Apparently Cleveland Browns’ headcoach Pat Shurmur has never heard the phrase, “no guts, no glory,” as his uninventive and conservative play calling led the Browns to a 20-17 overtime defeat at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals yesterday.
With the game tied and less then two minutes left, Shurmur seemingly decided to play for overtime instead of going for the win. On two consecutive plays he called up inside runs to the slowing Peyton Hillis and followed with what appeared to be a screen play that was broken up by the Cardinals’ D. It was infuriating to watch and showed the true lack of confidence the head coach has in his team’s offense.
With quarterback Colt McCoy still displaying concussion symptoms, back up Seneca Wallace got his first start of the season. On the first drive of the game it seemed like Wallace was on his way to ending McCoy’s NFL career in Cleveland. The initial pace of the first drive, which saw Wallace going two for two for some 40 yards, was unsustainable. On its second possession, the Browns’ offense reverted to old ways, with two incomplete passes, a short run and ending in a punt.
Unfortunately the rest of the game looked more of the same, with the exception of a 76 yard TD catch and run by rookie Greg Little. On the day Wallace went 18 out of 31 for 226, one touchdown and a QB rating of 91.6. He also added 21 yards rushing. While these numbers look good on paper, they hardly equated to an entertaining game to watch.
Running back Peyton Hillis looked to have recaptured some of that magic from last season, as he ran for 33 yards and a touchdown on the opening drive. However, much like Wallace his game began to decline following the early success. Hillis finished the day with 99 yards on 26 carries, adding an additional nine yards on one reception.
Besides picking up a third quarter touchdown, Little caught five passes for 131 yards, while Mohamed Massaquoi had the second most receiving yards for the team yesterday with 42 on three catches. After the first two receivers on the depth chart, none of the other wideouts contributed much on the day.
On the other side of the ball, rookie defensive back Buster Skrine had a good game, recording his first NFL interception and a 32 yard kick return. The rest of the defense had another solid performance, recording four sacks, six deflected passes and seven hits on the quarterback. They also held former Buckeye standout Beanie Wells to only 51 yards on 15 carries.
However, they seemed to wear out late in the game, giving up a late 32-yard touchdown pass to Larry Fitzgerald. On the day, Cardinals QB threw for 313 yard, completing 28 of 46 passes for one touchdown and an interception.
While Cleveland looked competitive today, the game didn’t do much to bolster confidence heading into the last two games of the year. It also paints a bleak picture going into next year as the team seems to have an inexhaustible list of uncertainties and needs at key positions.
With nothing to lose besides a meaningless game, Shurmur’s cautious play calling is baffling and also leads to a complete lack of confidence in the team’s shot caller. While he does get some leeway because this is his first year on the job, its hard to trust the man going forward. Team President Mike Holmgren is also not doing much to ease fans’ fears about the future of this team.
With two games left, most fans will be looking forward to April when the Browns will hopefully find some future superstars in the draft. But those players won’t be able to prove their value until next season. In the mean time,keep the faith Browns’ fans, the law of averages is on our side, I mean the Browns can’t suck forever, can they?
