Early Onset Indigestion

Some losses are tough. Some are dispiriting. And then there are those like the ones the Cleveland Browns experienced on Sunday in Jacksonville that can't be measured by such traditional concepts. After taking the ball away from the Jacksonville Jaguars 6 (that's not a misprint) times, the Browns still found a way to lose 24-20 and, in the process, give its fans the kind of indigestion that can only come when Mom overcooks the turkey and undercooks the stuffing.

When a football team at virtually any level of competition turns the ball over 6 times, and at one point on 5 straight possessions, they are usually looking up at the wrong end of a gaudy score, like 49-3 or 62-10 or something ridiculous like that. But there they were, the Jaguars, with the ball midway through the 4th quarter when they found themselves down only by 7 but facing a crucial 4th and 1 at the Cleveland 39-yard line. Just before the ball was snapped, the Browns called their first time out, perhaps sensing this might be the most critical play of the game. Not the two T.J. Ward interceptions or the one by Joe Haden. Not the 3 fumble recoveries, but this fourth down.

And when the other team has a running back like Maurice Jones-Drew and you are at the game's most critical point, you have to know where the ball should end up, which it did. Stop him and you have a chance to secure the win that should have been yours anyway. If you don't, well, you get what you deserve.

Jones-Drew got the first down on a carry that put him over 100 yards rushing for the game. And then he found more yards on first down. And then he found even more, getting the ball down to the Cleveland 5-yard line.

The Browns then took their second time out, but this time because they had 12-men on the field, though it easily could be been just to regroup. It was a good break, or so it seemed as the defense then sacked quarterback David Garrard back to the 15-yard line. Tiquan Underwood then dropped a ball near the goal line. But just when it looked like the Browns might escape, Garrard found tight end Marcedes Lewis at the one yard line and he reached the ball over the goal line as he was being tackled by Ray Ventrone. It helped tie a game that should have been a blowout at 17-17 with 3:34 remaining.

Still, there was time.

Starting what looked like it might be their final drive at their 41-yard line with the knowledge firmly entrenched of one offensive failure after another in the second half despite the gift wrapped points the Jaguars were seemingly giving them with each ensuing turnover, McCoy nonetheless would lead the Browns down the field for a go-ahead 41-yard Phil Dawson field goal.

McCoy, battered most of the day by a Jaguars defensive line that was having its way with the Browns' offensive line, completed a 38-yard pass on first down and then on a key 3rd and 4 from the Jacksonville 36-yard line scrambled 18 yards on what appeared to be a bad ankle. But McCoy couldn't get the Browns into the end zone for a touchdown leaving the game in the hands of the defense once again as Dawson drilled the field goal through the center of the uprights.

And just as in overtime against the New York Jets a week ago, the defense couldn't get it done, allowing Jones-Drew to turn a screen pass into a 75-yard play that served as the season's most backbreaking play, supplanting, by the way, the Santonio Holmes overtime touchdown a week before. Jones-Drew was dragged down at the 1-yard line by cornerback Joe Haden, but Jones-Drew cleaned up this minor annoyance a few minutes later with the 1-yard run that gave the Jaguars the lead and the game, 24-20 with just over a minute remaining.

McCoy did a nice job of getting the Browns down the field quickly but the game ended, as did McCoy's 98-pass streak with no interceptions, when safety Sean Considine picked off a pass intended at the 3-yard line that was intended for tight end Ben Watson. It didn't help either that the Browns had squandered their timeouts earlier in the quarter, but the failure to convert on this last drive wasn't what lost the game anyway.

The enduring question of the game may be why the Browns could move the ball so well on their final two possessions when they couldn't move the ball at all for the rest of the second half. After Ward's first interception, which was at the Jacksonville 48-yard line, the Browns quickly went 3-and-out. On Jacksonville's next possession, Haden intercepted and the Browns again went 3-and-out. Garrard fumbled on Jacksonville's next possession and the Browns couldn't get a first down and Phil Dawson missed a 51-yard field goal, his second missed 51-yard field goal of the game.

What was most frustrating about those Browns' possessions was how soundly their offensive line was being beaten by Jacksonville's defensive line. Throw in an occasional blitz and an inability to effectively pick it up which led to McCoy being sacked before he had any real chance to do anything with the ball and you pretty much have it capsulized why the Browns' offense looked like the Browns' offense circa 2008 or 2009 despite being handed one opportunity after another to blow open the game.

In a sense, it was a game as hard fought as the previous week's game and with painfully similar results. But in another sense, it shouldn't have been that kind of game. The difference between good and bad teams in the NFL can often be found in turnover margins and you'd have to go along way back then I'm willing to look at the moment to find a game in which a team with a -5 turnover margin, in the game, still came away with the victory.

Until that bizarrely disappointing second half, the game was shaping up far more traditionally.

The Jaguars opened the scoring with a 47-yard Josh Scobee field goal, but that was just a prelude to one of the more amazing Cleveland Browns' drives in recent memory.

Starting with the ball at their own 8-yard line as a result of a penalty on the kickoff following the Jacksonville field goal, McCoy engineered what would turn out to be a 16-play, 92-yard drive that covered nearly 10 minutes and ultimately gave them a 7-3 lead. It kept their string alive of having a lead in every game this season.

During that drive, the Browns converted 4 third down plays. McCoy was 6-8 on the drive and also scrambled for 10 yards when the Browns were 2nd and 21 on the Jacksonville 44-yard line. It gave the Browns a much more manageable 3rd and 11 which they converted when McCoy hit Mohamed Massaquoi for 14 yards.

After holding the Jaguars on their next drive, Cleveland appeared to be back in business, moving the ball from their own 19 down to the Jacksonville 33-yard line. But the drive died when McCoy and Massaquoi were not only not on the same page but actually reading different books. On a blitz, McCoy threw deep where Massaquoi appeared to be heading but instead Massaquoi broke off his route and the ball bounced harmlessly away. Phil Dawson missed a 51-yard field goal that gave Jacksonville good field position on their own 41-yard line.

But the Jaguars' drive died when they tried to crib a play from Brian Daboll's playbook and had Jones-Drew attempt an option pass. There's a reason why running backs don't play quarterback and Jones-Drew perfectly illustrated it as he soft-tossed the ball in the direction of receiver Mike Thomas as Abe Elam stepped in for the easy interception. The Browns weren't able to capitalize, however, going a quick 3-and out. It turned out to be foreshadowing, in a big way.

That gave the Jaguars an opportunity to put together their own long drive and take the lead at halftime when Garrard found Thomas on a 5-yard pass to help give the Jaguars a 10-7 lead. Thomas had gotten inside of defensive back Sheldon Brown for the touchdown. The drive covered 68 yards in 13 plays and used up most of the last 5 minutes of the half.

After an exchange of possessions to open the second half, the Browns regained the lead when Elam stripped Jones-Drew at the end of an 8-yard run. Elam, who was on the bottom of the pile, scooped up the ball and walked into the end zone as the other 21 players on the field stood by, each with a look on their face that said “wasn't the play over?” It wasn't as the referees signaled touchdown. On the replay the ball was indeed fumbled but a solid case could have been made that Elam was down by contact. Oddly the Jaguars appeared to give no thought to challenging the call as Dawson kicked the extra point that gave the Browns the 14-10 lead.

The Browns seemed to be right back in business when Ward intercepted a Garrard pass that had bounced off Thomas and was down at the Jacksonville 48-yard line. But they went 3-and out with McCoy getting sacked on third down and were forced to punt.

But the Browns' defense proved to be as resilient as Beef Jerkey when Haden got an interception off Garrard 5 plays later. Haden had a nice run to near the Jacksonville 10-yard line but the ball was stripped at the last moment and fumbled backward, where Chris Gocong recovered. On 3rd and 11 and the Jaguars blitizing as if Rob Ryan were calling the plays, McCoy dropped back and attempted to hit no one in particular on what would have amounted to a screen pass. It was nearly intercepted. That set up a 38-yard field goal by Dawson that pushed the Browns lead to 17-10 late in the third quarter.

From there, the Jaguars kept bouncing back from their own self-inflicted wounds just long enough to tie it on the Lewis touchdown and then take the lead on the game on the Jones-Drew touchdown.

For McCoy, the game was a learning experience, if nothing else. Subjected to repeated pressure, he did wilt and mostly handled it well when he wasn't otherwise secretly hoping he wouldn't get injured in the process. He was 17-28 for 241 yards and one touchdown. He also had two key scrambles but was sacked 6 times. Running back Peyton Hillis, facing his near-twin in Jones-Drew, was far less effective. Bottled up all day by a swarming Jacksonville defense, he had only 48 yards on 21 carries, though he had the one touchdown on the McCoy shovel pass at the 10-yard line.

Garrard, far more experienced than McCoy, wasn't really much better. He was 20-24 for 254 yards, 2 touchdowns but 3 interceptions. The difference was Jones-Drew. He had 132 yards rushing on 24 carries and had 87 more yards on 3 pass receptions, the bulk of which came on that 75-yard screen play.

The Browns haven't really been favored in any game this season so it's difficult to say they lost a game they were supposed to win. Still, circumstances sometimes dictate when you should win and those circumstances so dictated on Sunday. But though this team is progressing, it isn't yet good enough. They are a better team with a better future than last year's model. But at 3-7, it's hard to argue that their record isn't what it should be.

Calming the Storm

If all it takes for a team to win in this league is for it to first endure the most disruptive week in recent memory, then Cleveland Browns general manager Phil Savage should feel free to re-stir the pot again this next week. Showing only a residue of the effects from the soap opera that enveloped them all week, the Browns, blew a 10-point halftime lead, got two field goals late and then held on by the length of one bobbled football for a 23-17 win against the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday.

After a first half that was mostly a ping-pong match of momentum changes, the Browns found themselves leading 17-7 after two quarters and seemingly in control. But lumbering out of the locker room after apparently taking a 15-minute nap, the Browns mostly watched Jacksonville take over the second half with series of long drives that ultimately promised more than they delivered.

A blocked field by defensive lineman Shaun Rogers, who had his best game as a member of the Cleveland Browns, ended one drive and the Jaguars were forced to settle for a field goal on another when they really needed a touchdown instead.

Meanwhile, the Browns got two critical Phil Dawson field goals after Jacksonville had tied the game at 17 and came up with one final defensive stop, thanks to a ball Jacksonville receiver Matt Jones couldn't quite handle in the end zone with one second remaining, before the win was secured.

It was a somewhat unlikely but satisfying end for Cleveland in a game that started out as if it was going to be a shootout.

After an early exchange of punts, the Browns came out on their second series of the day and acted as if neither the Redskins game nor everything that followed had happened. On four straight plays the Browns gained 10+ yards and moved quickly from their own 20-yard line and into the Jaguars' red zone. A pass from quarterback Derek Anderson to tight end Steve Heiden then took the ball down to the Jaguars' 5-yard line for another first down. Two plays later Anderson found Donte Stallworth wide open in the middle of the end zone.

It was the Stallworth's first touchdown of the season and, remarkably, the Browns' first first-quarter touchdown this season. This sort of harmonic convergence, together with the Phil Dawson extra point, gave the Browns the early lead at 7-0. It was a crisp 9-play 80-yard drive that was as much a message from the Browns to themselves as it was to the Jaguars that the self-inflicted turmoil of the week was indeed behind them.

That sense of purpose seemed to be picked up by the defense and all was going well on the ensuing Jacksonville drive until D'Qwell Jackson, coming up the middle on a blitz on third-and-10, couldn't contain Jaguars' quarterback David Garrard. Some nifty running coupled with missed tackles by linebacker Willie McGinest and safety Sean Jones allowed Garrard to gallop for 24 yards, down to the Cleveland 39.
The Garrard run set the tone for the rest of the drive as the Jaguars then converted three more third downs before Garrard found receiver Reggie Williams for a 5-yard touchdown. Remarkably, it was the first touchdown by a Jaguars wide receiver this season, a bit of harmonic convergence for Jacksonville as well and the game was quickly knotted at 7-7.

But the Jacksonville momentum was short-lived as well, thanks to a questionable call by head coach Romeo Crennel that for once went right. With the ball on their own 49-yard line, the Browns decided to gamble. Anderson faked the sneak to fullback Charles Ali and rolled right, finding a wide open Heiden who then rumbled for 51yards, down to the Jacksonville 2-yard line. From there, Jamal Lewis took it in and, with the Dawson extra point, the Browns held serve and regained the lead 14-7.

The Jaguars, meanwhile, couldn't muster a similar magic of their own on their next drive when the Browns stopped running back Maurice Jones-Drew on fourth and one from the Cleveland 37-yard line. The Browns' immediately turned decent field position to their advantage when Anderson found receiver Braylon Edwards on a 43-yard pass down the left side line. But the drive fizzled on an Edwards drop on second down and an odd, quick underneath pass on third down to Stallworth. Dawson then hit a 32-yard field goal to extend the Cleveland lead to 17-7 with just over two minutes left in the half.

The Browns had a chance to add to that lead, taking over at their own 34-yard line with just over a minute left in the half and two time outs. A 17-yard screen pass to Jason Wright took the ball to the Jackson 49-yard line. But the drive died right there. Even still, it was the only real opportunity that the Browns had missed in that first half en route to putting up 17 points, two more than their season average, and gaining 212 yards, just 24 less than they had in the entire Redskins' game a week ago.

But if Jacksonville was down, it was hardly out. Getting the ball to start the second half, Jacksonville moved quickly down the field. Just as suddenly, though, they were fourth and one from the Cleveland 10-yard line. Instead of taking the chip shot field goal, Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio out-Crenneled Crennel. Garrard gave the ball to Jones who was bottled up, but only temporarily. He strung the run out left and stepped out at the 8-yard line for the first down. On the next play, Garrard found Matt Jones slanting in the end zone to help bring the Jaguars back to within three at 17-14.

The Browns, on the other hand, seemed to be in full yawn mode. After stalling out in their next drive at the Jacksonville 40-yard line, Dave Zastudil's punt traveled all of 15 yards. Taking over at their 24-yard line, the Jaguars put together a long, lumbering drive that consisted of many plays and many minutes. But when it ended seemingly two hours later, all the Jaguars had to show for it was the blocked field goal by Rogers that gave the Browns back the ball at the Cleveland 41-yard line.

But even that couldn't jolt the offense awake as it then proceeded to put together its worst series of the game, a series that in retrospect not only could have been worse but could have cost them the game. An Anderson interception on third down was nullified when Jacksonville was offside and an Anderson fumble on the next play was recovered by offensive lineman Joe Thomas.

With Jacksonville taking over at its 26-yard line after the Zastudil punt and just over 11 minutes left, the Jaguars seemed to have the Browns where they wanted. On third and 8, Jacksonville converted another third down, their 400th or so of the day, on a Garrard to Jones 20-yard pass. Rogers then was flagged for a roughing penalty on Garrard, the Browns' first penalty of the day. That put the ball at the Browns 39-yard line. But Jacksonville couldn't convert its 401st third down and was forced to attempt a 53-yard field goal, which Josh Scobee converted to tie the game at 17.

As it turned out, it's where the Browns wanted to be all along. On some inspired running early in their next drive by Jamal Lewis and an inspired run off a 53-yard catch by Syndric Steptoe that took the ball to the Jaguars' 1-yard line, the Browns seemed poised to seal a victory. But they couldn't punch it in, even after a Jaguars penalty took the ball to the half-yard line, and were forced to settle for a 19-yard Dawson field goal and a very shaky 20-17 lead with just under 5 minutes remaining.

But gifts come at the most unexpected time and on the kickoff, returner Brian Witherspoon had the ball dislodged by his own teammate and Josh Cribbs ended up with it at the bottom of the scrum. With just over 4 minutes remaining, the Browns had the ball at the Jacksonville 26-yard line.

But in a season where nothing has come easy, the Browns went three and out. Dawson then hit a 43-yard field goal to extend the Browns lead to 23-17 but it likewise was not the stick-a-fork-in-them end to the drive that they needed.

The defense, though, tried to then do the honors themselves, forcing Jacksonville into its own quick three-and-out. But when the offense got the ball back, offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski stayed conservative, running on a 3rd-and-five, and forcing the Browns to turn the ball right back over, giving Jacksonville one final crack at the ball with two minutes remaining.

The problem, though, with the Jacksonville offense is that it's not particularly geared to this kind situation. It prefers the more laconic pace of a mid-game drivel approaching each drive like a pharmacist filling a prescription. A 35-yard pass to Jones did bring the ball to the Cleveland 26-yard line with 17 seconds remaining. But on a play that seemed to be run in slow motion, Jones couldn't quite find the handle on the ball in the end zone, bobbling it three times before watching it fall harmlessly away with one second remaining. Garrard's final desperation pass was long, securing the win for the Browns.

The outcome certainly brought a measure of calm to the internal storm of the previous week and probably did little to stop the Browns-are-better-off-without-Winslow talk among the fans as Heiden again had a solid day with three catches for 73 yards, including that 51-yard pass from Anderson.

Anderson, meanwhile, wasn't great but he was good enough, which is really all he needs to be from week-to-week. He was 14-27 for 246 yards and one touchdown, the 5-yard grab by Stallworth. Lewis had 81 well earned yards on 20 carries and the Browns' other touchdown.

The defense, led by Rogers, continued its stellar play. Though Jacksonville had the ball nearly 11 minutes more, converted 11 of 20 third downs and outgained the Browns 380-327 yards, the Browns defense repeatedly came up with the key stops they needed at the end of the game. Garrard was 25-42 for 282 yards and two touchdowns and also scrambled for 59 yards. He was the leading rusher as the defensive line kept running backs Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor under wraps all day, which was the difference maker.

The Browns now find themselves at 3-4 and a game closer to the Pittsburgh Steelers after they lost at home Sunday to the New York Giants. The Browns aren't necessarily at a crossroads, but nonetheless find themselves facing a crossroads game against Baltimore next Sunday who, with a victory over Oakland, also is ahead of the Browns in the standings.

Given how this season has gone, everything sets up well for a let down next week. But on the other hand, in a season where almost nothing has been predictable, there's every chance the Browns can break form and reassert themselves in the AFC North. Just to be safe, a little turmoil this week would help.