After watching the (3-5) Cleveland Browns latest “performance” on offense against the (6-3) Houston Texans in a 30-12 defeat, it may be safe to say that there is some serious consternation coming from the Dawg Pound.
The Browns would once again look inept and utterly clueless on offense as they would only muster a total of 172 yards of offense, Houston running backs Arian Foster and Ben Tate would outgain the entire Cleveland offense by themselves in rushing for a combined 239 yards.
Cleveland would once again fail to protect quarterback Colt McCoy as he would be sacked four times and other than a late touchdown pass to wide receiver Joshua Cribbs would struggle mightily.
McCoy would finish the game by going 14-of-22 for 146 yards and one interception.
What may have been the biggest head-scratcher for Browns fans was the questionable play-calling—and mainly the decision—to run the ball against the fifth-ranked Texans run defense which was without linebacker Mario Williams.
The choice to stick to the run while down by 21 points in the fourth quarter—on the road, no less—would prove to be a horrendous blunder on the part of Cleveland—and most notably head coach Pat Shurmur.
While injuries are a part of the game in the NFL, there is no excuse for the Browns to only be able to gain a total of 33 yards on the ground—with or without Peyton Hillis and Montario Hardesty—Shurmur’s play-calling in Houston was inexcusable and flat-out atrocious.
If that is the case then consider that Houston was able to score 30 points on the Browns so-called “seventh-ranked” overall defense without All-Pro wideout Andre Johnson.
It is time to face the cold hard facts about Pat Shurmur and the Browns—is that neither of them are ready to be in their current position.
Before being hired by Cleveland, Shurmur was the offensive coordinator in St Louis and was widely hailed for the development of Rams quarterback Sam Bradford.
Let’s be clear that Bradford had—and still—has more talent around him in St Louis than McCoy does in Cleveland. Bradford and Shurmur also had the luxury of playing in the weakest division—the NFC West.
When hired, it seemed that Cleveland had finally turned a corner in terms of philosophy by hiring an offensive-minded coach to bring them out of the Stone-Age smash-mouth doldrums of the past and into the wide-open West Coast spread offenses of the 21st century.
The days of Eric Mangini and Brian Daboll and their brand of inept play-calling and conservative ball-control, run-first offense of were supposed to be gone, and in was supposed to be the new quick-striking, dynamic West Coast passing attack under Shurmur.
All throughout training camp and even during the pre-season, an insurmountable buzz was building about the Browns being sleepers, Cleveland was going to score points and that McCoy was supposed to be the next coming of Aaron Rodgers.
Mohamed Massaqoui was supposed to “breakout”—due to it being the so-called magical third season for wideouts.
How the way things were “supposed to go” in Cleveland, you could have sworn that Shurmur was the second coming of Bill Walsh and that Massaqoui was the heir apparent to Jerry Rice.
What a difference a year makes.
At this time last year, running back Peyton Hillis was the toast of Cleveland, McCoy had won the hearts of Browns fans by leading the Browns a 3-5 record highlighted by upsets over New Orleans and New England.
In 2011, McCoy had been the victim of horrible play-calling a bad offensive line and lack of weapons on offense.
With due respect to Browns wideouts Greg Little, Mohamed Massaqoui, Joshua Cribbs and Jordan Norwood.
But seriously?
Cleveland needs to overhaul the entire offense next year at wide receiver and either go after one of the premier wide receivers in free agency or go after one of the top prospects in the 2012 NFL Draft.
Your wide receivers lead the league in drops. Check.
The Browns are seventh in QB sacks allowed with 21. Check.
The Browns so-called attempt of a NFL offense—for the lack of a better word—is atrocious.
No quarterback—other than Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler—has been under such duress as McCoy has in 2011.
It is unfair to try and place this on McCoy’s shoulders when he is simply executing the playcalls from an in-over-his-head rookie head coach who refuses to hire an offensive coordinator in Shurmur.
It is almost laughable at times at the excuses that the Cleveland sports media and “media outlets” try to make for the Browns and their pathetic offensive woes, but when your team has failed to score a touchdown in the first and third quarters of an NFL game, there really is nothing more to say.
Browns fans can even try to come up with the excuse that they were victims of the lockout and have struggled to learn the nuances of the West Coast offense under a rookie head coach.
Nice try, but look at Jim Harbaugh and the (7-1) San Francisco 49ers
There is plenty of blame to go around but after watching the Browns latest “shibacle” in Houston, the Browns ownership in Randy Lerner needs to be called out for hiring an ego-maniac in Mike Holmgren who in turn hired a glorified—and inexperienced—quarterback caddie Pat Shurmur.
The front office should be held accountable for refusing to go into free agency to fill holes in key areas such as offensive line, wide receiver and defense when they had the chance following the lockout.
In Cleveland there is a saying that the Browns have been re-building since 1964, after today, there is a growing legion that misses the “glory days” of Mangini.
Only In Cleveland.
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