Red Right 88

In Cleveland, hope dies last

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18 Dec 2010
2 Comments

Browns vs. Bengals – Week 15

The Browns look to continue their quest for a .500 record as they head to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals, who are currently riding an 11-game losing streak and who have not had consecutive winning seasons in 28 years.

The Opposition

Cincinnati: 2-10
Offensive rank: 24th overall/15th passing/30th rushing
Defensive rank: 20th overall/15th passing/24th rushing
Strength of schedule: 3rd
All-time record: Cincinnati leads 38-36, with a 23-14 edge at home. The Browns have lost five of the last six they’ve played in Cincy.
The line: Browns +1 (no respect)

What to Watch For

How will the Browns bounce back from last week’s disappointing loss in Buffalo?

How will Colt McCoy look after missing three games due to injury?

Can Peyton Hillis hold onto the ball and find his second wind as the season winds down?

How will the Browns defend the Bengals passing attack this time around?

In the first meeting the Browns double covered Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens had a huge day with 10 catches for 222 yards and a touchdown. But the Browns secondary has improved since then as Joe Haden is turning into a shutdown corner as the season progresses. His growth should mean the Browns can throw some different looks at the Bengals and not be burned so badly in the passing game.

The Best Browns vs. Bengals game I’ve Seen

The 1980 game the Browns won 27-24 to clinch the division title. The Browns won on a 22-yard field goal by Don Cockroft with 1:25 left in the game to end an eight-year playoff drought. The PD’s game story is here. Video is here, here and here.

The Prediction

The Browns offense finds its stride now that McCoy is back under center, Hillis hangs onto the ball, Haden single covers Owens, keeping him under control, and the Bengals losing streak, which started with a loss to the Browns in October, hits 12 games.

Record picking the Browns (using the point spread) this year: 2-10-1

Posted in Cleveland Browns, NFL
14 Dec 2010

Final Thoughts on the Browns & Week 14

We were planning to put together something coherent about the aftermath of the Browns loss to Buffalo, but spending a combined 90 minutes getting the car unstuck from the street that that city can’t be bothered to plow and then cleaning the driveway took the fight out of us.

And really, what is there to say that we didn’t already know? The Browns are not yet at a point where they can make mistakes and hope to win a game. That was true Week 1 in Tampa and it was true on Sunday in Buffalo.

We’re with coach Eric Mangini on the disappointment.

“In watching the tape and talking to the players, I think the best way I can say it is disappointing,” Mangini said in his Monday press conference. “It was disappointing to me because it’s really not the way that we play football and we’ve made a lot of strides in doing that in terms of eliminating the self-inflicted wounds, putting the ball on the ground five times and interception. That’s taking points off the board and defensively, not doing a good enough job on some game-plan specific things.”

One of the areas that was extremely disappointing was on third down as the Browns only converted two-of-10 third downs against a Bills defense that came into the game allowing opponents to convert more than 44 percent of third downs. Since Jake Delhomme returned as a starter, the Browns are only eight-of-35 on third downs.

“We weren’t very good on third down to extend drives, which doesn’t help; putting the ball on the ground doesn’t help,” Mangini said. “The time of possession was skewed heavy in their favor and that’s a collective deal where, defensively, we need to get them off the field so they can’t eat up the clock and offensively, we’ve got to be able to extend drives so we have more chances to continue to the full complement of plays.”

We’re glad to see that Mangini and the team have embraced our philosophy of win as a team, lose as a team.

“There are things from a scheme perspective that we could’ve done better as well. I’m not saying it’s all playing,” Mangini said. “There’s some things that I feel we could’ve done better from a coaching perspective too and that’s the way it always is. It’s never just the players or just the coaches. It’s all of us. We’re all in it together. When it’s up and down, we all need to pull a little bit harder.”

***

Our biggest concern here is that the Browns lack of talent, depth and growing injuries are starting to catch up with them and that will be exacerbated and exploited over the next three weeks with division games against Cincinnati, Baltimore and Pittsburgh.

If the Browns were to stumble as the season comes to a close, that would be back-to-back 5-11 seasons, only this time the season would end with a four-game losing streak, rather than last year’s four-game winning streak.

Under that worse-case scenario the jackals who worry about the temperature of the office furniture in Berea will be out calling for Mangini’s job. And that’s not funny or fun.

The positive part is we get the impression that team president Mike Holmgren doesn’t care what the media wants. It’s not that he’s egotistical, it’s that he comes across as someone confident in his football knowledge and trusting of his instincts. He knows that starting over after one year of the rebuilt Browns management is a no-win situation.

***

As sure as we are that Jake Delhomme’s time as a starting NFL quarterback has passed – he has seven interceptions to two touchdowns on the season – it looks like we’re with him for at least another week as Mangini said Monday that Delhomme’s the quarterback if Colt McCoy isn’t healthy.

Even if McCoy is healthy – or as close as he can be – the Browns should sit him for another week just to be sure. There’s no reason to rush him back.

***

As always, lots of good stuff on the Browns at Cleveland Frowns and Waiting for Next Year.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, NFL, snow | Leave a comment
13 Dec 2010
4 Comments

A Bad Day in Buffalo

Oh boy.

The Browns lost their last chance to finish the season with a winning record in an ugly loss on Sunday to the Bills. And along the way they showed that, while they have come a long way this season, they still have a long way to go to be a consistent winner in the NFL.

We subscribe to the theory of win as a team, lose as a team, so we hate to point fingers at one particular unit, but this loss hangs squarely on the offense.

The Browns took the opening kick off and moved smartly down the field with the running game, reaching the Buffalo six-yard line in just five plays, all rushes. But once they hit first and goal the drive stalled, as Peyton Hillis ran three straight times for five yards, leaving the Browns facing a fourth-and-goal at the 1.

Perhaps a play-action call would have been beneficial on first down in that situation, but the Browns were moving the ball and Buffalo does have the worst rushing defense in the league.

The Browns chose a Phil Dawson field goal rather than go for the score on fourth down. We would have been OK with the Browns going for the touchdown, what with the Bills weak run defense and all, but it was the first drive of the day and you want to get points early.

“I did think about [going for it], but I felt like the game was going to be close, like a one-score game,” coach Eric Mangini told The Plain Dealer. “I figured we would have more drives later on.”

We did too, coach. Unfortunately that first drive was the highlight of the day for the Browns offense.

After gaining 49 yards on the opening drive, Hillis would only gain another 59 yards the rest of the day. And once again he had no support in the running game, as Mike Bell ran three times for eight yards and Josh Cribbs added minus 11 yards on a botched end around.

This is a problem we’ve all seen coming for weeks now: Hillis is the Browns only running option so teams can key on him; there is simply no one else they need to worry about at all. Unfortunately there is nothing the team can do about it until the off season.

Same with the passing game as tight end Ben Watson had only one catch on the day. The Bills knew that Watson was the only person in the passing game they needed to worry about and it showed.

The Browns put up 54 yards on that opening drive, they would only gain another 133 yards the rest of the game.

Which brings us to Jake Delhomme.

Delhomme just wasn’t very good, going 12-for-20 for 86 yards. He had two fourth-quarter turnovers – a fumble and an interception where he was hit on the throw – that killed the Browns last chances to tie the game. He couldn’t move the Browns past midfield at all on their five second-half possessions.

Look, Delhomme was supposed to be a stop gap this year at the quarterback position. From all reports he’s been great mentoring Colt McCoy and that’s wonderful. But he is clearly past his expiration date as a starting quarterback in this league.

Since returning to the starter’s role three weeks ago, the Browns have gone 8-for-35 on third downs under Delhomme. He’s just not moving the team and there really is no good reason to keep him in the starting role now that Seneca Wallace is healthy. The Browns have options, they need to use them.

Speaking of things we don’t need to see anymore, it’s time the coaches sat down with Hillis and put the kibosh on his hurdling obsession. It’s unnecessary and it led directly to a fumble on Sunday when the Browns had a chance to take control of the game.

After the defense forced a turnover and gave the offense the ball on the Buffalo 25-yard-line, Hillis ran the ball on first down and tried to hurdle Bills safety Jairus Byrd, who knocked the ball loose and the Bills recovered.

“You knew from watching film that he has been [hurdling] for a while,” Byrd told The Plain Dealer. “If you get him in the open field, he’s going to try to stiff-arm you or jump you. It was something I knew was coming. I prepared for it.”

That was one of three fumbles by Hillis, to go with the one by Delhomme and one by Cribbs. In one absurd sequence in the third quarter the Browns fumbled three times on one drive and were lucky to recover all of them.

Bottom line it was a frustrating loss. But it doesn’t undo the good the Browns have done this year with moving the team forward. The loss does highlight the holes the team has and all the work still left to do. The front office and coaching staff don’t appear blind to that, so we can stay confident that things are turning around, despite how we feel after today’s game.

The Browns now need to refocus and get ready to travel to Cincinnati next week. Because if they lose to the 2-11 Bengals and come home at 5-9 to face the Ravens and Steelers, it may not be a pretty sight.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, frustration, Jake Delhomme, NFL, Peyton Hillis
12 Dec 2010

Browns vs. Bills – Week 14

The Browns head to Buffalo today as they continue their march toward a .500 record in the rain of snow of western New York.

The Opposition

Buffalo: 2-10
Offensive rank: 27th overall/23rd passing/17th rushing
Defensive rank: 25th overall/9th passing/32nd rushing
Strength of schedule: 1st (barely edging out the Browns)
All-time record: Cleveland leads 15-5-2, including playoffs and AAFC games. The Browns are 6-2-1 in Buffalo, winning four of the last five.
The line: Browns opened as a one-point underdog, but the game is now a Pick ’em

What to Watch For

Today’s expected bad weather should favor the Browns, as their offense is better equipped to play in poor conditions.

The Browns should turn the offense over to Peyton Hillis, Lawrence Vickers and the offensive line to control the ball and keep the ball out of Jake Delhomme’s hands as much as possible. Especially as we’re not really sure how Delhomme will react to playing in cold weather.

Hillis is only 38 yards away from a 1,000-yard season and he should have no problem hitting the mark today against the NFL’s 32nd-ranked defense. The Bills are giving up 170.9 yards a game, a full 25 yards a game more than the 31st-ranked Denver defense, and have given up 14 rushing touchdowns on the season (compared to four for the Browns defense).

The bad weather and a ball-control offense will help the Browns defense against Buffalo quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Since taking over as the starter, Fitzpatrick has thrown 20 touchdowns, is completing 58 percent of his passes and has an 84.5 quarterback rating.

The Bills have been competitive against the league’s toughest schedule – suffering three overtime losses, a five-point loss to Miami and a three-point loss to Chicago. After an 0-8 start, the Bills are 2-2 in their past four games and would be 3-1 if Stevie Johnson hadn’t dropped a sure touchdown pass against the Steelers two weeks ago.

The Best Browns vs. Bills Game I’ve Ever Seen

An easy one this week: the Browns 34-30 win in the 1989 playoffs that wasn’t over until Clay Matthews intercepted Jim Kelly at the 1-yard line with three seconds left. You can watch Matthews’ interception here, NBC’s game intro is here, Eric Metcalf’s kick-off return for a TD and a Bernie Kosar-led touchdown drive.

The Plain Dealer‘s story is here. No surprise that the article portrays the game as one the Bills lost rather than the Browns won. Some things never change.

The Prediction

After starting the season 1-5, the Browns are continuing their slow march back to .500 as they are now 4-2 over the past six games. Today’s game against Buffalo presents a great opportunity to continue the journey.

As is the case every week, the Browns can win today if they don’t turn the ball over and don’t hurt themselves with silly penalties or mistakes. At this point of the season, the coaches and players know what they need to do, it’s just a question of if they can do it.

This week the answer should be yes, as the Browns control the ball and win a relatively comfortable game.

Record picking the Browns (using the point spread) this year: 2-9-1

Posted in Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, NFL | Leave a comment
12 Dec 2010

Week 14 Picks

After another perfect week – our third in the past five – we’re back on top in the 2010 Cheddar Bay Invitational at Cleveland Frowns.

So who do we like this week?

Green Bay (-7) vs. Detroit

Denver (-5.5) vs. Arizona

Baltimore (-3) vs. Houston

And for the money: San Diego (-7) vs. Kansas City

Posted in Cheddar Bay, NFL, point spreads | Leave a comment
09 Dec 2010

Browns May Be Ready to Flex

We were looking at the NFL schedule today and noticed that the league had decided to not flex out of Sunday night’s Philadelphia vs. Dallas game.

Looking at Week 15 there’s no way NBC would give up the Green Bay at New England game.

But things get interesting in Week 16, when San Diego is scheduled to play Cincinnati in the Sunday night slot. There’s no way the NFL and NBC want to show the Bengals in primetime in front of a half-empty stadium. So that opens up the possibility for another game to move into the slot.

But which one?

The game of the weekend, New Orleans at Atlanta, is already set for Monday Night Football. It’s doubtful that Fox would give up the Giants at Green Bay game as that will have major playoff implications.

That’s where the Browns come in.

It’s quite possible the Browns will have climbed back to .500 by Week 16 as they have the Bills and the Bengals the next two weeks. That means they would be returning home on a 6-2 streak to face Baltimore.

It will take a little bit of a leap of faith on NBC and the NFL’s part as they have to flex the game at least 12 days in advance. But if the Browns have a strong showing on Sunday in Buffalo they certainly should be under consideration.

With the way the season has been going so far, a primetime game against a hated division rival the day after Christmas feels just about right.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, NFL, primtime | Leave a comment
08 Dec 2010

Seven is just a random number

As kids, Schoolhouse Rock taught us that “three is a magic number.”

But there are some in Brownstown who would have us believe that seven is the real magic number – as in “Eric Mangini needs seven wins to keep his job.”

We’ve been through this before. Cleveland Frowns has covered this. Pretty much anyone who has watched the Browns play this year got the memo that the team has improved and there’s little reason to believe a different coach would have produced more wins. Consider that:

  • The Browns have started three different quarterbacks this season – one that probably shouldn’t be a starter in the NFL anymore, one a career backup and one a rookie.
  • They have no NFL-caliber wide receivers on the team.
  • They have only one viable option at running back, Peyton Hillis.
  • They continue to start John St. Clair at right tackle.
  • They start two rookies in the secondary.
  • And, oh yeah, they’ve played one of the toughest schedules in the NFL.

Apparently that doesn’t matter to some. We get that, before the season, writers covering the team and the league have to come up with projections and predictions about how the Browns will do.

But once the season starts, shouldn’t people adjust their expectations to fit the reality that is happening on the field? Maybe grasp that a team that beat New England and New Orleans, and was competitive in a stretch of tough mid-season games is improving?

Herm Edwards taught us that “you play to win the game,” and wins and losses are an important measuring tool, but you have to take into account everything that goes on with a team during a season.

Luckily the one person who’s opinion counts in this situation, team president Mike Holmgren, understands what is going on. Let’s remember what he said in a press conference following the Browns bye week in November (the important stuff is in bold):

“The important point there I think is any coach, any staff where I am in the position I’m in, will be judged at the end of the season. It will take thoughtful thinking and I’ve said this before and I said it when I first came here, I think it’s important that you take some of the emotion out of it if you can. At the end of the year, everyone catches their breath a little bit, think about it and hopefully make an intelligent decision. I also said this, wins and losses are not the only criteria. The crummy part of our business is that most of the time, it is the main one. I thought my least year in Seattle, 4-12 on the surface they should have fired me. Based on record, 4-12 is my worst record of all time. It may have been my best coaching job because we were playing with young people that gave me everything they had, but they just weren’t good enough, we got so injured. If that taught me anything, it taught me that now in my position, there’s more to look at.”

Holmgren’s thought process couldn’t be any more transparent: “wins and losses are not the only criteria.” “There’s more to look at.”

Is that not clear? Holmgren will look at the big picture, weigh everything that went on this season and make a determination.

And when Holmgren holds his season-ending press conference and the question “Will Eric Mangini be coaching the Browns in 2011” is asked, we’re willing to bet the answer will be:

“Of course, why would we make a change?”

***

As this is the 30th anniversary of the death of John Lennon, it’s worth the time to check out ESPN’s Outside the Lines piece on how the news of Lennon’s death broke on Monday Night Football.

We were familiar with the story, but never knew the behind-the-scenes story of how ABC came up with the scoop.

And it’s interesting to look back at how news was spread just 30 years ago. Cable TV and ESPN were in their infancy, no Twitter or Internet, no cell phones, no 24-hour news channel. How different things would be if something like this happened today.

Rest in peace, John.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Eric Mangini, magic numbers, NFL | Leave a comment
07 Dec 2010

Final Thoughts on the Browns & Week 13

Still relishing the Browns road victory against the Dolphins on Monday and so, so glad Nolan Carroll dropped that ball.

***

Joe Haden continues to show why he was the seventh pick in the draft in April. He had another interception on Sunday – his fourth consecutive game with a pick – five tackles and broke up four passes, the biggest when he knocked the ball away from Miami’s Brian Hartline in the end zone.

“They kept throwing it. I have no idea (why),” Haden told The Chronicle-Telegram. “I thought after I broke up the first two that they weren’t going to throw two more. But I just feel like every play I go out there, I have to be ready for them to come at me, so I have to be on top of my game every play.

“One of my strengths is the deep ball, just staying on top and being able to make a play on the ball. So they just kept trying and I just kept knocking it down.”

Coach Eric Mangini talked about Haden’s tackling ability in his Monday press conference:

“What I really liked about Joe’s game last week is probably different than what I’m sure you’d think, the way he tackled,” Mangini said. “That was a real strength of his in college and I he did an excellent job of that I thought last game. There were plays there where a missed tackle, the ball would have gone for a long way. Ronnie Brown on the screen, if Joe doesn’t make that play, he’s going for a long way. It was an open field tackle, one-on-one against Ronnie Brown, that’s hard to do.

“Those yards he saved aren’t a measurable stat, but it’s significant. I think that he’s playing with a lot of confidence, which is good. He has a much, much higher understanding of what we are trying to do, defensively, in terms of scheme.”

“The last quarter of the season he’s playing lights out,” David Bowens told The Plain Dealer. “They tested him a few times and Joe held his own. Not only that, but in the tackling game, he supported well.”

Good thing Browns GM Tom Heckert and the coaching staff didn’t fall for the nonsense about Haden being “too slow.”

***

While any Browns win is a good win, the lads at Waiting For Next Year came up with some disturbing numbers from the game yesterday:

The Browns ran 11 first down plays in the (first) half, one of which was a kneel down at the end of the quarter. So of those 10 plays, exactly 1 went for more than 3 yards. (That was a 13 yard rumble by Hillis on the first play of the second possession.) Here are the results from first down in that half- 0, 13, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 0, 3, 0 for an average of 2.2 yards on first down.

Those numbers go a long way toward explaining why the Browns were just 2-of-14 on third downs against Miami. The Browns can’t win too many games with that kind of non-production on first down. It will be interesting to see what kind of adjustments offensive coordinator Brian Daboll can make over the last quarter of the season.

***

It wouldn’t be another week in Brownstown without a nonsensical story about the future of coach Eric Mangini – and this one is better than most.

Jon Gruden’s son, Deuce Gruden II, says the old man will leave the ESPN broadcast booth in another year to take over the as coach of the Browns.

Or maybe he’ll wind up in San Francisco. Little Deuce wasn’t really sure.

We’ll forget for a moment how absurd all this is; we’re just glad to read a story that attributes the comments to someone other than “unnamed sources.”

***

It seems more likely that the Grudens would be looking at Denver, where Josh McDaniels is out as Broncos coach.

A year after being all the rage following an 6-0 start, McDaniels went 5-17 in a shocking flameout.

At least he hung around long enough to send Peyton Hillis to the Browns.

***

I know they aren’t getting much love, but we liked the Packers throwback uniforms from yesterday. And we absolutely loved the Buccaneers throwbacks.

***

And while we’re on the subject of things we love, we can’t say enough about the NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV. While watching the Browns yesterday we were able to keep tabs on the Chicago-Detroit game that we had action on; watch the Bengals bungle their way into another loss against New Orleans; and see our money pick come through when Atlanta beat Tampa.

Life is good sometimes.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Joe Haden, Jon Gruden, NFL, Sunday Ticket | Leave a comment
05 Dec 2010
2 Comments

Browns get a second date with Lady Luck

Lady Luck enjoyed the company of the Browns so much she went on the road with them to Miami and watched as the Browns pulled out a last-minute win over the Dolphins – the first win in Miami for the Browns since 1970.

Offensively this wasn’t Miami-San Diego in the 1981 playoffs, but the Browns defense came up with several big plays at the right time to keep the team in the game and the Browns finally won on a Phil Dawson field goal as time expired.

A week after poor tackling almost doomed the Browns against Carolina, and on the heels of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan saying that defense was “looking forward to this challenge,” the defensive highlights included:

  • Three interceptions, including another one by Joe Haden, who also added five solo tackles and four passes defended. Despite the ramblings of some, Haden has quickly shown that he is the real deal and one of the best draft picks in recent Browns history.
  • A blocked field goal and a key fourth-quarter sack by Shaun Rogers on third down.
  • Holding the Dolphins to 4-of-14 on third down, making sure the defense didn’t wear down as the game went on.
  • Holding Chad Henne to a Derek Anderson-like 37.8 passer rating. Of course, that may be a bit unfair to Henne, as Anderson was pulled from the Cardinals game today after going 7-0f-20 for 93 yards and a 29.8 QB rating. He did have time to get in his weekly interception, however.
  • Limiting the Dolphins to just 3.6 yards per rush.

The biggest defensive play came with 1:05 left when David Bowens deflected a Henne pass into the arms of Mike Adams, who returned the ball to the Miami two-yard line and set up Dawson’s game winning kick.

“It’s about time for us to win a game like that,” Adams told The Plain Dealer. “I got an early Christmas gift.”

Yes, yes it is.

Offensively the Browns … well … they did enough to win.

The Dolphins keyed their defense to stopping Peyton Hillis – the Browns only running threat with Josh Cribbs still slowed by his foot injury – and held Hillis to 57 yards on 18 carries and kept him out of the end zone.

With Hillis shut down, the Browns had to rely on Jake Delhomme. And while the Browns were horrible on third down – converting just two of 14 – Delhomme led the Browns on a 94-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter.

Ben Watson had a big day with 10 catches for 100 yards and a touchdown. Mohamed Massaquoi added four catches for 81 yards and Brian Robiskie even contributed two catches, albeit for only 10 yards.

And it was clear that Delhomme tried really hard to not make the killer mistake that would cost the Browns the game. He threw the ball away on a couple of occasions and ate the ball on a sack.

Honestly, he really did try, but it almost all came apart with 1:49 left in the game. Delhomme targeted Watson but the pass went directly to Miami cornerback Nolan Carroll.

There’s little doubt the play had TAINT written all over it, but miraculously Carroll dropped the ball.

“I should have made it,” Carroll told The Plain Dealer. “I saw the route. I knew it was coming before the play even happened because they ran the same thing earlier in the game. I just got to make the play. I score. I know for a fact I score.”

For the second week in a row the Browns caught a break and when Adams picked off the pass a minute later they won their second in a row.

Some may scoff that this was an ugly win, but there really is no such thing. For a team that never stops fighting, these kinds of wins reward that attitude and help the team stay positive and focused for the next game. Plus its about time the Browns had some luck come their way.

The win means the Browns are now:

  • 4-2 after starting the season 1-5
  • 9-7 in their last 16 games after their 1-12 start to last season.
  • Just as importantly, they are now 4-1 in December under coach Eric Mangini, a sure sign that this team keeps improving and won’t give up.

And with Buffalo and Cincinnati coming up the next two weeks, it’s not to hard to see this team finding itself at 7-7 when it comes how for the final two games of the season.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Jake Delhomme, Joe Haden, NFL
05 Dec 2010
1 Comment

Browns vs. Dolphins – Week 13

The Browns head to Miami today looking for their first win on the road against the Dolphins since 1970.

The Opposition

Miami: 6-5
Offensive rank: 16th overall/15th passing/19th rushing
Defensive rank: 6th overall/4th passing/12th rushing
Strength of schedule: 5th
All-time record: Miami leads 9-6, including playoffs. The Browns haven’t beaten the Dolphins in Miami since 1970, their first meeting.
The line: Browns +4.5

What to Watch For

The Browns actually have a better chance to win this game than they are getting credit for as, in a lot of ways, these teams mirror each other.

The Dolphins are only 1-4 at home and their only quality win this season was an OT victory over Green Bay in Week 6.

After leading the league in rushing last year, the Dolphins haven’t had a 100-yard rusher this season and currently sit 19th in the league. But they did run for a season-high 186 yards while controlling the ball for more than 41 minutes in last week’s victory at Oakland. The Browns defense will have to get over its tackling problems for the Browns to have a chance to win this game.

The Dolphins are 0-5 when they have less than 25 rushing attempts this season, so the Browns need to be solid against the run and get the Dolphins into more passing situations.

The Browns should be able to run the ball with Peyton Hillis, as the Dolphins are giving up over 100 yards a game on the ground. Getting the running game going is the biggest key for the Browns, as in their last eight wins, dating back to last season, they have averaged 190 yards rushing. In the seven losses during that same time they have averaged only 95 yards.

So both teams will be looking to run the ball, hoping that they will not have to rely on their erratic quarterback play.

For the Dolphins, Chad Henne returned last week from a knee injury. He’ll make the start again today, the first time the Dolphins have started the same quarterback two weeks in a row in several weeks.

On the Browns side, Jake Delhomme will once again be back under center, which means we will:

  • See more activity from the wide receivers. We won’t use the word production because five-yard completions to the wide receivers are not really all that exciting or different than the eight-yard completions to the tight ends the Browns were getting with Seneca Wallace and Colt McCoy at quarterback.
  • A thrown-off-the-back-foot interception, a horrible throw while scrambling or being pulled down by a Miami defender, and an interception that is the result of locking onto one receiver.

At this point of the season and his career, there is no reason to expect anything else from Delhomme. He did it his last year in Carolina and he’s still doing it now. You want Delhomme as your starting quarterback you get the good – the use of the no-huddle offense for example – but you also have to live with the interceptions and just hope they don’t come at a bad time or that the defense can overcome them.

We would like to think that, facing the fourth-best passing defense in the league, the Browns will do their best to limit Delhomme’s passing attempts.

The Best Browns vs. Dolphins Game I’ve Ever Seen

The 1979 game the Browns won in overtime, 30-24. The Plain Dealer‘s game story is available here. Video highlights are available here and here.

The Prediction

Cue the record: the Browns can win if they don’t hurt themselves with turnovers or costly mistakes. While the Browns are improved (and improving) their margin for victory is so small they simply can’t afford mistakes.

Unfortunately, until he shows us otherwise, there’s no reason to think Delhomme can avoid those mistakes.

We’ll take the Dolphins minus the points in another entertaining, but close loss for the good guys.

Record picking the Browns this year: 2-8-1

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins, NFL

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