UNLEASHED: Within Their Grasp

Slip: "To slide out of or become disengaged from a fastening, the grasp”

Browns Backers,

MEMO to Browns Management: Place a order for some industrial strength duct tape and Stick’Em©

Attn: for WR Braylon Edwards

There is an saying in football, “grabbing for air,” which means to miss a tackle or to let someone slip out of your grasp, which could be used in considering the way the Browns played in letting a 27-13 third quarter lead vanish.

Braylon letting balls go through him like he was the Invisible Man, and the defense leaving Ravens receivers wide open, this game could provide the proverbial dagger and nail in the coffin for the Browns' already slim wild-card hopes. I guess the Ravens made a stop over at Home Depot and picked up the supplies, as well as making arrangements with the nearest funeral home.

That sound you hear drowning out the “Brady, Brady” chants heard on the lakefront is time running out for the Browns and their season. The No. 10 the Browns should be more concerned about is the number of losses in the L column instead of the hunky, heartthrob Golden Domer, but the other ominous ticking sound is for QB Derek Anderson, because after throwing the game-clinching INT, his days as starter being numbered.

With the inevitable media backlash coming and fans already hungry for Brady Quinn, this was the game that DA didn’t need to have to save his job for at least another week, and things did get off to an ominous start for him by being unable to lead the Browns downfield, and with the Browns already down 10-0, the murmurs in the stands could already be felt through the stadium.

But then Cribbs rips off a 92-yard kickoff return for a TD, which brought the Browns back to life at that point.

I have a question for Chud? Why would you try to run on first down against the second-ranked run defense in the league, let alone in a obvious run down, why now use play-action to open up the field for D.A. to throw? I don’t know whether Chud left his learners manual back in Berea, but you gotta mix it up some, especially when the opposing secondary is missing three of their starters, including a Pro Bowler. You attack them, not play to their strength by trying to run!

Is it just me or when the Browns get out to a lead, they go very conservative with the playcalling? I don’t blame the fans at all for booing the horrid and very questionable play selection. I can understand trying to establish Lewis and keep the Ravens honest, but you gotta attack downfield, but even that proved hard to do when a certain Michigan WR drops anything and everything thrown to him, including a beautiful deep ball that he let slip through his gloves.

And just when we start to think that the defense has turned a corner, it appears they still have a few potholes left to fix and it doesn’t help when you leave WR’s WIDE open without a safety within 10 yards of them or give up 3rd-and-16s either!

I’ve said it once, and I will say it again: This defense stinks to high heaven! They generate almost no pressure (with the exception of Rogers!), blitzing is as foreign to them as an economic surplus, and they have THE worst linebackers AND tackling in the league, and this is my defining case for them, and I dare anyone to tell me different. Because when you give up third-and-longs and stay on the field, not only are you tired, but from a psychological standpoint, you are drained.

In Anderson’s defense (if there is one!), he did the best he could but was hindered by conservative playcalling, bad decisions, and receivers who drop balls, but as soon as he threw that fatal INT to seal the game, the chants for Brady came down like vultures on a fresh carcass, and I’m sure that Quinn’s groupies are more than eager to feast on him.

Blowing a 14-point lead in any game is bad, but to do it at home against a hated division rival could prove detrimental to any team, especially the Browns, with their bipolar schizophrenic tendencies to beat the good teams and lose to the bad ones, they don’t have the discipline, focus, nor mental fortitude to challenge playoff-caliber teams. This game could have a ripple effects that could reverberate through the team for the rest of the season.

I can only imagine what the Cleveland media will do to Anderson after this latest performance, but if the Browns don’t beat the Broncos on Thursday, then we may have seen Derek walk off the field for the last time as a starting QB, and we'll see Brady Quinn come save the day.

Holding it down!

Dawgfather