Cleveland Browns battered, beaten by Cardinals, 34-20

Nov 1, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns center Alex Mack (55) and guard Joel Bitonio (75) sit on the bench during the fourth quarter against the Arizona Cardinals at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Cardinals won 34-20. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

It went from bad to worse for the Cleveland Browns in yet another dispiriting loss on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium.

The Browns jumped out to a 20-7 lead over the Arizona Cardinals in the second quarter behind three touchdown passes from quarterback Josh McCown and everything was looking good. But then the wheels feel off once the teams came out for the second half.

Following a quick three-and-out by the Browns on their opening drive of the second half, the Cardinals proceeded to run off 24 consecutive points as Carson Palmer threw three touchdowns and the Browns had no answers on offense or defense.

The Browns had seven second-half possessions and they ended in four punts, an interception in the end zone on a poor McCown pass, a McCown fumble and a turnover on downs after Johnny Manziel took over for the game’s final drive.

If you watched the game you know there is plenty of blame to go around, but as most of Browns Twitter is focusing its wrath on head coach Mike Pettine‘s handling of McCown, we’ll start there.

While he was only sacked once on the day, McCown took a beating at the hands of the Cardinals and was visibly in pain throughout much of the second half following a hit to the ribs from Arizona’s Kevin Minter on the opening drive of the half.

But despite Manziel having taken a large number of snaps with the starting offense during the week (because of the beating the Rams put on McCown), Pettine stuck with the veteran.

McCown, who finished the day 18-of-34 for 211 yards with three touchdowns and an interception, wasn’t able to reward Pettine’s faith as the Browns were shutout during the game’s final 30 minutes.

Of course, McCown received little to no help as:

• Running backs Isaiah Crowell, Duke Johnson and Robert Turbin combined to run 14 times for 20 yards, bringing back memories of the anemic rushing attack from 2013.
• Wide receiver Brian Hartline, in addition to catching two touchdown passes, had four drops and only managed to snag four of the 10 passes thrown his way.
• Despite catching two passes for 68 yards – including a 52-yarder – Johnson was nowhere to be found in the second half.
• The defense allowed the Cardinals to roll up 491 yards of total offense and convert 13-of-16 of their third-down attempts.
• The defense gave up receptions of 60 yards (Michael Floyd), 39 yards (Jaron Brown), 38 yards (J.J. Nelson) and 34 yards (David Johnson).
• Johnson Bademosi gave up a touchdown pass to Larry Fitzgerald after being asked, for some reason, to cover Fitzgerald one-on-one in the red zone.

As is often the case, the quarterback play may be part of the problem, but it is far from the only problem. But if it makes you feel better to blame Pettine for not turning the offense over to Manziel in the second half, go ahead.

The loss drops the Browns to 2-6 at the halfway point of the season. It is the team’s third loss in a row, their fifth in the last six games and 11th in their last 13 games dating back to last season.

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The Browns now face a short week as they travel to Cincinnati to take on the undefeated Bengals on Thursday night, the first of three consecutive games within the AFC North Division.

They will most likely make the trip without cornerback Joe Haden and safety Donte Whitner, who both left today’s game with concussions. And after seeing what the Cardinals’ defense did to McCown, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he were unable to answer the bell on a short week.

If the Browns do have to turn to Manziel on Thursday night, it will be an opportunity for him to earn some redemption for his embarrassing performance last season against the Bengals and, in the process, possibly slow the bleeding for the Browns.

But after what we’ve seen from the Browns these past few weeks, that seems like the biggest pipe dream of them all.