Browns Not Ready For This

Good Teams Find Ways To Win

As the Browns’ were letting a win slip out of their grasp in Pittsburgh, my son said it best -“DA isn’t ready for this.”

He’s close. I would change the noun in the sentence from DA to They aren’t ready for this.

It is true, Anderson showed that he’s not ready for prime-time yet, with a pitiful second half performance. The vaunted Steelers’ defense didn’t sack him in the first half – hardly touched him. They didn’t sack him in the second half – hardly touched him.

All the Steelers did was mix up their coverages better in the second stanza. That was obviously enough to bother the gangly signal-caller. DA was slow in his reads and late or behind in many of his second half throws. In fact, he hardly took any shots downfield – a sign that he was losing that gunslinger mentality.

And if you look at the first half, the only real drive the Browns had was their first of the game – a near perfect march by DA and company that resulted in a receiving score to K. Winslow. The other two touchdowns were set up by a kick return, an interception and terrific tightrope job by Edwards that was overturned in the Browns’ favor by replay.

Anyway you look at it, they went nearly two full quarters without a first down. And it’s not because the Steelers were manhandling the Browns up front. The quarterback lost it for a time and never got it back in time to pull this one out.

But you can’t put it all on Anderson.

The defense was terrible again – allowing 30+ points, another 100-yard rusher, the Steelers to convert on numerous third and longs, etc…etc…etc…You’ve seen this act all season long.

There was a pass rush sighting. The Browns sacked Big Ben four times. But give BR credit, he made a number of big plays in the second half – both with his arm and his legs, and willed his team to this win.

The Steelers had the advantage at the most critical position on the field – regardless what the final statistics may show. In the end, that was a key to the outcome of the game.

Coaching Errors
RC and his staff also gagged by wasting two timeouts on a needless challenge. Yea, they could have used an extra timeout in the final seconds to get Dawson closer.

The Steelers' coaching staff obviously felt sorry for RC and company by running dive plays on first and second down, then having Big Ben run what looked like a quarterback draw on third down in their last possession deep in their end. Pittsburgh was playing to lose rather than playing to win. Someone forgot to tell Tomlin and company the Steelers were moving the football at will until that point. One first down seals it. They decided to run and punt.

Huge Special Teams Edge
Regardless, the Browns bailed them out by having their one special team miscue of the day – a penalty on the Steelers’ final punt.

And no, that didn’t lose the game.

The special teams gave you what amounted to 14 points with Josh Cribbs returning one kick for a score and another inside the Steelers’ five yard line. The only reason the Browns were in this game was because of terrific special teams play.

If I told you at noon today the Browns would get two great returns from Cribbs and the offensive line would keep DA’s uniform clean all day long, you would put this one in the win column.

No such luck.

But let’s keep an eye on the big picture. They needed to split these two divisional road games. A win next week in Baltimore puts them at 6-4 with six very winnable games to play.

Who said I’m always negative?

As for today, the truth is in the final score - they aren’t ready for this yet.