Red Right 88

Browns come home with everything but a win

It was a tale of two halves for the Cleveland Browns in their opening game on Sunday in Pittsburgh.

Unfortunately this tale had an ending that is all too familiar to Browns fans.

The Browns rallied back from a 27-3 halftime deficit to tie the score, only to lose on a last-second field goal.

“I told the team afterward that this is a pass-fail league,” head coach Mike Pettine said after the game. “And we failed.”

The loss was the Browns 10th consecutive on opening day – a league record – and their 14th loss in their past 15 visits to Heinz Field.

Sticking with Pettine’s theme of Pass/Fail, here are a few things the Browns got right and few they got wrong against the Steelers.

Read more…

Browns vs. Steelers – 5 things to watch in Week 1

The Cleveland Browns open the 2014 NFL season today against the Steelers in Pittsburgh.

The last time the Browns opened a season in Pittsburgh, in 1989, they beat the Steelers 51-0 to start a year that saw the Browns advance to the AFC Championship Game.

It’s safe to say it has been all downhill since then for the Browns and their one-time rival.

The Browns have only beaten the Steelers twice in the past seven years, have only one win in their past 14 games at Heinz Field, and have gone 5-31 against Pittsburgh over the past 36 meetings between the two teams.

It’s not just Pittsburgh, either, as season-opening games have not been kind to the Browns since 1999.

The Browns have lost nine consecutive opening games; lose today against the Steelers and they would set an NFL record for opening-day futility.

“That’s something that’s a big part of our prep (but) understanding that that has nothing to do with us,” Browns head coach Mike Pettine said earlier this week. “That has nothing to do with this game. That has nothing to do with us moving forward. That was our message back in the spring when we said, ‘Hey, recognize the history, but break off the rear view mirror.’ This is just another way to prove that.”

As the Browns get ready to start reversing those disappointing numbers today in Pittsburgh, here are five things to watch for.

Read more…

Browns lose to Steelers. What else is new?

We’ll start with the good point from the Cleveland Browns latest loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Because, shockingly enough, there was a bright spot in the Browns 27-11 loss, the 16th time the Browns have loss to the Steelers with Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback and the 24th time they have lost to the Steelers in the past 28 meetings.

Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon tied a team record with 14 receptions and set a franchise record with 237 receiving yards. Gordon remains the lone bright spot on an otherwise dismal offense.

Gordon also scored the Browns lone touchdown on the day, a one-yard pass from Brandon Weeden. And the fact that we just told you Weeden was in the game tells you everything you need to know about how things went for the Browns.

The Browns are done, at least on offense, and there is the very real possibility that they are going to finish the season at 4-12.

Read more…

Browns vs. Steelers – Week 12 preview

The Cleveland Browns return home on Sunday to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers.

It will be the first of two meetings over the season’s final six games between the longtime rivals, and the outcomes will have a major impact on the race for the final playoff spot in the AFC.

Even though the Browns lost in disappointing fashion last week in Cincinnati, because of some fortuitous losses by other teams, both the Browns and the Steelers still find themselves in the playoff hunt despite sporting 4-6 records.

The winner of this weekend’s game gets to continue on in the playoff race for at least another week, while the loser faces an increasingly difficult task on what is already an arduous journey.

Read more…

Browns take a tumble on the road to respectability

Fifteen minutes. All it took was 15 minutes on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium for the Cleveland Browns to throw away the team’s biggest opportunity in six years.

And even by the Browns standards it was pretty absurd.

The Browns took a 13-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to the defense – highlighted by Joe Haden’s interception return for a touchdown – as the Cleveland made Cincinnati starting quarterback Andy Dalton look like the average (at best) quarterback that he is.

But the Browns squandered two opportunities when they could not convert a first-and-goal at the Cincinnati two-yard line into a touchdown and then, on their next possession, could not turn a first-and-10 at the Bengals 14-yard line into touchdowns. Instead, the Browns settled for field goals, which anyone watching the Browns for long enough knew was going to be a problem down the line.

Read more…

Browns vs. Bengals – Week 10

The Cleveland Browns head to Cincinnati on Sunday to take on the Bengals. More importantly, the game presents the Browns with the opportunity to truly enter the playoff picture in the AFC.

A win puts the Browns just a half-game behind the Bengals and gives Cleveland a season sweep of Cincinnati, an important tie-breaker in what may be a tight race for the AFC North division title.

The Browns come into the game off a big home win against Baltimore, while the Bengals have lost consecutive overtime games on the road.

Can the Browns win in Cincinnati for the first time since 2008 and sweep the Bengals for the first time since 2002?

Well, that’s the question, isn’t it?

We break it all down in our preview at The Cleveland Fan.

(Photo courtesy of ClevelandBrowns.com)