Browns Lose Again, Fall to 1-6
Atlanta Handles Cleveland in the Pound
(Sunday, November 1st, 2010) Cleveland Browns Stadium; Cleveland, Ohio: The Browns returned home Sunday to face the Falcons after the team lost their fifth game of the season in a heartbreaker against the rival Bengals last week. The mood around the Browns locker room this season is a somber one, with the team having dropped their last four straight, two of which were on their home turf, and seemingly showing little improvement following the bye week. "It's hard to really pinpoint where we are as a team right now" said one Browns player after the Bengals game last Sunday, "Sometimes it feels like we are on the brink of victory, but we come up just short every time. It's hard." The worries are echoed by fans with more then words, as Sunday's game against the Falcons was blacked out on local television due to the stadium not selling out.
Still, the Browns team appeared to give it an effort throughout the entire game on Sunday, with the team hanging in there. Though they got gashed for over 150 yards on the ground during the first half, the defense was able to tighten up in the redone consistently, allowing only three field goal attempts, two of which were made by Falcons kicker/punter Michael Koenen and one of which he shanked to the left. Still, the problems stopping the run were uncharacteristic for the Browns, who came into the game ranked 11th in the NFL in run defense, but it was clear that the coaches wanted to concentrate on third year Falcons signal caller Matt Ryan, who appears to be blooming into an all-pro while leading the league in touchdown passes and quarterback rating. "When you talk about the Atlanta Falcons you are talking about a team with a lot of weapons" said coach Leslie Frazier following the game Sunday, "They were a playoff team last year, and I believe they are leading their division this year, so they must be doing something right. We came in thinking that we could back off a little and focus on stopping the passing attack because the rushing defense has been there all year, but they made us pay today with some good scheming and play calling, so my hat goes off to coach Smith and his staff".
When asked during his press conference what the Browns need to work on the most, the coach responded "We have a lot of things that we need to get to work on fast if we are going to churn out a decent record this season. We are one and six now, so if we are going get it together at all this season it would really have to be now. Trust me when I say that we coaches are working nearly around the clock right now trying to work out exactly what needs to be done". The coach went on to say that the change in rushing defense is something that they will need to review the tape before making judgement. He did however claim that several times the Falcons caught the Browns "trying to guess", often leading to the defense being out of position to stop a bruiser like Michael Turner. "Stuff like that directly falls on the coaching staff and play calling. It's something that was unique to this game and we feel that once we go over the film we should be able to get back to where we were before, stopping the run with consistency". The coach denied that the loss of team captain and leading tackler D'Quell Jackson had more then a minor effect on the rushing defense, adding that replacement David Bowens had a good game, leading the team in tackles while also coming up with a big interception late in the game.
When all was said and done, Turner had diced the Browns defense on 31 carrier for a career high 223 yards, an average of 7.1 yards per attempt. On the other side of the ball, the Browns offense that had shown promise against both the Bengals last week and the Ravens two weeks ago appeared anemic throughout the game, with Brady Quinn throwing for just 132 yards at a rate of just 4.5 yards per completion, ending the game having just completed 44% of his passing attempts with one interception. He also threw the interception late in the ball game at a crucial time for the second time in three weeks, and the turnover effectively ended the hopes for the Browns, as the Falcons took the ball all the way down the field behind the between the tackles power of Michael Turner to convert the third Koenen field goal of the game and make it 9-3 with just twenty five seconds left in the game, a score which they would eventually win by. The Browns rushing attack was no more efficient, with backs James Davis and veteran Jamal Lewis combining for just 52 yards on 15 attempts. Lewis averaged just 3.1 yards per carry, continuing to look slow hitting the hole and failing to break a run longer then five yards once in the game.
One big reason that the Browns might have struggled so much on offense was that they could never get into a rhythm. The Falcons controlled the ball for nearly forty two minutes on Sunday and completed 43% of their third downs, compared to the Browns who held the ball for just over eighteen minutes and converted just 18% of third downs. "We have to stop the run if we want to have success in this league" said coach Frazier, "There are no excuses for allowing the kind of ground game that we allowed today. The defense can't be on the field for most of the game. We feel like we have all the right pieces, and we have shown some flashes this year but we need to put it all together".
Game Statistics:
Passing Leaders:
- Matt Ryan (ATL): 14/24, 122 yards, 1 interception
- Brady Quinn (CLE): 13/29, 132 yards, 1interception
Rushing Leaders:
- Michael Turner (ATL): 31 attempts, 223 yards
- Jamal Lewis (CLE): 12 attempts, 38 yards
Receiving Leaders:
- Michael Jenkins (ATL): 2 receptions, 22 yards
- Roddy White (ATL): 2 receptions, 20 yards
- Jerious Norwood (ATL): 3 receptions, 12 yards
- Mohamed Massaqoui (CLE): 4 receptions, 47 yards
- Kelley Washington (CLE): 2 receptions, 57 yards
- Lawrence Vickers (CLE): 1 reception, 13 yards
Defensive Leaders:
- Curtis Lofton (ATL): 4 tackles, 1 pass defensed, 1 fumble forced
- Darion Barrett (CLE): 12 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 pass defensed
Sacks-
Interceptions-
- ATL: Mike Peterson (1)
- CLE: David Bowens (1)
Forced Fumbles-
Kicking:
- Michael Koenen (ATL): 3/5 (23, 44, 41)
- Phil Dawson (CLE): 1/1 (48)
Punting:
- Michael Koenen (ATL): 4 punts, 45.7 avg., 1 inside 20, 2 touchbacks
- Dave Zastudil (CLE): 7 punts, 44.7 avg., 4 inside 20
Next Game: The Browns will stay home next week in hopes of breaking their losing streak against the Texans (2-5) on Sunday, November 7th at 4pm EST.
12-09-2009, 06:20 PM
