TGIF LOUNGE HOUNDZ IT's BEER 30 *DRINK* *DRINK* GO BROWNS thump them lil kitties WOOF WOOF!! Gone Fishin
Crex, that makes for a long pre-game marinating session. You should be ripe by Sunday Let's hope our pumpkins are ripe too. Thinking about the game: wondering will we pick Stafford more than they will pick Weeds? Thinking that may be the the difference in this one. Stafford is the superior QB, but also a gunslinger, who isn't afraid to put it up, and he isn't going to be operating with his WRs at top form. Liking our chances of getting a couple picks, with the D line pressuring and the DBs growing confidence and coordination. Weeds on the other hand.............. I believe he can do it, but also believe he can blow it. I want him to have the balls to let it go, but the football smarts to accept a lost down, by throwing the ball away and avoid negative plays. If we can keep the game under control, meaning we aren't in "must score now" situations, he can make it work. It's those high pressure, must have spots that scare me. Let the game come to you Brandon. Remember the offense doesn't "have to" win the game, the D and STs can also make a difference. The more I think about it the mote I appreciate your strategy, start drinking Friday! Pumped but anxious. Go Browns!
Browns CEO Joe Banner insisted the team is "absolutely not shopping" Josh Gordon. "We're not going to shop him and we don't have any plan or intention to trade him," Banner continued. "I personally -- and I think anybody here -- would be completely shocked if we ended up trading him. Josh is playing great. He's working his butt off." Gordon has 18 catches for 303 yards and two touchdowns in three games since returning from his suspension. He's a guy to build around.
Matt Florjancic Staff WriterFacebook The Cleveland Browns are focused on building FirstEnergy Stadium into one of the best home-field advantages in the NFL. The Cleveland Browns are in the midst of a three-game winning streak, and the last two victories have come in front of the home fans at FirstEnergy Stadium. One of the team?s mission statements before the start of the 2013 season was to create the best home-field advantage in football, and after the last two weeks, the players are well aware of the passion the city has for the Browns. Before heading on the road for games at Green Bay and Kansas City over the next two weeks, they want to get a victory against the Detroit Lions Sunday. ?If you want to build a solid team, you?ve got to win at home,? said D?Qwell Jackson, an eight-year NFL veteran and captain of the Browns? defense. ?You?ve got to win your division games. You?ve got to win at home. It?s hard as heck to win on the road in this league, let alone any game. ?Detroit?s coming in, and we definitely want to take advantage of this three-game stretch where we do have the ability to play at home because right now is the most important time where you can tally up the most wins you can so when you get to late November, early December, things kind of fall into place for you.? After an emotional, 31-27, come-from-behind victory at Minnesota on Sept. 22, the Browns returned home for a game against their in-state rival, the Cincinnati Bengals. In front of 71,481 fans, Cleveland earned a 17-6 victory. Then, four days later, the Browns registered another come-from-behind victory, as safety T.J. Ward punctuated the comeback with a 44-yard interception return for a touchdown, followed quickly by a leap into the stands to celebrate with the fans, whom he brought to their feet with the takeaway. According to Jackson, the players could feel the emotions within the stadium after the back-to-back home wins. ?I?ve felt the emotions of the fans for eight years, so I totally understand,? Jackson said. ?It?s a great time to be in the city. With the Indians, they finally got a Wildcard spot, and the fans deserve it. The fans deserve a winner, and that?s what we?re trying to do here. We?ve just got to keep building, keep putting out good practices, and actually be able to win some tough games.? Quarterback Brandon Weeden added, ?We went out, and people were excited. You can tell this town is just lit up, excited, and rightfully so. We?ve won a few games in a row here, and it?s fun, going out and getting the perspective of the fans and showing the excitement that we feel and seeing what they feel. There are great people in this town, and the last few days have been fun when you?re out there because they?re excited.? The excitement Weeden saw in the days following the win over Buffalo only helped to confirm something he has felt since joining the Browns in April of 2012. ?I personally think we have the best fans in the National Football League,? Weeden said. ?These are some of the best people, smart football fans in the league, and I get it. They get it. You don?t want to hear those (boos), but if you can make a couple throws and put a couple drives together, hopefully, you turn those into cheers, and as a player, that?s what you want. That?s why I love playing in Cleveland. The people here, the fans have been nothing short of extraordinary.?
One big "if"can make the difference The last time the Browns and Detroit Lions played a game of football, it produced one of the most entertaining games of the 2009 National Football League season. It took place at Detroit?s Ford Field on Nov. 22 and featured a pair of 1-8 teams headed at breakneck speed toward graveyard status in the NFL. Two teams going nowhere rapidly. The only reward was the paychecks each man received for participating in one of the most meaningless games of that season. And boy did they put on a show. It did not lack for drama, excitement and entertainment value. For a couple of teams scraping the bottom of the talent barrel, it provided the fans on hand and those at home watching on television more than their money?s worth. At the outset, it looked like a mismatch, the Browns jumping out to a 24-3 lead late in the first quarter on Brady Quinn scoring passes to Mo Massaquoi, Chansi Stuckey and Joshua Cribbs. They functioned more like an 8-1 team than a 1-8 team and made the Lions look even worse than their 1-8. But the Lions stormed back to make it a three-point game (27-24 Browns) game at the half with rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford connecting on three touchdown passes of his own. His fourth put the Lions ahead, 31-29, after three. But the Browns regrouped and retaliated, retaking the lead with 5:44 left in regulation when Quinn hit tight end Michael Gaines with a short scoring pass and Jamal Lewis ran for the two-point conversion for a 37-31 Cleveland lead. The Browns seemingly had the game wrapped up in the final seconds when Stafford?s desperate heave from the Cleveland 32-yard line, intended for wide receiver Calvin Johnson in the end zone, was picked off by safety Brodney Pool. But Cleveland cornerback Hank Poteat was flagged for pass interference on Johnson and the Lions were awarded an untimed play. Stafford, who suffered shoulder and collarbone injuries when knocked to the ground on the play, limped to the sidelines and was replaced by Daunte Culpepper. First-year Cleveland coach Eric Mangini then called consecutive timeouts to make certain there would be no confusion on the untimed play. That allowed Stafford to come back in for the final play. No timeouts and Culpepper would have been forced to run the untimed play. Stafford lobbied Lions coach Jim Schwartz hard to return to the game. But before the coach could reply, the quarterback put on his helmet and trotted out to the huddle. ?Matt?s best play of the day might have been eluding four team doctors to get back on the field,? said Schwartz. Stafford proceeded to find tight end Brandon Pettigrew for the 1-yard score and Jason Hanson?s extra point gave the Lions the improbable 38-37 victory. It was just another dose of Murphy?s Law for the Browns, a bedeviled, star-crossed franchise since 1999. So if Sunday?s meeting between these same two clubs at what used to be called Cleveland Browns Stadium turns out to be anything like that game, or at least half as entertaining, the fans are in for quite a treat. The biggest difference is that this time, both clubs enter with a 3-2 record. Based solely on their records, they are headed in the opposite direction of four years ago, in Cleveland with almost an entirely different cast and in Detroit with some significant holdovers. The Browns enter with a three-game winning streak. The last time they won four games in a row was, ironically, the final four outings of the 2009 season after starting the season at 1-11. The Lions, by the way, never won another game that season and finished 2-14. The only starters back from that Browns team are offensive linemen Joe Thomas and Alex Mack, defensive lineman Ahtyba Rubin and linebacker D?Qwell Jackson. The roster since then has undergone two makeovers ? the first by Mike Holmgren & Co. and the latest by Joe Banner & Co. The Lions, meanwhile, return five starters from that game ? Stafford, Johnson, Pettigrew, center Dominic Raiola and safety Louis Delmas. One sign of bad teams is constant roster maneuvering. The key to this one is the health of Johnson. The 6-5, 240-pound perennial All-Pro is battling a knee injury that forced him to miss last Sunday?s loss in Green Bay. His status for this week is questionable with the Lions obviously being coy as to whether he?ll play. The Lions, who lost No. 2 wideout Nate Burleson to a broken arm a couple of weeks ago, are a different football team with Johnson, arguably the best receiver in the NFL, in street clothes. With him, they are constant threat on offense. Without him, they are exceedingly vulnerable despite a very active defense. Stafford, who completes 64% of his passes with eight touchdowns and only three interceptions, is a different quarterback without him. When he?s missing the luxury of throwing to the best in the game, he becomes ordinary throwing to the likes of Kris Durham Kevin Ogletree, Ryan Broyles and Micheal Spurlock. With Cleveland defensive coordinator Ray Horton throwing all kinds of exotic looks at Stafford and his receivers, it wouldn?t surprise to see Stafford?s pick total rise. Despite a strong and aggressive front seven, the Lions have permitted 125 yards a game on the ground and nearly 400 yards overall. Theoretically, that bodes well for a Cleveland running attack that has sputtered all season. The Browns? offensive line must neutralize Ndamukong Suh, Nick Fairley & Co. (Suh will be John Greco?s responsibility) and keep Brandon Weeden?s uniform clean. Suh and rookie Ziggy Ansah own 5? of the Lions? 10 sacks. The biggest difference in the Detroit offensive arsenal this season is running back Reggie Bush, who missed week three with a knee injury. The elusive Bush has compiled 502 total yards on offense with two touchdowns. He is just as dangerous receiving the ball as he is running with it from scrimmage and is a constant threat to score. The Lions, 1-2 on the road his season, tend to play undisciplined football away from home. They average nearly 74 yards a game in penalties, most of them courtesy of the defense. Because of the uncertainty of Johnson, who has caught 21 passes for 312 yards and four touchdowns this season, the pick this week will come with an ?if? attached. It should be a very close game with the defenses on both teams controlling the game. If Johnson plays, the whole complexion of the game changes. That?s how important he is to not only the offense, but the entire game plan as well. If he plays, the offense stays on the field longer, enabling the defense to rest. If he plays, Browns cornerback Joe Haden draws the assignment of trying to shut him down and force Stafford to look for other alternatives. Haden is having a strong season. This would be his sternest test. But if Johnson doesn?t play, the effectiveness of the Detroit offense is reduced substantially. That makes a significant difference. So . . . If Johnson is healthy enough to play, the Lions eke out a victory. If he shows up Sunday in street clothes, the Browns? winning streak stretches to four. Make it: Lions 20, Browns 17 (with Johnson) Browns 21, Lions 9 (without Johnson) Cop out? Of course. But that?s my pick(s) and I?m sticking to it (them?). Posted by Rich Passan at 11:47 PM 1 comment:
Joe Patterson , a.k.a. the 27 year old man responsible for the fatal assault on Adrian Peterson's 2 year old son, deserves whats coming to him. I hope his fellow inmates are all made aware of exactly who he is and exactly what he's responsible for. Then just let the prison population take care of business...That's all I can say. I have no idea how A.P. can play football today, but my thoughts and prayers are with him.
Game day! Mega Lion is playing. Good. will make the challenge and the win that much sweeter. C'mon Weeds, play smart, make a few plays and this is ours.
Okay, I'll go there. Just phuquin cut Weeden now. I can't believe he gives us a better chance at winning than Jason Campbell. :!
Weeden needs cut. Period. There has not been a worse starting QB for this franchise. That pathetic Q4 INT is the worst Browns play I've ever seen. Continuing to start Weeden is tantamount to throwing in the towel on this season. We will not win another game with #3 on the field.
FINALLY! Now you guys are seeing the light! Weeden is a backup QB. Don't get me wrong I want wins but with Weeden there wont be many. Maybe that is the plan. You all know I want Bridgewater, Boyd, Hundley or Mariota. To get one of those the Browns have to start losing. I don't want to trade none of those picks next year to move up. After one of those QB's I want a RB & WR or guard. Signing Ben Tate would be real nice also. We wouldn't have to draft a RB. But give me Yeldon or Gurley too. With that 2nd 1st rd. pick. They both are 6-1 215lbs with 4.5 40's. Speed kills. QB of the future and skilled positions. Then go line. Then add defense. But Weeden has to go. That man is good for 2 picks a game. Howdy Dowdy has to go. Then you can start the 6th rebuild.
By Don Delco OBR Browns Reporter Posted Oct 13, 2013 Unfortunately, we found out Sunday that Brandon Weeden is not only not a good quarterback, but he can?t even be a game manager. He can?t rise to the occasion. 2 Comments CLEVELAND ? In a loss there is plenty of blame to go around. Yes, the referees made questionable calls all game long. Was that really pass interference on Joe Haden in the first quarter? Probably not. Was that really a catch by Greg Little down the sidelines in the fourth quarter? Probably. Was that really roughing the passer by Quentin Groves on Matt Stafford in the fourth quarter? Probably not. Should the Browns have won this game? Probably. Unfortunately, we found out Sunday that Brandon Weeden is not only not a good quarterback, but he can?t even be a game manager. He can?t rise to the occasion. And his signature play is now a left-handed shot-put of a throw that was intercepted and essentially sealed the victory for the Detroit Lions. By now, either you saw the play live or after it was turned into a GIF for the enjoyment of all of the Internet. Instead of another week of a first-place team, the Browns have returned to a laughing stock. ?Is it possible this is a capable NFL team that is a quarterback away from actually being good?? That was a text I received in the first half from a Browns fan and friend. And this was when Weeden was playing OK. It all looked so positive. The Browns were ahead 10 points at halftime and had the ball first to start the second half. In the first 30 minutes of play, the Browns had 250 yards to the Detroit Lions? 109. But, instead of the Browns continuing to score and putting the game out of reach the offense regressed. Six yards and zero first downs in the third quarter. As a result, the momentum began sliding in Detroit?s favor and the lead began to slip. 17-7 became 17-14 became 21-17 became 24-17. And then the Interception that made Weeden an Internet sensation happened. 31-17. ?What was Brandon Weeden thinking?? Yes, I?m talking about the interception, but it is more than that. After the Browns Finally picked up their first first down of the second half, a 14-yard slant to Josh Gordon, Weeden was called for intentional grounding the very next play. That was followed by a false start for a second and 25. It killed the first positive play the Browns offense had since the second quarter. Throughout the game Weeden again held the ball too long. He overthrew open receivers. His first pick was a bad decision and throw. Thankfully it didn?t lead to any points for the Lions. Somehow Weeden led this team to 17 first-half points, but when the team needed him to make a play, he simply could not. Despite the loss, the Browns remain a .500 team. Ten games remain, including two against the Pittsburgh Steelers and one each against the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens. Unfortunately, as long as Brandon Weeden does those aforementioned Brandon Weeden things, this team is a capable NFL quarterback away from actually being good. We?re not asking for Pro-Bowl caliber, either. Brian Hoyer was that game-manager type guy, but he?s done for the season. The toughest decision these Browns need to make is who will be the quarterback for these next 10 games. It can?t be Brandon Weeden. The job description is easy. Throw the ball accurately and on time to Josh Gordon and Jordan Cameron. Sprinkle in some hand offs to the team?s running backs and don?t turn the ball over. From there, allow the defense to do its job. Yes, quarterbacks get too much praise when a team wins or too much blame when a team loses. Not this time. This was on Brandon Weeden.
Here are my final thoughts from the Browns? 31-17 loss to the Detroit Lions at FirstEnergy Stadium Sunday: >>This one stings for multiple reasons. The biggest is that it slammed the breaks on the feel-good story that was the three-game winning streak after a 0-2 start. The Browns had made themselves more relevant than they had been in quite some time. They were beginning to make believers out of many skeptics locally and nationally. Now, the ?same, old Browns? talk is rekindled. The other reason it stings is that the Browns had played so well in the first half, especially the second quarter, and were virtually a different team in the second half, especially on offense. >>Much of this loss will no doubt be placed on the shoulder pads of Brandon Weeden. He deserves his share of blame, but not all of it. As poorly as Weeden and the Browns? offense played in the second half, their defense was equally inept. And Weeden merits his share of credit for a strong showing after a slow start. He was stepping up in the pocket, making quick and good decisions, and doing some nice things on the move. Then, it all suddenly stopped. Weeden no longer seemed in synch with his receivers. The sharp timing and rhythm he displayed on most of his first-half throws was virtually non-existent in the second half. And then came the interception. With 4:36 left in the game and the Browns trailing, 24-17, Weeden made what he said was an attempt to avoid a sack by doing an awkward, underhanded/backhanded flip of the ball in the direction of running back Chris Ogbonnaya that linebacker DeAndre Levy intercepted. ?I was trying to flip it over Obby?s head,? Weeden said. ?(A Lions defender) had my left ankle, so I couldn?t actually turn to throw it. I didn?t want to get the sack there, so I just tried to flip it as far as I could over Obby?s head. It?s almost better to just take the sack there and move onto the next play. It was just a boneheaded play.? Yes, Brandon, you should have taken the sack. >>With the Ravens losing to Green Bay, the damage to the Browns? standing in the AFC North wasn?t as bad as it could have been. Yes, the Bengals beat the Bills in overtime to grab sole possession of first place, but the competition in this division remains fairly even. The Browns are going to have an enormous challenge trying to rebound at Lambeau Field next Sunday. And let?s not even think about the prospect of going to Arrowhead Stadium the following week to face 6-0 Kansas City. Still, it isn?t crazy to think that a recovery is possible, especially with the Packers missing one of their best defensive players, linebacker Clay Matthews. We know the Browns can play strong defense, and perhaps they will have outside linebacker Jabaal Sheard back from his knee injury this week. We also know the Browns have led at halftime in all six of their games this season. >>The question will be asked a whole lot in the coming days: How long can the Browns stick with Weeden at quarterback? The second of his two interceptions Sunday, both by Levy, will leave a lingering cloud over Weeden. So, too, will the intentional-grounding penalty he drew on the previous series. There seems little doubt that he will start at Green Bay and perhaps at Kansas City as well. Beyond that, it?s hard to say what the future holds for Weeden as a starter. Would switching to Jason Campbell make them better? Campbell did struggle late in the Week 2 loss at Baltimore after Weeden left with a thumb injury, but that hardly could be considered a large enough sampling to say how he would perform. Granted, the Browns did decide to go with Brian Hoyer as their starter for the next two weeks, and we all know that that worked exceptionally well. The unknown is how Campbell would perform with a full week to work with the starting offense. >>I didn?t see this so much as a case of the Lions making brilliant ?halftime adjustments? to turn themselves around as I did the Browns simply losing whatever edge helped drive them through the first half and steadily unraveling through the balance of the game. The Browns came out with a physical, aggressive approach that clearly put the Lions on their heels. They ran the ball extremely well, surpassing their season high for each of their first five games by halftime with 115 yards on 16 carries. The Lions were simply stouter up front when the second half began and they held the Browns to a mere 11 yards on the ground the rest of the way. The Browns had six total yards in the third quarter. That just can't happen if you have any hope of being remotely competitive. >>Give the Lions? offense credit for finding coverage mismatches in the second half, mostly by getting their tight ends and running back Reggie Bush isolated on one-on-ones with linebackers and safeties. Joseph Fauria had an amazing day, scoring a touchdown on each of his three receptions. Bush had five catches for 57 yards and a score. After gaining a mere 14 yards on seven carries in the first half (an average of two years per carry), Bush broke out in the second with 64 yards on 10 runs, boosting his final yards-per-carry average to 4.6 yards. >>Carucci?s Call is presented by Revol Wireless. Come Save With Us. >>Be sure to tune in Monday through Friday, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET, for ?Cleveland Browns Daily, Driven by Liberty Ford? on ESPN 850 WKNR or catch the live stream right here on ClevelandBrowns.com.
By Fred Greetham OBR Senior Browns Reporter Posted Oct 13, 2013 Unfortunately, the game lasts 60 minutes and the Browns saw the Lions scored 24 unanswered points in the second half to win 31-17. The Browns led 17-7 at half time. 0 Comments CLEVELAND -- The Browns played great for 30 minutes. Unfortunately, the game lasts 60 minutes and the Browns saw the Lions scored 24 unanswered points in the second half to win 31-17. The Browns led 17-7 at half time. It was the sixth-straight game the Browns held the lead at the intermission. "I felt good about how we played in the first half," Rob Chudzinski said. "We weren't able to close the game out in the second half. That's something that we need to learn and do, and be able to do, is take the game when we have the opportunities and be more consistent in that way. "Again, it's one game," he said. "This is a long season." The Browns snapped their three game winning streak and drop to 3-3. They are tied with the Ravens in second place and a game behind the Bengals, who defeated the Bills in overtime to move to 4-2. Brandon Weeden started his first game since injuring his thumb in the second game against the Ravens. He had a good first half as he was 12-of-20 for 135 yards. He had two touchdowns and one interception. He wasn't sacked and had a rating of 92.7 in leading the Browns to a halftime lead. He led the Browns to a touchdown to open the second quarter with a 74-yard drive capped with a two-yard pass to Chris Ogbonnaya. After an interception on the next possession as he tried to hit Ogbonnaya deep down the sideline, Weeden guided an 84-yard drive for a touchdown with his second touchdown pass of the half, the second to Greg Little from two-yards out. The Browns got the ball back at their own 26 with just 50 seconds to play in the first half and Weeden led a six play, 52-yard drive to set up a 40-yard field goal by Billy Cundiff to give the Browns a 17-7 lead with just eight seconds to play in the first half. "We played so well in the first half," Weeden said. The second half was the opposite for the offense. Weeden and the offense started with three-straight three and outs before punting. Weeden was 14-of-23 for 157 yards in the second half. However, Weeden had 80 yards on the final drive as the Lions were in the prevent defense allowing the Browns to move down the field. Weeden was sacked twice and threw a costly interception with 4:36 to play and the Browns were driving. "We didn't execute and it starts with me," Weeden said. "We have to play a full 60 minutes." Meanwhile, the Lions scored 17 unanswered points to lead 24-17. However, the Browns were driving and had moved from their own 16 to the Lions' 44 after an 18-yard pass to Josh Gordon. Weeden then was pressured and tried to flip the ball over the head of Ogbonnaya and DeAndre Levy intercepted it. "It was just a bonehead play," Weeden said. "I was just trying to avoid the sack." Ogbonnaya said the second interception was a tough mistake to overcome. "It was tough," he said. "Anytime you have an opportunity to score and execute and you don't get what you want, it's tough, but that's the nature of this game," he said. "We made some mistakes as an offensive group in the second half, but we'll learn from those things and get better, look at the tape and move forward." Starting on the Browns 49, the Lions went down and put the game away as Matthew Stafford threw his third touchdown pass to Joseph Fauria to make the final 31-17. Weeden finished 26-of-43 for 292 yards with two touchdowns, two interceptions. He was sacked twice and had a rating of 76.9. Chudzinski was asked if his perception of Weeden changed after the second interception. "I don't feel differently about anybody," he said. "What we need to do is learn and grow and that's what we've been able to do this season. I think that we're getting better and we'll have to look at the tape. "I'm confident the guys will come in and take it as a learning opportunity to get better," he said. "Obviously, it's disappointing. You hate to lose, especially when you have a lead. It's something that we can't let happen." EXTRA POINTS Rushing Game Starts Well: The Browns rushing game had their best outing of the season with 126 yards on 21 rushes (6.0 avg.), including a 45-yard run by WR Travis Benjamin. RB Willis McGahee led the Browns with 10 carries for 37 yards, while RB Chris Ogbonnaya had five carries for 24 yards. However, the Browns had 115 yards in the first half. McGahee just had four yards on two carries in the second half. "I think we had a few (running plays) called," Chudzinski said. "When you don't convert on third down and you're going into third down and you're not getting them, you just don't have a lot of plays. We obviously didn't get many runs there. We didn't get many plays there. By the time of the fourth quarter, we were obviously trying to play catch up." The Rabbit: WR Travis Benjamin once again jump started the Browns offense with a 45-yard reverse to set up the first touchdown. Benjamin had no receptions and had three punt returns for -10 yards. His longest return was just two yards. Flash Gordon: WR Josh Gordon led the Browns with seven receptions for 126 yards, including a long of 26 yards for an 18.0 average. He ran a reverse for no gain. WR Greg Little had two receptions for 12 yards, including a touchdown. Busy Obie: RB Chris Ogbonnaya was busy after leaving the Bills game a week ago with a concussion. He had 85 yards total, with seven receptions for 61 yards, including a touchdown and had five carries for 24 yards rushing. Gordon: 4 for 79 in first half. On Ogbonnaya's touchdown in the second quarter, he ran into the Dawg Pound and leaped into the front row where two to three fans in Lions' jerseys (90, 81 and 57 were. They received him, but not with open enthusiasm. Gipson's Pick: S Tashaun Gipson intercepted a deflected pass intended for WR Patrick Edwards four-yards deep in the end zone and returned the ball 35 yards to the Lions' 30. DB Buster Skrine made a nice play as he deflected the pass with his left hand and Gipson was able to catch it. Bush Factor: The Browns kept RB Reggie Bush under control until the second half. Bush had just yards in the first half but finished with 78 yards rushing and 57 yards receiving, including an 18-yard touchdown in the third quarter. Bush had just 14 yards total in the first half. "Reggie Bush has really good hands and he runs very good routes," Skrine said. "He made a lot of plays." LB Craig Robertson was victimized by Bush several times. "They made more plays," he said. "I did a bad job, myself of making plays on our side of the ball." Megatron: WR Calvin Johnson played and had just three receptions for 25 yards. Lonely Sack: LB Craig Robertson had the only sack of the game for the Browns. Robertson had eight tackles to tied LB D'Qwell Jackson for second with eight. DB T.J. Ward led the Browns with 11 tackles. Tough Back-to Back: On the Lions' first scoring drive, DB Joe Haden was called for pass interference on consecutive plays. He appeared to break up a pass to WR Kevin Ogletree at the Browns' 7 on third-and-one, but was flagged to give the Lions a first down. ON the next plays, Haden was called for interfering with WR Calvin Johnson to give the Lions a first down on the one. On the second plays QB Matthew Stafford hit TE Joseph Fauria for a one-yard touchdown. Groves Back: LB Quentin Groves returned after missing three games with a sprained ankle. Groves had no tackles but had a big penalty late in the game as he rushed QB Matthew Stafford on third down and was called for roughing to keep the drive going and ultimately leading to another Lions touchdown. The call appeared to be questionable. "It really doesn't matter what I think of it," Chudzinski said. "It was a play that we have to be smart and make sure we don't get those type of penalties." Sheard Inactive; Groves Active: LB Quentin Groves was active for the first time since spraining his ankle in Week 2 against the Ravens. LB Jabaal Sheard (knee) was inactive for the third-straight game. He practiced during the week and it was thought he would play. Other inactives for the Browns: WR Charles Johnson, OL Patrick Lewis, OL Martin Wallace, OL Garrett Gilkey, TE Keavon Milton, DL Billy Winn and LB Jabaal Sheard. For the Lions: WR Nate Burleson, QB Kellen Moore, CB Jonte Green, RB Theo Riddick, G Leroy Harris, T Jason Fox and TE Tony Scheffler. Megatron Active: WR Calvin Johnson (knee) was active after being questionable all week. He was a game-time decision. Back to Basics: After wearing Browns pants and jerseys against the Bills, the Browns went back to their more traditional brown jerseys and white pants.
Sunday, October 13, 2013 Second-half blues strike again In the National Football League, it is required to play four quarters of good football in order to have a chance at winning the game. One quarter doesn?t cut it. And that?s exactly what the Browns did Sunday as the Detroit Lions outplayed them in just about every facet of the game for three of those quarters and slapped them with a large dose of reality in the form of a 31-17 home loss. A lot of the blame for this loss, which snapped a three-game winning streak, will be placed squarely in the lap of Brandon Weeden. But the quarterback had plenty of company. This was, in so many ways, a team loss. During a 16-minute span that covered the tail end of the first quarter and all of the second, the Browns looked every bit like the better team as they raced out to a 17-7 halftime lead. Weeden looked sharp ? or as sharp as he can possibly be ? with a pair of touchdown passes to Chris Ogbonnaya and Greg Little, the play calling was solid (especially the misdirection reverse by Travis Benjamin that gained 45 yards and woke the Browns from their first-quarter lethargy) and the defense muscled up and held the Lions to just 29 yards of total offense (24 on one play). It was precisely at that point that some optimistic Browns fans said quietly, somewhat hopefully, to themselves, ?Maybe, just maybe, this club is better than we thought even with Weeden at quarterback.? But then the Browns, who have held a halftime lead in every game this season, were forced to play the second half. And that was the turning point of the game. It took the Lions a half to figure it out, but then they realized the Cleveland secondary could not keep up with their corps of receivers, a.k.a the Land of the Giants. So Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, who threw five touchdown passes against the Browns in their last meeting in 2009, started targeting 6-5 Calvin Johnson, 6-6 Kris Durham, 6-5 Brandon Pettigrew and 6-7 Joseph Fauria. Twenty-eight of 43 passes were thrown at the Gigantic Four as the relatively midget Browns secondary (only one member as tall as 6-0) scrambled to cover them. Fauria, a rookie, caught the only three passes thrown his way. All were in the end zone. But it was in the trenches where the Lions whaled on the Browns, winning just about every battle in the second half. The offensive line kept Stafford clean almost all afternoon and gouged holes for the running game, compiling 262 of their 366 yards in the second half. With one exception, the vaunted Cleveland pass rush didn?t get close enough to Stafford to sniff whatever deodorant he used. He had all kinds of time to pick and choose and would have wound up with better numbers had his receivers not dropped at least five passes. The Cleveland play calling was awful. No, make that atrocious, especially in the final 30 minutes. Norv Turner called for only three runs (two over left guard by Willis McGahee for a total of four yards and an end around by Josh Gordon that gained zero yards) from scrimmage in 30 play calls. And the Browns were either in the lead or close enough to the lead to not abandon the running game. Putting the game in the hands, arm and head of Weeden calls to question whether Turner has lost his touch as a coordinator. The offense began the second half with a Jordan Cameron false start on the first play. And then it got worse with three straight three-and-outs and a four-and-out while the Lions scored on three of their first four possessions. It would have been all four except for an end-zone interception by Tashaun Gipson late in the third quarter. The defense could not stop the Lions, who racked up two-thirds of their yards in the final 30 minutes and were not forced to punt. The Browns? offense, meanwhile, was held to 130 yards, 72 of them in the final meaningless drive when they were down by 14 points. For the first time this season, the Cleveland defense looked inept, almost helpless. It did not stop the Lions in the second half except for that interception. There was no pass rush, the tackling was sloppy and Reggie Bush actually looked good doing something he rarely does ? run between the tackles. Stafford picked on inside linebacker Craig Robertson all afternoon in pass coverage with Bush, who touched the ball 22 times and compiled 135 yards of offense and a receiving touchdown, and his large tight ends. It was as though the Lions came out in the second half, took their game to a whole different level and the Browns, who did not have the talent to keep pace, never matched them. It was the movable object (the Cleveland defense) against the unstoppable force (the Detroit offense). And when the Browns owned the ball in the second half, it was exactly the opposite. They became the immovable object and the Lions? defense the stoppable force. They sacked Weeden just twice, but were in his face on virtually every play. Defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley abused guards John Greco and Shawn Lauvao, who seemed to be working in reverse the entire game. And the only receiver who could get open was Gordon, who wound up with seven catches for 126 yards. Cameron, with the exception of a couple of false starts, was a no-show until garbage time, when he picked up most of his 64 yards. In the end, it boiled down to this: The Browns played one good quarter and scored 17 points in that quarter. The other three quarters belonged to the Lions in every facet. Many fans will pin this one on Weeden, who threw two awful interceptions. The last one, when he was trying to chuck the ball out of bounds like a second baseman trying to shovel the ball sideways to the shortstop on a double play, looked like a play you?d see in a sandlot game. But shouldn?t some credit, even grudgingly, be given the Lions for completing shutting down the Browns? They were clearly the better team. They made the Browns look bad. It wasn?t all Weeden. With the next two games in Green Bay and Kansas City and a home date with Baltimore rounding out the first half of the schedule, the 3-3 Browns are now at a crossroads. How they fare against three straight tough teams will determine just how far they have come and how much more they need to improve before they can truly believe they have taken that next step. The road to at least respectability is clearly loaded with significant hurdles. Based on their performance Sunday against the Lions, the journey ahead looks mighty treacherous for the Browns. They could have made major strides with a victory against the Lions with at least a respectable performance. They failed. Posted by Rich Passan
