Bearish on the Browns

Those of you who watched the Chicago Bears thump the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football this past Monday got a sneak preview of what the Browns’ defense will have to deal with Sunday in the home finale.

All the key elements in that victory will be in place for the Bears when they take the field against Cleveland. Except one.

Throughout this week, the Browns had no idea who would be under center for the Bears. Speculation centered on the return of Jay Cutler, who has missed the last several games with an ankle injury.

In Cutler’s absence, however, the Bears’ offense played at a such a high peak under Josh McCown, speculation was rampant that he would play at least one more game in order to allow Cutler to sufficiently heal.

And why not? Under McCown, the Bears’ offense has performed so well that many fans – and at least one ex-Bear great – strongly suggested that Bears coach Marc Trestman stick with his backup quarterback for at least one more game.

Retired Chicago linebacker Brian Urlacher called for Trestman to thumb his nose at conventional wisdom and keep the hottest quarterback in the National Football League right where he was. The coach didn’t listen.

Believing in the notion that a starter should never lose his job to injury, Trestman warned all week that “when (Cutler) is good and can have a full week of practice, he’ll be our quarterback.” He did not waver as Cutler did exactly that.

So Trestman is taking a quarterback who in six games this season has thrown for 1,747 yards, 13 touchdowns and one interception and is 3-2 as a starter and benching him.

In the last four games, McCown, whose younger brother, Luke, played momentarily for the Browns in 2004, has completed 70% of his 150 passes for 1.271 yards and nine touchdowns, run for another and compiled three straight 300-yard games.

That quarterback will be holding a clipboard against the Browns Sunday. And that, considering how quarterbacks have been ravaging the Cleveland defense lately, is a break. Cutler is having a so-so season with 13 touchdown passes and eight interceptions.

He has also placed the Bears in a unique position. He will be a free agent next season and the Bears very well could be using the final three games of the season as a stage to determine exactly what to do with him. They could (a) let him test the market, (b) slap a franchise tag on him or (c) sign him to a long-term contract.

In any event, Cutler, who is nearly four years younger than McCown at 30, gets the call against the Browns, a team he has faced once and defeated, 30-6, back in 2009.

That was when the Bears had a decent defense. This season, however, it’s the offense that has carried them to a 7-6 record and kept them in contention for the NFC North championship.

The defense, which has allowed 360 points (27.7 a game), surrenders 157 yards a game on the ground and another 225 a game through the air. It can be easily scored on, but it also can be lethal against the pass. The Chicago secondary has picked off 15 passes, returning five for scores.

Considering the Bears’ obvious weakness against the run, this game should tell us once and for all just where the Cleveland ground game stands. If it can’t generate anything against the NFL’s worst, then that speaks volumes on just what the club’s top priority should be in the next college football draft or free agency period.

If not for the Chicago offense, which has scored 332 of the team’s 368 points, there’s no telling how far out of the playoffs hunt they would be. There’s no question they  can move the ball. They didn’t punt once in the Dallas victory.

That offense features a trio of receivers who will give the smallish Cleveland secondary fits. With the likes of 6-4 Brandon Marshall, 6-3 Alshon Jeffery and 6-6 tight end Martellus Bennett on the receiving end of Cutler’s passes, that defensive backfield will be kept busy.

This trio has accounted for 212 receptions, 2,871 yards and 20 of the Bears’ 26 offensive touchdowns. Throw in the talents of running back Matt Forte and the Cleveland defense might face its sternest challenge of the season.

Whether he’s running the ball or catching it, Forte is the glue of this offense. He has touched the ball 299 times this season (including 65 pass receptions), totaling 1,591 yards and nine touchdowns, seven on the ground. He touches the ball 35.7% of the time and averages 5.32 yards per touch.

He presents a monumental problem for Browns inside linebackers D’Qwell Jackson and Craig Robertson, who also will be responsible for Bennett.

Trestman obviously believes Cutler will have no problem knocking off the rust following his lengthy absence. But will Browns defensive coordinator Ray Horton gamble and employ the blitz coming off the bus against him in an effort to take advantage of his long layoff?

That’s about the only way the Cleveland defense can disrupt any rhythm Cutler hopes to establish. What do the Browns have to lose by resorting to this strategy on defense? Another loss? Big deal. They are 4-9 and headed for yet another double-digit loss season, anyway.

The season is drowning once again in losses, No reason to be passive. Same for the offense. Take advantage of the porous Chicago defense. Again, what do they have to lose? What’s the difference between 4-9 and 4-10?

Turn the J Crew – Jason Campbell, Josh Gordon and Jordan Cameron – loose. Have some fun. Maybe some of that will rub off on the defense. Then again, maybe not.

It’s so tempting to pick the Browns here with Cutler back for the Bears. But somehow I think the coaches won’t take advantage and will allow Cutler to WD-40 his way back into rhythm. However, the home finale will be highly entertaining for the fans from an offensive standpoint. Make it:

Bears 37, Browns 27

Monday leftovers

Normally, I’m not one to gripe about the officiating in a National Football League game.

As a general rule, I believe teams cost themselves more with mistakes than the mistakes of officials and thus have a tendency to even  out.

But if the officiating crew of referee Jerome Boger does not receive a stern rebuke from Dean Blandino and the rest of his NFL officiating office for their work in the Browns-New England Patriots game Sunday, something is wrong.

Boger and his men took the game out of the hands of the players with some bizarre late-game calls and virtually assured the Patriots that their unbeaten streak at home this season would remain intact.

The Browns had played a superb game until the final two minutes and 39 seconds of the game, even winning a couple of replay challenges by coach Rob Chudzinski on calls that were obvious to everyone except the officials.

To penalize the Browns – and that’s exactly what it was – with a couple of calls that should have been overlooked because they weren’t anywhere near being considered egregious to warrant a flag was an injustice that only further substantiates claims by conspiracy theorists that the NFL is fixed. (I don’t believe that to be the case.)

The Browns deserved to win the game. They outplayed the Patriots on both sides of the ball for the first 57½ minutes with a shocking (for them) display of solid football. They looked nothing like the team that had lost embarrassingly to the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars seven days earlier.

They took on one of the premier teams in the league in their home stadium and outplayed them. They answered every Patriots challenge. Looking very unBrownslike, very little went wrong as they played their best game of the season.

To take that victory away from them was a miscarriage of justice. Yes, it’s only a game and in the grand scheme of life, this pales by comparison to other more important facets of every-day living.

But for the loyal following this club has maintained despite an incredibly long period of bad football, this was a blow that was much harder to take because the team deserved better. The players felt the same way.

“I have never been a part of a game like this,” said veteran Cleveland cornerback Joe Haden, who has had more than his share of misery as a member of this team. “This one hurts for real.”

Visceral feelings such as Haden’s emerge in games like this. Forget the blowout losses. Forget the close games that are lost because of stupid mistakes. And forget those games where the Browns arrived not ready to play.

This was one game where the Browns, in spite of a smaller talent quotient, played like the team with the larger talent quotient. Their David was beating up on Goliath. And still did not win.

The Patriots needed help. And it arrived in the form of Boger’s officiating crew, most notably the field judge. His name is not as important as the two calls he made that severely tilted the game in New England’s favor.

To call unnecessary roughness on Cleveland rookie cornerback Jordan Poyer for a shoulder-to-chest hit on Julian Edelman’s touchdown catch was bad enough. It showed that some officials have no clue in interpreting the difference between a clean hit and dirty hit. There’s an alarming inconsistency that needs to be addressed.

And then after the Patriots recovered the ensuing onsides kickoff (blame the Browns here for not executing better), that same official called pass interference on Leon McFadden, another Cleveland rookie corner, while hand-fighting wide receiver Josh Boyce into the end zone two plays later.

At best, that’s a no call because both men could have been flagged for interference. In that case, you swallow your whistle and keep your hand away from the yellow laundry.

Boger and his men also messed up a couple of grounding calls that would have penalized the Patriots. New England quarterback Tom Brady intentionally grounded three passes, but Boger penalized him only once. Brady successfully lobbied the referee out of flagging the other two.

As for the field judge, the NFL knows his name and hopefully will act accordingly. However, any admonition he and the rest of Boger’s crew receive will not reverse the final score. It will forever be recorded as a New England victory with no asterisks to indicate officiating incompetence.

It’s possible the league might send a note of apology to the Browns for that incompetence, but it would serve merely as salve for a wound that might take a while to heal.

~ Folks are running out of adjectives to describe Josh Gordon. The second-year Cleveland wide receiver now has the full attention of everyone in the league, including the media, which is belatedly extolling his accomplishments.

His remarkable performance the last four weeks is now part of the NFL record book. He became the first receiver in league history with four straight 100-yard games . And with Sunday’s 151-yard effort against the Patriots, he smashed the league record for most receiving yards in four consecutive games (774). In the last three games, that figure stands at 649 yards or 216.3 yards a game. Incredible.

On the season, he has 71 catches for 1,400 yards (127.3 a game) and eight touchdowns in just 11 games, and averages 19.7 yards a reception. He has seven games of at least 100 yards in those 11 outings. He was relatively shut down by Cincinnati, Buffalo, Green Bay and Baltimore.

Gordon is just a baby in terms of professional football growth. There is so much more he will learn as the game slows down for him and becomes easier. Right now, he’s relying on his enormous raw talent to put up some of these astounding numbers.

As he grows, the sophistication of the game will become more apparent to him. And if he’s as smart as I think he is, what he’s doing now will pale in comparison to what the future holds.

His biggest enemy is not an opposing defensive back. It’s his stage three status with regard to the NFL’s drug program. One slip is all it will take to remove all that wonderful talent from the league landscape and sit him down for a full season.

~ One Patriot the Browns didn’t pay nearly enough attention to was running back Shane Vereen. As it turned out, he was the piece that was missing as the Patriots stumbled around on offense in a scoreless first half.

It was obvious he was a large part of the Patriots’ second-half strategy since nothing else worked in the first 30 minutes against a Cleveland defense that blunted every New England effort.

Vereen touched the ball only three times (two passes and a run) in the first half. Halftime adjustments helped create 12 more opportunities (10 passes and a couple of runs) in the second half and the Browns couldn’t stop him. He was the key factor that got the Pats’ offense started.

Following Gordon’s 80-yard catch and run that gave the Browns a 19-3 lead late in the third quarter, Vereen was a one-man gang that enabled New England to get back in the game, figuring in all three plays as the Patriots negotiated 72 yards that took only 1:19 off the clock.

His 50-yard catch and run with a Tom Brady pass on the first play of the subsequent series triggered the drive. He caught a 16-yarder then that set up his TD on a six-yard draw play. Vereen wound up with 10 catches in the second half for 141 yards. The Browns never adjusted.

~ Red zone defense has been a problem most of the season for the Browns. Defensive coordinator Ray Horton is aware of it and probably harps on it on a daily basis.

Didn’t work against the Patriots, who didn’t reach that territory until late in the third quarter, when the Browns held and forced Stephen Gostkowski to kick a 33-yard field goal. The next three trips resulted in touchdowns. The last one was made easy with the McFadden interference call that placed the ball on the 1-yard line.

~ Notebook: When a team leads the turnover battle and time of possession, odds are that team wins the game. Not so Sunday. The Browns forced two turnovers and had none, and had a 31:40-28:20 edge in owning the ball. . . . Nice to see that Paul Kruger is still on the team. The linebacker played his best game of the season against the Patriots with a couple of sacks – he had only 2½ in the first 13 games – a couple of quarterback hits, forced a fumble, batted down one pass and hurried Brady on several other occasions. . . . Other solid performances were turned in by D’Qwell Jackson with a pick , T. J. Ward and nose tackle Phil Taylor. . . . Brady was 7-of-19 for 95 yards in the first half; 25-of-33 for 323 yards in the second half. . . . The Browns need a kick returner. They really miss Travis Benjamin. 

Jinx? What jinx? Oh that jinx

Yes, Browns fans, your team does lead the National Football League in one category: Creative ways to lose football games.

Take Sunday’s 27-26 loss to the New England Patriots in Foxboro, Mass., for example.

The Browns owned a 26-14 lead with two minutes and 39 seconds left and looking every bit like the winning team.

Up to that point, they had actually outplayed the Patriots, making Tom Brady look, at times, more like Brandon Weeden than the future Hall of Fame quarterback he is certain to be when he decides to retire.

To Browns fans, though, two minutes and 39 seconds seem like an eternity even with a 12-point lead. That’s the nature of being a fan of this team.

Over the past 14 seasons, or since the resurrection in 1999, no lead is safe until the clock numbers are 0:00 and the scoreboard says the Browns have scored more points than the opposition.

Too many times, the impossible has become the possible and a victory has become a loss. Add Sunday’s loss to the Patriots as the latest iteration.

It never ceases to amaze how this franchise can turn winning into losing. It’s almost enough to cause even those who don’t believe in them to think this franchise is, indeed, jinxed. In this case, it was the Factory of Sadness, northeast sector.

All the Browns had to do was recover an onsides kick by New England after the Patriots cut the Cleveland lead to 26-21 with about a minute left in regulation when Julian Edelman scored on a two-yard scoring pass from Brady.

But rookie defensive back Jordan Poyer was flagged for hitting a defenseless receiver (Edelman), the penalty assessed on the ensuing kickoff. (I still don’t understand why the man who scored the touchdown was a defenseless receiver.) That meant the Pats kicked off from midfield instead of their 35.

They hadn’t had a successful onsides kick since a AFC wild-card game in January 1995 against, you guessed it, the Browns, coached then by Bill Belichick. The Browns won that game, 20-13, in Cleveland.

Sunday, the Cleveland hands team lined up at the 40-yard line for the obvious onsides effort. These are the guys deemed to have the best and surest hands on the team. But don’t forget, these are the Cleveland Browns.

Stephen Gostkowski’s onside effort seemed to travel toward the Cleveland defenders in slow motion. It headed right for Cleveland running back Fozzy Whittaker. All he had to do was fall on the ball at the Cleveland 40 and the game would have been over because the Patriots were out of timeouts.

Make a play. Validate and punctuate with an exclamation point the team’s performance against one of the NFL’s best teams on their home turf. This was a game the Browns absolutely deserved to win because they played well enough to win.

Instead, and this is where the jinx or curse or whatever you want to call it, kicked in. Whittaker got his hands on the ball, but the ball did want to cooperate and skidded away where New England cornerback Kyle Arrington recovered it with only 61 seconds left.

At that point, you just knew the Browns, who at one point had a 19-3 lead, were not going to win this one. Somehow, some way, the Patriots would find a way to win. Considering they won their last two games in comeback fashion, it was a virtual certainty.

Three plays and 30 seconds later, they took the lead. But it took a ticky-tacky pass interference call against Cleveland rookie cornerback Leon McFadden in the end zone while chasing Pats rookie wide receiver Josh Boyce to set up a one-yard scoring pass to Danny Amendola

The Browns, with no timeouts left, remarkably stormed back and got to the New England 40 with one second left, but Billy Cundiff’s 58-yard field-goal attempt fell a few yards shy of the crossbar.

It spoiled (no, make that ruined) a 391-yard passing, three-touchdown afternoon by Jason Campbell, a seven-catch, 151-yard performance by the amazing Josh Gordon, and a nine-catch, 121-yard effort by Jordan Cameron. Both men scored touchdowns, as did Gary Barnidge with a 40-yarder early in the second half.

The big difference is that Brady and the Patriots made the big plays when needed. In the fourth quarter alone, he completed 16 of 20 passes for 142 of his 418 yards.

It seemed as though he hiked his game to another level after tight end Rob Gronkowski, his best and most reliable receiver, left midway in the third quarter with what was believed to be a torn ACL following a clean tackle by Cleveland safety T. J. Ward.

Except for the ending, the game couldn’t have gone anymore Cleveland’s way. Just about everything went right, including a pair of successful replay challenges by coach Rob Chudzinski.

The only misstep was Chudzinski’s puzzling decision to go for two points instead of a Cundiff placement following Barnidge’s 40-yard scoring scamper that gave the Browns a 12-0 lead five minutes into the third quarter.

Conventional thinking would call for such a move, but not so relatively early in the game. Perhaps later when a two-point try would have been a no-brainer. The move appeared to show Chudzinski’s lack of faith in his offense.

The play chosen for the attempt was unwise (being kind here) and not because it failed. Chris Ogbonnaya on a draw play from the 3-yard line? Are you kidding me? There have got to be at least a dozen plays in the playbook for such an occasion and they chose that one? A running play for one of the worst run offenses in the NFL?

If that’s the best they can do, if that’s as creative as they can get, they might as well send out Cundiff every time the book calls for a pair of points.

The offensive line played well and protected Campbell, who was sacked only once. There is no question he was dialed in all afternoon on Cameron and Gordon, who scored on an 80-yarder late in the third quarter to give the Browns the 19-3 lead.

The defense, despite the 28 points the Patriots put up, played well and harassed Brady all afternoon, sacking him four times and forcing one intentional grounding penalty. A couple of other passes were close to being flagged for the same reason.

This was one game where Belichick, if he is honest with himself, has to admit his team was outplayed and was extremely fortunate to escape with the victory. The better team did not win.

The Browns beat the Patriots everywhere but on the scoreboard. And in the bottom line world in which we live, that is all that matters. Sure the Browns can hold their heads up high after this one, but at the same time wonder what they have to do to win.

The question, thus, is why haven’t they played this well on a consistent basis all season? Why did they lose last Sunday to the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars at home? Why are they 4-9 entering the homestretch of the season?

If nothing else, they proved to themselves they can stay with a good team like New England. Now they have to go out and prove in the last three games that this one was not a fluke.

(Correcting information on New England's last successful onsides kick.)

The wonderful world of what if . . . 

Let’s get this out of the way right now. There is no way the Browns will defeat the New England Patriots Sunday. Absolutely no way.

There. The prediction right up front. Final score to come.

No messing around. Get right to the point and be done with it.

Why screw around with the what ifs?

What if the Browns play their best game of the season on both sides of the ball and on special teams? What if Jason Campbell completes every pass he throws? What if Tom Brady is injured in the first quarter of the game? What if Bill Belichick coaches like he did in Cleveland two decades ago?

What if . . . what if . . . what if.

Normally, you can what if your way into just about anything. But the world of what if is a fantasy world, a dream world

It’s not going to happen.

Most fans know that. They don’t want to think about what’s going to happen in Foxboro, Mass., Sunday, but they are also realists. They realize the Patriots are an infinitely better football team than the Browns. They just hope the Pats show some mercy.

There is a monstrous chasm that separates the talent bases of the teams. The Patriots’ goal every season is go win the Super Bowl. Not get to the Super Bowl. Win it.

The Browns’ goal is to get better any way they can. Game by game, quarter by quarter, play by play. Just play better than the last game.

Under Belichick, the Pats are perennial contenders. Hard to do when you constantly pick at the bottom of each round in the college football draft. Unless, of course, you employ someone who selects wisely. And they do.

The Browns, on the other hand, are perennial residents of the AFC North basement. That’s because no one is bad enough to challenge them. The Baltimores, Cincinnatis and Pittsburghs of the professional football world know how to right a sinking ship.

Cleveland just ambles along each National Football League season, showing up when and where the schedule says it should.

The uniforms remain the same, although that reportedly will change sometime in the near future. The players come and go. Front offices come and go. But the results, like the uniforms, remain the same.

But I digress.

The game Sunday will be a study in contrasts. One team headed inexorably toward yet another postseason. The other headed inexorably toward what is hoped to be a painless conclusion to a miserable season.

The Patriots, unbeaten in six home games this season, against the Browns, a team that has won only once in five road games. One team with a future Hall of Fame quarterback against a team that might not know who will open under center until the day of the game.

Will it be ugly? Maybe. Depends solely on Belichick and how benevolent he feels between the hours of 1 o’clock and 4 o’clock.

Does he still have an affinity for Cleveland because that’s where he got his head coaching start? Or does he remember the last time these two teams met?

The date was Nov. 7, 2010 when the Browns welcomed the Pats to Cleveland Browns Stadium and proceeded to humiliate them, 34-14.

Peyton Hillis ran for 184 (of the Browns’ 230) yards and a couple of touchdowns, Colt McCoy managed the game nicely (14-of-19 for 174 yards and a touchdown with no picks) and the defense created three turnovers.

Brady threw for a pedestrian (for him) 224 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Aaron Hernandez, now incarcerated in a Connecticut jail, awaiting trial on murder charges.

The victory proved sweet revenge for Browns coach Eric Mangini, whose relationship with Belichick soured over Spygate. The Browns went on to win just two games the rest of what turned out to be Mangini’s last season in Cleveland, and finished 5-11.

The loss was New England’s second and last setback in the regular season. The Patriots finished 14-2 and went on to win eight straight games following the Cleveland loss before falling to the New York Jets in the division playoffs.

The current Patriots, who have scored 27 or more points in six of the last seven games, have played remarkable comeback football after sluggish starts in their last two games against Denver and Houston.

They overcame a 24-0 halftime deficit against the Broncos to win, 34-31, in overtime. They knocked off the Texans by the same score in regulation after trailing, 17-7 at the half. That’s just seven points in the first half of those games and 61 the rest of the way. Brady completed nearly 70% of his passes in those victories.

The Browns this season are much better in the first half than in the final 30 minutes. They’ve scored 135 of their 231 points (or 58.4%) in the first half and struggled with only 96 (or 41.6%) in the second half. Their best quarter by far is the second with 88 points (or 38.1% of their overall scoring).

So does that give the Browns some hope to at least stay in the game for the first 30 minutes? Uh, no.  Don’t forget about the difference in talent, especially in the passing game.

The receivers the Cleveland secondary will have to particularly mindful of are tight end Rob Gronkowski and wide receiver Julian Edelman, who was a quarterback in his collegiate days at Kent State.

Gronkowski, who missed the first six games of the season following back surgery, has caught a touchdown pass in his last four games, while Edelman, who has become Brady’s second-favorite receiver, has 18 receptions for 211 yards and a pair of scores the last two games.

Where the Browns might have a slight advantage is on the line of scrimmage when the Pats have the ball. Brady is not as mobile as he used to be. If the Browns’ pass rush, AWOL the last three games, ever reappears, the New England offensive line, which has given up 31 sacks, is vulnerable.

As for Josh Gordon, a third straight 200-yard game falls into the same category as the Browns’ chances of winning this game. If he gets 100, consider that a victory of sorts. You can bet he and tight end Jordan Cameron will be accorded close attention wherever they go. And since the Browns have no other receivers who worry opposing offenses, it’s time for the running game to finally step up. (Just kidding.)

Hard to believe, but the Browns lead the all-time series, 13-9, against New England with most of those victories (11) recorded by the old Cleveland Browns prior to the resurrection in 1999.

Suffice it so say, the Cleveland victory total against the Patriots will stay frozen after Sunday’s get together. The Pats get their revenge for 2010. Make it:

Patriots 37, Browns 10

Monday leftovers

The numbers for Josh Gordon are absolutely staggering and rapidly reaching Megatron levels.

Many pundits around the National Football League are just now beginning to realize what Browns fans have known for the past two seasons. The kid can really play this game.

Now consider the lean wide receiver has had three different quarterbacks throwing the football his way this season, which makes the following statistics that much more remarkable.

For your consideration, here is how Gordon’s numbers compare this season to those of Detroit’s Calvin Johnson, the original Megatron.

The 6-5, 240-pound Johnson has 72 receptions for 1,299 yards and 12 touchdowns in 11 games. The 6-3, 225-pound Gordon checks in with 64 catches for 1,249 yards and seven scores in 10 games (he missed the first two games serving a suspension).

Johnson has 19 catches for 20 or more yards; Gordon has 22. Johnson has caught five passes for 40 or more yards; Gordon has seven. Johnson has caught 60 passes for first downs; Gordon has 47. Johnson averages 118 yards a game; Gordon averages 125.

Now comes the kicker. Gordon is the first receiver in National Football League history with back-to-back 200-yard plus games with his virtuoso performances the last two weeks in the losses to Pittsburgh and Jacksonville. He needs only 41 more yards to eclipse Braylon Edwards’ club record for most receiving yards in a season.

In just 26 NFL games, Gordon is becoming a folk hero of sorts. In those games, he has caught 114 passes for 2,054 yards, an average of 18 yards a catch and 79 a game, and 87 first downs. He is on pace to total 1,750 yards this season. In those 114 touches, he has fumbled just once.

He rarely drops a pass that hits his hands. He’s been targeted 209 times in two seasons with maybe five drops. The most notable drop occurred against the Indianapolis Colts last season when he couldn’t hold on to a sure touchdown pass late in the game that would have given the Browns a victory.

Hard to tell whether he just has natural football instincts or it’s hard work paying off handsomely. His seemingly effortless approach to playing the position appears to lull defenders into easing off in their coverage. His soft, yet strong hands enable him to make it look easy.

Whatever it is he has, it makes every offensive snap an adventure.

Gordon’s astounding performances are the lone bright spot in an otherwise dreary and very forgettable season. He’s so good, most fans blink in disbelief, “does he really play for the Browns?”

Browns Nation isn’t used to performances like Gordon has provided. They’re much more used to bad football. As stated here before, Gordon is too good to play for this team. His efforts deserve to be rewarded with much more than losing football on a nearly weekly basis.

The fact he is able to elevate his game despite the yoke of pervasive losing is an achievement in and of itself. If not for his feats, there’s no telling how bad this offense would be.

And to think the Browns seriously considered trading him earlier in the season. Thankfully, no team came along and offered Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi a deal they couldn’t refuse.

OK, so Gordon faces a season suspension if he has drug problems again. His immense talent is worth a gamble that he’ll stay straight and realize he can make a lot of money if he continues to amaze.

For those of you who like to dream, Gordon has an outside chance to become the first wide receiver in NFL history to record a 2,000-yard season. With four games remaining, he needs 751 yards, or 188 yards a game, to reach that total.

Impossible? Probably. The way he’s playing now, though, there’s no telling how much higher he can elevate his game.

~ All season long, the Browns’ defense has had problems covering tight ends. In Sunday’s loss to Jacksonville, for example, tight ends Marcedes Lewis and Clay Harbor scored touchdowns.  In the loss to Detroit, seldom-used tight end Joseph Fauria scored three times.

Whether it’s a linebacker or strong safety T. J. Ward in coverage, opposing quarterbacks seem to have little trouble finding the open tight end. And you can be certain Bill Belichick is well aware of that and game planning thusly for the Browns’ invasion Sunday in New England.

If you have Rob Gronkowski on your fantasy football team, count on a big week for points. The Patriots tight end, who missed the first six weeks of the season after undergoing back surgery in June, has roared back with 37 receptions for 560 yards in six games and has scored a touchdown in his last four games.

Count on Tom Brady looking often toward the 6-6, 265-pounder, especially on seam routes that appear to confound Cleveland defenders. If the likes of Jermaine Gresham, Tyler Eifert and Heath Miller have big days against the Cleveland defense, imagine what Gronkowski will do.

~ What in the world has happened to the Browns’ pass rush? After nailing quarterbacks 31 times in the first nine games, it has only two in the past three. And both came against an infinitely inferior Jacksonville offensive line Sunday.

Jaguars quarterback Chad Henne had all kinds of time to pick apart the Cleveland secondary in the final minutes of Sunday’s loss. The Browns applied no pressure whatsoever as Henne teed up Ace Sanders and Cecil Shorts III during the 80-yard scoring drive.

If the best they can do against the Jaguars is two sacks, then it challenges defensive coordinator Ray Horton to come up with methods to rediscover the secret to 31 sacks in nine games because what he’s dialing up now obviously isn’t working.

~ Of course coach Rob Chudzinski is upset with the Jacksonville loss. He should also be embarrassed. “We won’t stand for losing,” he said following Sunday’s loss. “We’re going to get this fixed. It’s unacceptable.”

It’s a little late to fix things. If you’re still fixing things after game 12, either you and your coaches are not coaching properly or you don’t have a good team. Maybe both. The Browns have some good individual players. Just not a good team.

However, Chudzinski won’t fault the way his men played against the Jags. “It’s not about the effort of the group,” he said. “It’s about the mistakes.” He’s got that right. But he fails to realize mistakes separate the bad teams from the good teams.

~ Notebook: The Browns have been in gift-giving mode the last three losses. They have committed 11 turnovers that have been turned into 46 points by the opposition. Throw in two blocked punts that resulted in points and that total rises to 60. . . . The Browns compiled only 97 rushing yards against the NFL’s worst run defense Sunday. Do you still think the Browns’ offensive line is good? Center Alex Mack has been the best of that group, notwithstanding his costly snapping problem against Jacksonville. . . . Willis McGahee’s rushing TD against the Jags was only the second of the season via the ground and the first since he scored in game five against Buffalo. . . . Strong safety T. J. Ward and cornerback Buster Skrine were the best players on defense Sunday. Ward has played several strong games in a row. And Skrine plays much bigger than his 5-9, 185-pound frame. 

Bottom of the barrel redux

Just when you thought the season couldn’t get any worse for the Browns, it did Sunday.

Practically no one thought the Browns could – or would – lose to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The game was at home. The Jaguars are one of the worst teams in the National Football League. And the Browns, 1-5 in their last six games, were due.

The Jags have one of the worst offenses in the NFL and the Browns, at least until recently, have one of the best defenses. There’s no way Cleveland could – or would – lose this game.

And yet, it found a way to lose, 32-28, to a very bad Jacksonville team, now 3-9 after an 0-8 start, and add further embarrassment to a season that has come completely apart in the last two months.

The Browns played fast and loose with Murphy’s Law against the Jaguars and paid a heavy price. If it was meant to go wrong, it did.

Such as three turnovers, including two Brandon Weeden interceptions on consecutive throws and a strip sack in a 2½-minute period late in the second quarter. They turned a 14-7 lead into a 20-14 deficit in a relative blink.

A quick scan of the final statistics shows Weeden was 24-for-40 for 370 yards and three touchdowns. So make that three touchdowns, two interceptions, one fumble and a partridge in a pear tree for the afternoon.

The Cleveland offense racked up 439 net yards and 24 first downs against a porous Jaguars defense. Those are gaudy numbers for the Browns and usually spell victory. Not this time.

The afternoon was typical good Weeden, bad Weeden. When he threw the ball to anyone not named Josh Gordon, he was his usual mediocre self. But when he targeted Gordon, as he did 15 times, he was nothing short of spectacular.

Except for a brief period in the third quarter when he was held out of the lineup and checked for a possible concussion following a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit by Jags strong safety Winston Guy, Gordon was amazing for the second week in a row.

For the second straight game, the second-year wide receiver set a team record for most yards receiving in a game with 261 in addition to his two touchdowns. His 14-catch, 237-yard effort in a losing cause against the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday gives him 24 receptions for an incredible 498 yards in the last two games.

For every other receiver on the Browns, that’s a season total. Maybe.

Gordon makes the spectacular look routine. About half his yards against the Jaguars were gained after the catch. His 95-yard catch and run for a score with 3:55 left in regulation gave the Browns a 28-25 lead and appeared to be the game clincher.

He broke loose after Guy went for the interception and missed around the Cleveland 35. The deceptively speedy Gordon outraced two defenders to the end zone as the relatively small crowd rejoiced.

There was no way the offense-challenged Jags could recover from such a blow. Surely the Cleveland defense, which effectively shut them down without a first down in the third quarter, would continue to come through.

Not this time. The luster that covered the Cleveland defense in the first half of the season is rapidly disappearing when it can’t stop a team like Jacksonville. When a stop had to be made, when a big play had to be made, that defense came up empty.

It took Jaguars quarterback Chad Henne slightly more than three minutes and 10 plays to move his team 80 yards. When the Cleveland pass rush was needed, it vanished. (It had only two sacks after two consecutive games with no sacks). Henne was afforded ample time to throw the ball.

Alternating his throws between Ace Sanders and Cleveland native Cecil Shorts III, while mixing in the tough running of Maurice Jones-Drew, Henne drove his team relentlessly down the field as Browns fans moaned, “Here we go again.”

Someone, anyone, make a play, they pleaded. For once, make a play. It never came.

Instead, Shorts made a play, a sweet double move on the usually reliable Joe Haden, who bit on an inside move before losing him outside. Shorts caught the 20-yard scoring throw cleanly and tapped both feet before landing out of the end zone with 40 seconds left.  

The Browns managed to get to the their 48-yard line before Weeden’s desperation Hail Mary was not answered and yet another embarrassing loss was logged.

As it turned out, the margin of victory was a result of a wild shotgun snap by center Alex Mack midway through the fourth quarter with the Browns clinging to a 21-20 lead. It led to five Jacksonville points.

The snap, from the Cleveland 14-yard line, sailed well over Weeden’s head and skidded to the front edge of the end zone, where Weeden kicked it out of bounds. It resulted in a safety followed soon after by a Josh Scobee field goal.

Sanders returned the subsequent Spencer Lanning punt 31 yards to the Browns’ 43. Six plays later, Scobee booted his third field goal of the game from 25 yards to give the Jags the three-point lead (28-25), moments before Gordon’s dazzling 95-yarder.

The Browns now have managed to dive bomb their way into solidifying yet another basement finish in the AFC North. They look nothing like the team that played well enough in the first half of the season to be considered somewhat relevant.

They stand now at 4-8 with three of the final four games on the road, where they have won just once this season. What looked like a promising season at one point has devolved into just another season of misery. The only things that change are the faces and names of the players and coaching staff.

Cleveland fans have been sick and tired of such teams for so long, it’s a wonder apathy doesn’t set in. Maybe the lack of people in seats at the Jacksonville game is an indicator that might be the initial stage of such a feeling.

At this point, the Browns might as well tank the rest of the season, try and get that really high choice in next year’s college football draft and start anew.

Again.

Keep Weeden healthy

As sick as this sounds, it would not surprise to hear fans Sunday root for Brandon Weeden to get injured early against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Not seriously, of course. But just enough to ensure he doesn’t play the rest of the game.

Many fans really don’t like Weeden because, well, he isn’t the quarterback the Browns envisioned when they selected him in the first round of the 2012 college football draft.

His mere presence on the field at home engenders boos. And they increase in volume with every mistake. Anything less than perfection triggers the angry chorus.

But this time, the bloodthirsty section of the Browns Nation probably will be more anxious to take a look at Alex Tanney, the team’s latest quarterback signing.

For the initiated, Tanney is the Monmouth University quarterback who attempted to sell himself to National Football League teams last year with a five-minute video of things he can do with a football.

It wasn’t your ordinary, run-of-the-mill video that showed him throwing all kinds of passes to receivers in order to prove he should get at least a shot at the NFL. No receivers appeared in the video. Only his buddies in school.

Tanney, you see, is a trick-shot artist with a football. He can make some remarkable non-football shots with the spheroid. Like hitting the cab of a truck speeding away from him; swishing a football through basketball baskets from long distances; or bouncing a football off various parts of a goalpost, also from long distance.

There are other amazing feats on the video that will make you blink your eyes in wonderment trying to figure out just how he did them. It’s a fun five minutes. And now he’s a member of the Browns.

Yep, it’s official. Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi have turned the 2013 Browns into a sideshow with this move. Surely there had to be better choices out there other than Tanney.

The kid is quite the football artist. The big question is whether he can stash all the tricks and prove he’s a lot more than a novelty. By playing a real game of football where the best trick is staying healthy and not making mistakes.

He’s had exhibition experience with Kansas City and Dallas (he played quarterback for the Cowboys in the second half of the Pro Football Hall of Fame game last summer). He played in all the exhibitions, was released and then signed to the Cowboys’ practice squad from where the Browns plucked him.

There certainly had to be someone better than Tanney for the Browns to sign. Vince Young, for example, is available. OK, so he’s a journeyman, but at least he can play representative football.

Throwing someone like Tanney into the remaining schedule against the New England Patriots, Chicago Bears, New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers should Weeden go down is asking for trouble.

If Weeden, indeed, goes down, Tanney will become the fourth man setting up under center this season. The last time the Browns needed a quartet of starting quarterbacks to finish the season, the year was 1988 and Marty Schottenheimer was the coach.

Due to numerous injuries, the season began with Gary Danielson and ended with Mike Pagel with Don Strock with Bernie Kosar also getting in work. Kosar missed the first seven games with an injury before getting hurt again in game 15.

Here’s hoping Sunday’s crowd will be more civil toward Weeden than in the recent past. Tanney needs to stay tethered to his clipboard.

A Jaguars upset?

OK, Browns fans, all together now. Click your heels three times and repeat after me.

The Browns will not lose to the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday at home. The Browns will not lose to the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday at home. The Browns will not lose to the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday at home.

Now take a deep breath and pretend you don’t know the Browns have lost five of their last six games and are beginning to look like they have most of the time since the resurrection in 1999.

Now pretend you don’t know the Jaguars have won two of their last three games (both on the road) after dropping their first eight of the season. Yep, those Jaguars.

Entering the game, the Jags are playing better football than the Browns in the last three weeks. And yet, oddsmakers have installed the Browns as seven-point favorites to hand Jacksonville its 10^th loss of the season.

Never mind the Jaguars have knocked off the Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans to take their November record to 2-1, which is better than the Browns’ 1-2. So why isn’t the smart money tilting Cleveland’s way?

Well, maybe it’s because the Jaguars are a very bad team. Last Sunday’s 13-6 victory over Houston was the first time they held a team under 19 points.

Their offense has scored more than 20 points just once (29-27 against the Titans) and makes the mediocre Cleveland offense look like a bunch of All-Pros by comparison.

Their 142 points for the season (13 a game) is, by far, the worst output in the National Football League. The Browns, as bad as they are with the football, have produced 203.

The Jags defense, which can’t stop the run or pass, allows 29½ points a game and is on pace to permit 471 for the season. Fans of the Titans and Texans have to wonder how in the world they lost to this team.

Certainly, the Browns can beat this awful football team, right? Even with Brandon Weeden at quarterback, this should be a relative walk in the park.

So how bad are the Jaguars? Let’s start with just 175 first downs this season. That’s 16 a game. Then we move on to 3,113 total yards. Seven NFLd quarterbacks have thrown for more yards by themselves.

The offense averages 2.9 yards per pop. Running back Maurice Jones-Drew has racked up 73% of the team’s run total. If the Browns pay attention to any other running back Sunday, shame on Ray Horton.

The Jags have produced just 14 touchdowns, two by the defense, and only seven scoring passes through the air. Quarterback Chad Henne has thrown four of those passes, but has been intercepted nine times.

The offensive line has permitted 37 sacks. But the way the Cleveland pass rush has looked in the last two games (zero sacks), the Jags should not expect that total of rise. Conversely, the defense has sacked opposing quarterbacks just 17 times.

That defense, which has been gouged for 1.468 yards on the ground, has trouble getting off the field. The opposition owns the ball on the average for nearly 33 minutes as game.

So as one can see, Sunday’s battle should amount to a walkover even though the Jags are on what for them is considered a roll. And the Browns are due to bust out of their doldrums.

Never mind that the Jaguars have won nine of the15 games the teams have played since the series began in 1995. After losing the seven of the first eight, including the first six, the Browns have won four of the last six, including three of the last four.

The most famous game of the series was also the most infamous. On Dec. 16, 2001 in what turned out to be a 15-10 Jaguars victory at Cleveland Browns Stadium, Dawg Pound fans vented their wrath by throwing plastic beer bottles at the officials following a decision that robbed the Browns of a chance at a go-ahead touchdown.

Cleveland wide receiver Quincy Morgan appeared to make the fourth-down catch of a short Tim Couch pass at the Jags’ 9-yard line with less than a minute left in regulation. Couch immediately spiked the ball on the next play, which would have automatically eliminated the possibility of looking at a replay.

But referee Terry McAulay called for a replay review after determining the replay official in the press box buzzed him before the Couch spike. He subsequently ruled Morgan did not catch the ball cleanly and the Jags took over on downs.

That’s when the bottles flew and Cleveland once again became a national joke with its crowd behavior. McAulay and his fellow officials walked off the field and declared the game over. But the league office overruled him and the game was finished.

Now we know McAulay won’t officiate Sunday’s game. That’s because he had the Browns-Steelers debacle last Sunday. So . . .

Don’t look for Jags to slow down Josh Gordon and Jordan Cameron or give Weeden grief in the pocket. Given all that time, he should be able to calm the boo birds and play representative football. The defense, meanwhile, will finally get a sack. Feeling pretty confident about that one (sarcasm noted).

Repeating the original mantra: The Browns will not lose to the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday at home. Of course they won’t. Make it:

Browns 27, Jaguars 13

Monday leftovers

Slowly but surely, as the Browns slide ever so gently toward the outhouse section of the National Football League, one reason for their plunge becomes more obvious by the game. Maybe even by the quarter.

What in the world happened to the team’s’ vaunted pass rush? That aspect of the game that contributes mightily toward the avowed goal – winning. Has anyone seen that pass rush lately?

The Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers, the Browns’ last two opponents, haven’t. All you have to do is ask and they’ll probably shrug their shoulders. “What pass rush?” they would ask, then wink knowingly.

The Browns have 31 sacks in their 11 games thus far this season, which isn’t bad by NFL standards. But when you check the statistics and realize they had 31 after nine games, that raises a bright red flag or two.

The last time a member of the Cleveland defense put a quarterback on the ground for a loss was Nov. 9, when Jabaal Sheard planted Baltimore’s Joe Flacco for a one-yard loss in the Browns’ 24-18 victory.

That sack occurred with about seven minutes left in the game, which means Cleveland hasn’t recorded a sack in the last 8½ quarters, or 127 minutes. Or, as far as defensive coordinator Ray Horton is concerned, too long.

It’s no coincidence the Browns have lost their last two games to division rivals. They didn’t get close enough to quarterbacks Andy Dalton and Ben Roethlisberger to make a difference. They combined for five touchdowns passes as a result.

Breaking down the club’s pass-rushing stats thus far reveals strong outputs result, with one exception, in winning games. In their four victories thus far, they have 17 of those 31 sacks, including games of 6, 4 and 5. They had only 2 in the first Cincinnati game.

In the seven losses, they have just 14 sacks, including games of 2 1, 1, 0 (as in zero) and 0 (as in nil). That’s five games where the pass rush was almost non-existent. They had four in the season-opening loss against Miami and six in the Kansas City loss, both games that could have been won.

That right there should tell you how bad it’s been this season. There is no consistency whatsoever. In the two games before the latest drought, the Browns had 11 sacks in back-to-back games against Baltimore and Kansas City.

It’s feast or famine with this group. You never know what you’re going to get from game to game. Many fans expected Roethlisberger, who plays behind a below-average offensive line, to land on his keister hard and often Sunday. The Browns didn’t come close enough to see if he had bad breath.

Now it’s possible Horton and the Browns will try and spin this latest inability to bother the opposing passer by saying something like, “Well, at least we hurried those guys into throwing before they wanted.” That would be inaccurate.

Dalton and Big Ben had all kinds of time to go through all their progressions before dealing. Only problem was Dalton thought Joe Haden was a member of the Bengals and threw two passes right at the Cleveland cornerback, one of which was a pick 6.

How refreshing would it be to hear Horton or Rob Chudzinski say there’s a problem and they’re attempting to fix it.

Individually, Barkevious Mingo leads the way with a dazzling four sacks in relatively limited action. The rookie linebacker has become a situational rusher since the return of Sheard, but still leads the team.

A further check of the stats reveals 15 players have at least one sack and defensive linemen have accounted for 10½ of the team total. The most disappointing performer, by far, has been Paul Kruger.

The high-priced (and supremely overpaid) outside linebacker, playing on a three-down basis for the first time in his career, has an anemic 2½ sacks in 11 games. Contrast that with the two sacks rookie defensive lineman Armonty Bryant has in part-time play. Enough said.

Kind of makes one wonder just how important Kruger is to the defense. With only 30 tackles (14 solo), there is no question he isn’t even in the same area code when it comes to earning the big bucks the Browns shelled out to lure him away from the Ravens.

~ Josh Gordon is a treasure. The performance the second-year wide receiver put on Sunday in the loss to Pittsburgh almost defied belief. With the rest of the offense going through the motions, Gordon’s stats were that much more remarkable.

It wasn’t as though the Steelers allowed him to catch those 14 passes and compile those 237 yards. He made several tough medium-range catches, turning a few into long gainers with his very deceptive long strides.

Gordon is much faster than he looks and has a burst that is breathtaking. He can go from cruising to fast to super fast in a matter of two strides. He is the only weapon opposing defenses fear when game planning for the Browns.

It is incumbent the Browns find him the kind of quarterback that takes advantage of his marvelous skills. That he racked up those totals against the Steelers with Jason Campbell and Brandon Weeden as his quarterbacks is strong evidence he can become a major superstar with better quarterbacking.

~ Also of great concern in the play of the offensive line the last two games. That overrated quintet has allowed nine sacks and 19 quarterback hits in the last eight quarters while opening virtually no holes for the running backs.

And have you noticed how absolutely futile it is for the Browns to run a screen play this season? They tried one Sunday against the Steelers and Weeden had to throw the ball into the ground at the feet of the running back in disgust because the Steelers blew up the play before it started.

College teams execute screens better than the Browns. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a high school game, but I’d bet a little that some high school teams run screens better than the Browns. There is no excuse why these well-paid professional athletes cannot run a simple screen play to keep opponents off balance.

~ Notebook: Is there anything Roethlisberger can’t do well? He even punts well. With a 20-3 lead and facing a fourth and 18 at the Cleveland 29-yard line midway through the fourth quarter, Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin disdained a 47-yard field goal attempt and sent Big Ben back onto the field, ostensibly to go for the first down. After taking the snap in shotgun formation, the quarterback deftly left-footed a pooch punt than landed at the Cleveland 1, then trotted to the bench with a broad smile on his face. It seems he can do no wrong against the Browns. . . . Terry McAulay’s officiating crew called only four penalties (for a total of 18 yards) all afternoon Sunday. That has to show you how tame this rivalry (?) has become. I remember the good, old days when both teams would rack up at least 100 yards in penalties. . . . Offensive coordinator Norv Turner targeted Gordon more times (17) for passes than times (16) he called for running plays. . . . Question of the week: If Campbell is unable to go next Sunday against the invading Jacksonville Jaguars, will the Browns choose to announce the offense or defense in the player introductions?

Yep, this party is over

With sincere apologies to Willie Nelson and the late Don Meredith, consider the following as the Browns’ obituary for the rest of this season.

“Turn out the lights, the party’s over; they say that all good things must end.” In the Browns’ case, substitute season for party and that about sums up where the rest of this season lies.

Nelson wrote the song and Meredith popularized it at the end of Monday Night Football games on ABC for many seasons. It also might as well be the Browns’ theme song for the rest of 2013.

The lights went out on the 2013 season for the Browns on the wings of a 27-11 drubbing by the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday at the edifice once known as Cleveland Browns Stadium. Once again, the Steelers arrived ready to play. The Browns did not.

If anyone in Browns Nation believes there is still something to salvage this season, he or she is dreaming. Do not even think about using Browns and playoffs in the same sentence. That laughable thought is officially now known as an oxymoron.

The club will try to sell you on the notion that there is still a chance. Technically, that is correct. Realistically, though, that’s not even close. Certainly not after the way the team played against the Steelers. It was the men against the boys.

This one had so much on the line for the Browns. First of all, it was against their archrivals. If that wasn’t motivation enough to play well, then there’s no hope for this team. Second, even more important, a victory would have produced the first stepping stone toward relevance in the National Football League.

Entering next Sunday’s game at home against the hapless Jacksonville Jaguars with a 5-6 record and the distinct possibility of playing .500 football after a dozen games was a strange, but pleasant, thought throughout the week leading up to this game.

The Browns then proceeded to add another chapter to the Factory of Sadness saga and plunge it to depths that have been achieved in the past only by far lesser teams.

For a game with this much meaning, the Browns (with one notable exception) mailed it in.

Josh Gordon was the only Brown to show up, putting on a virtuoso performance that landed him in the team’s record book. The second-year wide receiver, who is too good to play with such a bad team, caught a record-tying 14 passes for a record-smashing 237 yards.

Growing up a Browns fan, coach Rob Chudzinski certainly knows the importance of any game against the Steelers. Apparently, the players never got the message as they prepared for the game this past week.

For whatever reason, this team was not ready to play a game of football Sunday. There is no excuse for the way they played. None whatsoever. Everyone in the organization is culpable. From Joe Banner on down, this was one game that had to be won.

There aren’t that many must-win games in a season for a team like the Browns. And this was their best effort? Instead, they came up with a game whose stench will linger for quite a while.

For the first time this season, the Browns got pushed around on both sides of the ball. The Steelers, who owned the ball for 33½ minutes, jumped all over them almost from the opening kickoff and did not let up.

It was almost as though they toyed with their AFC North patsies, improving Ben Roethlisberger’s record against them to a remarkable 16-1. The Pittsburgh quarterback sliced and diced the Cleveland secondary all afternoon.

When it came to the battle in the trenches, the Steelers won just about every one. The offensive line provided pristine protection for Roethlisberger, who was not sacked and wound up on his back just once. That same line had given up 36 sacks in 10 games before Sunday.

And the Pittsburgh defensive line, which had a measly 18 sacks in those 10 games, dropped Cleveland quarterbacks Jason Campbell and Brandon Weeden five times, knocking Campbell out of the game twice, the second time permanently with a concussion in the third quarter.

Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau showed his protégé Ray Horton, Cleveland’s defensive chief, how it should be done as his defense mauled the Browns all afternoon. It was an unfair fight.

Troy Polamalu, a shadow of his All-Pro self of several years ago, looked like a spry rookie, disrupting the Cleveland offense with glee. The 11-year veteran free safety seemed to be everywhere causing all kinds of trouble, including a pair of fumbles.

Cornerback William Gay joined the parade with a pick six (of Weeden) and a strip sack of Campbell that led to an easy Pittsburgh touchdown and the Cleveland quarterback’s departure for the rest of the game midway through the third quarter.

Gay clearly struck Campbell’s helmet with his hand as he swooped in untouched from the blind side, but referee Terry McAulay nor the umpire chose to yank a flag for roughing the quarterback. Look for Gay to be fined by the league and McAulay at least admonished.

But that’s not what lost this game. What won it was plays of aggression made by the Steelers. If it wasn’t Polamalu, Gay and the pass rush for the Steelers, it was Roethlisberger’s steely resolve and a determined offensive line.

If there was a play to be made, the Steelers made it. The Browns didn’t. Perfect example was Pittsburgh’s first touchdown of the afternoon.

A short Spencer Lanning punt was returned to the Cleveland 48-yard line by Antonio Brown with 3:17 left in the first half and a 3-3 game.  On the second play, Roethlisberger found Brown behind Joe Haden, who made the mistake of looking back as he ran with Brown. That fateful glance cost him and his team a touchdown.

On the next Cleveland series, Polamalu pried the football loose from Chris Ogbonnaya and recovered it near midfield. The Steelers turned it into a field goal. Just like that, the 3-3 tie turned into a 13-3 lead and the rout was on.

The Steelers, who lost their first four games of the season, have now won three in a row and reside at 5-6. The Browns, who began the season at 3-2, have dropped five of their last six games and taken up residence once again in a familiar place: The AFC North basement.

That victory over Baltimore a few weeks ago seems now like an aberration. It was thought at the time to be a sign that maybe, just maybe, a corner had been turned. Turned out that corner led back to a very familiar place.

To say the Browns are in a state of disarray right now would not be an overstatement. They are headed suspiciously in a direction with which Browns fans are all too accustomed.

What looked like a promising start this season has devolved into the realm of same old Browns. So much to look forward to; so little in return.

And to think there are still five games left on the schedule. The age of torture continues.