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Browns Fall Short in Phoenix

Sloppy Play on all Ends 

Coming into the game against Arizona I was looking for three things: a fast start by Jamal Lewis, a cut down on penalties, and the defense that played against the Texans. But I definitely didn’t think we would have to be looking for the offense so early into the game.

The Browns did nothing right, playing a sloppy game on both sides of the ball throughout the game with special teams making a cameo in joining the turnover parade. The offense had a terrible day and came up short at the end to lose the game by a score of 27-21.

The offense forced the defense into countless short field positions and Arizona capitalized on three out of four turnovers, all touchdowns, amounting to 21 points. 

With that, I thought the defense played a solid game they just tired in the fourth quarter because Arizona dominated the time-of-possession in the second half.

This game could not have started any worse with the first two possessions turning into two Derek Anderson turnovers.  Our offense is supposed to be passed this; it is supposed to be an elite offense that puts pressure on opposing defenses. Anderson threw a second interception early in the second quarter adding on to an already depressing game.

Just seemed to me Anderson needed to calm down and quit being over aggressive, if it’s not there don’t throw it. That second pick was thrown into double or triple coverage and it was clear that there was no play there. He is aggressive naturally but those picks were thrown to a receiver who was clearly covered by the defender. The first pick was just a simple jump the route pick as Rod Hood saw it coming all the way.

Add to that all the penalties and you have a debacle on our hands to start the game.  That’s a lot of pressure to put the defense under, although, they were responsible for a number of penalties themselves.

However, DA and the rest of the offense put it back together and put together a nice scoring drive at the end of the first half to bring themselves back making it 14-10.  I thought that was extremely important for them to get that touchdown because DA started so horribly that if they went into halftime without a touchdown I would have been extremely worried about the outcome of this game.

And what a play by Lewis to high hurdle a defender to score that touchdown at the end of second half, he took a big hit to pay for it but still a huge pass and catch for DA.

I thought Lewis needed to start faster this week and overall I thought they did a decent job of getting him going early, but with all the turnovers it was understandable why they went to the passing game.

Browns dominated almost every statistic that mattered, except for turnover and penalties, in the first half.  They had nearly 190 yards of offense to Arizona’s 90 and held the ball on offense for over twenty minutes to ten for Arizona.

The third quarter was not much better for the Browns as they continued to test this defense by turning the ball over for a fourth time, only this time the special teams was the guilty party leading to the  Cardinals dominating the time of possession.

The Browns had really only one possession during the quarter as they fell behind 21-10 before they added a huge touchdown pass by Anderson to Edwards.

That big touchdown pass went for a 67-yards and a two-point conversion to end the third quarter leaving the Browns miraculously only trailing by three points. Every time I started to doubt their will to win this game they came up with a big play to put themselves back into the game. 

The Cardinals started fast in the fourth quarter driving into Browns territory but the Browns force a field goal behind a big third down stop by a tiring defense.  On the ensuing Browns possession, Joe Jurevicious dropped a key third down pass forcing a Browns punt.

The Browns added a field goal by Phil Dawson with approximately six minutes to go in the game.

By this time, however, it was clear the Browns defense was tiring as the Cardinals ran Edgerrin James down their throat.

Overall, a very sloppy game by both sides, the Browns were trying to move into new level with the top teams but it was clear on Sunday that, although playoff bound, they are not ready to be an elite team.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 2nd, 2007 at 8:27 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.