Written by Thomas Moore
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before.
The Cleveland Browns fall into an early hole, the defense regroups while the offense does just enough to make the game close, the defense can’t get the one stop they absolutely must have, and the offense can’t sustain any kind of success.
Add it all up and you get the Browns ninth consecutive loss, this time by the score of 24-14 to a Bills team that really isn’t that good.
The loss drops the Browns to 0-3 for the third time in the past four seasons and, with road trips to Baltimore (to take on the Ravens) and New Jersey (to face the Giants), the prospect of an 0-5 start lingers in the room like a stale fart.
“You can’t spot a good team 14 points early the game, which we did,” coach Pat Shurmur said. “We talk frequently about a fast start and a strong finish and we didn’t have the fast start. We just didn’t get it done.
“There are no magical answers. We just didn’t get it done.”
The Browns had three offensive possessions in the first quarter and went three-and-out on each, gaining a total of 13 yards. Meanwhile, the Bills went 58 yards on their first possession for a touchdown on a nine-yard pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick pass, and 49 yards on their second, scoring a touchdown on a 32-yard reception by C.J. Spiller where Spiller may not have been touched by anyone in an orange helmet.
Ten minutes into the game the Browns were down by two touchdowns. Game over? Not so fast my friends.
Once the defense settled down, it started making the Bills look like a team that hadn’t won a road game since Week 1 of the 2011 season. After falling behind 14-0, in the next seven drives the Browns forced four punts, recovered a fumble and held the Bills to just three points.
The loss of Spiller to a shoulder injury in the first quarter contributed to the Bills offensive struggles, certainly, but the Browns defense played a role, too.
While that was going on, the offense struggled to find itself. The Browns did not convert a third down until there were five minutes left in the third quarter, but went into halftime trailing just 14-7 after a Trent Richardson six-yard run with 2:12 left in the first half.
The Browns had a chance to get the ball back before the half, but after stopping Graham for six yards on a third-and-10 play, D’Qwell Jackson was called for a dubious roughing penalty that let the Bills keep the ball (questionable calls by the referees would be a theme in the second half).
The defense would eventually force the Bills to punt and, because the Browns used their timeouts wisely, had a chance to get into field goal position before the end of the half.
But with no timeouts left, the Browns oddly called a draw play on first down that chewed up valuable time. Then, on third down, quarterback Brandon Weeden hit Greg Little in the worst possible spot – his hands – on a crossing pattern where Little had enough room and set up Phil Dawson for a field goal attempt.
Need we say Little dropped the ball? If the answer is yes, then you must be new around here.
The Bills opened the scoring in the second half with a field goal to pus their lead to 17-7 and the Browns looked like they would answer back after Richardson ripped off a 13-yard run on first down. But a completely bogus holding call on Joe Thomas – didn’t anyone tell the replacement refs that All Pros don’t hold? – brought the run back and the Browns ended up punting after a six-play, three-yard “drive”.
The Browns would force the Bills to go three-and-out and Weeden would put together a 13-play, 80-yard touchdown drive, hitting Travis Benjamin with a pretty 22-yard touchdown pass. Suddenly, the Browns were back in the game, trailing 17-14.
After trading punts with the Bills, the Browns needed the defense to come up with one more stop to give the offense a chance to pull the game out. But Fitzpatrick took the Bills 68 yards for a touchdown, hitting a wide open Stevie Johnson with a nine-yard pass to but the Bills back up by 10.
With nine minutes to play the Browns tried to make a game of it, but a 17-yard pass to Little on third and 11 was wiped out by another horrible holding call by the refs on Alex Mack (again, Pro Bowlers don’t hold). The Browns were eventually punt with six minutes remaining, effectively ending any hope of a comeback.
Richardson had a bad day, rushing 12 times for just 27 yards. On the day, the Browns only rushed 13 times against a Buffalo defense that came into the game giving up an average of 4.5 yards per carry.
“We’re pros and we should be able to build drives and build success each week,” Richardson said. “We have to make sure we prepare right and come out blazing. It gets you upset at times but you have to get back up and go on to the next play.
“We have to look at it that we can’t do anything about these past three games. But we can do something about Baltimore and we can do something about the Giants.”
Weeden took the punishment for the odd play calling decisions, throwing two interceptions and being sacked four times while finishing 27-of-43 for 237 yards.
“Our offensive line gave me time to throw, but I think overall the offensive line did great,” Weeden said. “We started too slow and after the week we had last week it was disappointing. You can’t be 0-for-5 or 0-for-6 on third downs and win many games.
“I felt like it was a solid day. I felt comfortable in the pocket and that I threw the ball accurate. The most important thing is we didn’t win this game so I didn’t do enough.”
We’re not really sure where the Browns go from here. The Bills are an average team with an average quarterback, at best, and a head coach who is over-matched on most Sundays. If the Browns can’t beat – or even really stay competitive – with a team like that, what will happen when they play, you know, real teams?
The defense plays well enough to keep the team on the fringe of the game but eventually wears down at the end of the game. The offense can’t consistently put together drives or find any kind of rhythm.
“The next one is the game we have to win,” Shurmur said. “They are all must wins (because) who goes into a game thinking they are going to lose?”
We don’t know coach, you tell us.
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