Rock Bottom

When two NFL teams with nothing to play for match up on one final meaningless Sunday in December, it can look an awful lot like one final meaningless preseason game in early September. But two things that weren’t meaningless in the Cleveland Browns’ 31-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday were the injury to Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the NFL record the Browns established. They now own the longest streak for not scoring an offensive touchdown, which they tied by halftime and owned for good when the third quarter expired. And to add a little icing on top of that, they are now the first team in Browns’ history to be shut out in consecutive games. Well done.

With the loss, the Browns close out one of the worst seasons in franchise history in the most embarrassing fashion possible, a one-sided blowout against a now former rival. It was a season that started with expectations and degenerated almost from the outset as the result of bad coaching, bad playing and a lack of professionalism and pride by too many players who acted as if just showing up was enough.

It was fitting, though, that the two Browns’ players with the most pride, Jamal Lewis and Josh Cribbs, at least had one last chance to distinguish themselves. Cribbs did so through nothing more than his usual returning kicks, making tackles on special teams, running the ball on offense and occasionally passing the ball. He even completed one. Lewis, who said this has been the worst season he’s ever experienced, at least ended the season with more than 1,000 yards rushing thanks to his 94 yards on 23 carries.

The Browns thus ended the season 4-12, won only one division game, and generally showed the rest of the NFL that last season’s 10-6 team was an abject fraud. The only way the Browns see a primetime game next season is if the league passes a rule that every team must play at least one Thursday, Sunday or Monday night game. Otherwise, get ready for a steady diet of Sundays at 1:00 p.m. or 4:00 p.m. next season with an alternating announcing crew of Kevin Harland and Rich Gannon or Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker. It’s what the NFL and the networks conspire to do when a team makes them look foolish.

The small matter of Sunday’s game for the Browns was mostly just a matter of taking one final beating and heading back to Cleveland to await the fates of head coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Phil Savage and an announcement of a new regime. For the Steelers, it was more a matter of winning in whatever fashion and getting through unscathed.

While the Browns, as usual, met expectations, the Steelers did not and as a result their playoff chances may be in serious jeopardy. With 1:48 left in the first half Roethlisberger went down hard and stayed down with an apparent concussion. With Steelers players and fans alike looking almost in disbelief, Roethlisberger had to be strapped to a board and carted off, giving a thumbs up in the process. But as he made his way in the tunnel, he may have taken with him the rest of the Steelers’ season. After all, it’s not as if they get to play the Browns in the playoffs.

The Browns quarterback du jour, their fourth of the season, was Bruce Gradkowksi, a high school legend in Cleveland and a legend of sorts with the Toledo Rockets. At least he was an upgrade from his predecessor, Ken Dorsey, which is like saying that Paul Hubbard is an upgrade from Syndric Steptoe. But in the end, he could do no more than Dorsey, he just looked better doing it.

On the Browns’ first possession Gradkowski’s completed his first pass to Donte Stallworth, making Gradkowski the first Cleveland quarterback to actually find Stallworth open early in a game. His second pass, on the run, went to Braylon Edwards.

But like so many before him, Gradkowski wasn’t able to sustain a drive that had started with some promise forcing the Browns to attempt a 53-yard field goal on 4th and 3 from the Pittsburgh 36-yard line. Phil Dawson, the first Browns’ kicker to have 30 field goals in a season, was wide left. If this game had meant something, it might be worth asking head coach Romeo Crennel why he didn’t try for the first down instead. But it is far too late in this season to even care about another poor strategic decision.

The Steelers, on the other hand, for all their professed desire to beat the Browns, looked like a team early on that was simply going through the motions. Their first drive ended with a punt and their second drive ended when Roethlisberger threw an interception to safety Sean Jones from the Browns’ 20-yard line.

On their third drive, the Steelers looked to have capitalized on a key third down pass interference call on cornerback Eric Wright when Roethlisberger found Nate Washington two plays later for a 41-yard touchdown, but their third holding call of the game nullified that score and pushed the Steelers into a 3rd-and 21 that they couldn’t convert. Still the Steelers hardly seemed panicked. Head coach Mike Tomlin looked like he may have been balancing his checkbook on the sidelines.

After the Browns put together their eleventy-hundreth straight non-descript drive that ended in a punt the Steelers finally did break through with a little over 4 minutes remaining in the half and in a way that was familiar to Browns’ fans, a long run by an opposing running back. This time it was Willie Parker easing his way through a porous Cleveland defense on his way to a 34-yard touchdown run that helped give the Steelers a 7-0 lead.

With what time remained in the half, it would then be up to the Steelers defense, the unit rated number one in the league, to send the Browns into the record books. They were more than up to the task, although the Browns helped them out with a holding call that effectively assured them of their place in the Dubious Achievements Hall of Fame.

It is worth noting that on that “drive” the Browns actually caught a break. A clear catch and fumble by tight end Martin Rucker, which was returned by the Steelers for a touchdown, was ruled incomplete. Tomlin, still trying to figure out who in his family wrote a check for $34.95 to Best Buy, didn’t look up from balancing his checkbook long enough to challenge the call. It’s what passes for professional courtesy in the coaching fraternity.

But Tomlin’s indifference ended a few minutes later with the Roethlisberger injury. Byron Leftwitch took over and was able to finish the drive Roethlisberger had started and helped push the lead to 14-0 halftime lead with a 12-yard scramble.

It would have been nice to write that absolutely nothing of note transpired the rest of the game and for awhile that looked to be true. But then Gradkowski threw the obligatory Cleveland backup quarterback interception from deep in his own territory that for a moment looked like it would be returned for a touchdown.. But his luck was only momentarily better than Dorsey’s. The throw, intended for Jerome Harrison apparently, instead went to safety Tyrone Carter who was tackled at the Cleveland 18-yard line. Leftwich couldn’t convert from there and instead the Steelers had to settle for a Jeff Reed 27-yard field goal that pushed the lead to 17-0.

By this point, offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski had all but abandoned any hope of scoring and instead continued to focus on two things: finding a way to let Josh Cribbs throw the ball and helping running back Jamal Lewis get to 1,000 yards rushing for the season. He was successful on both counts. With 4:12 left in the third quarter, Cribbs hit Rucker on an 8-yard pass. Lewis, who had entered the game with 908 yards, had close to 70 more by the end of the third quarter and would need another 22 or so with slightly more than a quarter to play. It would be a nail biter.

Meanwhile the Steelers were busy putting the final touches on their dominating win. First they put together an 88-yard drive capped off by a 3-yard run by Gary Russell for the touchdown that led to a 24-0 Steelers lead. Moments later, the ghost of Dorsey rose up and bit Gradkowski on the arm as Carter had his second interception of the game, this time returning it 32 yards for a touchdown that ran the score to 31-0. It was a pass that Lewis should have caught but instead deflected right into Carter’s hands for the easy touchdown.

Back to Lewis. Sandwiched into between the two Steelers touchdowns was a 12-yard run by Lewis that gave him 81 yards for the game. There was still nearly 9 minutes to play and plenty of time to get over 1,000 yards for the season. When the Browns found themselves at 4th down and 4 from their own 27-yard line with just over two minutes remaining, Crennel showed some real decency by eschewing a meaningless punt and giving Lewis one more attempt at cracking the 1,000 yard mark. Lewis came through, got the first down and ended the game with 94 yards and 1,002 on the season. Lewis was then removed for precautionary reasons. Best move of the day.

The question now being asked, of course, is where the Browns go from here. In one sense, the answer is easy. Nearly anything would be an improvement. In a grander sense, the answer is far more difficult and one which owner Randy Lerner hasn’t ever been able to solve. There’s no reason to really believe that will change.

But one thing is for certain, even as the carnage of this past season is tallied up. No matter who is hired, Browns fans will return to Berea next summer, like the buzzards to Hinckley, armed with hope and outsized expectations. It’s a far better scenario than either Lerner or Savage, if he remains, deserves.

Wake Us When It's Over

Ohio is one of the most talent rich spots in the nation for football talent and this is all they have to show for it on the professional level? The Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals entered Sunday’s game with a combined win total of six and an assurance that about the only two things that would be certain once it ended was that the combined win total would be seven and it would still be lower than that of the Miami Dolphins. Both are now officially true.

For the record, the Bengals beat the Browns 14-0 in front of a small, windy, cold Cleveland crowd that can now take to their graves the fact that they if they were able to stay awake throughout they saw Romeo Crennel’s last appearance in Cleveland as a head coach. It was the Browns 5th straight loss and 7th loss in their last 9 games against the Bengals, as much a reason as any that Crennel won’t get to continue his head coaching career in Cleveland next year.

If the game was about pride, it was hard to tell. From this vantage point it looked more like one of those early season baseball games when both teams are swinging at the first pitch just hoping to get it over in two hours or less. Though not even the final score would matter, there was the little issue to resolve as to whether the Browns’ offense could find the end zone for the first time since Saturday Night Live used to be funny. They didn’t. It’s now been nearly 21 quarters and counting.

Ken Dorsey started for the third straight game for the Browns, subbing for an injured Brady Quinn. Dorsey was hoping to improve on that 0 touchdowns, 4 interceptions, 44% completion, 34.rating body of work he’s put together to date. He didn’t. He was 10-17 for 68 yards and three interceptions.

Meanwhile, for the Bengals Ryan Fitzpartick was starting his 11th straight game for the injured Carson Palmer. In that time Fitzpatrick’s compiled a comparatively impressive 69 rating on the strength of a mere 3 touchdown passes against only 4 interceptions. It’s the kind of stats that scream “we’re afraid to put him in a position to make a play.” If only the Browns were that cautious with Dorsey.

For all practical purposes this game was over early, very early. On the Browns’ first possession, and after moving the ball effectively on the ground, offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski once again thought being a contrarian would catch a team off guard. It didn’t. He sent Dorsey back for an ill-advised pass, ill-advised not only because it was windy, but ill-advised because it was Dorsey. And of course in a season where everything is bound to go wrong, cornerback Leon Hall stepped right in front of the pass and took it back 50 yards to help give the Bengals a quick 7-0 lead.

It would be hard to call a one touchdown lead by the Bengals with less than half the first quarter gone insurmountable but it sure seemed like it. When Braylon Edwards put the Browns in an all but impossible third and long with another interference penalty on the very next drive, the point seemed even more obvious.

As a measure of how truly awful the Browns’ rushing defense really is, the Bengals had no intention of throwing the ball unless absolutely necessary, and that was before Chad Johnson was put on the inactive list for the game because of a hamstring injury and even before that 7-0 lead. Yet the Browns’ defense was essentially helpless to stop a Bengals’ ground game that was 29th in the league coming into the game. In the first half alone, Benson had well over 100 yards rushing.

Benson was running mostly unmolested from the Bengals’ first series on. But that steady diet ended up yielding only 7 points for a Bengals’ offense that is nearly as pitiful as the Browns at this point.

The Bengals’ second series was a measure of futility in its own right. Benson was 46 yards into a run and seemingly on his way to the end zone when cornerback Eric Wright knocked the ball loose. Wright returned it 15 yards before eventually fumbling himself. However, on a challenge Wright was ruled down by contact, giving the Browns the ball at their own 26-yard line. It was the Browns 30th takeaway on the season, a league high.

But taking advantage of turnovers is not a core competency of this team and so it wasn’t on this day either, so it shouldn’t have much worried even the Bengals. After a couple of first downs, Dave Zastudil, bum knee and all, was able to pin the Bengals deep in their own territory. It didn’t last. As opportunistic as the Browns’ defense has been all season, their downfall too often has been the combined inability to stop the run and to hold a team on third down. The Bengals’ ensuing drive, their only decent drive of the day, featured both and ended up putting the game well out of reach.

Even as Benson was chewing up yardage, the Browns’ defense still was able to put the Bengals in third-and-long five different times. Each time though the Bengals were able to convert, including a run by Fitzpatrick after he dropped the snap while in the shotgun. The final blow came on a 3rd and 7 from the Browns’ 20 yard line. Fitzpatrick found Chris Henry sprinting down the right side and past Wright for an easy touchdown that helped push the Bengals lead to 14-0.

It was at this point that it was worth asking why Crennel kept marching Dorsey back out on the field. When it’s impossible for things to get worse, why not take a chance, however slight, that things might get better? Put in Bruce Gradkowski. Line Josh Cribbs up behind center every play. Anything. Give the fans a reason, any reason, to keep watching.

But Crennel is stubborn if nothing else and the fans don’t get a vote so Dorsey was still in the game, handing the ball off to Jamal Lewis and displaying all the body language of someone who himself knew he had no more business being in the game than owner Randy Lerner. Which is pretty much how Dorsey then played, throwing one ball deliberately, apparently, at the feet of Jerome Harrison on a screen pass and causing a delay of game on another. Three plays later Zastudil was back in punting. A perfunctory challenge by Crennel as to whether returner T.J. Houshmandzadeh touched the ball before Cleveland recovered was unsuccessful. If you’re looking for metaphors, that’s as good as any other.

The Bengals were not necessarily doing anything special and weren’t playing substantially better, which is why the game had all the excitement of your kid’s Christmas concert. It’s just that the Browns couldn’t stop Benson as he ran through tackle after tackle. But on the Bengals’ last drive before the half, the Browns’ defense were eventually able to hold Benson long enough to force a field goal attempt, which missed spectacularly. Taking over with just over a minute left, the Browns were at least able to do something they hadn’t done all game, run a play in Cincinnati territory. But it too was for naught when Dorsey was sacked and time ran out.

Starting the second half, the Browns decided that maybe they ought to try using Lewis like the Bengals were using Benson. As a strategy it was more successful than anything else the Browns had tried to that point. But unlike the Bengals, when the Browns were forced into 3rd and long, they couldn’t convert. Fortunately and for reasons only defensive tackle Jonathan Fanene’s agent can answer for other teams in the offseason, his client roughed Dorsey giving the Browns a first down at the Bengals’ 28-yard line. But it was a mistake forgotten one play later when Dorsey threw his second interception to Hall killing their best drive of the game.

It’s not that the interception ultimately cost the Browns anything other than a decent chance to get a touchdown on offense for the first time in almost 20 quarters. But it was notable for two reasons—the poor decision Dorsey made that was set up by the poor route Edwards ran. Edwards couldn’t be more wrong. He is completely appreciated. Ask Dorsey.

The Browns did cross the 50-yard line on their next series as well but to much the same effect. A few plays forward, a penalty and a sack back and next thing you know it was 3rd and 25 from the Bengals (!) 48-yard line. You would have thought with nothing to lose and even less to play for the Browns might try something on 4th and 16. They did, a Zastudil punt that he kicked into the end zone.

As if it really matters at this point, halfway through the fourth quarter Chudzinski played the contrarian card again and to the same effect as earlier. Dorsey, summoning all of his arm strength, heaved the ball well downfield and sort of in the direction of Edwards. We now know that Edwards can run faster than Dorsey can throw it.

Hall, who else, stepped in front of the dying duck of a pass for his third interception of the game. Either Chudzinski was calling the play out of some sort of cruel joke on the Browns’ front office on his way out of town or he’s just nuts. Hall returned it 27 yards to the Cleveland 40-yard line. But finally the Browns caught on that the Bengals would be giving the ball to Benson and stacked the box accordingly. The Bengals were forced to punt. It mattered little. The fourth quarter was half over, the Browns had the ball on their 18-yard line and were down two touchdowns and hadn’t scored in a month.

And of course it didn’t matter, except that Chudzinski kept having Dorsey pass and eventually it cost the team its third quarterback when Dorsey went down with an injury. Gradkowski came in with 3:38 left in the game and overshot Edwards on his first pass. He hit Donte Stallworth on his second and then Bengals linebacker Keith Rivers with his next. As auditions go, it was as auspicious as anything else this season. The Bengals then tried to do everyone a favor and ran out the clock, but Crennel, fighting to the end, kept calling time outs. Apparently he wanted to see more of Gradkowski, which he could have if he had simply put him in earlier, say after Dorsey’s first interception. Eventually, though, and without much fanfare a game that didn’t matter much when it started mattered even less when it finally finished.

With the loss the Browns closed out the home piece of their schedule at 1-7, a complete reversal from last season. It was well deserved, accomplished through an admixture of bad coaching, bad playing, enough penalties to last two seasons and four different quarterbacks. The Browns now close out the away part of their schedule next week against the Pittsburgh Steelers, who already have secured a playoff game at home, despite their loss to the Tennessee Titans.

Even with a Steelers’ team playing for nothing more than to avoid injury it doesn’t look to be a good day for the Browns. If this offense couldn’t score against the Bengals’ defense, it’s hard to imagine that even Vegas would give odds on the Browns’ offense scoring against the Steelers.