Browns come up short against Ravens, 23-16

Another week... another disappointing loss. The Browns simply couldn’t pull off some last second magic and ended up losing after a last second hail mary pass was thrown out the back of the endzone.

Weeden finished the game 25/52 for 320 yards, 0 TD’s and 1 INT. Weeden’s interception, which came in the 3rd quarter, was returned for a touchdown. This play was rather unfortunate for a couple of reasons. One, the team ended up losing by this point differential. Two, if it weren’t for this interception I believe everyone would be talking about how well he played and managed the game. What I found most disappointing in the game is AGAIN how many catchable balls were dropped. (Most notably a pass to Greg Little in the endzone that would’ve put 7 more on the board for the Brownies) Hopefully, at the very least, this performance is enough to put all the Colt fanboys to bed. Weeden is going to be very good. (see previous comment about desparately needing someone, anyone who can catch)

Richardson, ran the ball 14 times for 47 yards and 1 TD while compiling another 57 receiving yards on 4 catches. At times, he again looked electric yet it would appear that Pat Shurmer is still having a difficult time finding creative ways to get him the ball in space. It’s also a bit mind-boggling to me why Richardson spent much of the 4th quarter on the sidelines giving way to Chris Ogbonnaya who finished the game with -2 rushing yards on 1 attempt and 10 yards receiving on 2 catches. Not to take away from Obi Wan Kanobi (that’s what I like to call him) but he simply does not present the same threat as Richardson does. Even when Richardson is not carrying the ball, defenses have to account for him and defend him honestly.

I thought the defensive line played a fantastic game. They held Ray Rice to 49 yards on 18 carries and continued to bother Flacco. Unfortunately, the secondary again played very very poorly without Joe Haden. Patterson continued to get picked on and ultimately was a big reason why Anquan Boldin had a huge game finishing with 131 yards on 9 catches. With each week Joe Haden misses, it becomes more and more apparent just how important he is to our defense and ultimately our chances to actually win the game.

On a bright note for the defense, Billy Winn continues to impress. I also thought Craig Robertson played a fantastic game at weakside linebacker rotating in and out with Fujita. Personally, I’d like to see Robertson get the start over Fujita. He is a man child that has continues to be seen making plays all over the field both on defense and special teams. It was also nice to see Jaabal Sheard have himeself a nice game. He's been a bit quiet thus far despite a breakout rookie season a year ago.

I can’t wrap this article up without giving some props to ‘Awesome’ Phil Dawson. I don’t know why, but the older he gets, the better he gets. Last night he hit 3 field goals from 50+ yards. All of them would have been good from 65 yards and all of them were right down the middle. If we could find a wide receiver as consistent as him we would be in great shape.

It also should be noted that Josh Cribbs left the game with a concussion. After laying on the field for 2-3 minutes with his eyes closed and body limp he regained consciousness and tried telling coaches that he was fine and could go back in the game. Sorry Josh… you got knocked the heck out! Although as one friend said last night… and unconscious Josh Cribbs is still more coherent than a conscious Coach Shurmer. (ouch)