Danielle Berman examines the woeful Cleveland Browns and how they can save face throughout the rest of this already lost season.
Despite the tight race in the AFC North, there has been one team that just hasn’t been able to get it together. This past weekend, the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals to determine first place in the division. Following the Baltimore Ravens loss to the Seattle Seahawks in an inconsistent fashion, the Steelers now have a half game lead in the division. With all this up and down, it’s easy to forget about the fourth and last place team in the division: the Cleveland Browns.
The Browns are the only team in the division with a losing record. QB Colt McCoy is not the major problem as he proved yesterday against the St. Louis Rams. McCoy completed 20 of 27 passes for 218 yards and a passer rating of 97.5 in his best game of the season. Everything seems to be going well mechanically for the offense. The problem? They can’t seem to find the end zone. Despite McCoy’s 97.5 passer rating, his touchdown stat line was a big, fat zero.
How do the Browns reevaluate at this point in the season? What can they change? WR Joshua Cribbs and WR Greg Little are both talented players, but have both been relatively insignificant this year. Cribbs has caught three passes this season. Three. Little has produced 37 receptions for 379 yards, but in 10 games has yet to score a touchdown. The Browns defense surprisingly ranks sixth overall in the league. But if you look at the final scores of the games, you would see that the Browns have lost most games by a margin of less than 10 points in all but two games. Scoring touchdowns more frequently could have changed the outcomes of those games.
A reason that touchdowns are so difficult is the lack of run game in Cleveland. Last season’s breakout RB Peyton Hillis has been virtually irrelevant this season. He has not only had on the field struggles but has been making headlines off the field in regards to contract issues. Hillis’ run game is severely missed this season by McCoy and the Browns offense.
The only way that Cleveland is going to be successful is if the offense can start scoring touchdowns and right now, everyone is struggling to do so. The Browns need to figure out how to get the pass game going and get into the end zone without the strong run game typical of AFC North contenders. Offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur has a lot of questions to answer in next week’s matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
I do not think that this is a good article. I find it somewhat, hmm how do I say it, awful. Josh Cribbs is a talented return specialist. Someguys are. He aint a receiver. Hillis is a Roid freak and can go, pardon my french, f*** himself. Colt McCoy will not pan out in the AFC North with three of the best defenses in his division. He is not up to par with the competition. I would say that the mistake by the lake will be living in their mistake for a few more years before they see the light at the end of that long ass tunnel.
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