although they made this game far more competitive than anyone outside of Eric Mangini and the Browns thought they could be. I am sure the names being called this week will be Mangini’s, Daboll’s and Eric Wright’s, but make no mistake. This game was a team effort. The Browns played well in spurts. They could have won it. Ultimately the defense (yes, Eric Wright but others too) couldn’t keep Anquan Boldin contained. Between that, the penalties and the lack of execution there was just too much self-inflicted damage for the Browns to overcome.
There are no moral victories in the NFL, but in many ways the Browns played really well and have some things to build off of. In other ways it just seems like the same old Browns with the same old results in the win/loss columns.
(We will have much more tomorrow and the rest of the week.)
37 Comments
Wait till next year….
only one thing really wrong with this years team…THE COACHING STAFF. end of story.
The coaching staff didn’t lose this one. Mangini had this team running laps all training camp for committing penalties. Still, they couldn’t keep themselves from committing them. Brian Daboll didn’t pitch the ball to nobody in the 4th quarter.
I’d like to say that I can’t believe that we are 0-3… but.. I can.
No franchise QB? Check.
No playmaking WR? Check.
No playmaking passrusher? Check.
0-3? Check.
BTW… I think that the Anquan Boldin situation MAY not fall completely on Wright’s head. Boldin is the best WR they have and containing him SHOULD be a team effort. If, say, Houshmandzadeh or Mason had the day that Boldin had, you could probably put it on a single guy. But, Boldin is the ONE guy the scondary had to contain. And they didn’t. That is WAY worse than one CB not doing his job.
Cribbs said in the post game
“We left a lot in the playbook”
To me that says,
Our play calling sucks.
A couple minutes to go. Third and 2 on our own 28. It’s do-or-die time. So let’s throw a bomb to Cribbs, who’s completely covered, which didn’t matter anyway because Wallace threw an uncatchable ball 5 yards out of bounds.
CAN’T ANYBODY HERE PLAY THIS GAME?
MrC, that play killed me. That would be a perfect thought on 2nd and 2 (assuming the execution wasn’t so bad). That play was throwing up the white flag, along with not going for it on 4th and 2. I don’t care if it’s on our 28, you have to do that with 4 minutes left and a chance to win, especially when you know that our passing game is nonexistent.
I think Eric Wright had Boldin on his fantasy team!
@ MrCleaveland – If that call doesn’t get somebody fired, I’m going to start losing faith in Holmgren. We’ve got 250 lb. RB that is averaging 6 YPC, one of the best blocking FBs in the game, and the left side of the O-line is one of the best in the league as well. No f****** excuse for that play call. None.
Not to mention they should have gone for it on 4th as well. You’ve got that kind of personnel, and you don’t trust them to get two yards on two plays?
Daboll should be paying for his own plane ticket home. So frustrating…
The fact that we had the lead in the 4th quarter leads me to believe that we have enough talent to compete with any team in the league. That said, we played our third straight sloppy game this year. I know that Mangini didn’t pitch the ball to nobody or jump offsides, but it has to fall on him. Mangini preaches smart, clean football. We have not played smart, clean football this year. We aren’t losing because of a lack of talent; we are losing because of sloppy play and poor coaching.
If we didn’t commit amateur mistakes and penalties and we still lost the game, then I would blame the lack of talent. But we did commit amateur penalties and and mistakes and we once again failed to make adjustments. Why didn’t we have safety help over the top after Wright got burned multiple times? Why didn’t the offensive coordinator tell Wallace to get rid of the ball instead of running out of bounds yards behind the line of scrimmage? Why don’t we run the Wildcat like we say we will? Why do we run a draw play on our own line of scrimmage when the Ravens have 8+ in the box?
Until we stop self destructing, I blame the coaching staff.
***oops, I meant our own goal line, not line of scrimmage. We almost got caught for a safety there. Hillis bailed us out.
We lost the game when wallace thre the ball backward pitch that was supposed to be a hand off. The coaches didn’t do that, and we all knew our QBs are suspect. I come away from this game pleased once again.
The fact we were in a position to shoot ourselves in the foot vs a top teir opponent speaks volumes.
@11.
I salute you and your rose colored glasses!
You are probably right though. With the roster holes on this team it is a great accomplishment to go from playing 2 quarters of winning football to 3 quarters of winning football in just one week.
I am really shocked at the amount of penalties this year. That cost us a chance to stay in the game today. Also, Wallace looked like a back up QB. Who scrambles and runs out of bounds behind the line when you can toss it out of bounds? Then on a 3rd down, 1st half Wallace zipped a pass into Cribbs. What they show from a behind the QB angle after… Ben Watson WIDE open into the end zone. This doesnt even include that pitch.
And yes, Daboll 3rd and 2… awful. Mangini saying we need to get the ball to Cribbs and you have 1 wild cat play… awful. But I want to call out Rob Ryan. C’Mon man! I know Wright got burnt, but the announcers said it all.. the Ravens knew the house was being sent. Revis gets burnt on that play call. Every 3rd down you bring 6 LBs in and we get no pass rush! And it doesnt take a genius to figure out you should allow Wright to play tight on Boldin and have a safety over top. Ryan made this D look awful. They should be much better then that.
“The fact we were in a position to shoot ourselves in the foot vs a top teir opponent speaks volumes”
Yea it says your a fan of a still winless team. But I’m glad your pleased.
Do you realize that of the 18 passes completed a grand total of 5 went to a WR and all 5 of those belonged to Cribbs. Hillis, Watson and Vickers combined for 13 receptions. Meanwhile Baltimore’s best and most dangerous WR Boldin goes off for 8 receptions, 142 yards and 3 TDs.
Wait. Shamrock, you’re saying the Browns aren’t very good? My mind is blown. I need some time to reevaluate my life after reading your insight.
@14
1) Name the WRs that got targets on Baltimore’s roster.
2) Do the same for the WR’s that got targets on the Browns.
3) Compare lists.
4) Contemplate the difference between the lists.
@15 Your probably a Browns fan so of course your mind is blown. I gave you some good stats but again your a Browns fan so why should I waste my time. Look at the bright side though you only lost by 7!
You’re undermining your argument with your inability to correctly use the word your. Yore.
At least BQ fiasco has silver lining! I love a big back for late season nasty Cleveland weather. Dare I say Mackesque?
@17
“Probably” a Browns fan?
The only thing worse than YOUR (note correct usage and spelling) command of the English language is your calculation of probability. On a Cleveland sports blog, it should be assumed a metaphysical certitude that every poster is a Brown’s fan.
Unless, of course, that poster is some illiterate ass-clown like you.
@18 and 20
Uh-oh, its getting ugly in hear. A grammer throw-down. Who’s a hippacritte?
Only thyme William Tell.
Not enough talent here to make up for dumb penalties and other mistakes (misread on the pitch play at the end). Team’s on a razor’s edge every week and needs to play near perfect to win. Story of the Browns’ life since ’99.
@23
There should be a period between “die” and “LeBron.”
Consult your teacher when you report to the special ed trailer tomorrow morning. Make sure you bring extra circles of paper and purple crayons with you.
If the Browns released Robiskie, Massaquoi and Stuckey on Monday, would any other NFL team pick them up? Boldin had more yards Sunday than:
*Robiskie has in his career
*Stuckey has in his past eight games as a Brown
*Massaquoi has in his past five games as a Brown
We’re only a couple weeks away from seeing a team put 11 guys in the box and leaving the wide receivers uncovered because they know they have nothing to fear.
@26
Someone would pick up Massaquoi for their practice squad because he does an adequate impersonation of an NFL WR.
But the other two? No.
I HATED the Robiskie pick. It was really dumb when you look at who was still on the board.
@ Titus – I think both Massaquoi and maybe Robiskie (because of their youth) would be picked up but neither would start for any team in the NFL. But your point is well taken. Our recievers are awful. It was so hard to tell last season with the terrible two-headed monster of DAQuinn. We, as fans could say, “maybe these guys aren’t that bad” because of the QB situation but I expect that Holgren and Heckert to recognize the they stunk. Why on earth didn’t they make a stronger effort to replace/add to the WR corps? This game was screaming for someone to get open down field! We were running well. The down field spots had to be there! I’m just shaking my head in disappointment.
Players will make mistakes. It happens on every team. However, most coaches don’t punt on 4th and 2 with 4 minutes and only 1 timeout left. It’s as if Mangini was saying, “here, take the ball. We’d rather guarantee that we not lose badly than attempt to win.”
Seriously, what has a better chance of success? One play for 2 yards to keep the drive alive or punting, getting a three and out, and receiving a punt at roughly the same spot on the field from where you had 4th and 2…only now, you have less than 2 mins and no timeouts…and that would have been the best case scenario.
And for that matter, why didn’t the browns just take a safety after the missed pitch by Wallace? At that point, they were down four. A safety would have put them down six…still needing a touchdown like before. However, a free kick after a safety would have put the ravens ion their own side of the field. Instead, they punted from the back of their own end zone…a decision that put baltimore in the immediate possition to kick a field goal and go up 7 points. With a safety, there is a chance to make a stop out of field goal range and score a TD for the win. With a punt, the field goal is all but certain and a TD for the ravens is more likely.
Coaches can’t always win games, but they can certainly lose them.
@4- agreed. We simply dont have the playmakers. We can nitpick until that time cones, but we just lack talent.
@29 – you make an interesting point about taking a safety in that situation. It may have been one of the rare situations where giving a safety makes sense. We would have been giving them two points instead of basically giving them three by punting out of the back of our own end zone.
@ buckeyedawg…exactly! This game proved to me that this browns team is only playing “not to lose” at best. Does this team lack talent at certain positions…of course it does, but so do a lot of teams.
The chiefs lack a solid qb, no matter how many times you try to convince me that matt cassel is good.
The steelers have the same problem (but for different reasons) and they hung about 40 points on tampa with charlie batch.
And while we’re at it, name an established offensive weapon on tampa’s roster not named winslow.
Here’s the point…I’m not saying this team is perfect, but this team shouldn’t be 0-3 either. And mark your calendar for Nov 28th browns fans, because that’s when your favorite team plays the panthers, and if this team doesn’t stop shooting itself in both feet, it could be the next good chance for a win.
WFNY Note: Read the “before you comment’ page again. I don’t care how many times the Browns lose, those policies will not be changing here. Thank you.
How about Rob Ryan gets a little more unpredictable with his schemes. Much of the reason Boldin was wide open all day was because he brought the house all day, leaving him on an island against a much taller/physical reciever. If they picked up the blitzes (which happened all day long), it was almost a guaranteed completion. Just some food for thought.
Barring the choice to not go for it on short downs, ESPECIALLY in the 4th qtr, I thought we had a nice game going.
Hillis is, and should be, the starter. More Vickers in there, and we have a real something.
I’m not going to bash any player or coach today, once again, I’m going to be Polly Positive.
We were beating a team that everyone thought we would get blown out by. we had a real chance of winning. We have discovered our feature back. We didn’t throw a pick. all good stuff.
Now, build on that.
making players run laps to get them to quit commiting penalties is a joke…that’s for high school. you have to be able to MOTIVATE a person correctly in order to get them to do what is necessary to achieve a goal. punishment? c’mon. try COACHING
I enjoyed the game. I expected the Ravens defense to dominate our o-line and running game. But the Browns o-line TOTALLY dominated the Ravens (and Lewis). Great Job!! That was fun to watch.
The run Cribb’s had out of the wildcat formation was great too. Big Joe Thomas and Vickers leading the way. Fantastic blocking and running.
Sooooo…..as always I respond with my standard “If we fire Mangini, who do we get to coach, and are you willing to have ANOTHER 3-5 year plan installed?”