Cleveland Falls to Carolina, Slips to 0-2
Brownies Put Up Fight but Come Up Short
(Sunday, September 19th, 2010) Bank of America Stadium; Charlotte, North Carolina: The Cleveland Browns headed to North Carolina in hopes of rectifying their reputation after an embarrassing performance against the world champion New England Patriots last week. While Coach Fazier and the Browns put up a fight this time, however, the team still came up short at the end of the fourth quarter when it counted, and the team slipped to 0-2 on the season.
The start of the game was painfully familiar for the Browns, bringing back memories of three and outs in New England last week, and throughout the first have the Browns were able to accumulate only 43 yards of total offense and two first downs, allowing 5 sacks on the quarterback and turning the ball over once on an interception. The Browns struggled even more in pass protection Sunday compared to week one, and Brady Quinn often found guys in his face very quickly and ended up running for his life, forcing the field to be cut in half. The Panthers seemed to be keyed in on everything the Browns tried to run in the first half, and the defense found themselves on the field way too often for coach Frazier's liking: "We need to find a way to get the offense to extend drives and stay on the field, particularly we need to find more success of the ground. I will say that a lot of that I feel falls on the coaching staff, and we need to get back to the drawing board this week to try to figure out some scheme differently and get Jamal some space" said the head coach, who is now 0-2 in his career, "but I thought that in the second half we looked a lot better".
It was indeed the tale of two halves for the Browns offense, as the team scored all of it's 14 points and gained 78 yards of offense (not much, but an improvement). The difference? The team opened up the playbook and started throwing out three and four wide sets, relying more on their young gun Brady Quinn then the aging Jamal Lewis to carry the team. The results came, and Quinn led the offense on a fourth quarter touchdown drive that was capped off by a Jamal Lewis touchdown run and two point conversion to make it a three point game with over eight minutes remaining. "It felt good to get the game in my hands like that" Quinn commented after the game regarding Browns offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave's reliance on him to get the team back into the game, "It's good to know that the coaches trust me to lead the offense, I feel like I can do it. I can't get all the credit, though, because the line really stepped it up and guys like Chansi Stuckey and Brian [Robiskie] make some really nice plays to let us push the ball down the field."
On the other side of the ball the Browns defense greatly benefited from the offensive improvement. Throughout the first half the team got gashed by the Panthers halfback duo of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, and only two interceptions and a key third down stop kept the Browns out of a big halftime hole. The defense still allowed fourteen first half points, but they came out with some intensity in the second half and was able to keep the Panthers shut down down both through the air and on the ground, forcing another interception and keeping Carolina off the board throughout the third quarter. The team also was able to get to the quarterback far more frequently compared to the New England game, and pressure from guys like free agent signing Ray Edwards (2 sacks) and Kenyon Coleman (1 sack) were applying hits on Byron Leftwich, who was filling in for an injured Jake Delhomme.
Late in the fourth quarter, however, the defensive intensity that had been there for the entire second half seemed to run thin, and after the offense went three and out with roughly four minutes remaining the defense took the field with about righty yards behind them. The Panthers came out passing the ball and mixing in some draw plays and outside runs with halfback DeAngelo Williams. This strategy seemed to throw the Browns defense a bit off kilter, and Leftwich was able to consistently find holes in the Cleveland zones for good gains as the Panthers marched right down the field to find themselves with a first and ten on he Browns 36 yard line. The Browns made a nice stop on first down before giving up a nine yard scamper to Williams, who finished the game with an over five yards per carry average. After the play Cleveland was able to make a nice stop on third and inches thanks to a tough tackling effort by rookie linebacker James Arrington and safety Brodney Pool to force a fourth down on about the Cleveland twenty six yard line. To the Browns dismay, Carolina kicker Shaun Suisham nailed the 32 yard field goal to put the Browns up 17-14 with just 52 seconds remaining, a score that they would eventually in by after an Everette Brown sack on fourth down sealed the deal for the Panthers victory.
Game Statistics:
Passing Leaders:
- Brady Quinn (CLE): 15/35, 166 yards, 1 interception (38.4 rating)
- Byron Leftwich (CAR): 13/29, 166 yards, 2 touchdowns, 3 interceptions
Rushing Leaders:
- Jamal Lewis (CLE): 21 attempts, 66 yards, 1 touchdown
- DeAngelo Williams (CAR): 25 attempts, 136 yards
Receiving Leaders:
- Chansi Stuckey (CLE): 8 receptions, 36 yards
- Brian Robiskie (CLE): 6 receptions, 60 yards
- Cameron McCormick (CLE): 1 reception, 5 yards
- Chris Henry (CAR): 7 receptions, 93 yards, 2 touchdowns
- Josh Reed (CAR): 3 receptions, 30 yards
- DeAngelo Williams (CAR): 1 reception, 25 yards
Defensive Leaders:
- Ray Edwards (CLE): 8 tackles, 3 TFL, 2 sacks
- Julius Peppers (CAR): 9 tackles, 3 TFL, 3 sacks
Sacks:
- CLE: Ray Edwards, 2 (2); Kenyon Coleman (1)
- CAR: Julius Peppers, 3 (4); Everette Brown, 2 (2); Jon Beason (1)
Interceptions:
- CLE: D'Quell Jackson (1); David Barrett (1); David Veikune (1)
- CAR: Ma'ake Kemoeatu (1)
Forced Fumbles:
Kicking:
- Phil Dawson (CLE): 2/3 (39, 43)
- Shaun Suisham (CAR): 1/2 (32)
Punting:
- Dave Zastudil (CLE): 8 punts, 46.0 avg. 1 touchback
- Jacob Richardson (CAR): 5 punts, 36.2 avg., 1 inside 20
Next Game: The Browns are headed home to face the New York Jets (2-0) on Sunday, September 26th, 2010 at 1pm EST.
12-02-2009, 07:48 PM
