Game Summary
The Browns staged an improbable comeback, winning at home in December for
only the second time in December since The Return. After laying an egg the
previous week against the Bengals, the Browns played hard and there were a lot
of encouraging signs. On the other hand, there were also things to be concerned
about as well. Let’s take a closer look at what happened.
Offense
Where have these guys been all year? The offense this year has rarely put
together more than two quarters of solid football. In this game, they managed to
put together four-plus quarters. It was very encouraging to see the team doing
some unorthodox things here and there, staying with the run throughout the game,
and moving the ball consistently throughout the game. The word that comes to my
mind to describe the effort was “efficient”. And for a change, the offense
wasn’t boring.
Obviously everyone is talking about the performance of Derek Anderson.
Entering the game, his NFL experience consisted of one NFL snap taken after
Charlie Frye had taken a blow to the head. He handed off and left the game.
There were some encouraging signs in the preseason, but those came against guys
who largely aren’t on NFL rosters right now. To see Anderson come in cold and
make some very nice throws right away impressed me. He throws a nice looking
ball and all, but he needs to work on some touch. Even more surprising was
Anderson’s running. He is not known as a mobile quarterback, but he burned the
Chiefs running more than once, including his 33-yard scramble in overtime. I
liked his patience in the pocket, and I liked his ability to improvise, such as
shoveling the ball underneath to move the chains.
This isn’t to say Frye had a bad game. Before his injury, he was having
perhaps his best game of the year. Frye also moved the team consistently and led
them to 14 points. The only bad play was missing a wide-open Dennis Northcutt
behind the defense, but that was into the wind with an injured wrist. While it
was great to see Anderson come in and have success, it was disappointing that we
didn’t get to see what Frye could have done in the rest of the game.
Beyond the quarterbacks, though, it’s hard to think of anyone on offense that
did not contribute. Let’s start with the much-maligned offensive line. This was
probably their best game of the year. Kelly Butler has had his problems in
previous starting assignments, but he did an admirable job in this game. This is
his chance to stake a claim to a role on this line. The line did a very nice job
protecting the quarterbacks for the most part, despite Frye’s injuries. His
ankle problem was due to being stepped on by Kevin Shaffer and he was scrambling
when he hurt his wrist. Also, the Browns weren’t exactly parting the Red Sea,
but there were enough holes in the running game to help keep the heat off the
quarterbacks. The Browns even converted on short yardage situations, including a
key fourth down conversion.
I really like the combination of Reuben Droughns and Jason Wright. Their
contrasting styles kept the Chiefs off balance all day. These two harken back to
the days of Kevin Mack and Ernest Byner. Perhaps they don’t have the same
talent, but the bruising style of Droughns and the quickness of Wright really
complemented each other. Wright was especially effective in the passing game,
turning little dump offs into over 70 yards of offense. I must also single out
fullback Terrelle Smith for his best game of the season. He never touched the
ball, but over and over again, his blocking and blitz pickups opened up the game
for the skill players.
The receivers didn’t have huge numbers, but they were effective. It was
tremendous to see Joe Jurevicius finally fulfilling the role we all expected him
to take when he was signed. He made some fabulous catches that always seemed to
be for first-down yardage. Braylon Edwards had an excellent touchdown catch.
Josh Cribbs took a direct snap and went nine yards on first down, just one
defender from breaking off a big play. Kellen Winslow had just one catch, but it
was a big one, a beautiful catch of a high pass that went for a 26-yard gain in
overtime. But, the attention being drawn by Winslow allowed Steve Heiden to burn
the Chiefs. He had two touchdown catches, and was often open. Heiden may not
have the talent of a Winslow, but he is an effective player. The Browns need to
take better advantage of his skills as teams focus on the other marquee names on
offense. The Browns effectively used Darnell Dinkins in similar fashion to
Heiden.
Besides being efficient and effective, the offense was entertaining. It’s
been a long time since that could be said of the Browns. What I was talking
about two weeks ago was showing some on Sunday. This team has some talent, but a
decent performance by the offensive line was the key to allowing that talent to
function.
Defense
While all three phases of the team contributed to the victory, the defense
was the one that had the most problems. The Browns continue to play through a
lot of injuries here, and that is a factor. Orpheus Roye did not play, and
though Leigh Bodden returned from his ankle injury, it was obvious he was not
100%. The best indicator of how badly the defense did was that all of the Kansas
City scoring drives were long ones, including a 99-yarder. At one point, the
Chiefs were 8 out of 9 on third down.
The defensive line did a decent job in this game. Some individual plays stand
out, such as Simon Fraser knocking the ball out of the hands of Trent Green. Ted Washington continues to play only part time, so Nick Eason and J’Vonne Parker
saw a good deal of playing time. Probably the best thing you can say is that
while the Browns did not shut down the run completely, they controlled the
potent Kansas City running attack enough that it did not hurt them. For the most
part, the Chiefs were getting their running yards to the outside, though they
did gash one big one up the middle. That being said, the Browns had very little
pass rush, even though they did manage a couple of sacks.
Perhaps the best thing that can be said of the line is that the linebackers
were able to make some plays, a hallmark of the 3-4. Tops on the list has to be
Willie McGinest, who had his finest game of the season. He made play after play,
including a critical sack. On one play, he fought off a block and stuffed the
runner attempting to go off tackle. Kamerion Wimbley had another sack on a
monster underneath move. While Romeo Crennel made a point to single out the
performance of Andra Davis, both he and D’Qwell Jackson had some plays sniffed
out, but failed to make the tackle. What would have been losses went for gains.
If even two or three of those plays are made, the Browns might not have been
fighting from behind to win. It also bothered me that the Browns all too often
lost outside containment, such as when the Chiefs had third-and-six from their
own four. Tony Gonzalez took out Wimbley and nobody else was home out there. But
overall, if the linebackers are making plays, that is a positive indication of
how the front seven is doing in the 3-4.
The Chiefs could not run much, but boy, could they pass. The secondary had
been torched by the Steelers and Bengals the previous two games, and this was
more of the same. Bodden was less than healthy, and though Daven Holly, Ralph Brown, and Jeremy Perry have played well above what you could expect of them,
their lack of experience shows at times. Holly had a nice interception in the
end zone that was a huge play in the game. It bailed the Browns out after
Dinkins fumbled a kickoff. The Browns rarely got meaningful pressure on Green,
and that allowed him to kill the patchwork secondary much of the day.
Where the Browns really suffered was the safety play. Week after week, Sean Jones, Brian Russell, and Brodney Pool have made hard hits, shutting down some
great tight ends like Antonio Gates and Algee Crumpler. Gonzalez took them to
school. Granted, since he is a big name, Gonzalez was getting away with murder
on a lot of plays. But it has been rare for a team or a player to out-physical
the Browns this year, and Gonzalez did it. On his first touchdown, I wasn’t sure
if he was catching the ball or Brodney Pool’s head! And clearly, Gonzalez
running wide open on the Chiefs’ final score was a blown coverage. I’m not
faulting our safeties for a lack of effort by any means, but sometimes you show
up, play your best, and still lose the battle. Such was the case here.
Despite a lot of problems on defense, there are some real positives. First,
even if plays aren’t always being made, for the most part, the defense is
recognizing the play. So despite some potential losses not being realized, at
least the players are reading the play correctly. They need to improve their
execution and technique. There were way too many missed tackles in this game.
The Gonzalez touchdown was bad, but it reminded my how few blown coverages we
have seen this year, and this with a revolving door at cornerback. Some credit
there must go to field general Brian Russell. And finally, when the Browns
needed stops to win, the defense came up with them, especially in overtime after
losing the toss. The Browns held the Chiefs on three of their final four third
downs.
Special Teams
Other than the Darnell Dinkins fumble, the special teams came up huge again.
Dinkins was even surprising on the return. If he’d held onto the ball, he’d be
praised for a great run on that play. Josh Cribbs came up with big returns
several times. In fact, the one time he didn’t, the Browns still drove it 81
yards to tie the game. Dave Zastudil dropped two punts inside the five, one of
which the coverage team managed to down at the one. Phil Daswon not only kicked
the game winning field goal off a less than ideal field, he had great kickoffs
all day long. Even when he kicked short, his directional kicking led to the
Chiefs either being bottled up or nearly losing the ball. One kick was like a
deep onside kick and the Browns nearly recovered it. Dennis Northcutt didn’t
have a lot of running room on punt returns.
Coaching
Once again, this game was a watershed in the character of the Cleveland Browns. Many observers expected the team to tank. It looked last week like
Crennel had lost control of the players. Clearly, this team showed character. If
this game was the players’ referendum on the coaching staff, then maybe it is
appropriate to give the staff more time. I said last week that Crennel had the
remainder of the season to show something. He certainly did that here.
Let’s start with a good game plan, something I’m not sure the Browns had
against Cincinnati. The Browns did not come out with a “play not to lose”
approach, and that made a huge difference. Jeff Davidson dug into the playbook
and had two flea-flickers, a “slash” play from Josh Cribbs, shovel passes, and
yes, the first screen pass since he took over the play calling. The Browns threw
in the intermediate range with both quarterbacks and consistently attacked the
weakness of the Kansas City defense in the middle of the field. The Browns have
not thrown that much to their backs this year, but in this game, that was a
tactic that the Chiefs never did stop all day. They also spread the ball around
to a variety of receivers. The Browns didn’t get big yards in the running game,
but even down 28-14 in the fourth quarter, they continued to use the run
effectively.
On defense, the Browns did not gamble much. They were conservative with
blitzing, and chose to rush three and cover with eight at times. I’m not a huge
fan of the three-man rush, but when the Browns needed a stop, they got it using
that approach. I wonder if Todd Grantham would have blitzed more if the
secondary was having more success. It also might have been a decision to try to
keep Gonzalez in check by covering him with a safety, thus not leaving anyone to
blitz. But, if the offense can score some points, then the defense can afford to
be a little more conservative.
If I have one criticism of the game, once again, the Browns were pulling
Kellen Winslow off the field on third down. Perhaps this was a strategy to try
to use Jurevicius more in those situations. I’d still rather have both of those
guys on the field rather than, say, Dennis Northcutt. The Chiefs pulled Gonzalez
off the field on third down several times, so I know that teams do it, but I
don’t think that was a smart play for them, either.
Finally, Romeo Crennel is just terrible with the red flag. Once again, he
challenged a play that was obvious. Last week, he watched two replays and still
the flag when everyone in the stadium knew it was a touchdown. While this one
was a little less obvious, it was a similar situation and a similar result.
While losing the time out did not ultimately affect the outcome, it very well
could have in a close game like this one.
Finally, for all you Derek Anderson lovers out there, this was part of one
game. The Chiefs did not prepare for Anderson, had no film on him, and then saw
him do things that simply would not be expected of him given his college career.
Anderson threw a lot of interceptions in college, and he got away with some
throws. The one interception he did throw at the end of regulation might well
have cost the Browns the game. On top of that, the Chiefs defense isn’t exactly
the 1985 Bears. Anderson did some nice things, far more than I would have
expected, but let’s see what he can do against the Steelers before we get too
excited.
Next Up
A short week and a small audience as the Browns take on the Steelers on NFL
Network.
The season is short. Bark hard!