Browns lose to Titans, 28-9
December 7th, 2008 at 5:19 pm by Displaced Cleveland Fan
This season can not end soon enough.
I think the best course of action right now is for the Browns to forfeit their remaining 3 games, blow everything up, and just start over. There is nothing good that can come out of the last 3 games. Not after today.
I was surprised when I turned on the game in the 3rd quarter and saw the Browns were only down 14-6. They had scored as many times as the Titans. Of course, they were scoring field goals to the Titans’ touchdowns. But still, an 8 point deficit in the 3rd quarter is very manageable. Well, for most teams anyway.
Cleveland did not have a good shot to win this game. They were without Kellen Winslow, who has the team lead in receptions, and were starting Ken Dorsey, their 3rd string quarterback. Plus they were on the road against Tennessee who came into this game 11-1 and had the chance to clinch their division at home. The Browns were just not going to win this game.
I’m almost getting tired of saying it, but Romeo Crennel has to get fired. He seems like a nice enough guy and the players seem to like him. But he is a bonehead of a head coach. Why, with 8 minutes left in the 4th quarter, down by 19, when you line up Josh Cribbs at QB, and he tosses a deep pass to Braylon Edwards, and Edwards actually catches the ball, and he comes down with maybe one toe out of bounds, why don’t you challenge the call? How can you not challenge the call??? Maybe the call stands and you lose a timeout. But to not even contest it, you’ve told your players it doesn’t matter what they do, you are not interested in backing them up and trying to win football games.
I guess there was a reason why Romeo didn’t want to risk losing a timeout for an unsuccessful challenge. He wanted to save them for the last 2 minutes. I could not believe what I was seeing. Here he was, already indicating that he was surrendering the game (by not challenging that one call and by punting on 4th and 1 with 8:45 left in the game when you’re only down by 12), and he calls a timeout after the Titans rush to the Browns’ 10 yard line with under 2 minutes to play. Why? Even if the Browns make a stop and get the ball back (which they did), there is no way to score three touchdowns in under 2 minutes.
If that’s not bad enough, the Browns tried to call a second timeout right after the first one because they didn’t have enough men on the field. How do you not have 11 guys on the field after a timeout?
Then, he insists on trying to drive down the field in the final 2 minutes, rather than running the clock out. Even if the Browns drove 93 yards and scored a touchdown, they’re still down 28-16. Besides, the Browns offense hadn’t scored a touchdown in 3 weeks. Why did he think they might now in the final 2 minutes with their 3rd string QB? But he tried anyway. And on two plays in the final seconds, Ken Dorsey went down hard and looked like he was hurt. He finished the game. But come on. This is unreal.
As bad as everything was, there are a couple bright spots:
- Josh Cribbs - I cannot say enough good things about this guy. I love watching him play. And then to see him throw an accurate deep pass to Braylon Edwards, wow. Is there anything this guy can’t do?
- D’Qwell Jackson - Intercepted 2 passes and led the team in tackles with 15. Coming into this game he led the team with 115 tackles. That’s almost double the next guy (Andra Davis with 60).
That’s really all the good you can say right now. This team has not scored a touchdown in the past 3 games. On a day when they needed to run the ball, since they were starting a 3rd string QB, they rushed for a measly 35 yards. And the defense let Tennessee run all over them for 235 yards.
Next week will probably not be any better. The Browns play the Eagles who have looked good the past two weeks, beating two first place teams (Arizona and the New York Giants). Then again, they game is on Monday night and the Browns are 2-0 on Monday nights this year. Maybe, they’ll go 3-0? Nah.
Tags: Braylon Edwards, D'Qwell Jackson, football, Josh Cribbs, Ken Dorsey, Romeo Crennel, scores, Tennessee Titans
