Bullied, Again

The Houston Texans are pretty good football team, but no one is confusing them with the Green Bay Packers at the moment. Nonetheless, treating the Cleveland Browns like they were trying to purposely violate some anti-bullying law, the Texans punched the Browns early, often, stole their lunch money and a good amount of their self-respect and pride along with it in a 30-12 dismembering that ultimately was still so much of the same old same old.

There were too many small moments in the game indicative of the bigger picture to truly single out any one as the most representative of the ass-whipping the Browns endured, so I'll just go with my favorite. The Browns, opening the second half of the game with the ball, ran a pitch to running back Chris Ogbonnaya and he lost three yards. And that was a major improvement in how they started the first half of the game, with Ogbonnaya running up the middle and then immediately fumbling the ball to the Texans just seconds after the Texans opened the game with an 82-yard drive for a touchdown.

It was the second straight week that the Browns lost a fumble on their first play of the game and while both lost fumbles effectively ended any chance for the Browns in either game, I nominate this week's fumble as worse if only because the Texans had already scored. At least they were only down 7-0 a week ago.

But back to the bullying for the moment. The Texans are tied with the most scoring points in first quarters this season. That means they're a fast starter. The Browns are at the bottom of that stat. The Texans lived up to their billing, so did the Browns.

Starting their opening drive at their 18-yard line, quarterback Matt Schaub opened the game with four laser-like pass completions. All that did was loosen up a defense that was geared toward trying to stop the best two-back running combination in the league since Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner shared a Browns' backfield a generation or so ago The Texans combo of Ben Tate and Arian Foster came into the game with over 500 yards each and finished Sunday's game both with over 600 yards each, well on their way to each having well in excess of 1,000 yard seasons.

After Schaub completed the four passes, Foster started first, running for a mere 11 yards on his first three carries. Then Tate cleaned up with a 6 yard run and then a 27 yarder for the touchdown. If the Browns defense fashioned themselves as an elite unit, it's top 5 ranking feeding that ego, they shouldn't any longer. Tate's two runs were so easy it was as if the defensive line had failed to report in for the series.

After the Ogbonnaya fumble, which gave the Texans the ball right back on the Cleveland 28 yard line, Foster gashed his way to even more yards before setting up a way-too-easy quarterback draw by Schaub that immediately put the Texans up 14-0.

The Browns, as usual, were resigned to more of the same sort of offense. No red zone penetration until the game long since over, the Texans protecting their side of the field as if contained the best playground equipment, the Browns were reduced to their usual mode of scoring, Phil Dawson 50+ yard field goals, of which he had two, until the late meaningless touchdown.

The Texans next touchdown was a model of everything the Browns' offense wants to be when it grows up, assuming they want to build a credible running game. Tate had runs of 24 and 9 yards on the drive and Foster finished it off with a 19 yard run directly up the middle and he wasn't even touched. Consider how improbably that should be. He went through Ahtyba Rubin, Jabaal Sheard, Phil Taylor, D'Qwell Jackson and Scott Fujita and then Mike Adams. None of them were even close to laying so much as a glove on Foster.

Now before going any further with dissecting this mess, let's say a word or two about Lawrence Vickers and his impact on the game. It was huge. Vickers was either extracting revenge against a Browns regime he barely knew or just continuing to re-assert himself as the league's best blocking back, which he surely is. I predict many will suggest it's the former when in truth it really was the latter.

It really should give fans pause to consider exactly why general manager Tom Heckert let Vickers get away so easily. Sure, rookie Owen Marecic came into the league with a good reputation, a young man's Vickers if you will. So that means the decision the Browns' management made was financial, banking on the theory that Marecic was simply a cheaper version of Vickers.

Well, he is a cheaper version of Vickers, no denying that. He's also an inferior version of Vickers. Marecic has done little to help spring a moribund Browns' running attack. Vickers was blowing holes through the Browns like he was wielding machetes. It's very fair to suggest that the Browns' running game would be much better with Vickers than Marecic. Not great, certainly, but far better. Which means that the Browns offense would be much better with Vickers than Marecic. Again, not great, but far better.

Sorry, back to the game. The Texans looked as if they might completely blow the game open when Jacoby Jones returned a punt 50 yards to the Cleveland 40 late in the first half. But Schaub was picked off by Jackson on the next play. Then it got interesting.

With the ball sitting on their own 42-yard line, Colt McCoy and the Browns offense put together one of those great drives we've all come to love. No gain. Incomplete. False start. Decent run. No gain. Another false start. Sack. McCoy running for his life, throwing the ball up for grabs and having it intercepted. This one was by Quintin Demps who looked like he would return it for a touchdown. But with only the kind of luck the Browns have these days, McCoy was able to force Demps out of bounds with two seconds remaining, just enough time for Neil Rackers to kick a field goal to give the Texans a 24-3 lead.

The second half was mostly an exercise in playing out the string with the Browns again reduced to putting together a drive in the fourth quarter that gave the score a measure of respectability their play didn't otherwise merit. Taking over at their own 36 yard line, McCoy was able to effectively move the team down field and in position where he was able to find Josh Cribbs on a 2-yard pass for a touchdown. But let's be fair to the Texans. Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips had stopped blitzing perhaps out of a measure of respect for the fact that McCoy's family was in attendance and to that point McCoy had been beaten like a bass drum in a Memorial Day parade.

For those interested at all in the statistical battle, all you really need to know that it was as lopsided as you would expect. McCoy threw for 146 yards, most of which came near the end of the game, as usual. He was also sacked 4 times and generally knocked around like a bowling pin, also as usual. Ogbonnaya and his practice squad buddy Thomas Clayton averaged all of two yards per carry. In total, the Browns had under 200 yards total offense.

The Texans had nearly 400 yards. Foster and Tate were responsible for most of it as each ran for well in excess of 100 yards and that was pretty much the story of the game.

Still, as bad as it was, and brother it was bad, there still was a nice little play made by defensive lineman Phil Taylor on a play that wasn't. With just over two minutes remaining, it appeared initially as if linebacker Chris Gocong had successfully stripped the ball from third string running back Derrick Ward. The ball was picked up by Taylor who wasn't so much running as looking to deliver a forearm shiv to anyone who wanted to get in his way, which he did. Of course he lost the ball in the process and while the Browns recovered it didn't matter because the call was reversed anyway.

Besides the Taylor play, the other redeeming feature of the game is that it did manage to answer some lingering questions. As we established at the outset, not all fumbles on your first offensive play of the game are created equal, though they all have the same effect when they're committed by the Browns. We also have established what a mistake it was not to sign Vickers. We now firmly know that it really doesn't matter who the Browns play. Their offense will invariably look the same. Finally, we're starting to realize that for the third straight season 4 wins could very well be this team's high water mark, which means another high draft pick just not high enough to garner Andrew Luck.

The Browns do have a chance, a real honest to gosh legitimate chance, to find that high water mark when they take on head coach Pat Shurmur's old team, the St. Louis Rams, next Sunday at home. They then have Jacksonville at home the following week, so that's another chance as well. And they better take advantage of one of those two teams, and preferably both, because the second half of the schedule has all the makings of a disaster with two games each against Pittsburgh and Baltimore still to come. If you cringe at what you witnessed against the 49ers and Texans, you may want to just avert your eyes all together when the remaining games are played starting later this month.

A November to Remember

The only things missing were the snow and the mud. But in every other way, the Browns 27-17 victory over the Houston Texans felt like the kind of late November win that a team marching toward the playoffs needs if they are going to play meaningful games in December. And at this point, there is no question that the Browns are going to play meaningful games in December.

Flashy offenses with four and five wide receiver sets are nice but they’re built for the warmer weather. If you’re going to win late in the season, particularly in Cleveland, it’s going to be with tight ends that can make the tough catches in bad conditions, running backs that can ground out the hard yards when the footing is poor and an opportunistic defense that pounces at just the right time to drain whatever life might remain in the opponent. And that’s exactly the formula that the Browns followed on Sunday. In fact, it could not have been better executed.

It was a game, indeed a win, which belonged mostly to those tight ends, running backs and an opportunistic defense. Tight end Kellen Winslow II, running back Jamal Lewis, and a defense that forced three turnovers, two of which led directly to 14 points, ultimately were the difference in a game that the Browns had to win to keep alive what is surely turning into a Christmas miracle of a season.

And what a difference it was. Time and again, the Texans had no answer for Winslow, the clear front runner among a number of deserving Browns for a berth in the Pro Bowl. Going into the game he was the leading tight end in terms of total yards, yards per catch, yards per game and most receptions of more than 20 yards. Coming out of the game he did nothing to hurt that status. He had 10 more receptions, giving him 62 on the season, 107 receiving yards, and caught his fifth touchdown pass of the season. Winslow may not be causing fans to forget Ozzie Newsome just yet, but he’s well on his way.

When the Texans return to their practice complex on Monday to review film of the game, what they’ll see mostly is Winslow everywhere the Browns needed him to be. But should they focus more closely, two plays late and one play early will no doubt stand out.

The set up to the first of those two late plays came early in the fourth quarter. After punter Dave Zastudil hit one of his few decent punts of the game, to the Houston 11, the defense was able to hold the Texans to a three-and-out. The Browns got the ball back on the Houston 34 after Josh Cribbs returned the Matt Turk punt to the Texans 34 yard line. If the Texans had any hope of remaining in the game, it was critical that they hold the Browns right there.

But on second and 10 with just under 11 minutes left in the game and the Browns clinging to a seven point lead, quarterback Derek Anderson found Winslow deep down the middle for 21 yards, putting the ball at the Texans 13-yard line. The Browns couldn’t get the ball in the end zone, but a Phil Dawson 27-yard field goal pushed the lead to 20-10 with 8:35 left.

On the Browns next possession, which came quickly on the heels of Brandon McDonald’s first career interception, Anderson again hit Winslow on second down, this time for 20 yards, putting the ball at the Houston eight yard line. Two plays later, Lewis scored from the one yard line, putting the game completely out of reach.

The third key play by Winslow was the seven yard touchdown pass he caught just before the end of the first half. In a drive that started out with much promise, stuttered in the middle and recovered late, Winslow made sure it didn’t end for naught, catching Anderson’s ill-advised pass in triple coverage. If this were college and Winslow were in the running for the Heisman trophy, it would have been his signature play. But this isn’t college and Winslow’s not vying for the Heisman. It still was a signature play. It also gave the Browns momentum heading into the locker room and a blueprint for the second half. It also gave them a lead they never relinquished.

It is in these situations where offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski seems particularly adept. Though he gets deserved credit for bringing innovation to an offense that was literally starving for a direction under previous coordinator, Maurice Carthon, one of the secrets to Chudzinski’s approach is his abject refusal to give up on the run. He knows that it holds the key to long-term success, even though Anderson is playing well beyond anyone’s expectations.

In the first half, the Browns offense was wildly and unusually out of balance. There were only 10 rushing attempts compared to 22 passes. But the Winslow touchdown allowed Chudzinski to restore that balance, which is not as easy as it sounds. Staying true to the running game takes an equal measure of patience and confidence by the offensive coordinator. More often than not, the tough yards early in the game that make it seem as if the run is not working often become the big gains later in the game.

Lewis had 29 carries, 21 of which came in the second half. He also had 137 rushing yards, 94 of which came in the second half. Even that though doesn’t tell the whole story. In that second half, the Browns first possession, a three-and-out, featured two passes. But on that next possession, Chudzinski changed course and decided to pound the ball a luxury that a vastly improved offensive line and a back like Lewis affords him. Lewis was up to the task. From that point on he had two carries of 10 yards each and another two of 15 yards each. Sprinkled among them were numerous carries of five and six yards, all of which served to keep the Texans defense on their heels.

What was perhaps most impressive and where Lewis’ leadership mattered most was on the Browns last possession. After the Browns had seemingly pushed the game out of reach, 27-10, with just under six minutes left, the Texans came right back, going through the Browns defense like a hot knife through a stick of butter, closing to within 10 with just over three minutes left.

Following the onside kick that Browns defensive back Nick Sorenson fielded at the Houston 39 yard line, Lewis single-handedly closed out the game with six straight carries, the most important of which was the 15-yard gain to the Houston 23 just before the two minute warning. Another Lewis 5-yard gain forced the Texans to burn their final time out and from there the Browns were able to close out the game.

The offense, of course, has been the story of the season. The defense, of course, has likewise been the story of the season, but for vastly different reasons. Going into the game, the Texans were the near statistical equivalent of the Browns offensively, which means they’re a pretty good group overall. Indeed, the conventional wisdom, exercised in the form of all the fantasy football players that added Schaub to their lineups this week, suggested that the Browns defense was likely in for a long day. But on this day, in late November, the much maligned group stood up when it mattered most instead of standing down.

And it’s not as if the Texans were awful on offense, at least statistically. Schaub, in fact, was 22-36 for 256 yards and two touchdowns. But if you’re struggling defensively, then you at least should be opportunistic, and that is what the Browns were on Sunday. They intercepted Schaub twice and recovered a fumble by tight end Owen Daniels just as it looked like the Texans were poised to score. In fact, though the defense was giving up yards by the chunk, the turnovers they created each came at a critical point.

The first was an improbable interception by linebacker D’Qwell Jackson that he grabbed about two inches from the turf off a deflection by fellow linebacker Andra Davis just as Houston was entering Cleveland territory early in the second quarter. The second was the aforementioned fumble by Daniels that came at the Cleveland 30. The third, the interception by McDonald, was the most satisfying. With Houston desperate to get back into the game following the Dawson field goal early in the fourth quarter, Houston had the ball at its own 20. On the first play from scrimmage, Antwan Peek sacked Schaub, one of only two sacks the Browns had all game, for a 12 yard loss. On the next play, a desperate Schaub threw for Pro Bowl receiver Andre Johnson but McDonald was there for the interception.

A few words about McDonald, the Browns fifth round pick this past off-season, seems appropriate. Thus far, he’s seen relatively limited duty. Though he was ultimately credited with only one tackle on Sunday along with that key interception, in his first extended play of the season he proved to be a bright spot in a defensive backfield that has spent most of the season chasing receivers unsuccessfully. Johnson, whom McDonald was forced to cover most of the day, caught only three balls for 37 yards. If nothing else, he’s earned another long look next week, which he’ll likely get if Eric Wright is unable to go.

At this juncture, the Browns stand at 7-4 and a trip to Arizona next week to face a Cardinals team that is finally starting to show some life. Though no team remaining on the schedule currently had a winning record entering play on Sunday, the one downside is that three of the five remaining games are on the road where the Browns are just 2-3. The upside in all of it, though, is that this is a Browns team that has not only proven to their fans that they can win when they have to, they’ve proven it to themselves.

When the story on this season is ultimately written, it will contain many story lines. There will be the one featuring the coming of age of players like Winslow, receiver Braylon Edwards and Anderson, who had another solid day on Sunday, completing 24 of his 35 passes for 253 yards and two more touchdowns, giving him 22 on the season, well within reach of the Browns single season record of 30 held by Brian Sipe. He also had one interception. There will be another story line recounting the redemption of Lewis, a player who looked mostly through not only last season but several times this season. But the main story line will be one of rebirth, of a franchise and a fan base and the win against the Texans, on a cold day in late November, will be one of the reasons why.