Monday leftovers

Never in the short history of the new Cleveland Browns has so much pre-game buildup ever been met with such extreme disappointment.

The huge letdown that was the 30-0 mauling the Cincinnati Bengals hung on the Browns Sunday falls into two camps.

On one side, there are those fans of Brian Hoyer who most likely enjoyed every minute of Johnny Manziel leading a Cleveland offense that was spanked as it had almost never been before.

Some people would call it schadenfreude, or as the dictionary defines it, the pleasure derived from the misfortune of others. And the Browns’ performance against the Bengals belched a series of misfortunes.

On the other side, the Manziel groupies and supporters quietly slinked as far into the background as possible until the next game. Their man, the one they’ve been trumpeting all season, let them down just when it seemed he was primed and ready to do the opposite.

After all, hadn’t the Texas Whiz Kid relieved Hoyer in the Buffalo loss and immediately guided his offense to a touchdown? It was almost too easy. It was also too little, too late, but at least the offense showed life.

So when Mike Pettine finally anointed his rookie quarterback as the starter for the Bengals game, many supporters, except maybe for the Hoyer backers, jumped on the hype wagon and pretty much declared the future was now.

The situation was perfect. The Browns’ offense was reeling under Hoyer’s leadership. There was still a chance for the playoffs. And the Bengals, who they knocked off in early November, were next up on the schedule.

All week long, the world of professional football heralded the professional starting debut of Manziel, the mercurial and dynamic young man who played for two dazzling years at Texas A&M.

But this is the National Football League, his detractors cautioned. This is where men play the game. Let’s not get too excited about him. He hasn’t done anything yet, Merril Hoge, one of ESPN’s numerous resident critics, went so far as to call Manziel a sixth-round talent.

After the abysmal way Manziel and his offense performed against the Bengals, that might be considered a compliment. In his wildest dreams, though, the rookie never would have imagined such a performance.

It was embarrassing. It was thorough. Murphy’s Law, a frequent visitor to the Factory of Sadness over the years, spun furiously out of control. Whatever could go wrong did go wrong and not just on one side of the ball. It was a 60-minute beatdown by the Bengals.

And though he’ll never admit it, at least publicly, Manziel was embarrassed. He looked at his performance clinically after the game. “I felt like it was a fail on my part for the position and it’s tough,” he said. “It’s going to take time. It’s a process for sure.”

Notice he did not blame anyone but himself for the loss, although he had plenty of reason to. His offensive line was awful and that’s being complimentary. His receivers had difficulty getting open all afternoon.

The two interceptions? Both on him. No question about it. Both were poorly thrown, as was a third pick that was nullified by a Cincinnati penalty. He was a rookie, said Pettine, who played like a rookie.

“I’m not using the rookie excuse,” Manziel said. “It’s not me . . . I needed to play better.”

He labeled it a process. Others would call it growing pains. But he definitely has time on his side. He’s not going anywhere. He’ll be at the helm again next Sunday in Carolina and the season finale in Baltimore. The Browns want to see him as much of him as possible.

Hopefully, the coaching staff in the next two weeks will put him in a much better position to at least have a chance of competing. The game plan against the Bengals was way too predictable.

Three games is not nearly enough of a tableau by which Manziel can be judged. Just like they would not be enough even if he had stunned the pro football world and starred in a victory over the Bengals. It’s easy to rush to judgment in just one game. In this case, ‘tis better to slow down.

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It sure looked as though offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan had no idea how to play to Manziel’s strengths. Rarely did he roll out the rookie and when he did, patterns run by the receivers were either well covered by the time he was ready to throw or broken down and he had to throw the ball away.

It was as if Shanahan drew up an entirely different looking offense for Manziel than he did Hoyer. None of the pass plays looked even vaguely familiar. Playing to his strengths means getting rid of the ball quickly. We saw maybe one naked wide receiver screen, and no slants, crossing patterns or seam routes.

Even on the 10 throws he completed, Manziel did not look comfortable and in rhythm. He used his feet to escape a few sacks and extend plays, but in general made the Bengals’ defense look better than it was.

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Microcosms of a victory . . .

When the Bengals’ stalled at the Cleveland 37-yard line on their second drive of the third quarter, they faced a fourth-and-1. Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis eschewed a 55-yard field-goal attempt by Mike Nugent or a short punt by Kevin Huber and decided to play big-boy football. Offensive coordinator Hue Jackson called for a sneak by quarterback Andy Dalton, who gained a couple of yards with ridiculous ease on the tiring Cleveland defense.

And to show you how everything rolled the Bengals’ way all afternoon, consider this: When Cincinnati running back Jeremy Hill fumbled the ball at his 31-yard line early in the fourth quarter, the ball rolled perfectly to Bengals center Clint Boling as if it was a magnet.

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The Browns did not record their initial first down of the game until 4:18 remained in the second quarter. It was actually a fourth-down run of two yards by Isaiah Crowell on a fourth-and-1 at the Cleveland 39.

At that point with the Bengals leading, 20-0, and his team showing no life whatsoever, Pettine must have figured, “What the hell. I’m going for it. What do I have to lose? I’m already behind, 20-0.”

Four plays later, Cincinnati linebacker Rey Maualuga picked off Manziel, but Bengals defensive end Wallace Gilberry was offside on the play and the Browns retained position on what turned out to be their longest drive of the afternoon. Two plays later, Adam Jones picked off Manziel in the end zone when the quarterback’s throw to Taylor Gabriel floated in and arrived late.

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This is how mindlessly the Browns played Sunday. Following the two-minute warning in the first half, they had to take a timeout because they had only 10 men on the field. Turns out fullback Ray Agnew was the missing Brown. That is on the coaching staff. It was embarrassment upon embarrassment upon embarrassment.

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Notebook: The Browns wore their all Brown uniforms against the Bengals. Here’s a suggestion; Burn those unis and never ever wear that combination again. And not because the Browns lost. I’d say that even if they had won. That combination conjures up too many dirty thoughts. Use your imagination. . . . Didja catch the look on Jimmy Haslam III’s face when the television cameras zeroed in on the owner  in the second quarter? Couldn’t tell whether it was extreme glum or abject anger on his face. . . . Considering how often the Bengals mocked his famous money rub, Manziel should strongly consider retiring it. Too juvenile for the NFL. . . . Barkevious Mingo played his best game as a Brown. The outside linebacker had six solo tackles among his eight overall. But it was his roughing-the-passer penalty on a third-down incompletion on the first series of the game that prolonged the drive that ultimately led to the Bengals’ first touchdown. Good call, too. It was a helmet-to-helmet hit and didn’t have to be. 

A thorough knockout

Ugly doesn’t even begin to describe what happened to the Browns Sunday afternoon in the home finale of the 2014 season.

In fact, there probably is no word in the English language that adequately and properly describes what took place between the hours of 1 o’clock and 4 o’clock.

To say the Cincinnati Bengals dominated the Browns in the second meeting of the Battle of Ohio this season would be a huge understatement. So would manhandled.

The Bengals, embarrassed at home by the Browns on a Thursday night in early November in front of a national television audience, administered a massive dose of revenge, pulverizing them at will all afternoon.

The 30-0 final in no way indicates how thorough the Bengals eviscerated their in-state rivals. They did to the Browns what the Browns did to them all those weeks ago . . . and then some.

Just about every move the Browns tried on offense failed miserably and made Johnny Manziel’s starting debut a nightmare. The defense had few answers for a Bengals offense that was the antithesis of what it saw down in Cincinnati.

It started early with the Bengals taking 7:07 off the clock on the opening drive, rookie Jeremy Hill scoring the first of his two touchdowns from two yards out to climax a 14-play, 81-yard drive.

It ended with the Bengals, moving the ball another 86 yards with ridiculous ease on their final drive of the day in the final quarter, knocking another 8:44 off the clock, again in 14 plays, with third-string running back Rex Burkhead adding to the embarrassment from 10 yards out.

That’s 167 yards of real estate that produced 14 points in 28 plays and burned nearly 16 minutes in time of possession. To put that in perspective, the Browns gained 107 net yards total and ran only 38 plays in 21 minutes of possession time.

In between those long Cincinnati possessions, the Browns looked worse on offense than an expansion team playing its first exhibition game. They were at best inept and colossally clueless at worst.

The first-place Bengals arrived at the ballpark ready to play a football game, prepared to the hilt to avenge their embarrassing loss to the Browns at home. The Browns, now buried in the AFC North cellar, arrived at the ballpark ready to do anything but.

It was as though they took the Bengals for granted in this one the same way the Bengals took them for granted in the first game. The Bengals Sunday were the epitome of precision on offense and played defense with a snarl.

Everything seemed to work for them. Nothing worked for Cleveland. Why? Because the Bengals physically abused them all afternoon. The Bengals slapped them around and they took it.

It was as complete a game as could possibly be played in an NFL game. The game plan on both sides of the ball was carried out to perfection. The Browns cooperated by playing submissive football.

To give you some idea of how absolutely dominant the Bengals were, consider the following: The Browns recorded a puny five first downs (two less than the number of Spencer Lanning punts). Two were gained by penalty. Only three first downs the normal way in 10 possessions is not just embarrassing, it’s almost unheard of.

The Browns ran only four plays in Cincinnati territory all afternoon. They all came as part of a 10-play, 51-yard drive that ended with the first of Manziel’s two interceptions (a third was wiped out by a Cincinnati penalty), Adam Jones stepping in front of Taylor Gabriel at the goal line to make the pick.

Only one other drive lasted longer than three plays (six for 26 yards) and that ended with a Lanning punt. That’s it. That’s the sum and substance of the positive Browns’ yardage on this afternoon. 

Just two possessions lasted more than three plays. That’s right. Seven three-and-outs in nine drives, not including the brief final one with just seconds to play. Take a bow, coaching staff.

It was truly a Factory of Sadness for Manziel and an offense that should be ashamed of its performance. Nothing went right for the rookie quarterback with the national media looking on in his much-anticipated debut game. He was awful. But he had plenty of company.

The overrated Cleveland offensive line gave him shaky pass protection. He was sacked three times and harassed on almost every dropback. And there was very little room for Isaiah Crowell and Terrance West to run.

It was as though the Bengals had stolen the Browns’ playbook and knew exactly what was going to unfold on every play on both sides of the ball. The Cincinnati offense bullied the Cleveland defense mercilessly and relentlessly.

No matter how many times the Bengals ran a counter play, the Browns couldn’t stop it. Hill picked up most of his yards on the play, which sees the backside offensive tackle and guard pull and lead the play on the opposite side of the formation. The running back takes one step either way, then counters and follows his blockers.

Hill, who belittled the Cleveland defense following the first game, backed up his words with a 25-carry, 148-yard afternoon and the two scores after being held to 55 yards in the first game. “They were worse than I thought to be honest with you,” he said then and proved himself correct this time around.

Giovani Bernard shredded the Cleveland defense for 79 more yards on the ground and 24 through the air as the Cincinnati ground game compiled 244 yards.

Now the cry will come that coach Mike Pettine, looking for any spark to revitalize his team, should never have benched Brian Hoyer for Manziel. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Browns were a team heading nowhere with Hoyer in charge and it was about time for the coaching staff to find out what they had in Manziel. But they never expected this. As it turned out, they couldn’t have picked a worse weekend to find out.

That doesn’t mean Manziel will resume his seat on the bench and Hoyer thrown a lifeline. Not with a three-game losing streak and all hopes for the playoffs extinguished.

Right now, the Browns are playing probably the worst offensive football in the entire NFL. It’s safe to say it can’t get any worse than this from an offensive standpoint. Can’t imagine anything worse than what the fans were forced to witness against the Bengals.

Hoyer is not the future of this team. Manziel is. He needs to play out the season. If he is not starting next Sunday in Carolina against the Panthers, then the problem with the Browns does not lie with the players.

Not the same Bengals

So why are the Cincinnati Bengals barely hanging on to first place in the AFC North? Defense. Or lack of same. That’s why.

Mike Zimmer, the architect of a very solid Bengals defense the past several years, is now the head coach in Minnesota. And it appears he took with him the Bengals’ ability to stop the opposition with any regularity.

Yes, they bring an 8-4-1 record into their game Sunday in Cleveland against the Browns. And that tie, a 37-37 deadlock with Carolina in week six, is what separates them from the rest of the pack.

A sharp decline on the defensive side of the football is reason for concern for coach Marvin Lewis, whose club has scored eight less points overall than the opposition this season. In their four losses, the Bengals have been outscored, 136-41, by New England, Indianapolis, the Browns in week 10 and last Sunday by Pittsburgh.

Paul Guenther, promoted from linebackers coach to defensive coordinator to replace Zimmer, does not have his predecessor’s magic touch. Far from it, in fact. And that buoys hopes for the Browns in Johnny Manziel’s debut as a starter in the National Football League.

This season, for example, the Bengals have allowed the opposition 292 first downs in 13 games. Last season, they surrendered only 282. They have coughed up 1,694 rushing yards this season; 1,544 all last season. With three games left this season, the Bengals have permitted 3,305 passing yards compared to 3.623 last season.

And here’s the best – and most alarming – statistic for Bengals fans to chew on: Cincinnati has sacked opposing quarterbacks just 15 times this season. Last season, that number was 43. Defensive end Carlos Dunlap, who will face Browns offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz, has six of them.

One of the main reasons for the drop is the absence of inside linebacker Vontaze Burfict, who has missed most of the season with a knee injury. He played only five games, but the Bengals won three and tied one. Earlier this week, he was placed on season-ending injured reserve.

The Browns exposed the Bengals’ poor run defense by peeling off 170 yards on the ground in their nationally televised 24-3 victory on a Thursday night in the first game in Cincinnati in week 10.

All three running backs – Ben Tate, Isaiah Crowell and Terrance West – scored touchdowns. The Browns controlled the ball for 36 minutes and Brian Hoyer was a workmanlike 15-of-23 for 198 yards and no turnovers.

The Cleveland defense, meanwhile, began to hit its stride with that game, limiting the Bengals to just 165 total net yards, picking off three Andy Dalton passes – two by Buster Skrine – and recovering a fumble.

There is no question that defense is the Bengals’ Achilles’ heel and the switch to Manziel by coach Mike Pettine certainly gives Lewis, whose forte is defense, and his defensive coaching staff something else to think about.

Considering how successful Hoyer was against it earlier this season and in his lone game against the Bengals last season before tearing his ACL, the quicker and much more unpredictable Manziel presents new and quite different problems.

Expect the Bengals, as most teams do with rookies in the infancy of their careers, to throw as much at Manziel as possible. Not only from a pressure standpoint, but from a disguise standpoint as well. The best defense against a rookie quarterback is to crawl inside his head and make him think.

As for the Bengals on offense, Dalton is not having a typical Andy Dalton season. His completion percentage (63.7) is up slightly, but he has thrown only 15 touchdown passes in 13 games and averages an interception a game.

He is 4-3 against the Browns in his career, but has lost three of the last four games, including the last two in Cleveland. In those seven games, he has recorded double-digit passing days on three occasions.

His worst game by far this season was the loss to the Browns when he completed only 10 of 33 passes for a paltry 86 yards and the three picks and racked up just 11 first downs. However, he rallied his team to reel off a three-game win streak before the Steelers blasted them, 42-21, last Sunday.

In the latter loss, Dalton and wide receiver A. J. Green combined for 11 completions and 224 of the quarterback’s 302 yards and a touchdown. Green and Dalton hooked up only three times (in 10 targets) for just 23 yards in this season’s first meeting. You can bet Green will look for revenge against Browns cornerback Joe Haden.

It will be interesting to see how often the Bengals, who go to the ground 47% of the time, choose to run against the Browns. In their first meeting, rookie running back Jeremy Hill was held to only 55 yards in 12 carries, but was not impressed by the Cleveland defense.

“They were worse than I thought to be honest with you,” Hill said after that game. “They didn’t do anything special to me. I mean, respect to them, they won the game. But that’s all I’ll give them.” Sounds like a challenge to the Browns’ defense.

The question now becomes whether Hill will get a chance at backing up his words the second time around. In the last couple of weeks, he and Giovani Bernard have pretty much evenly split carries. Word out of Cincinnati now is that offensive coordinator Hue Jackson wants to place the run workload on just one back.

Whoever that is – or if that’s Jackson just messing with the Cleveland defensive brain trust – could pose a problem for the Browns’ game plan. They are two different types of runners. Hill is bigger and stronger; Bernard is quicker, slightly faster and a better pass receiver.

Even though the switch has been made at quarterback by the Browns, it would not surprise to see them stick to the formula that won the first game. Run the ball on offense, concentrate on shutting down the run on defense and make Dalton throw.

Manziel’s flashy manner, highly anticipated by the fans, probably will be tempered somewhat unless circumstances dictate something different. However, his propensity to take off and run with the ball gives the Cleveland ground game another dimension.

This will not be the lopsided game we saw in Cincinnati. It will be much closer with the Bengals bringing pressure from just about everywhere on defense to confuse and throw Manziel off his game. Play mind games with his reads by mixing and disguising coverages. His ability to adjust will be a key.

On defense, I don’t see the Browns shutting down Dalton a second time. Don’t expect the Dalton-Green combination to bomb again. Haden, who had his problems with Indianapolis’ T. Y. Hilton last Sunday, won’t have it any easier this Sunday.

In close games this season, the Bengals have been extremely competitive. That will continue Sunday. Dalton throws a pair of touchdown passes, Hill scores once and runs for 95 yards, the Cincinnati defense harasses Manziel into two interceptions and drops him twice, making his starting debut memorable and forgettable at the same time, and completely shuts down the Cleveland running game. Make it:

Bengals 21, Browns 10

Manziel now the man

Now that he has switched gears on his quarterback, Mike Pettine must not attach a leash to rookie Johnny Manziel in his starting debut this Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals.

It’s only fair because the Browns’ coach did not attach one to Brian Hoyer when he had every reason to in the Indianapolis loss last Sunday.

Manziel must be allowed to quarterback the Browns unfettered the rest of the way this season. Good, bad or otherwise, he should be given every opportunity to prove himself as a National Football League quarterback.

In elevating Manziel to the top spot, Pettine said, “This decision is really not about Brian Hoyer or Johnny Manziel. It is about the Cleveland Browns. We are trying to make decisions we feel are in the best interests of the team.”

If that is, indeed, the case and it’s all about the Browns, why didn’t Pettine make the obvious move in the Colts game when the ineptitude of the offense throughout the game all but begged for a change?

The coach made such a move in the loss to Buffalo the week before. He said his team needed a spark at the time and Manziel provided it. Then he sat that spark back down in favor of a quarterback who hasn’t played well since week six.

Reaching for a reason to justify his switch to Manziel, Pettine said, “Johnny has worked very hard to earn this opportunity and it will be very important for every member of the offense to elevate their play for us to obtain the desired result.”

Question: What makes Manziel any better this week than he was last week? Why is he so much better that he is now ready to take on the NFL with the full confidence of the coaching staff?

Answer: He’s not any better today than he was yesterday. Or the day before. Or the day before that. And the coaching staff is crossing its fingers he doesn’t do anything stupid.

But you know he will. He’ll make rookie mistakes. It’s bound to happen. Rookies make mistakes. That’s a fact. They just don’t step in and perform as though they’ve played the game for several seasons. Pettine will have to live with that.

Count on Manziel to dazzle on one play and puzzle on the next. He’ll make plays that will have you shaking your head and wondering, “How did he do that?” And then he’ll make plays that will make you say, “What in the world was he thinking?” Get used to it.

He’ll be dynamic, exasperating, unpredictable and highly competitive. And you will be riveted to everything he does.

The only reason Manziel has been tapped to start the rest of the season is because Hoyer has become a bad quarterback and is hurting his team. The 7-6 Browns could very easily be challenging for the AFC North lead with at least a 9-4 record with any decent play from the most important position on the team.

Pettine tried to soften the blow for Hoyer, suggesting the deposed starter would have played better with help from his teammates. “The quarterback is only as good as his supporting cast, so when the guys around him play well, Brian plays well,” he said. “It’s rare that a quarterback can transcend his supporting cast.”

That’s right. Blame his teammates. That will sit well in the locker room (sarcasm intended). Members of the offense will love that little quote. Many of them have been around long enough to know bad quarterbacking when they see it.

Most notable are the receivers who are open and either overthrown or have to reach back for passes. And the offensive linemen who have given him solid protection for the most part only to see him miss wide-open receivers.

How about the defense that turns the ball over in plus territory for Hoyer only to watch him squander those opportunities game in and game out. Twenty turnovers in the last eight games have produced 39 points.

Is that what Pettine means when he says Hoyer plays well when those around him do, too?

Most of the team sees what most of us see: A quarterback whose accuracy has plummeted to the point where he is totally ineffective. Opposing defenses try to shut down the Browns' running game, daring Hoyer to throw the ball. Now they've got the mercurial Manziel to deal with.

Up to now, Pettine managed to justify keeping Hoyer under center, citing his record as a starter. After the Colts’ loss, though, he has run out of reasons. He really had no choice.

And now that the coach finally has made that choice, the circus that always seems to accompany Manziel will open its turnstiles for at least the next three games as the national sports spotlight shines on Cleveland.

For better or worse, Manziel has now become the face of this franchise. And he didn’t have to do anything special to achieve that status.

Bottom line: Manziel did not earn the starting job. Hoyer lost it.

Monday leftovers

So why did Mike Pettine choose to stick with Brian Hoyer Sunday against Indianapolis when it was obvious the Browns quarterback left his A game (B & C games, too) at home?

Why, when it became painfully apparent the Colts were in the game only because of Hoyer’s ineptitude, did Pettine stubbornly refuse to even think about benching him for Johnny Manziel?

Probably because the Browns led the entire game despite Hoyer’s horrific play. And coaches, for some stupid reason, do not want to disturb the karma a lead produces and change quarterbacks when they have the lead.

Never mind that in this case the quarterback was the reason the Colts not only crept back into the game, but ultimately won it. By then, it was too late for Hoyer to make a difference.

His badness for practically the entire game seemed to be excused by Pettine as long as the Browns owned the lead his defense provided. That kind of flawed thinking proves, at least on this occasion, that this Cleveland coach doesn’t have the best interests of his team in mind.

The offense made only three first downs (one via a penalty) in the second half. That’s not just embarrassing. It’s beyond pathetic.

The line between winning and losing is so slim, so perilous, all it takes is one little mistake and poof, the opportunity is gone. Just like that. Browns fans witnessed that up close and personal Sunday against Indianapolis.

National Football League teams play only 16 games in the regular season. There are just 16 shots at winning as many games as possible. The margin for error is the slimmest of all the major sports.

That’s why it is incumbent on Pettine, or whoever owns the title of Cleveland Browns Head Coach, to make certain they think things through thoroughly, be prescient and do what they believe is best for the team.

By adamantly staying with Hoyer, Pettine did not do that Sunday against the Colts. Why he chained Manziel to the bench staggers the mind. He could not have believed, even as he watched him unravel, that Hoyer gave him the best shot at winning that game.

It is easy to second guess Pettine, who seems to be falling in line with other slow-thinking coaches the Browns have hired, coaches like Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini and Pat Shurmur, who failed to get it.

Sometimes, tough decisions are required when it comes to the good and welfare of the team. Pettine failed in that regard Sunday. He had the chance to do something and demurred. It cost him and his team, which deserved better from its coach.

He called the loss a “kick in the gut” after the game. He is too pig-headed to realize it was a self-inflicted kick he could easily have avoided by making the only move possible.

With losses like Sunday’s, it’s only a matter of time before Jimmy Haslam III,  if he already hasn’t done so, steps in and wonders just what the hell is going on. He’s been around football long enough to know something is wrong here.

The owner and his team’s fan base fans have a right to know why the club keeps losing games it should be winning and what is going to be done about it. Pettine better have the correct answers because this season is slipping away rapidly.

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So who will Pettine go with at quarterback next Sunday when the Cincinnati Bengals arrive to help the Browns close out the home season? (This, by the way, is being written before Pettine names his starter.)

Consider this: Hoyer has started two games against the Bengals in his brief NFL career as a starter and won both. Perfect justification for the coach to remain with Hoyer as the man. That’s why I believe he will opt again for Hoyer.

Joe Thomas once again probably will lobby for Hoyer and suggest that by choosing Manziel over Hoyer, the coach is conceding the rest of the season. That ploy worked for the Colts game and will again.

What Thomas fails to realize is that the Browns are going nowhere fast with Hoyer in charge. If he doesn’t see that after what went down against the Colts, he never will. Switching to Manziel will not be change for the sake of change. It will be change for the betterment of the team.

It’s nice that Pettine talks with the players regarding personnel decisions such as this. Nothing wrong with keeping the lines of communication open. But the players should have zero influence in the ultimate coaching decision.

Thomas would be better off trying to recapture the quality of play that has gained him recognition as one of the best offensive tackles in the league. His pass blocking has been subpar (for him), not to mention the high number of holding penalties and false starts that have been costly.

Players ultimately are paid to play. Coaches are paid to coach and in Pettine’s case make the major decisions. There should be a clear line separating the two. By allowing himself to be influenced by Thomas, Pettine paid a heavy price last Sunday.

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Josh Gordon was targeted only seven times against the Colts after being the main man 29 times in his first two games back.

Pettine mentioned something about the wide receiver rotation and wanting to “get Josh’s reps down a little bit and kind of balance it our a little more.” That’s right. Limit your best receiver in favor of others who might – or might not – help. In this case, “down a little bit” meant cutting in half.

Another case of football coaches outthinking themselves. “Let’s make ourselves weaker for the greater good. Let’s limit someone who is the best playmaker on the team. Yeah, that’s the ticket.” Sheesh.

*          *          *

There is no question Paul Kruger is playing much better than he did last season. The outside linebacker seems revitalized in the Pettine defense that allows him to do something he does very well – put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. But he has to learn to play the game the correct way or pay the price.

When referee Clete Blakeman flagged Kruger for roughing-the-passer following a 10-yard sack on a third-and-10 at the Cleveland 47-yard line early in the third quarter Sunday, a great hue and cry arose throughout Browns Nation. Instead of punting, the Colts were awarded a first down, sustaining a drive that eventually led to an Adam Vinatieri field goal.

I looked at that play at least a half dozen times to make certain the call was not bogus and came to one conclusion. Just before planting Andrew Luck, Kruger lowered his helmet and speared the Colts quarterback with the crown. All he had to do was drop his shoulder and wrap up Luck. He led with his helmet and was properly flagged.

If someone had nailed Hoyer in the same manner, the same hue and cry would have arisen but against the player who committed the infraction.

*          *          *

I did have a problem, however, with the pass interference flag Buster Skrine drew on the first-and-10 pass Luck threw to tight end Dwayne Allen on the Colts’ final drive, the one that led to the winning touchdown.

Considering the physical play the officials allowed the two secondaries all afternoon, the piddly call on Skrine, who gave away six inches and 70 pounds to Allen, could have been overlooked. The 35-yard penalty was a major reason the Colts moved so quickly into scoring territory.

*          *          *

When Karlos Dansby went down with a knee injury a few weeks ago, I forecast trouble for the defense. I didn’t think Craig Robertson would be an adequate replacement. As it turns out, he has been outstanding in Dansby’s absence and one of the major reasons the defense has played so well the last several games.

Robertson, playing perhaps his best football since joining the Browns, seems to be in the right place at the right time, has a nose for the football, appears to get his guys in the best position to make plays and has improved his tackling.

*          *          *

Notebook: Can’t blame Hoyer for the first-quarter end zone interception. The ball hit tight end Jim Dray in the hands and the fell off right into the awaiting hands of Colts safety Mike Adams. . . . Not sure if anyone noticed, but veteran Indianapolis receiver Reggie Wayne dropped three passes Sunday. . . . Nice to see Jordan Cameron back in the lineup. The tight end needs to shed some of the rust he accumulated with his five-game absence due to a concussion. . . . Billy Cundiff is thisclose to being unemployed. He has missed too many makeable field goals this season.

An offensively offensive afternoon

Don’t even think about it. Not for a second. Not for a minute.

There is only one side of the ball to blame for the Browns' extremely disappointing 25-24 loss Sunday to the Indianapolis Colts at the building formerly known as Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Don’t blame the defense. Don't blame the special teams.

No, put this one squarely on the shoulders of an offense that squandered opportunity after opportunity and let the Colts stay in a game they had no business winning and escape with a victory.

In the past, it’s the defense that made mistakes costing the Browns victories. Not this time. The defense played great. Yes, great. The Indianapolis offense was on its heels most of the afternoon.

The Cleveland offense, on the other hand, was pathetic.

How can one say that after Cleveland blew a 21-7 lead midway through the third quarter? Easy. The Browns’ best offense against the Colts was their defense.

Two interceptions, including a pick six by Justin Gilbert; two fumble recoveries, one for a touchdown by Craig Robertson following a strip sack; three sacks; a half dozen knockdowns of Andrew Luck after delivering the ball; and a dozen hurries should not add up to a loss.

Yes, the defense gave up yards less grudgingly in the second half after a terrific first half, during which the Colts gained only 117 of their 362 yards. And yes, it was solid on third down, limiting the visitors to just one conversion in eight attempts in the first 30 minutes.

But it was also gassed by the fourth quarter because the offense couldn’t stay on the field. In the second half, that offense ran 25 plays in seven possessions and produced 63 yards, three first downs (one by penalty), a measly three points and five punts with Brian Hoyer at quarterback. Of the 63 yards, one was a 20-yard completion to Andrew Hawkins.

In the third quarter alone, three possessions yielded a trio of three-and-outs and 12 yards. Only Gilbert’s 21-yard pick-6 that made it 21-7 saved it from being a total disaster.

Of the Browns’ 14 possessions, only one produced as many as 10 plays and that resulted in a missed Billy Cundiff field goal. A nine-play drive turned into the only offensive touchdown of the day, a nine-yard Isaiah Crowell dash capping a 77-yard drive that gave the Browns a 14-7 lead late in the first half.

Much like last week’s loss, the Cleveland offense couldn’t stand prosperity. On the first Indianapolis possession of the second half, Paul Kruger recovered a fumble by Indy wide receiver T. Y. Hilton at the Colts’ 38. Three plays and a false start by Mitchell Schwartz later, Spencer Lanning was in punt formation for one of his nine punts.

Then following a Jim Leonhard interception the Cleveland safety brought back to the Colts' 23 early in the fourth quarter, three plays gained five yards before Cundiff nailed a 39-yard field goal when a touchdown was needed.

And now if Mike Pettine in his heart of hearts honestly believes Hoyer is the quarterback who gives his team the best chance to win on offense, he is officially delusional. His awful quarterbacking is costing the Browns victories.

The head coach last week credited Johnny Manziel with providing a spark in the loss to Buffalo. Well, the Browns desperately needed another spark against the Colts Sunday and Manziel never removed the garment that kept him warm on the sidelines.

What in the world was Pettine waiting for? The Brian Hoyer who really looked like a National Football League quarterback in the first five games of the season? Perhaps the one who was mistake-free in the upset of Cincinnati a few weeks ago?

That guy is long gone. Bad Brian, who heard the dissatisfaction of the fans throughout the second half, kept coming out drive after drive after drive only to fail time after time after time.

This was a game not only could have been won, it should have been won. With any kind of coaching, it would have been won.

And for those who credit the Indianapolis defense for stopping the Cleveland attack (poor choice of words), stop it. It was OK, but c’mon. The Browns have handled better defenses than the Colts’ this season.

Hoyer, as he has done in the past two months, continues to overthrow wide-open receivers. He missed Josh Gordon twice, Taylor Gabriel once and seemed more confused as the game wore on. The offense generated only 14 first downs.

Critics might say Cundiff’s missed field goal from 40 yards midway through the second quarter would have been the margin of victory had it not been wide right. Probably so. But he’s not the reason the Browns lost their second game in a row for the first time this season and fell to 7-6.

Don’t point fingers at the wrong people. With any kind of an offense, Cundiff’s miss would be just a bad memory that had no bearing on the outcome of the game.

The Cleveland defense, even in its tired state, was tough right down to the final yard. Trailing, 24-19, Luck marched his team 95 yards after Barkevious Mingo sacked him at his 4-yard line on the first play of the Colts’ final possession.

The big quarterback converted two third downs with clutch throws to Donte Moncrief and Coby Fleener along the way and was helped immensely by a debatable 35-yard pass interference penalty on Buster Skrine that placed the ball at the Cleveland 25 with two minutes left in regulation.

Luck’s nine-yard scramble on second-and-10 at the Cleveland 12 set up a third-and-11with 68 seconds left and the crowd urging the Cleveland defense for one more big play. A dive play by Boom Herron produced about 18 inches.

After a Colts’ timeout, the Colts called on the former Ohio State running back again and this time, he bounced off one tackler and picked up a couple of yards around the right side.

Pettine then called time, undoubtedly to give his defense a much needed, albeit brief, rest. Luck didn’t waste any time after the timeout, hooking up with Hilton, who beat Cleveland’s Joe Haden to the spot a yard into the end zone for his second score of the day with 36 seconds left.

Held to just one catch for nine yards in the first half by Haden, Hilton schooled Haden and Skrine in the second half with nine catches for 141 yards and the two touchdowns.

Then it was Hoyer’s turn and he didn’t waste any time as he attempted to get his club into position for a Cundiff field-goal attempt to win the game. He tried going deep to Gordon, whom he had missed badly earlier on a deep throw.

This time, the 57-yard bomb barely slipped threw the fingertips of the big wide receiver, who was injured on the play, at the Indianapolis 35. A roughing-the-passer penalty on Colts defensive end Cory Redding moved the ball to the 28, but Hoyer reverted to form, his final pass landing in the arms of Colts cornerback Josh Gordy.

It was an afternoon where the Browns made Luck, one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, look ordinary. He was 24-of-53 for 294 yards and the two picks. When you get Luck on an off day, you’ve got to beat him.

The Browns definitely had that chance. All the offense had to do was look ordinary and play mediocre football. It couldn’t even do that.

Bottom line: The Cleveland Browns right now are not who many thought they were as recently as a few weeks ago. 

It will not be pretty

The only way the Browns have a chance to knock off the Indianapolis Colts Sunday at home is by taking the infantry route as often as possible.

Run the ball. Then run it some more. Maximize the importance of winning first down. Stay away from third-and-longs. Sustain drives that bleed minutes off the clock. Give the defense a chance to rest.

Keep quarterback Andrew Luck, the abundantly talented linchpin of the Indianapolis offense, off the field as long as possible. Minimize his opportunities to put points on the board, something he does with astonishing speed.

That’s the formula a good team uses as a weapon to beat the highest scoring team in the National Football League. Right now, though, the Browns are not a good team, their 7-5 record notwithstanding.

Last season, that formula would not have worked because the Browns did not have a ground game and a defense that couldn’t stop the run. The overwhelming portion of the offense featured the forward pass.

With Brian Hoyer at quarterback, the Browns (4-2 at home) must rely on running the ball. Pound away at the Indianapolis front seven with relentless monotony. Limit his throws to slants, shallow crosses and an occasional seam route, throws designed to get the ball out of the his hands quickly.

Do not even think about trying a screen pass. The Browns haven’t been able to run a successful screen for years now. Outside of the naked wide receiver screen that works on occasion, the Browns have failed time and again to run a fundamental screen. Rip them out of the playbook and burn them.

As for Hoyer, it’s even more important for the offensive staff to dumb down the game for the embattled quarterback since he seems to have fallen into an interception trap in the last five games

Losing veteran receiver Miles Austin to a kidney injury doesn’t help, which means rookie Taylor Gabriel, who lost reps with the return of Josh Gordon, will get them back.

It also looks as though the ground game will take a hit with Isaiah Crowell highly questionable for the game with a hip injury. If he can’t go, the Browns’ running corps will be reduced to Terrance West, whose costly fumble contributed to the loss in Buffalo, Glenn Winston and Shaun Draughn, signed just a few days ago. Yikes!

The Colts probably will eschew coverage of deep throws because Hoyer doesn’t have the arm to stretch a field. It wouldn’t surprise to see them stack the box with eight and sometimes nine men at the snap, daring Hoyer to throw.

If the Browns fail to establish a running game – the Colts surrender just 108 ground yards a game – and force Hoyer to put the ball up, they are in trouble. That’s when coach Mike Pettine might have to yank Hoyer’s short leash and summon Johnny Manziel.

Once the Colts go on offense, the Cleveland defense will see the best quarterback they’ll face all season in Luck. He is as talented from the neck up as he is from the neck down. His cerebral approach to the game is mindful of a young Peyton Manning.

Under his guidance, Indianapolis averages 24.6 first downs, 438 yards on offense and 6.2 yards a play, converts 45% of its third downs and leads the National Football League in scoring.

Luck has completed 63.7% of his passes and thrown for 34 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He has been sacked a modest 21 times, but has developed a knack of extending plays and at 6-4, 240 pounds is just as dangerous a runner as Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger.

In other words, the Browns’ defense will rely heavily on their offense to keep Luck pinned to the sidelines as long as possible.

The Colts quarterback has a wide array of receivers at his disposal, but seems to have fallen in love with tight ends Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen, who have combined for 13 touchdown passes.

Throw in wide receivers T. Y. Hilton, who has caught 68 passes this season for 1,145 yards and five scores, veteran Reggie Wayne (54-626-2 TD) and Donte Moncrief (24-390-3 TD, two last week against Washington) and you have all kinds of trouble for the Cleveland secondary.

Where the Colts are relatively weak on offense is at running back, where Trent Richardson has sustained the mediocrity he reached in 17 games with the Browns after being selected with the No. 3 pick of the 2012 college draft.

Richardson leads the Colts with 445 yards and three touchdowns, but still averages 3.3 yards a carry. With Ahmad Bradshaw out the rest of the year with a broken leg, former Ohio State running back Boom Herron has stepped in and performed well.

The Colts’ defense is not among the league leaders in any statistical category, but it doesn’t need to be because the offense covers up many of the defense’s inefficiencies.

Former Brown D’Qwell Jackson, as he did most of the time with the Browns, leads the Colts in tackles with 101, but only 59 of the solo variety, The best way to neutralize him is to run right at him. He is not as strong at the point of attack as an inside linebacker should be.

Jackson also has four of the club’s 34 sacks. Fellow inside backer Erik Walden leads the club in that department with just five. In the secondary, former Browns safety Mike Adams has four of the club’s nine thefts and is third on the team in tackles with 66 and second in solo tackles with 54.

On paper, this one favors the Colts even though oddsmakers surprisingly give Cleveland just 3½ points. The Browns are not good enough on offense to outscore the visitors and the defense, which has played well in the last six games, might find themselves on the field for long periods due to the ineptitude of the offense.

This one will be over quickly as the Colts strike suddenly and often in the first half.  Luck plays pitch and catch with his receivers as the Cleveland pass rush flails futilely to corral the son of former St. Ignatius quarterback Oliver Luck, playing in his father’s hometown for the first time.

He will record his first 400-yard plus game (he threw for 400 yards in a loss against Pittsburgh) this season and connect on four touchdown passes, one each to Hilton, Wayne, Allen and Fleener. Richardson will gain his normal 45 yards on 15 carries and score a touchdown from a yard out at the Dawg Pound end of the field and attempt to get up close and personal with the fans. He’ll be sorry he did.

The game will be over at the half with the Colts defending against Manziel by the beginning of the second quarter. Hoyer will throw two interceptions trying to hit Gordon and the Indianapolis defense will reduce the Cleveland ground game to rubble.

It will be ugly from the outset as the Colts toy with the Browns, handing them their worst loss of the season and crushing any hopes they had for the postseason. It will also mark the beginning of the Johnny Manziel era in Cleveland. He’ll begin it by throwing scoring passes to Gordon and Travis Benjamin in the second half. Make it:

Colts 41, Browns 17

Update: Vontae Davis, the Colts' best cornerback, is out with a concussion. No change in the prediction. 

Wrong move

There are times during the regular season when one (OK, yours truly) wonders just what goes through the mind of Browns coach Mike Pettine.

This is one of those times.

For the flimsiest of reasons, Pettine Wednesday said he is sticking with Brian Hoyer as his quarterback after a couple of days of arguing with himself, his general manager, his offensive coordinator and his quarterbacks coach.

Choosing Hoyer over Johnny Manziel is a slap in the face of the rookie quarterback, who looked a whole lot better than Hoyer in a much shorter period of time Sunday in the loss to Buffalo. The decision basically says the coaching staff does not trust Manziel.

The rationale was that Hoyer was at the helm of the team that had won seven of its first 12 games. That’s also pretty much what Hoyer said after dropping a stink bomb in Buffalo. Can’t argue that. That’s an indisputable fact.

“Brian has led our team to a 7-5 record,” said Pettine. “I’m confident we can get the entire offense playing at a level needed to accomplish the goals we set at the beginning of the season. Those goals are still very much attainable.” With Hoyer at quarterback, no they’re not.

Incorporating the phrase “my team” in his post-game remarks in Buffalo, Hoyer echoed that the Browns were at 7-5 with him as the starting quarterback and he shouldn’t lose his starting job. He failed to realize football is a team game and he’s not the only guy out there.

But if Pettine takes a much closer look at that 7-5 record, he would realize a 9-3 mark would have been even better at this stage of the season had Hoyer quarterbacked the club at the level his coaches expected. He is the reason they aren’t at least 9-3.

Losses to Jacksonville, Houston and Buffalo could easily have been avoided had he played just reasonably well instead of becoming an interception machine that stopped throwing touchdown passes.

It makes absolutely no sense to continue with him. He is hurting the offensive game plans of the Browns game after game after game. It’s not fair to a defense that has played much better recently.

That it took Pettine and his men two days to make their decision speaks volumes of just how weak he is as a head coach.

A more confident and self assured head coach would have opened up his post-game news conference Sunday in Buffalo and said, “Before you ask any questions, Brian is still my quarterback. End of story. Next question.” By not being direct and decisive at the time, seeds of doubts were planted.

In the last five games, Pettine’s choice to face the Indianapolis Colts Sunday at home has killed more drives with ill-advised throws that had him slapping the sides of his helmet with both hands as if to say, “Boy, that was dumb. Why did I do that?”

The young man from Cleveland has thrown one touchdown pass in the last 15 quarters (nearly four games) and eight picks in the last five games. What in the world does Pettine see in him that most of us don’t?

The Cleveland defense has produced 17 turnovers in the last five games and the offense has turned them into just 36 points (three touchdowns and five field goals). That’s the kind of production for losing teams. Hoyer is the main culprit.

A perfect example of just how much he has hurt the offense was captured at the beginning of the second half against Buffalo. Joe Haden had just picked off Bills  quarterback Kyle Orton at the Buffalo 30-yard line on the third play of the third quarter.

Two plays, a run and screen pass, gained zero yards. The ball was still in field-goal range (48 yards) for Billy Cundiff and a 6-0 lead. Just don’t do anything stupid on third down.

Hoyer dropped back to pass, waited for what seemed like at least six or seven seconds, and took an eight-yard sack. He never moved. Could have thrown the ball away. Should have thrown the ball away. Didn’t throw the ball away. Hoyer should have gotten the hook right then and there. Forget the field goal. It swung the momentum back to the Bills. 

After a Spencer Lanning punt, the Bills moved 84 yards to take a 7-3 lead, then scored again 10 seconds later on a Terrance West fumble. It’s little things like that that can make the difference between winning and losing a game.

Hoyer is not the same quarterback who actually looked pretty good in the first five games of the season at a time the defense looked horrid. He is no longer that quarterback. He’s not even close.

He is tentative, remains way too long in the pocket when coverage is tight, sometimes locks in on only one receiver and makes poor decisions on where to throw the ball.

Pettine also rationalized his benching of Hoyer for Manziel early in the fourth quarter in the Buffalo loss. “I felt we needed to make a change,” he said a few days ago. “We needed a spark. We had been listless for a good amount of time.” 

What took the coach so long to realize that and make a change? The offense has sagged badly in the last several games. Has he been paying too much attention to the defense? Manziel provides the spark to which Pettine refers. Hoyer does not.

Pettine knows his club has a chance for a post-season appearance and yet, he has chosen to stick with the man most responsible for their offensive lethargy against a team that leads the league in scoring.

The only way you can beat the Colts is to outscore them. Their quarterback is one of the three best in the National Football League. Unless Hoyer suddenly and unexpectedly becomes the same quarterback we saw in the first five games of the season, that’s not going to happen.

This decision definitely places a monstrous amount of pressure on Hoyer. He had better be perfect and then improve on that from the opening snap. You can be he’ll be on an extremely short leash.

Pettine, as most coaches, likes to say he plays those players who put his club in the best position to win. If he actually believes Hoyer is that man at the most important position of the offense, he’s fooling himself.

With only four games left and the season on the line, the Browns need the best man under center. That man is not Brian Hoyer, who has become less than mediocre since the NFL finally figured him out.

The decision has been made, however, and Pettine will have to live with it. He could have saved himself a lot of aggravation by stepping up after the Buffalo game and declaring it at that time.

Monday leftovers

If (probably when) Mike Pettine on Wednesday announces his selection for Sunday’s starting quarterback against the Indianapolis Colts this Sunday and it’s not Brian Hoyer, the Cleveland kid has no one to blame but himself.

The figures do not lie and in this case, they tell a tale that even Hoyer himself cannot argue against. They scream that the best place for him right now is on the sidelines watching the future face of the franchise start to grow.

In the last five games, three of them victories, Hoyer has completed 97 passes in 177 attempts, a 54.8% completion rate. That’s a slight drop in the 55.9% rate he logged in the first seven games of the season.

But in those first seven games, of which the Browns won four, Hoyer threw eight touchdown passes and only two interceptions. For the most part, he kept his team in games by taking care of the ball.

He wasn’t flashy. And his passes sometimes seemed to take several hours to reach their destination, but the mistake factor remained absent. In the last five games, though, that factor has raised its homely head.

The Cleveland offense can live with his low percentage of completions for just so long. But with eight interceptions and just three touchdown passes in those five games, danger signs have been hoisted.

As unlikely as it probably seemed at the beginning of the season, the Browns are actually in playoff contention now. Every snap, every possession, every pass, every movement, every little thing takes on the greatest amount of importance.

Not many people, fans and critics alike, really believed the Browns would be in such a position this late in the season. But here they are and making sure the right player helms the most important position on the team is critical.

So when Pettine makes his big pronouncement Wednesday, we can all be rest assured all those factors will be taken into consideration.

By not ruling out the possibility of Johnny Manziel stepping in and taking the Browns the rest of the way this season, Pettine further opened the door to that eventuality. It is a slippery slope fraught with exciting possibilities.

If Manziel is the man, Hoyer has no one to blame but himself for causing his coach’s conflict. If Manziel is the man, it won’t be because he earned the job. It will be because Hoyer lost it.

And now that this little scenario has unfolded, the circus that accompanies Manziel will resume with the media horde (local and national) descending on Berea on a daily basis for the rest of the season. The lightning rod that is Johnny Manziel will be center stage.

Fans caught a glimpse of what to expect from Manziel in Sunday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills. They saw how impatient he is in the pocket. They also saw someone who can extend plays and owns the strongest throwing arm on the team.

He had an immediate impact on the offense when he and Hoyer traded places with 12 minutes left in regulation in that game. It took only eight plays, mostly no huddle, to travel 80 yards and do something the Hoyer offense couldn’t do in the first 48 minutes: score a touchdown.

He dropped back to pass on six of those plays and threw four passes, completing three. His most impressive completion was a 24-yard rocket to tight end Jim Dray to the Buffalo 12. Hoyer throws that pass and it’s a pick.

It was a seam route down the middle with a safety shadowing Dray. The safety sat on the route and went for the interception when Manziel threw, but the ball was thrown so hard, it arrived in Dray’s hands before the defender could react.

Then there was the 10-yard scramble by Manziel that produced the touchdown. Again, Hoyer does not make that play because his reaction time is slower than Manziel’s. He also doesn’t have Manziel’s quickness and deceptive speed.

Perhaps you noticed that as Manziel approached the goal line with a Buffalo defender closing fast, he pulled in his right hand with the ball and covered the ball with his left at impact to make certain it would not pop loose. You can’t teach that. That’s instinct.

That, along with many other traits, is what Manziel can give the Browns. The question now becomes whether Pettine and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan can live with the kid’s unorthodox – and sometimes unpredictable – style of quarterbacking.

The league finally figured out how to stop Hoyer. Foisting Manziel on the National Football League now makes it that much more difficult for the opposition to render him ineffective because they won’t know what to expect. Yet.

That’s what could make this December one to remember for Browns fans.

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The most disturbing aspect of the loss to Buffalo was how quickly the Browns fell apart after the Bills scored a pair of touchdowns in a 10-second span to take a 14-3 lead midway through the third quarter.

It was only an 11-point deficit just eight minutes into the quarter and yet they could not shrug off the sudden turn of events. It was as though the game was over from an emotional standpoint at least for the offense.

The defense, which blunted just about every Buffalo move in the first half and played very well overall, began to surrender yards grudgingly, then tired when it became apparent the offense couldn’t sustain anything.

It wasn’t until Manziel entered the game and energized the offense that the team had a remote shot. But by then, the defense was gassed. After blanking the Bills on third down 11 straight times, it failed on No. 12 when former Brown MarQueis Gray hauled in a pass in the left flat and rambled 41 yards on a third-and-one at the Buffalo 29.

After that, the Browns had nothing left in the tank on either side of the ball.

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Don’t be surprised if Pettine and Shanahan hand Terrance West more bench time Sunday. The rookie has been too careless with the football lately and Pettine’s patience with him might be waning.

If West is benched, that means Isaiah Crowell gets a majority of the carries and Glenn Winston will finally get a chance. Putting the ball on the ground is the quickest way to become a spectator.

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Joe Thomas had probably his worst day as a pro against the Bills. The perennial Pro Bowl offensive tackle was flagged five times, three for holding (one was declined following a Hoyer sack) and two for false starts, working against defensive ends Jerry Hughes and Mario Williams.

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You’ll have to forgive Hoyer for not having pleasant thoughts about Buffalo and the Bills. His 2013 season was aborted in a nationally televised game against the Bills when he tore an ACL in the first quarter on a scramble. And now, he seriously underperforms in a meaningful game against the Bills.

*          *          *

If Billy Cundiff is not worrying about where he’s kicking next season, he should be. He was wide right on a relatively easy 37-yard field goal attempt midway through the second quarter on Hoyer’s most productive drive of the afternoon. It wasn’t even close. Points have become a rare commodity for the Cleveland offense these days and field goal misses such as Cundiff’s Sunday magnify the situation.

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Notebook: The Browns are down to third string at center if Nick McDonald can’t go against the Colts. Ryan Seymour did a credible job when McDonald left the game on the second series of the game. . . . If Jordan Cameron misses his fifth straight game with concussion symptoms, the Browns are down to only two tight ends – Dray and Ryan Taylor. Gary Barnidge left the game with a rib injury on the first series against the Bills. . . . Jim Leonhard kept the Bills scoreless in the first half with a terrific end zone interception. Kyle Orton’s pass to Sammy Watkins was on target, but Leonhard, crossing over to help cornerback Joe Haden, managed to tip the ball in the air and caught it to prevent further damage. . . . The Browns were flagged 10 times overall for 76 yards.