Cleveland Browns Week 13 Winners and Losers

Sixty-seven to three. Each year, when fans of the Cleveland Browns go through the schedule and attempt to justify potential wins, the Cincinnati Bengals are the one Hail Mary that typically gets tossed. The home game, to many, seems even more ripe for the picking. For some reason, the Bengals appear to have a perception looming above—they’re not the Steelers and they’re not the Ravens, plus the whole home field advantage—IT’S THIRD DOWN!—thing.

Well, over the last two seasons, during games where the Cleveland Browns play host to the Cincinnati Bengals, they have been outscored 67-3. They’ve been dominated for eight consecutive quarters, on all three sides of the ball. This past Sunday picked up right where last season’s match-up left off with a quarterback scrambling away from rushing linemen, a receiving corps under-matched from top to bottom, and a special teams unit that continues to defy logic.

WINNER: Austin Davis

The most recent addition to the infamous jersey on Lakeside Avenue, Davis played nearly the entire game running for his life, CIncinnati’s Geno Atkins hot on his tail, and still managed to deliver some big throws. With Joel Bitonio going down early, Davis was forced to work with Cameron Erving at guard and absolutely nothing in the way of a running game to be had. The “Johnny” chants started to echo from the stands midway through the third quarter, which had to make the kid feel good, but while he wasn’t the solution, Davis was far from the chief problem on the afternoon.

I’m even willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one:

https://vine.co/v/i7i32056OXY

LOSER: Mike Pettine

As if relying on in-stadium replays to make challenge decisions wasn’t enough of a bad look, this guy deactivated both Dwayne Bowe and Terrelle Pryor, ultimately forcing a quarterback who was making his first start on this current team to finish a game against a divisional opponent with two healthy wide receivers. Following the game, Pettine had the balls to say that he was satisfied with the effort given by his team and that he gave the Bengals credit for being a good (read: better) football team. Had Mike Tomlin lost by 34, would that have been his response? What about Rex Ryan? Bill O’Brien? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

For most of the season, I had hoped that Pettine would get to see this through. Over the last few weeks, I’ve become resigned to the fact that I feel he’s gone come January. Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t make it to Week 14. It’s that bad.

LOSER: Cameron Erving

As if nearly getting Austin Davis killed wasn’t enough, dude was benched for Austin Pasztor (exactly) midway through the fourth quarter following a holding call. The dude is clearly overmatched at this level. I’m not ready to write off his career yet—we can do that after he takes over at center—but man is this kid looking like a hellacious bust.

LOSER: Tashaun Gipson

What the hell was this?

https://vine.co/v/i7iIeHzXKij

WINNER: Gary Barnidge and Brian Hartline

Barnidge and Hartline totaled 13 catches for 142 yards, each man averaging more than 10 yards per reception. This type of production was a perfect safety net for a guy making his first start with the Browns. I hate to be the blue-collar lunch pail guy, but Barnidge just continues to shine through all of the crap that surrounds him—potentially his best quality outside of the box scores he puts up on a weekly basis. And while Hartline took a few weeks to make an impact, he’s quietly caught 22 balls over the last three weeks, tallying 234 yards. He wouldn’t speak to media following the game, stating that he “wanted to keep his job.” That’s better than any quote he could’ve given.

LOSERS: Justin Kutcher, Matt Millen, Peter Schrager, and Mike Periera

How many times were they going to “send it” somewhere else and were forced to stick with this awful game? Through no fault of their own, there were a handful of game breaks that would allow this crew to not have to discuss the Cleveland Browns, but no—FOX studios had other ideas. While it bothered me every time Millen refered to Kutcher as “JK,” I feel for this entire crew for having to had watched the Browns while so many other good games were taking place.

WINNER: Darius Jennings

Just promoted from the practice squad, Jennings stepped in a busted his ass every chance he had. He totaled five catches (on seven targets) for 35 yards. If you’re keeping score at home, a guy from the practice squad just surpassed the season-long production of Dwayne Bowe. Meanwhile, Bowe’s rolling in $9 million and Jennings likely had to take an Uber home from the stadium.

LOSER: Tramon Williams

Tough to fault a guy for having to guard one of the best wide receivers in football when he was signed to play on the other side of the field, but Williams is a veteran who has been in the league for too long to get a pass on how poorly he defended Green. When it wasn’t this play…¹

https://vine.co/v/i7ihDIZeYJp

There was this…

https://vine.co/v/i7i1PWFhLXg

And if it wasn’t that, he almost allowed another touchdown but Green was deemed to have been down at the half-yard line. Mike Pettine would clarify following the game that Williams assumed there would be help over the top, but man, this was a brutal day for No. 22.

WINNER: Christian Kirksey

As much as we’ve bagged on the Browns for penalties, kudos to Kirksey for busting up Jeremy Hill’s celebration in the West end zone. While it would have been better had he busted it up in the backfield, at least someone on that defense showed some pride.

Loser: Ray Farmer

I mean, seriously.

And now, the fans:

@WFNYScott I'm a winner for not watching the game. I'm a loser for still caring about this team……

— John Devins (@roswellinvasion) December 6, 2015

https://twitter.com/casimerkowalski/status/673615029921562625

@WFNYScott Winners: ummm, uhhh, well… Pretty hard to answer this one without the use of heavy sarcasm.

— Dan Whitmyer (@dwhit110) December 6, 2015

@WFNYScott Winners- Fans that stayed home.

Losers- 37-3

— Scott (@ScottyLovesCLE) December 6, 2015

@WFNYScott losers- everyone except Kirksey. He at least showed passion.

— JM85 (@Mal0307) December 6, 2015

@WFNYScott winners: me. I live in Seattle and may see some playing time in two weeks.

— Rob Wolf (@thatrobguy) December 6, 2015

@WFNYScott winner: my living room got Christmas tree up while not paying attention 2 Browns gm losers: entire browns staff top 2 bottom

— Paul Korf (@PKorf) December 6, 2015

https://twitter.com/fed_scivittaro/status/673617326760161280

@WFNYScott Losers: People who want "consistency" but clamor to start a sub par QB instead of supporting a decent HC.

— Trilly Ray Cyrus (@thenickbryson) December 6, 2015

@WFNYScott loser: Me. For wasting my time and money on trekking down to the lake front to witness unwatchable football for the 100th time

— T.D. Dery (@TD1TribeKU) December 6, 2015

1. Bonus points for the Manziel mention on the ticker. [↩]