Postgame Browns vs. Titans

No excuses. I am not sure that the Browns could have looked any worse Sunday afternoon. There was no lateral threat on offense, no consistent running game, a lack of solid tackling, and no key plays by the special teams. Oh, and Pat Shurmur was playing hide and seek with Peyton Hillis, or actually more of hide Peyton Hillis from the field.

The main issue in the game was the offense. There was not one throw by the Browns that accumulated more than 20 yards. Nor was there a run of over 10 yards all game. Where was Peyton Hillis? Sitting on the sideline for more than half of the offensive snaps in this game. He touched the ball 15 times in about 80 plays, while Montario Hardesty touched the ball 16 times over that period, including four dropped passes that could have easily been first downs.

Colt McCoy, in an offense built to be balanced between the run and the pass, threw the ball 61 times for 350 yards, but had a costly interception to go with that high number of mop-up time yardage.

The defense was at best, terrible. They missed coverages, generated absolutely no pass rush, and worst of all, missed so many tackles that Matt Hasslebeck covered 220 yards with his 10 completions, while letting Chris Johnson get his first 100 yard game in a season he has looked about as agile as Ted Washington did in his Browns days.

All I can say is if the Browns want to be competitive, they better start using their best weapons and getting the ball in the hands of Peyton Hillis at least 25 percent of all plays and start using Josh Cribbs the way he is best…in the open field. There was a small attempt to use Cribbs, but there was no excuse for how often Hillis was on the bench and Hardesty was on the field barely blocking blitzers and dropping passes. If this continues, I will not be the only one wondering why Pat Shurmur is trying to call plays and be head coach at the same time (and possibly clamoring for Mike Holmgren to do what he does best, and become our head coach).