Monday leftovers

Here’s how bad it was for the Browns against the Green Bay Packers Sunday and a large clue as to why Cleveland annually resides in the poor neighborhoods of the National Football League.

The Packers have something the Browns and other pretenders in the NFL wish they had. It’s called quality depth. And they have in spades.

There’s an expression around the NFL when it comes to opportunity. In a game where an injury is just a play away, the rallying cry is “next man up.” If you are not a starter, be ready because you could be “the next man up” on any given play.

Sunday in Green Bay, the Packers employed three such players and all contributed mightily in the victory over the Browns. In fact, they were a major difference.

The Packers, a 3-4 team on defense, entered the game with three of their starting linebackers injured and unable to play. Gone were All-Pro Clay Matthews III, Nick Perry and Brad Jones. A. J. Hawk was the lone healthy linebacker.

Off the Green Bay bench came linebackers Jamari Lattimore and rookie Nate Palmer and defensive coordinator Dom Capers improvised by frequently employing a nickel look in the secondary.

Lattimore turned in a solid game playing next to Hawk on the inside, making 12 tackles (nine solo) with one sack, a tackle for loss, a pass defensed and got close enough to Brandon Weeden to be credited with a quarterback hit. Palmer had six tackles, half of them solo.

Now imagine the Browns, also a 3-4 team, without Jabaal Sheard, Paul Kruger and Craig Robertson. How do you suppose Barkevious Mingo, Quentin Groves and Tank Carder would have done?

We’ll never know, of course, but with the exception of Mingo, whose play lately has been substandard, there is no way Groves, a pass rushing specialist, and Carder, more of a special teamer, could have at the very least prevented a dropoff in talent.

On the other side of the ball, the Packers entered the game without two of their best wide receivers in Randall Cobb and James Jones. So who steps up and bothers the hell out of the Cleveland secondary all afternoon? Second-year man Jarrett Boykin, who entered the game with only one reception in four games this season.

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers targeted Boykin 10 times and connected on eight for 103 yards and a touchdown. Jarrett Who became Jarrett Wonderful (to Packers fans for at least this game) in a hurry.

To compensate for the loss of two wideouts, Packers coach Mike McCarthy went to a two tight-end look most of the game until Jermichael Finley went down with an injury.

Now imagine the Browns without starters Josh Gordon and Greg Little. Wait a minute. Little isn’t a starter. Davone Bess replaced him a few games ago. OK, make that Gordon and Bess.

So that bumps up Little, whose reputation as a solid pass catcher remains in doubt, and Travis Benjamin, whose strength is returning kicks and running reverses. The likelihood of either of them matching what Boykin did is unlikely.

Bottom line is the Packers beat up on the Browns despite the loss of some key personnel. The Browns? All you have to do is look at what they did when guard Shawn Lauvao missed the first few games of the season. Oneil Cousin was the next man up and quickly became the weak link of the offensive line.

Solidifying the roster with capable replacements should be one of the prime goals for Joe Banner and his minions. The way the game is played today, the injured lists of teams are growing at an alarmingly rapid rate.

So who is the player the Browns can most ill afford to lose to serious injury? Easy. That would be tight end Jordan Cameron, whose ability to remain healthy thus far has been a most pleasant surprise. There isn’t a tight end on the roster who can at least equal his production. Lose him and the downhill slide will pick up in velocity. If that’s possible.

~ Once again, tackling has become a big problem for the Browns. When Finley scored the first touchdown of the game for the Packers in the opening quarter on an 11-yard pass, four different Browns had a shot at stopping him before he reached the end zone.

Now Finley is a big guy at 6-4, 250 pounds, but there is no way he would have reached the end zone if proper tackling technique has been applied. In order, Finley shook off Robertson, Tashaun Gipson, Buster Skrine and D’Qwell Jackson, who was late to the play to begin with.

None of these men extended their arms in an effort to wrap up the Green Bay tight end. In a couple of cases, they attempted to make arm tackles. Arm tackles do not work in the NFL. Never have. Never will. Arm tackling means you are out of position to make the proper play.

On several other occasions, the Browns had Rodgers trapped in the backfield attempting to pass and each time, with one exception, he escaped. For a team that prides itself on rushing the passer, that should never happen. Speaking of the pass rush, where is it? Only two sacks in the last two games.

~ The Packers led the Browns, 17-6, early in the fourth quarter when coach Rob Chudzinski made a curious decision that wound up costing his team a touchdown.

The Browns had driven down to the Green Bay 31-yard line with about 11 minutes left in regulation  and the Browns holding their own. Instead of calling for Billy Cundiff’s third field goal of the evening, which would have made it a one-possession game at 17-9, he went for it on fourth-and-15. It would have been a 49-yard attempt, certainly within his range.

Weeden nearly connected with Gordon, open briefly at the Green Bay 3, but the pass arrived late (sound familiar?), giving the Packers’ secondary time to recover and knock it away. The Packers took over at the 31 and scored five plays later when Jordy Nelson grabbed a 1-yard toss from Rodgers on a slant in front of Joe Haden. So instead of trailing, 17-9, the Browns were on the wrong end of a 24-6 score.

~ Notebook: Here’s a hint on whom to use as the kickoff returner: On the kickoff following the Nelson touchdown, Travis Benjamin was the return man for the first time in the game. He returned it 86 yards to set up the club’s only TD of the game.  Ya think maybe he should do it a little more often? . . . Foswhitt Whittaker, a.k.a. Fozzy, did all right in that department, too, with 103 yards on three returns with a long of 56 yards. . . . Loved those 1929 season replica uniforms the Packers wore. Would love to see the Browns follow suit and play a game in their inaugural 1946 season replica uniforms. . . . Adding insult to injury: Mike McCarthy challenged (unsuccessfully) the spot following the Browns’ successful fake punt late in the first quarter. He was already up, 14-0, at the time. Nervy. . . . The Browns have to work on their onsides kicks. After pulling to within 24-13 with 6:09 left in regulation, Joe Haden fell on the ball following the first kick, but Tank Carder was offside. The Browns also recovered the second attempt, but it did not travel the required 10 yards. 

Time to make a change

It’s time. As a matter of fact, it’s high time. It’s high time to introduce Brandon Weeden to the clipboard.

Yep, the professionalizing of Brandon Weeden as a football player has bottomed out on the National Football League level. He’s not nearly the quarterback he was for a couple of years at Oklahoma State.

If anything, he is regressing and he’s taking the Browns’ offense down with him. And if head coach Rob Chudzinski and offensive coordinator Norv Turner don’t see that, then there’s no hope for them, either.

Sunday’s putrid performance in the 31-13 loss to the Packers in Green Bay stands as ample proof that Weeden, at best, is a backup quarterback in the NFL. The only way he should play is if another quarterback is injured.

And since Jason Campbell, the only other quarterback on the Cleveland roster, is in perfect health, well . . . draw your own conclusions.

Not that Campbell is the quarterback of the future for this franchise, but at least he can play a more representative brand of football than Weeden, who still seems overwhelmed at how the game is played on the NFL plane.

He is hurting this team more than perhaps even he realizes. With any kind of a performance that approached decent, the Browns might have had a shot to make it a game because the Packers, in large part due to a Cleveland defense that played well after a slow start, did not play that well.

The game seems too fast for Weeden, who looks somewhat bewildered in the pocket and too frequently makes the incorrect throw or takes a sack. When he holds the ball for more than four seconds, count on a negative play of some sort.

His pocket awareness if woefully abysmal. He does not seem to feel or sense when the opposition is getting close and is painfully slow to react or recognize when trouble lurks. When he does, it’s usually too late and he either goes down or makes a dumb play. It’s almost as though the light comes on a second or two after it should.

It’s maddening to the fans when Weeden doesn’t seem to learn from his mistakes. He keeps repeating them and no amount of coaching is going to straighten him out. If he made them yesterday and today, he’ll no doubt make them tomorrow. He is who he is and he can’t be changed. That has become painfully obvious.

Somewhere along the line, it was hoped he would show a modicum of improvement. You know, it’s like anything else. If you do something enough times, you probably will get better at it. Not Weeden. He is clearly regressing. With him, the correctable is not correctable.

For example, remember that bonehead pass (Weeden’s words) he threw in last Sunday's loss to the Detroit Lions? The one he sort of shoveled sideways that was intercepted and eventually went viral on You Tube?

Well, he did it again against the Packers, this time underhanding the ball toward Chris Ogbonnaya on the Browns’ final possession of the game late in the fourth quarter. The only difference is this one fell incomplete.

Defenses are designed, of course, to confuse quarterbacks. And it’s working all two well with Weeden, who seems to be confused, dazed and befuddled on nearly every pass play.

The recognition factor is really not a factor with him. Rarely does he get rid of the ball in three seconds or less. And against the Packers, he had all sorts of time because the offensive line was solid in pass protection most of the afternoon. His 17-for-42, 149-yard effort was embarrassing.

Yes, the receivers dropped a few of his passes. But that in no way factored into the final result. When clutch throws were needed, they arrived as incompletions. They were either overthrown (twice) in the end zone or underthrown, resulting in an interception.

If Chudzinski and Turner stubbornly insist on staying with Weeden even though the  game hasn’t slowed down for him, they can expect performances similar to the one we witnessed in Green Bay.

Weeden does not deserve to be this team’s starting quarterback anymore. He has done nothing to prove to the coaching staff or the front office that he belongs under center on a weekly basis.

And it’s not a matter of being spoiled by the way Brian Hoer played the position when he was healthy. There is a clear difference between the way Hoyer and Weeden play the game. Hoyer, to be perfectly blunt, is way more cerebral and brings that to his game.

During Packers week, Chudzinski had nothing but good things to say about Weeden. “I thought he’s had his best couple of days of practice . . . very focused and receptive to coaching,” he said.

“You can see him doing things. Specifically working to improve in areas that we’re talking about where he needs to improve. . . . I have confidence in him, like the team does, to go out and play his very best."

Well, if what we saw Sunday in Green Bay was Weeden’s very best, then the bar has been lowered substantially. How focused did he look against the Green Bay pass rush? Practicing well means squat.

There are good practice players, those guys who always look good leading up to a game. They look downright brilliant working against their teammates, then disappear when the game means something.

And then there are game players, those guys who come out, no matter how they practice, and perform a whole lot better when the game means something than they do in practice.

Give me the game player, the guy who goes out there and performs at or above his capability. My game players will beat your good practice players every time.

And that confidence of which Chudzinski spoke? Wonder where it’s at now.

For a front office that has not been shy about its intention to look to the collegiate ranks for its franchise quarterback, there is still some pride to salvage. After all, there are still nine games left.

Weeden has been given every opportunity to prove his worth to the front office and coaching staff. And he keeps failing. Unfailingly.

They have to drop the hammer on him at some time if for no other reason than the players will begin to wonder just how important winning is to them and begin to lose confidence.

It’s time. It’s high time to go in a different direction. 

Lambeau not so friendly anymore

The last time the Browns paid a visit to Green Bay to play the Packers, they slinked out of Titletown with a victory.

The date was Sept. 18, 2005. The final score was 26-24. Brett Favre was the Packers’ quarterback. He threw 343 yards and three touchdowns that day, but two interceptions did him in.

Trent Dilfer was the Cleveland quarterback. It was to be the only season he played for the Browns, He threw three touchdowns passes also for 336 yards. But he had no interceptions.

The Browns, despite a furious 17-point fourth-quarter comeback by Green Bay, improved to 1-1 for the season and handed the Packers their second straight loss. They wound up 4-12 that season; the Browns checked in at 6-10. Favre was gone after the 2007 season, finally giving way to Aaron Rodgers.

And after a rocky 6-10 start in 2008, Rodgers has been virtually unbeatable at Lambeau Field. Four of those 2008 victories were at home, foretelling just what was in store for fans of the smallest home to a professional sports franchise.

Since that 2008 season, the Packers are 30-4 at Lambeau, losing only to Cincinnati and Minnesota in 2009, Miami in 2010 and San Francisco last season.

And now here come the Browns, coming off perhaps their worst game of the season. They had 10 days to prepare for the Detroit Lions – at home, no less – and played miserably for three quarters.

The Browns these days can’t seem to put a complete game together. If it’s not the offense causing problems, it’s the defense. And vice-versa as coach Rob Chudzinski attempts to right the ship.

The defense, for the first time this season, sprung more than a few leaks against the Lions and the offense it will face Sunday is far better than the one it faced last Sunday. Rodgers is the linchpin.

As he goes, so goes the Packers’ offense. And that offense can hurt you in so many different ways, not just through the air as has been the case the last several seasons as the Packers couldn’t find anyone to furnish a running game good enough to complement Rodgers’ passing and take pressure off him.

They finally found him at the bottom of the second round of the college football draft last April. Eddie Lacy, who succeeded Trent Richardson as Alabama’s lead back last season, landed neatly in the Packers’ lap.

He has rewarded them with 270 yards in four games – he missed the third game of the season with a concussion – with most of those yards coming between the tackles. He’s Richardson, only with more speed.

As a result, the Packers, who average 450 yards of offense, have been able to trim the pass-run ratio to 55-45 in an effort to achieve a more effective balance. The result has been a 141-yard average on the ground, fifth-best in the National Football League.

And with the Browns’ run defense showing the effects of being on the field too long lately, they most likely will see a lot of Lacy. Look for the Packers to probe Cleveland’s front seven early and often.

Rodgers, meanwhile, has had a lot of fun playing pitch and catch with Jordy Nelson, James Jones and Jermichael Finley, who have caught 67 passes for eight touchdowns. Until last Sunday, that list included Randall Cobb, whose right leg met the shoulder of Baltimore safety Matt Elam and landed him on injured reserve with a broken fibula.

The Browns’ only hope to even have a chance to win this game lies with the offense, which has been inconsistent this season. The Packers’ defense has been less than reliable this season, surrendering an average of three touchdowns a game.

Most of that damage was courtesy of the San Francisco 49ers and Cincinnati Bengals, each scoring 34 points in handing Green Bay its two losses. The Packers have given up only 46 points in the three victories.

However, the Browns won’t have to face the nastiness of outside linebackers Clay Matthews III (broken thumb) and Nick Perry (broken foot) and inside linebacker Brad Jones (hamstring), which should be good news for offensive tackles Joe Thomas and Mitchell Schwartz. Matthews and Perry have six of the club’s 17 sacks and caused four fumbles.

Most vulnerable is the Green Bay secondary, which has produced only one interception. The other belongs to defensive end Mike Neal. It gives Brandon Weeden the opportunity to dial up the long distance passing game with Josh Gordon in the crosshairs.

The Packers’ defensive front seven, led by defensive end B. J. Raji and inside linebacker A. J. Hawk, allows just 78 yards a game on the ground, but the secondary has been ripped for nearly 300 yards a game. That’s most likely going to be the focus of the game plan.

So what’s the likelihood the Browns again walking out of Lambeau with smiles on their faces and climb back over .500? About as likely the Packers losing their fifth home game since 2009.

This one will be over early and it won’t be a pretty sight. Rodgers, getting little to no pressure from the Browns, will have his best day of the season. We all saw last Sunday what Detroit’s Matthew Stafford, who rates well below Rodgers on the talent scale, could do with that kind of resistance.

The pitch-and-catch game continues between Rodgers and his talented receivers, while Weeden, yet again, has trouble figuring out just what Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers is throwing at him. Even without Matthews, Perry and Jones, this one should be a romp for the Packers. Make it:

Packers 41, Browns 13

Call them the second-quarter Browns

Fiddled around with some numbers for the Browns after six games and discovered some very interesting revelations.

In their three victories this season, they have outscored the opposition, 85-57. Broken down, it’s 48-30 in the first half, 37-27 in the second half.

But it’s in their three losses that the numbers reveal a significant weakness. It’s called the second half.

In the first 30 minutes of their three losses, the Browns have outscored opponents, 30-13. In the final 30 minutes, they have been outscored, 55-3. That is not a misprint or a typo. Those are correct and alarming figures.

Since Billy Cundiff’s 39-yard field goal late in the third quarter of the season-opening loss to Miami, the Browns have not put a second-half point on the board in a loss.

Here are a few more revealing stats.

Breaking it down by quarters, the Browns have been outscored in every quarter except the second. Opposing teams have outpointed them, 27-17, in the first quarter; 45-13 in the third quarter; and 37-27 in the final quarter.

In the second quarter, though, the Browns hold an astounding 61-16 edge in scoring through six games. That’s slightly more than half of their season total of 118.

Simple addition also reveals the Browns have been outscored, 82-40, in the second half overall.

It’s abundantly clear the coaching staff either does not make the correct adjustments at halftime or doesn’t feel the need to make changes. Maybe it’s the second-quarter blitz that makes them sanguine. The if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it syndrome does not work in professional football.

Other teams make adjustments no matter the score. The good teams always mix it up in the second half of games, figuring the opposition has figured out a way to stop them. If the Browns are doing that, they’re going about it the wrong way.

A simple explanation, statistically speaking, for the up-and-down season shows the Browns play only one good quarter out of four and lose games when they don’t score in the second half. Scoring anything in the second half portends a victory.

There’s something very wrong with this picture. And there is only one person to blame. That would be the head coach.

It is his responsibility to make certain his men are emotionally ready to play a game of football from the opening whistle to the final whistle. They do it only 16 times a season. Based on their performances thus far, it takes a full quarter before the Browns kick it in gear.

The assistant coaches get the players ready to play on Sundays, but it’s the head coach who sets the emotional tone. Some teams have players who handle that job. A good coach will let them go. Ray Lewis was a perfect example of that in Baltimore before he retired.

What makes the 3-3 record worse to swallow is the fact the Browns have led at halftime in every game. How hard is it to keep that emotion at a high level at the beginning of the second half? With any kind of effort in the second halves of games, the Browns very well could be 4-2, maybe 5-1.

These numbers do not lie. And lacking a Browns petition to the National Football League to bypass the second halves altogether, they will continue to speak the truth. Loudly.

Monday leftovers

If the Browns are entertaining any thoughts of playing competitive football in the next 10 games, the defense will have to carry the major load.

That’s because the offense, no matter who is under center, is not good enough to share that load. Certainly not the way they played against the Detroit Lions Sunday.

But if the defense repeats its Sunday performance against the Lions, all bets are off and the Browns are headed for another one of those double-digit loss seasons. They entered the game at 3-2 mainly because of that defense.

Falling apart as the defense did against Detroit portends for trouble. And not just this Sunday in Green Bay.  The only patsy left on the schedule are the Jacksonville Jaguars, but they don’t arrive until Dec. 1. That’s six games down the road.

The defense was stunningly awful in the second half against Detroit. It had numerous opportunities to shut down Matthew Stafford and failed time and again to do so.

The Lions were 5-for-6 on third down as they quickly overcame a 17-7 halftime deficit to take a 31-17 lead. Among them were a pair of third-and-6s and a third-and-7.

Good defenses – and it is assumed the Browns think they’ve played well enough to rate that adjective on that side of the ball – make plays. The Lions’ defense made those plays when they needed to in the final 30 minutes.

The Cleveland offense was oh-for-6 on third down in the second half before Brandon Weeden hooked up with Jordan Cameron on a third-and-10 during garbage time in the final minute. When the Lions needed a play, they got it. When the Browns needed a play, they whiffed. They found a way to lose this game.

Brian Hoyer is no longer around to put a charge into the Cleveland offense. And if Weeden continues to display the characteristics that hold him back from progressing to a status where his coach feels comfortable with him, then Rob Chudzinski has no choice but to take the clipboard away from Jason Campbell and stick him under center.

Suffice it to say the defense holds the key to how the Browns finish this season. Coordinator Ray Horton knows what it’s like to be in this position, having served as Arizona’s defensive coordinator last season with an offense that might be worse than the current one in Cleveland.

Horton needs to point out to his men the importance of this predicament, especially since the Cleveland offense will be facing some excellent defenses in the next five games. If the club's defense doesn’t match them, the road ahead becomes arduously long.

What looked promising as recently as the Buffalo victory in game five seems to have turned decidedly in the opposite direction. It’s a direction headed toward figurative disaster and yet another disappointing season.

Unless, of course, the offense stuns us all with some respectable play or, much more likely, the defense remembers how well it played in the first five games and regains that muscle memory.

The ever-optimistic (and idealistic) Chudzinski waxed philosophical after the Detroit loss. “It’s one game,” he said. “This is a long season. I expect it will improve.”

No it won’t.

~ Calvin Johnson didn’t play as much as he probably would have liked against the Browns Sunday, but his mere presence on the field seriously affected the manner in which the Browns defended the pass.

As it turned out, the National Football League’s best receiver was more of a decoy even though Matthew Stafford targeted him eight times. He caught only three (two of them for critical first downs on third down) for 25 yards and dropped two others, but helped open up the rest of the field for Kris Durham, Brandon Pettigrew and Joseph Fauria.

The 6-6 Durham was targeted 13 times and caught eight passes for 83 yards, most of them in the early stages when Johnson was a non-factor. But it was the production of Pettigrew and Fauria, the tight ends, that hurt the Browns the most.

Half of Pettigrew’s four grabs (in four targets) converted third downs. Fauria was pristine with three catches in three targets and three touchdowns. The undrafted rookie has been targeted nine times this season with seven receptions and five touchdowns.

~ There is no question the Browns need to get bigger in the secondary. They run out a relative bunch of midgets every game compared to the size of some of today’s receivers.

As good as he is, 5-11, 195-pound Joe Haden is no physical match for the 6-5, 240-pound Johnson. And 5-9, 185-pound Buster Skrine going up against the 6-6, 220-pound Durham is a joke.

For some reason, the Browns seems to like their secondary on the short side (relatively speaking). Pure athleticism is not going to work when you’re giving away five or six inches in height and 25 to 30 pounds in weight. It’s just not going to work.

A lot of other teams have recognized that fact and have moved in that direction. One of the main reasons the Seattle Seahawks are so good on pass defense is their large secondary of 6-3 Richard Sherman and 6-4 Brandon Browner at cornerback and 6-3 Kam Chancellor at strong safety.

If the Browns harbor any desire to get better on defense, they must address the secondary first and not accept anyone whose height begins with a 5.

~ As it stands right now, the Browns’ offense consists of Josh Gordon. That’s it.

For all practical purposes, there is no running game. Opponents know that and have begun to relentlessly attack the quarterback, which puts Weeden’s football life in jeopardy every time he takes the snap.

That, in turn, puts that much more pressure on an offensive line that has problems protecting its quarterback to begin with. Weeden does not have a quick release like Hoyer and has more difficulty pre-snap reading opposing defenses.

With the strange play calling of Norv Turner, the Browns have become predictable, which makes Gordon’s contributions that much more impressive. He has caught 25 passes for 429 yards in just four games since returning from a two-game suspension.

Even though frequently double-teamed, the second-year man knows how to get open and seems to be the only receiver Weeden trusts. Extrapolate his figures and Gordon is headed toward a 1,500-yard season in 14 games.

~ Notebook: For what it’s worth, referee Walt Anderson blew it when he disagreed with Chudzinski’s challenge and upheld the call on the field as an incomplete pass on what should have been a 26-yard sideline reception by Browns wideout Greg Little on a second-and-25 early in the fourth quarter. Little appeared to just barely get both feet in bounds, but apparently the replay was inconclusive. Had it been ruled a catch and Detroit coach Jim Schwartz challenged, he would have lost, too. . . .  On the Browns’ second series of the game, Detroit defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh deliberately lowered his head and buried the crown of his helmet in Weeden’s chest a split second after he delivered the pass. It should have been flagged. If you’re not going to call that, might as well get rid of the rule. . . . Special teams good/bad: Every one of Billy Cundiff’s kickoffs sailed out of the end zone and Spencer Lanning averaged 47.3 yards on his six punts. Now the bad. After his record-setting week against Buffalo, Travis Benjamin field three punts against the Lions for minus 10 yards. 

Second-half blues strike again

In the National Football League, it is required to play four quarters of good football in order to have a chance at winning the game. One quarter doesn’t cut it.

And that’s exactly what the Browns did Sunday as the Detroit Lions outplayed them in just about every facet of the game for three of those quarters and slapped them with a large dose of reality in the form of a 31-17 home loss.

A lot of the blame for this loss, which snapped a three-game winning streak, will be placed squarely in the lap of Brandon Weeden. But the quarterback had plenty of company. This was, in so many ways, a team loss.

During a 16-minute span that covered the tail end of the first quarter and all of the second, the Browns looked every bit like the better team as they raced out to a 17-7 halftime lead.

Weeden looked sharp – or as sharp as he can possibly be – with a pair of touchdown passes to Chris Ogbonnaya and Greg Little, the play calling was solid (especially the misdirection reverse by Travis Benjamin that gained 45 yards and woke the Browns from their first-quarter lethargy) and the defense muscled up and held the Lions to just 29 yards of total offense (24 on one play).

It was precisely at that point that some optimistic Browns fans said quietly, somewhat hopefully, to themselves, “Maybe, just maybe, this club is better than we thought even with Weeden at quarterback.”

But then the Browns, who have held a halftime lead in every game this season, were forced to play the second half.

And that was the turning point of the game.

It took the Lions a half to figure it out, but then they realized the Cleveland secondary could not keep up with their corps of receivers, a.k.a the Land of the Giants.

So Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, who threw five touchdown passes against the Browns in their last meeting in 2009, started targeting 6-5 Calvin Johnson, 6-6 Kris Durham, 6-5 Brandon Pettigrew and 6-7 Joseph Fauria.

Twenty-eight of 43 passes were thrown at the Gigantic Four as the relatively midget Browns secondary (only one member as tall as 6-0) scrambled to cover them. Fauria, a rookie, caught the only three passes thrown his way. All were in the end zone.

But it was in the trenches where the Lions whaled on the Browns, winning just about every battle in the second half. The offensive line kept Stafford clean almost all afternoon and gouged holes for the running game, compiling 262 of their 366 yards in the second half.

With one exception, the vaunted Cleveland pass rush didn’t get close enough to Stafford to sniff whatever deodorant he used. He had all kinds of time to pick and choose and would have wound up with better numbers had his receivers not dropped at least five passes.

The Cleveland play calling was awful. No, make that atrocious, especially in the final 30 minutes. Norv Turner called for only three runs (two over left guard by Willis McGahee for a total of four yards and an end around by Josh Gordon that gained zero yards) from scrimmage in 30 play calls.

And the Browns were either in the lead or close enough to the lead to not abandon the running game. Putting the game in the hands, arm and head of Weeden calls to question whether Turner has lost his touch as a coordinator.

The offense began the second half with a Jordan Cameron false start on the first play. And then it got worse with three straight three-and-outs and a four-and-out while the Lions scored on three of their first four possessions. It would have been all four except for an end-zone interception by Tashaun Gipson late in the third quarter.

The defense could not stop the Lions, who racked up two-thirds of their yards in the final 30 minutes and were not forced to punt. The Browns’ offense, meanwhile, was held to 130 yards, 72 of them in the final meaningless drive when they were down by 14 points.

For the first time this season, the Cleveland defense looked inept, almost helpless. It did not stop the Lions in the second half except for that interception. There was no pass rush, the tackling was sloppy and Reggie Bush actually looked good doing something he rarely does – run between the tackles.

Stafford picked on inside linebacker Craig Robertson all afternoon in pass coverage with Bush, who touched the ball 22 times and compiled 135 yards of offense and a receiving touchdown, and his large tight ends.

It was as though the Lions came out in the second half, took their game to a whole different level and the Browns, who did not have the talent to keep pace, never matched them.

It was the movable object (the Cleveland defense) against the unstoppable force (the Detroit offense). And when the Browns owned the ball in the second half, it was exactly the opposite. They became the immovable object and the Lions’ defense the stoppable force. They sacked Weeden just twice, but were in his face on virtually every play.

Defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley abused guards John Greco and Shawn Lauvao, who seemed to be working in reverse the entire game. And the only receiver who could get open was Gordon, who wound up with seven catches for 126 yards.

Cameron, with the exception of a couple of false starts, was a no-show until garbage time, when he picked up most of his 64 yards.

In the end, it boiled down to this: The Browns played one good quarter and scored 17 points in that quarter. The other three quarters belonged to the Lions in every facet.

Many fans will pin this one on Weeden, who threw two awful interceptions. The last one, when he was trying to chuck the ball out of bounds like a second baseman trying to shovel the ball sideways to the shortstop on a double play, looked like a play you’d see in a sandlot game.

But shouldn’t some credit, even grudgingly, be given the Lions for completing shutting down the Browns? They were clearly the better team. They made the Browns look bad. It wasn’t all Weeden.

With the next two games in Green Bay and Kansas City and a home date with Baltimore rounding out the first half of the schedule, the 3-3 Browns are now at a crossroads.

How they fare against three straight tough teams will determine just how far they have come and how much more they need to improve before they can truly believe they have taken that next step. The road to at least respectability is clearly loaded with significant hurdles.

Based on their performance Sunday against the Lions, the journey ahead looks mighty treacherous for the Browns. They could have made major strides with a victory against the Lions with at least a respectable performance.

They failed.

One big "if"can make the difference

The last time the Browns and Detroit Lions played a game of football, it produced one of the most entertaining games of the 2009 National Football League season.

It took place at Detroit’s Ford Field on Nov. 22 and featured a pair of 1-8 teams headed at breakneck speed toward graveyard status in the NFL. Two teams going nowhere rapidly. The only reward was the paychecks each man received for participating in one of the most meaningless games of that season.

And boy did they put on a show. It did not lack for drama, excitement and entertainment value. For a couple of teams scraping the bottom of the talent barrel, it provided the fans on hand and those at home watching on television more than their money’s worth.

At the outset, it looked like a mismatch, the Browns jumping out to a 24-3 lead late in the first quarter on Brady Quinn scoring passes to Mo Massaquoi, Chansi Stuckey and Joshua Cribbs. They functioned more like an 8-1 team than a 1-8 team and made the Lions look even worse than their 1-8.

But the Lions stormed back to make it a three-point game (27-24 Browns) game at the half with rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford connecting on three touchdown passes of his own. His fourth put the Lions ahead, 31-29, after three.

But the Browns regrouped and retaliated, retaking the lead with 5:44 left in regulation when Quinn hit tight end Michael Gaines with a short scoring pass and Jamal Lewis ran for the two-point conversion for a 37-31 Cleveland lead.

The Browns seemingly had the game wrapped up in the final seconds when Stafford’s desperate heave from the Cleveland 32-yard line, intended for wide receiver Calvin Johnson in the end zone, was picked off by safety Brodney Pool.

But Cleveland cornerback Hank Poteat was flagged for pass interference on Johnson and the Lions were awarded an untimed play. Stafford, who suffered shoulder and collarbone injuries when knocked to the ground on the play, limped to the sidelines and was replaced by Daunte Culpepper.

First-year Cleveland coach Eric Mangini then called consecutive timeouts to make certain there would be no confusion on the untimed play. That allowed Stafford to come back in for the final play. No timeouts and Culpepper would have been forced to run the untimed play.

Stafford lobbied Lions coach Jim Schwartz hard to return to the game. But before the coach could reply, the quarterback put on his helmet and trotted out to the huddle. “Matt’s best play of the day might have been eluding four team doctors to get back on the field,” said Schwartz.

Stafford proceeded to find tight end Brandon Pettigrew for the 1-yard score and Jason Hanson’s extra point gave the Lions the improbable 38-37 victory. It was just another dose of Murphy’s Law for the Browns, a bedeviled, star-crossed franchise since 1999.

So if Sunday’s meeting between these same two clubs at what used to be called Cleveland Browns Stadium turns out to be anything like that game, or at least half as entertaining, the fans are in for quite a treat. The biggest difference is that this time, both clubs enter with a 3-2 record.

Based solely on their records, they are headed in the opposite direction of four years ago, in Cleveland with almost an entirely different cast and in Detroit with some significant holdovers.

The Browns enter with a three-game winning streak. The last time they won four games in a row was, ironically, the final four outings of the 2009 season after starting the season at 1-11. The Lions, by the way, never won another game that season and finished 2-14.

The only starters back from that Browns team are offensive linemen Joe Thomas and Alex Mack, defensive lineman Ahtyba Rubin and linebacker D’Qwell Jackson. The roster since then has undergone two makeovers – the first by Mike Holmgren & Co. and the latest by Joe Banner & Co.

The Lions, meanwhile, return five starters from that game – Stafford, Johnson, Pettigrew, center Dominic Raiola and safety Louis Delmas. One sign of bad teams is constant roster maneuvering.

The key to this one is the health of Johnson. The 6-5, 240-pound perennial All-Pro is battling a knee injury that forced him to miss last Sunday’s loss in Green Bay. His status for this week is questionable with the Lions obviously being coy as to whether he’ll play.

The Lions, who lost No. 2 wideout Nate Burleson to a broken arm a couple of weeks ago, are a different football team with Johnson, arguably the best receiver in the NFL, in street clothes. With him, they are constant threat on offense. Without him, they are exceedingly vulnerable despite a very active defense.

Stafford, who completes 64% of his passes with eight touchdowns and only three interceptions, is a different quarterback without him. When he’s missing the luxury of throwing to the best in the game, he becomes ordinary throwing to the likes of Kris Durham Kevin Ogletree, Ryan Broyles and Micheal Spurlock.

With Cleveland defensive coordinator Ray Horton throwing all kinds of exotic looks at Stafford and his receivers, it wouldn’t surprise to see Stafford’s pick total rise.

Despite a strong and aggressive front seven, the Lions have permitted 125 yards a game on the ground and nearly 400 yards overall. Theoretically, that bodes well for a Cleveland running attack that has sputtered all season.

The Browns’ offensive line must neutralize Ndamukong Suh, Nick Fairley & Co. (Suh will be John Greco’s responsibility) and keep Brandon Weeden’s uniform clean. Suh and rookie Ziggy Ansah own 5½ of the Lions’ 10 sacks.

The biggest difference in the Detroit offensive arsenal this season is running back Reggie Bush, who missed week three with a knee injury. The elusive Bush has compiled 502 total yards on offense with two touchdowns. He is just as dangerous receiving the ball as he is running with it from scrimmage and is a constant threat to score.

The Lions, 1-2 on the road his season, tend to play undisciplined football away from home. They average nearly 74 yards a game in penalties, most of them courtesy of the defense.

Because of the uncertainty of Johnson, who has caught 21 passes for 312 yards and four touchdowns this season, the pick this week will come with an “if” attached. It should be a very close game with the defenses on both teams controlling the game.

If Johnson plays, the whole complexion of the game changes. That’s how important he is to not only the offense, but the entire game plan as well. If he plays, the offense stays on the field longer, enabling the defense to rest.

If he plays, Browns cornerback Joe Haden draws the assignment of trying to shut him down and force Stafford to look for other alternatives. Haden is having a strong season. This would be his sternest test.

But if Johnson doesn’t play, the effectiveness of the Detroit offense is reduced substantially. That makes a significant difference. So . . .

If Johnson is healthy enough to play, the Lions eke out a victory. If he shows up Sunday in street clothes, the Browns’ winning streak stretches to four. Make it:

Lions 20, Browns 17 (with Johnson)

Browns 21, Lions 9 (without Johnson)

Cop out? Of course. But that’s my pick(s) and I’m sticking to it (them?).

Monday leftovers (Friday edition)

The latest iteration of “Is There Really a Cleveland Sports Curse?” raised its homely little head Thursday night with the season-ending knee injury to Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer and screamed “YES!”

Just when it seemed as though the Browns might have gotten lucky with the emergence – at least for two games – of a local kid who began to look like a legitimate, game-winning quarterback, he goes down.

A mere two games are all we got from Hoyer, whose talent was dangled before us like a carrot on a stick and then ripped away. And now, we’re back to Brandon Weeden, whose style is the antithesis of Hoyer.

There has to be a curse of some sort. Why tease Browns fans with some real good quarterbacking and then yank it away before they had a chance to enjoy it? Makes no sense whatsoever.

All these years since the resurrection in 1999, Browns fans have waited patiently, almost longingly, for that day the quarterback of their dreams would finally arrive and bring back the good, old days.

Tim Couch was not the answer. Neither were Kelly Holcomb, Jeff Garcia, Trent Dilfer, Jake Delhomme, Charlie Frye, Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn and Colt McCoy. The litany of failure at that position has become legendary in the last 14 years.

For the most part, it’s been one double-digit losing season after another. That could have been avoided with good quarterbacking, which could have at least counterbalanced bad defense.

So when Brandon Weeden and his strong arm arrived in Berea last season, hopes rose that finally that bridge would be crossed. But a big arm, as it turned out, can be neutered by a failure to play the game properly between the ears.

That’s why Hoyer’s meteoric rise, in the wake of a thumb injury to Weeden, had taken on such a positive glow. He made the kind of throws not seen by Browns fans in at least 25 years. He actually took a moribund offense and breathed life into it.

It had taken on a storybook feel when his first two games resulted in victories, both of which were directly attributable to him. It was almost too good to be true – a hometown kid coming back to his hometown and actually making significant contributions.

A lot of people call Bernie Kosar a hometown product. Well, if you consider Boardman, Ohio, located about 60 miles southeast of Cleveland, a hometown, then yes, he qualifies.

But Hoyer is a product of the Cleveland school system. He is truly Cleveland, not suburban Youngstown. He was born and raised in the Cleveland area, went to high school there and yearned for the day he could return and play for his childhood team.

But when he did, it didn’t take long to be cruelly introduced to the Cleveland Sports Curse Thursday night against the Buffalo Bills. Just when his star was ascending, it was struck down with suddenness on what appeared to be a simple slide while scrambling.

Lifelong Cleveland sports fans are used to this. It’s not The Shot, The Fumble, The Drive, Red Right 88 or even The Decision. But it hurts nonetheless. And the hurt is felt deeply by those fans who must wonder by now just what Cleveland did to deserve this fate.

Hoyer, of course, will be back next season. What the roster will look like at that point is anyone’s guess. A lot will depend on what happens the rest of this season. But Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi have made it crystal clear a new quarterback will be wearing the Seal Brown and Orange in 2014.

Who knows? This might have been Hoyer’s only shot with the Browns. If so, the irony with which his career with the team ends is certain to be fodder for many conversations and subsequent arguments.

For now, though, it’s up to the next man up. That would be Weeden. So the Browns can now go back to the original plan to tank the season, which is where they were headed when Trent Richardson was traded to Indianapolis. Hoyer sort of messed things up by winning those two games, necessitating a Plan B. Back to Plan A.

~ Sometimes, it’s very important to pay attention to your coaches. Listen very carefully to what they tell you and then go out and do it. Take Buffalo Bills punter Shawn Powell, for example.

Thursday night, Powell punted the ball eight times for a 45.5-yard average. Not bad until you take into account that seven of them were returned by Travis Benjamin of the Browns, one winding up in the Buffalo end zone.

After Benjamin returned Powell’s first punt 57 yards to the Buffalo 31 late in the opening quarter, setting up the first of three Billy Cundiff field goals, one would think the coaching staff told Powell to kick the ball as far away from the punt return specialist as possible.

Either he wasn’t paying attention or developed a bad case of poor directional punting because two punts later, while trying to pin Benjamin to the right sideline, Powell missed by about 10 yards. In an obvious return left, Benjamin raced completely across the field, picked up several blocks, broke a couple of tackles and zigged and zagged 79 yards for the score to put the Browns ahead, 17-10.

For the evening, Benjamin wound up with a club-record 179 yards and provided the spark the club needed when Hoyer went down. As for Powell, the Bills cut him Friday.

~ It looks as though the Bills have a stud football player in rookie middle linebacker Kiko Alonso. He plays the game with reckless and total disregard for his body. He seemed to be everywhere against the Browns.

The Bills' second-round pick from Oregon has a nose for the ball you can’t teach. Whether it’s on a blitz or dropping into coverage, he almost always seems to be around the ball. He was in on 12 tackles and seemingly beat the offensive line off the ball most of the evening.

He made a play early in the fourth quarter that is certain to make the National Football League’s 2013 highlight reel. With the teams tied at 24-24 and the Browns facing a second and goal at the Buffalo 2 early in the fourth quarter, Alonso got a running start at the snap and launched himself over the both lines at the line of scrimmage.

He landed at the feet of Willis McGahee and dropped him for a four-yard loss. It was reminiscent of a similar play made over the years by Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu. If he can stay healthy, Alonso is going to be one hell of a player.

~Notebook: Hopefully, the Browns will never, ever, ever wear those all Brown uniforms again. But if they do, they need to put orange and white stripes down the side. . . . Cundiff is becoming a good friend of the defense. Of his seven kickoffs against the Bills, five were touchbacks and the others resulted in drives starting at the Buffalo 12 and 19. Nothing like giving the defense a long field. . . . On the other hand, maybe someone should tell Greg Little to remain in the end zone on kickoffs. He returned the first two against the Bills to the Cleveland 8 and 10. After a pair of touchbacks, he returned the last kickoff to the 26. . . . Ray Horton couldn’t have been pleased with his defense in the first three quarters, especially the tackling, or lack of it. That needs to be corrected. . . . The Browns caught a break when Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson left early with an injury. Joe Haden switched over to Robert Woods and shut him down. . . . Cornerback Buster Skrine played a solid game. He was active all evening with 12 tackles, a sack and a couple of passes defensed. . . . Left guard John Greco was a standout, too, pulling time and again to make running room for McGahee. 

Weeden deserves at least some credit

This winning football games thing is really catchy. How else can anyone explain Brandon Weeden’s performance Thursday night against the Buffalo Bills?

Brian Hoyer starts the game looking to become the first Browns quarterback ever to win his first three starts. Not even the great Otto Graham won his first three National Football League starts.

Weeden, finally healed from his thumb injury, is rightfully on the sideline as the pre-game hype centers on the young man from North Olmsted, whose play has rejuvenated not only the team, but the city.

Weeden was minding his own business, probably bemoaning his fate, when Hoyer scrambled out of the pocket on the second series of the game, picked up a first down near midfield and slid to protect himself.

Only problem was he tucked his left leg under his body, much like a baseball runner prepares for a pop-up slide. Except Hoyer did not pop up. His right knee appeared to give out.

So with 11:31 left in the opening quarter, Weeden all of a sudden found himself back under center and feeling the immediate wrath of the fans. They remembered he was the quarterback in the first two games of the season and did not look good in the two losses.

It seemed as though a lot of energy was sucked out of the old Cleveland Browns Stadium when Hoyer was helped to the dressing room. This, then, became Weeden’s game to win or lose. And the fans had little faith in him. As in zero.

But the Browns were on a roll. Two straight victories, a national television audience to entertain and there were still 56 minutes of football left. A lot can happen in that period of time.

So Weeden, with plenty of help from special teams and an opportunistic defense, went out and showed that the Browns can, indeed, win with him under center. It wasn’t the prettiest display of quarterbacking you’ll ever see, but he sure made plays when they needed to be made.

Travis Benjamin provided the first spark of the evening with a pair of punt returns, the first of which (59 yards) set up the first of Billy Cundiff’s three field goals. The second, during which the slight wide receiver ran about 120 yards, was officially a 79-yarder that wound up in the end zone.

In perhaps the most entertaining game the NFL Network has beamed to the country in a long time, the two clubs were tied twice and changed leads another two times.

The Bills scored the first 10 points of the game, the Browns tallied the next 17 to take the lead into the dressing room, the Bills came back to rack up the next 14 to take the lead again before the Browns ran off the game’s final 20 points for the 37-24 victory.

And for the first time since the 2001 season, the Browns breathe the rarefied air of first place in the AFC North all by themselves and will keep doing so until the weekend when Baltimore and Cincinnati play.

When Weeden entered the game, most of the fans, at least those who will admit it, probably thought the winning streak was over. No way the second-year quarterback could match what Hoyer had accomplished in the last two games.

But again, the winning thing is catchy and Weeden did not look all that bad. He had his moments when he looked indecisive, held the ball too long and took five sacks, triggering the boo birds. And he was late with some of his throws, lucky on two occasions that he wasn’t picked.

But overall, he looked more like the Weeden we saw last season in the club’s victories, connecting beautifully on deep throws. That’s his forte. That’s where he feels the most comfortable. He’s got the arm and is not afraid to show it off.

Thursday night, he received plenty of help from running back Willis McGahee, who did not put up great numbers, but ground up some very tough yards (72 on 26 carries) to make Weeden’s job a little easier. The quarterback did not make any glaring mistakes.

The Bills are most vulnerable through the air and Weeden, who was 13-of-24 for 197 yards and a touchdown, took full advantage, especially in the second half, just when it looked as though the Bills had put the clamps on the Cleveland offense.

Down, 24-17, midway through the third quarter, he connected with Greg Little on a 47-yard bomb to set up a 37-yard scoring dagger two plays later to Josh Gordon, who tipped the pass to himself, then juggled it for a step and half before clutching it in the end zone to bring the Browns even at 24-24 less than a minute after the Bills had taken the lead on a Fred Jackson one-yard run.

The twin bombs swiftly took away whatever momentum the Bills had achieved and swung it back to the Browns for the last time.

That’s when the Cleveland defense, which had struggled for the better part of the first three quarters, clamped down and finally took over the game. It sort of evened the quarterback score when rookie Buffalo quarterback E. J. Manuel suffered a knee injury during, what else, a scramble with about two minutes left in the third quarter.

Rookie Jeff Tuel replaced Manuel, but he’s no Brandon Weeden. The Bills had run the ball effectively up to that point (they wound up with 155 yards), but with Tuel under center, the Browns concentrated on shutting down the run, forcing him to throw the ball.

It resulted in three straight three and outs and a five and out, and just 16 yards of total offense. The game, for all practical purposes, was over for the Bills when Manuel went down.

A couple of Cundiff field goals gave the Browns a six-point lead and then strong safety T. J Ward poured the frosting on the victory cake with his first pick 6 as a pro, a 44-yarder with less than two minutes left.

It tuned out to be a contest to see which team had the better backup quarterback. And it was no contest.

The big question now is who will be at quarterback when the Browns welcome the Detroit Lions a week from Sunday. If Hoyer’s injury is as serious as it appeared, get used to Weeden all over again.

But at least this time, he’ll step under center knowing he can help win ball games. He proved that to himself -- and maybe a few fans -- against the Bills. 

Is 3-2 possible?

When Browns fans looked at the 2013 season schedule and saw the Buffalo Bills as the Game 5 opponent, they almost automatically thought victory.

After all, the Browns and Bills have slogged along the depths of their respective divisions for several seasons and the game is in Cleveland. So why not a victory? There’s something to be said for home-field advantage. 

But then the Bills last Sunday went out and did something the Browns have never done. They knocked off Joe Flacco and Baltimore Ravens, 23-20, at home, pilfering five Flacco passes.

The Browns haven’t been able to beat Flacco and the Ravens anywhere in the last 11 games. So you can believe the Bills will arrive in Cleveland for Thursday night’s nationally televised game in a highly confident mood.

Each club is 2-2, but has arrived at that record in different ways. The Browns, of course, have won their last two games. The Bills, meanwhile have maintained a pace of lose one, win one, lose one, win one. If that pattern continues, that makes the Browns game a lose one, right?

Yes if you believe strongly in winning and losing patterns for teams. And no if you believe every game has its own personality and winning and losing depends more on how well or poorly you play.

The Browns are on a highly unexpected high following victories over Minnesota and Cincinnati. The confidence quotient couldn’t be higher. Effusive praise for the quarterbacking of Brian Hoyer is on an unabated roll.

And the Cleveland defense? There aren’t enough adjectives in the English language to adequately describe how well it has played, even in the two losses. Fans are not used to seeing such outstanding play on that side of the ball.

The matchups in this one clearly favor the Browns. For example, the Buffalo defense has surrendered only one touchdown on the ground, but eight through the air. The Cleveland offense has scored seven touchdowns this season. All through the air.

The Bills defense yields 278 passing yards a game and 122 on the ground. The Browns’ offense is clearly passing centric with 991 yards and just 304 via the run. It wouldn’t surprise, though, to see offensive coordinator Norv Turner feature the run more against the Bills.

The unexpected strong running by Willis McGahee in the latter stages of the Cincinnati victory, plus the return of right guard Shawn Lauvao (a stronger run blocker than Oneil Cousins), might be enough to convince Turner that running the ball more might take some pressure off a strong Buffalo pass rush.

If the Browns become predictable, Bills defenders will disdain the threat of the run and fix their bull’s-eye on Hoyer. And with defensive linemen like Mario Williams and Marcell Dareus targeting the young Cleveland quarterback, slowing them down might not be a bad idea.

Williams and Dareus have combined for 8½ of the team’s 13 sacks and been extremely helpful in creating nine interceptions, which contribute largely to the team's +4 turnover ratio. Rookie linebacker Kiko Alonso has made four of those picks.

The Bills’ strong suit on offense is the run, which takes some of the pressure off rookie quarterback E. J. Manuel, who has thrown five scoring passes and been picked off just three times.

But running backs C. J. Spiller (ankle) and Frank Jackson (knee), who have combined for 456 yards, went down in the Baltimore loss and are listed as questionable, but with the national television spotlight shining brightly, look for at least one of them to play regularly. It’ll be a classic case of the irresistible force (Spiller and Jackson) against the immovable object (a Cleveland run defense that allows 79 yards a game).

Where the Bills have problems is in the passing game, where they average less than 200 yards a game. Stevie Johnson, Robert Woods and tight end Scott Chandler are Manuel’s favorite targets. Johnson most likely will see a lot of Joe Haden, so Woods and Chandler could get a lot of looks.

One of these games, the Browns’ lack of a running attack could come back and haunt them. They got lucky against Minnesota and Cincinnati when Hoyer bailed them out. But that won’t last much longer. They must get the running game untracked or else risk getting Hoyer hurt.

Guessing that Turner will ramp up the infantry game and Hoyer will incorporate the play-action pass quite liberally to confuse the Bills' defense and keep it off balance. And defensive coordinator Ray Horton will throw numerous exotic looks at Manuel to throw the rookie off all evening.

As improbable as this reads, especially after the first two weeks of the season, the Browns make it three in a row as they impress the national audience. Make it:

Browns 27, Bills 13

~ But wait. There’s a little more this week.

There’s more to Fozzy Whittaker than the agate line in transactions that announced the Browns had claimed the running back off waivers from the San Diego Chargers. Here’s the lowdown on how the new kick returner got his name.

Fozzy is a nickname. His real name is Foswhitt. That’s right, Foswhitt Whittaker.

While a member of the Chargers, the 5-10, 202-pounder from the University of Texas wrote a blog piece for Chargers.com explaining just how he got the nickname of Fozzy.

In it, he revealed his father, Foster, wanted to name him Foster Jr. His mother said no. So they compromised. They took the Fos from Foster and the whitt from Whittaker and combined them.

Fozzy is short for Foswhitt.

And now you know the rest of the story.