More of the same bad habits plague Browns in win against Ravens
By Mark Riley
Oct 11, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Josh McCown (13) celebrates as he run in for a touchdown during the third quarter against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
I try readers, I really try to find and write about all the positive aspects of the Browns performance each week. I see Gary Barnidge catching everything thrown his way, setting personal highs in receptions (8) and yards (146) in today’s game.
I see Duke Johnson catching passes and running pretty effectively. I see Josh McCown become the first QB in Browns history to have three, 300+ yard passing games in a row and an all-time Browns record of 457 yards passing . . I see Andy Lee leading the NFL in punt distance and yard average.
I see Travis Benjamin catching passes like crazy, and running back kickoffs with reckless abandon. I see Travis Coons be perfect on extra points and field goals, including today’s game winner. I saw the Browns finally win in Baltimore for the first time in 8 years. It was an awesome day, that is, if you are short-sighted.
The Browns continue to profoundly fail in so many areas on the field that one has to realize that this win is a fluke and probably not a trend. Especially when one considers the upcoming battles against stalwarts like Denver and Peyton Manning (4-0), St Louis, Arizona (4-1) and Cincinnati (5-0). Don’t get me wrong, it was nice to see our Brownies win a game again, but I just can’t attribute the win so much to the Browns actually winning the game as much as the Ravens lost it.
Let’s face it, the Ravens dominated most of the game and most statistical areas, but made just enough errors to keep the Browns in the game. To the Browns credit, they took advantage of those errors and stayed in striking distance. However, we need to remember that this is not Ray Lewis’ Ravens team, and it took overtime to get them their one win against a Ben Roethlisberger–less Pittsburgh team.
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Meanwhile, McCowns’ stellar day not withstanding, the Browns continue to get stupid penalties at critical times, causing terminations of their own drives and the extension of the rivals drives. I realize that penalties are part of the game for every team, but the Browns have a habit of committing them at the most inopportune times. Often the are caught doing silly things far from or behind the play where the foul is completely unnessessary.
As is the habit for the Browns, McCown was sacked four more times today. Now honestly, McCown often takes sacks when he could easily get rid of the ball, but too often, the supposedly stout Offensive line breaks down, and McCown finds himself running for his life, which leads to mistakes. Pass protection is terrible. When McCown can throw, why do Browns receivers consistently run 5 yard routes when they need 7 for a first down?
So far this season, the Browns reside at or near the bottom of the league in nearly all statistical categories. They average giving up a league high 406 yards per game, over 141 yards rushing, worst in the league, an average gain by the opponents of 6.3 yards per play, also worst in the league. Plus they have given up 17 sacks thus far 3rd most in the NFL.
Offensively, the Browns are downright offensive, scoring only 27.3 % of the time in the Red Zone, worst in the NFL.
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I know I harp on it repeatedly, but the tackling is still awful. Arm “tackles” and mysterious bouts of “falling down” and letting a ball carrier blaze by, are an epidemic on this squad. They rarely gang tackle, something that good teams hang their hats upon. When will the Browns subscribe to the idea that gang tackling punishes and wears out an opponent?
Additionally, the Browns have a nasty habit of winning a game, getting full of themselves, and going out the next game and getting smoked. The Browns need to turn off the radio, stay off of Twitter and Facebook, and just practice and be humble going into the next game. Let’s see how we feel about them after the next four games, the toughest stretch of the season.
So, it may be easy to get excited about a nifty Browns win, over a division opponent, but there are so many issues to clean up and change for the better on this team before this writer and lifelong fan gets hooked.