I'm really mad at myself. Mad that I made the mistake of breathing in the fumes of optimism floating around this town this past week. Mad for believing that the Browns were sick of being doormats in their division. Mad for falling for the bravado that this young team exuded all week. Mad that I thought that there was no way the Browns were going to lose a 10th straight game to those scumbags, the most vile and wretched team in the league. Mad that I firmly believed that the Browns would seize the opportunity to win their third straight game at home against a reeling team on the decline. Mad that I genuinely believed that the Browns were going to come out in front of their home fans, the best in the league, and punch the Ravens right in the mouth. And most of all I'm mad that I believed that Pat Shurmur, fighting for his job, could coach this team to victory. And after the game, like most Sunday's watching this sad sack franchise, I was just mad. Ultimately it was Baltimore 25 Cleveland 15, the only positive being that it will more than likely be the nail in the coffin of possibly the worst coach in this franchise's history, Pat Shurmur.
This was going to be the game that marked the new era of the Browns, the most important game in at least the past few seasons. The Ravens, the old Browns, with that awful ART patch on their jerseys, verses the new Browns, under new ownership. Out from the nightmare that was Modell's pal Al Lerner and his family's ownership, this was a chance for this Browns team to show it's fans, loyal through all the absolute crap that has gone on since Modell sold his soul in 1995, that things are different now. Instead, it was the same old Browns, the ones we've seen since 1999. Another disappointing loss when things look to be turning around. On Sunday morning, that turnaround seemed to be right around the corner. On Sunday evening, that turnaround seems miles away. It was just one game, it was the difference between 3-6 and 2-7. But it was the difference between hope for the rest of the season and looking ahead to the next. And it was another open hand slap to the fans that were rocking Cleveland Browns Stadium only to be sent home disappointed. A Factory of Sadness indeed.
The Ravens came into the game with the 30th ranked run defense, without their heart and soul in Ray Lewis, and without their best cover corner, Ladarius Webb. They came in with a chip on their shoulder off their bye, chirping as they always do, despite getting their butts kicked by Houston two weeks prior. They are a team that had beaten the Browns 9 straight games. Think about that. Most of the Browns players probably had no idea because they hadn't been around for those losses, but the fans sure as hell have been. If any game had the chance to change a culture it was this one.
However, no matter how much improved the Browns are from a talent standpoint, they are handcuffed by their idiotic head coach. The Browns got the ball first, threw incomplete on 1st down, and gained nine yards on a Richardson run on 2nd. On 3rd and 1, against the 30th ranked run defense, Shurmur dialed up a pass, which ended up incomplete to Alex Smith, who wouldn't have even gained the first down had he caught it. Again, Baltimore came in with the 30th ranked run defense. But Shurmur likes to think he's smarter than everybody, and by God he's going to prove it. Browns punt and the Ravens, apparently ready to play, take 10 plays mixing in Ray Rice and Anquan Boldan to score a touchdown. Nothing like getting the home crowd into the game by being down 7-0 seven minutes into the game. The Browns get the ball back, pick up nine yards on 1st down, fumble the ball (recovered by Mitchell Schwartz) on second down for no gain, and face 3rd and 1 again. 3 stinkin feet, against the 30th ranked run defense in the league. Pat Shurmur, apparently in an attempt to show that he's no fool, dials up another pass. Weeden overthrows Chris Ogbonnaya who was wide open. The play was there, but it wouldn't have mattered as offensive pass interference was called on Josh Gordon.
Now apparently in today's NFL, when Jeff Triplette, who is by far the WORST official in the league is working the game, it's considered offensive pass interference when a receiver runs 10 yards down field and gets body checked to the ground by a defensive back. Horrible call in a game that had a few of them. More on Triplette later.
The Browns punt again, and the Ravens march down the field, mostly on the ground, and score another touchdown in 12 plays. 14-0 Ravens in the first quarter and by all appearances it looked like this one was going to get out of hand.
Then a curious thing happened. The Browns decided to run the ball and utilize their best asset, Trent Richardson. Richardson carried the load, coupled with a few Weeden completions, and the Browns moved the ball to the Ravens 17, where they had 1st and 10. They did burn a timeout following a Baltimore penalty because they couldn't get the play in, a theme that would repeat itself. After a 1 yard gain by Richardson, they dialed up a pass play that went incomplete. They then burned another timeout, presumably to get a really good play called in the red zone. That brilliant playcall ended up being a 2 yard pass to Alex Smith, and the Browns settle for a field goal. That theme would also repeat itself.
Dick Jauron did an excellent job adjusting to the offensive genius that is Cam Cameron and the Browns got the ball back. Behind the running of Richardson and a couple deep passes to Josh Gordon and Greg Little, the Browns moved into the red zone again. They ran the ball twice gaining 2 yards, and on 3rd and 8 they dialed up another creative pass, this one going 4 yards to Alex Smith. It doesn't take a Mensa member to figure out that you should throw the ball past the sticks on 3rd down, or that it may be a good idea to throw the ball into the endzone when your starting WR's are 6'3 and 6'2. Whether that's on Shurmur or Weeden I can't say but it is inexcusable and it's happening over and over. Regardless, the Browns settled for another Dawson field goal.
After forcing the Ravens to go 3 and out, the Browns got the ball back with 1:03 left in the half, at their own 39 yard line. There have been multiple instances that I've discussed of Shurmur mismanaging this situation at the end of first halfs, and this game would be no different. Down 14-6, with the ball in good field position, and 1 timeout, he dialed up a draw on first down. They gained 2 yards and wasted 26 seconds. They then proceeded to move the ball, with Weeden completing passes to Richardson, Watson, and Little. Weeden then hit Benjamin on a comeback for 19 yards down to the Baltimore 11, but they only had 5 seconds on the clock. They sent out Dawson rather than risk running out the clock by throwing one toward the endzone, but that wasn't in the gameplan anyway. That is inexcusable by a NFL head coach. I can't figure out why Shurmur cannot manage a two minute drill at the end of the half, but he can't. The Browns went into the locker room with some momentum and down 14-9.
Coming out of halftime, the Browns defense forced a three and out by the Ravens, and the Browns, riding some of that momentum, had a chance to take control of the game, with good field position at midfield. They gained 7 yards on first down on a run by Richardson, against the 30th ranked run defense in the league. Shurmur then dialed up a pass to Cameron that was nowhere close, and followed that up with another pass. Weeden got pressured and threw the ball to Jordan Cameron, who was streaking down the field and never turned around. The pass was picked off by Cary Williams. Again, Baltimore is not good against the run. You're at home. Your defense has tightened up. You need three yards to keep the drive moving. RUN THE BALL WITH RICHARDSON. And if you come up short run it again. You would think that a NFL coach would play to his teams strengths and the other teams weaknesses, but not our coach.
Baltimore took over at the Browns 39 and were moved back on a holding penalty on Michael Oher, who basically held Jabaal Sheard the entire game. The defense held, and forced another punt. The teams traded three and outs, the slugfest continuing between two offensive geniuses in Pat Shurmur and Cam Cameron.
The Browns had momentum at this point. They were winning the field position battle. The crowd was into it. The ran the ball and were aided by a personal foul on Baltimore, moving to the Ravens 30. Shurmur dialed up a reverse to Benjamin who gained nine yards, aided by a huge block on Ed Reed by Josh Gordon who nailed him in the chest with his shoulder. In the chest, with his shoulder, on a player trying to tackle a ball carrier. And Jeff Triplette calls Gordon for unnecessary roughness. It was a terrible call, although they called Baltimore's sideline for unsportsmanlike conduct. Terrible call. At this point the Ravens were on the ropes. The Browns were imposing their will. They were smacking the Ravens around just like I thought and hoped they would. Baltimore was ripe for the taking as the Browns moved into the redzone again, to the Bal 17. After a Richardson one yard run on first down, the Browns dialed up their favorite play, the two yard pass to Alex Smith, on 2nd and 9 this time. The third down pass was nearly intercepted but fell incomplete off the hands of Massaquoi, who probably should have caught the ball. Another red zone trip, another field goal, another failed opportunity to throw the ball into the endzone. Shurmurball at it's finest.
Dick Jauron's defense continued it's incredible play, forcing another three and out. The Factory of Sadness was pulsing with energy. The Browns were beginning to impose their will, the fans were beginning to believe that their optimism was well founded. They had the ball at their 46 yard line, against a tired defense. Aaaaand then a false start on Lauvao. And another one on Greco. And inexplicably, following those 2 penalties, Shurmur couldn't get a play called and had to burn a timeout. Shurmured. Following the timeout, Shumur called another one of his tremendous plays, a 1 yard pass to Richardson. Weeden hit Richardson again for an 8 yard gain, and on 3rd and 11 threw incomplete to Ogbonnaya, another pass well short of the line to gain. Browns had to punt, still trailing by 2.
Again (!) the Browns defense forced a 3 and out and the offense took over at their own 43. Following some good running by Richardson and a couple nice passes to Little and Gordon, they had 1st and 10 on Baltimore's 22. Richardson ran for 4 yards on first down, and after an incompletion, they had 3rd and 6 on the 18. Baltimore blitzed the no back formation, Weeden stood in the pocket and delivered a laser beam in stride to Josh Gordon, who slipped a tackle for the touchdown. The place went crazy, touchdown Browns! But remember, these are the Browns, and there was a flag on the field. Chris Ogbonnaya didn't line up properly, covering the tight end who released. 5 yard penalty, no touchdown. Gut wrenching. It's even more troubling that he knew he was supposed to be off the line of scrimmage, just failed to line up that way. Every week it seems like there is an incredibly stupid penalty, whether it's jumping offsides on a punt or on a fourth and 1, or getting pass interference with 4 seconds left in the half. Add this one to the list. The Browns still had a shot though, still had momentum, when Shurmur showed off his confidence in the offense and his quarterback by calling a DRAW on third and 11. A gutless move by a gutless coach, playing for a field goal to go up by a point rather than taking a shot at the endzone. That's Pat Shurmur in a nutshell. His players make stupid mistakes in an obvious attempt to imitate their coach, who makes stupid decisions and has no balls. Dawson kicked the field goal and the Browns took the lead, 15-14.
And then the inevitable happened, aided by Jeff Triplette, the worst official in the NFL. Baltimore finally got a first down and moved the ball to their own 42. Flacco threw incomplete on 2nd and 8, but Jeff Triplette, who is worse than any other official in the NFL, threw a flag and called roughing the passer on TJ Ward, who hit Flacco from behind on the shoulder pads. It was a terrible call, total bullcrap, magnified even more by the fact that Jabaal Sheard was blatantly
held ripped down from behind by Oher 5 feet away from Triplette. That took the life out of the stadium and the defense, as Baltimore gained yards by the chunk before they faced a 3rd and 10 from the 19. Joe Haden gave Torrey Smith a 15 yard cushion, Smith stopped after 10, caught the ball, spun, and ran unimpeded into the endzone for the go ahead touchdown. Haden was then burned on the 2 point conversion and Baltimore was up by seven with 4:26 left.
The Browns took over at the 20, with over four minutes left and two timeouts, needing a touchdown. They proceeded to gain six yards on first down, and threw incomplete on 2nd, bringing up 3rd and 4. For some unknown reason, they ran a 2 yard out to Greg Little, bringing up 4th down. With 3:57 remaining in the game, and two timeouts, from their own 28 Pat Shurmur decides to go for it. This is a guy who is so maddeningly conservative that he wouldn't go for a 4th and 1 with 6 minutes to go from the Colts 41 yard line just two weeks ago. So he decides to go for it, and reaches into his bag of tricks to come up with a slant pass. The exact same play they ran against the Colts when they had 4th and six two weeks ago (which didn't work). The whole sequence looked off from the beginning, and Weeden fired a 98 mile per hour fastball 15 feet over Greg Little's head. Ballgame. Baltimore added a field goal but that was it.
It more than likely sealed Shurmur's fate, who appeared to coach the game as if he was trying to prove a point to his critics rather than trying to win the game. From the 3rd and 1's early to the decision not to punt, to the communication problems, to playing for field goals and not putting the ball past the sticks or into the endzone, Shurmur showed his full complement of deficiencies as a head coach. He just doesn't have it, the game is too fast for him to act as a head coach and a playcaller, and he's too sensitive to the noise around him that comes with his job. I don't think he'll be fired until the end of the season, but wouldn't care less if they canned him today.
There were not a lot of positives to even discuss. The offensive line and Richardson played well, as did Little and Gordon from what I could see. The defense buckled down after a rough start and gave the offense a chance to put the game away on multiple occasions, but failed to make a stop when they needed to. It's good to have Phil Taylor back, Sheard and Jackson both played well.
Weeden was not very good, and didn't seem like a guy that was too happy about the coaching. He subtly called out the playcalling by saying they didn't expect to see so much cover 2 and weren't prepared for it. He also gave a couple terse no comments when asked about the "communication problems". He's a rookie and is going to struggle at times, but he did make a play when they needed one when he stood in and delivered the ball to Gordon on the touchdown that was negated.
One thing that crossed my mind on Weeden is that I think he feels really comfortable when Josh Cooper is on the field. Cooper was inactive for this game. Weeden's best performances have come when Cooper has been active and on the field on third downs. There's an obvious comfort factor there and I think that Weeden trusts Cooper a lot more than anyone else at this point. It may be coincidental I'm not sure, just something I thought about. I'd rather have Cooper out there on third downs than almost anyone else and I think Weeden feels the same.
Obviously this team has a long way to go, but it sure seems longer now than it did last week. We have two weeks to soak in this loss with the bye week next week. I was convinced that this was the game that would mark the turnaround for this franchise, the beginning of the rewards that this fanbase has surely reaped with all the crap we've had to deal with since 1995. Maybe that game will happen this year, maybe the Browns can grow from this loss. Maybe they put together a run towards the end of the season, beat the Steelers twice, learn how to win. Learn how to throw a haymaker when their opponents are on the ropes rather than trip over their own feet. But rather than doing it with a sense of optimism for this season, they'll be doing it with an eye on the next one.
Side note on the officiating. I hate Jeff Triplette and I think I would fight him if I saw him. He's a dirtbag and consistently screws the Browns, especially in Cleveland, as if it is this team's fault that he fired his flag into Orlando Brown's facemask (taking 3 years of football from him) and got his ass thrown down by Zeus. I don't generally complain about officiating because bad calls are a part of the game, but Triplette is awful and shouldn't be allowed to officiate in Cleveland.
Random gifs
Looks like USC Reggie
Ouch. Couldn't find Gordon's block on Reed but it looked a lot like this. Presumably no flag on OU on this play
Mascot LOLZ
