Colts Can't Capitalize on Key Possessions, Drop to 0-2 for First Time Since 98

Blame this on no one else but Kerry Collins.  How can a long-tenured veteran forget how to play this game?

I'm not sure what K.C. is worse, Kansas City or Kerry Collins.

I'm out of excuses for him.  There's no excuse to play that badly against a horrible Cleveland Browns team.

Cleveland gave the Colts four chances in the second half to seal it.

How can you start off 6/9, and then go 4/15 after?

Is it the coverage? Nope. 

Is it the line again?  Nope, they blocked well for the first time in ages.  The Colts rushed for 109 yards on only 26 attempts.

Is it the receivers?  Nope, Reggie Wayne, Austin Collie, Pierre Garcon and Dallas Clark showed up to play.

Is it the coaching?  Last I checked coaches coach and players play, so nope.

Is it the janitor at the practice facility? Is it radio broadcaster Bob Lamey's fault? No and no.

What is it then?  How can you lose to the Browns, who may win five games this season?

I'll tell you how.  Kerry Collins' inability to lead an offense.

He missed targets, and he missed badly.

Cleveland wasn't bringing any pressure, and had bad coverage.  This game was a gift for the Colts.

When you can't lead your offense to touchdowns when close to the red zone, there's a problem.  Third down efficiency was the key stat.  The Colts went 4-14, and the Browns 8-16.

Kerry Collins had an opposite game to the game from last week, in which he struggled in the first half with two key fumbles.  Today he was 9/14 for 88 yards in the first half with zero turnovers.  In the second half, he was 10/24 with a fumble and an interception in the fourth quarter.

He has weapons that were open.  The Colts moved him into the shotgun, and he took a bigger drop-back.  They even went no huddle.

Kerry Collins has no excuses.

The Colts jumped up 6-0 with two field goals of 39 and 27 yards by Adam Vinatieri.

The Colts defense forced Cleveland to a punt on their first possession, and Freeney got a sack and forced fumble on Browns quarterback Colt McCoy on third down.

That was a great improvement.  Two Browns possessions: 10 plays, 24 yards and two punts.

They did their job.  The only fault I have on the defensive side is they need to get off the field more on third downs.  Jacob Lacey got whipped by Browns receiver Greg Little.  Little exposed Lacey's horrible coverage all day.

On the third possession, McCoy broke the Colts' coverage down when he scrambled and hit Evan Moore on a 16-yard touchdown strike.

The Colts' next possession ended on another Adam Vinatieri field goal.  This time it was 52 yards.

The Browns got the ball and led a drive to end the half.  The Colts struggled to get off the field once again, and Browns running back Peyton Hillis scored a one-yard TD run with 15 seconds left in the half.

At halftime the Colts were still in it, but trailing 14-9.

The Browns got the ball to start the second half, and the Colts forced them to a fumble.  Phillip Wheeler hit Peyton Hillis, and Antoine Bethea recovered the ball.  This was a chance for the Colts to get in the end zone and take control of this game.  They had great field position, and ran all over the Browns.  Once again, the Colts get into the red zone and couldn't convert.  Adam Vinatieri kicked his fourth field goal of the game with a 36-yarder to make the score 14-12 Browns.

The Colts would go scoreless for nearly the remainder of the game.  Inexcusable.

In forcing the Browns to punt on their next possession the Colts had yet another chance.

The result? Three-and-out.

The Browns got the ball back, and the Colts defense came out mad.  They forced yet another three-and-out for the Browns offense, and gave Kerry Collins and the Colts yet another chance to take control of the game.

The first play, which happened to be the start of the fourth quarter, was an interception thrown by Collins.  For that one, the blame can be on Reggie Wayne for falling, but still inexcusable.

The Browns, working with a short field, got a field goal and made the score 17-12.  That gave the Colts another chance.

The result?  Bad passes and another three-and-out.

The defense once gain came up clutch and stopped the Browns, forcing them to punt.

This is the drive where Collins could have made up for his mistakes and led the Colts to the win.  Two bad passes to Clark and Collie led to another three-and-out.

Josh Cribbs returned the ensuing punt 41 yards, and pretty much sealed it.  Three plays later, Peyton Hillis rushed for his second touchdown of the day with a 24-yard rush to put a wrap on it.  Browns 24, Colts 12.

The Colts had one last gasp, but a third down fumble by Collins ended all hope.  The Browns ran the ball to use the Colts' timeouts, and scored another three points on short field position.

The Colts ended up scoring in garbage time with a six-yard pass from Collins to Dallas Clark to make the score 27-19, but an onside kick recovered by the Browns finally ended it.

The Colts are 0-2 for the first time since 1998, and head into next Sunday's national television coverage on NBC embarrassed.

The Browns gave them ample chances to win, but Collins couldn't lead them there.