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Browns glum after win gets away
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sportswriter
CLEVELAND - The Browns continue to find new ways to define gut-wrenching.
Sunday in Cleveland Stadium, it went like this: Lead Pittsburgh 10-0 in the second quarter, 10-3 at the end of the third quarter and 20-10 with 9:21 left.
Then let the Steelers score two touchdowns in the game's final 4:24, the last on a Ben Roethlisberger flip with 32 seconds left.
What seemed like an uplifting win turned into one more difficult defeat.
And this one cut deep. The Browns thought they had taken a step to erasing the Christmas Eve debacle from last season. Instead they were left to describe the indescribable.
``Devastating,'' Joshua Cribbs said.
``I'm speechless,'' tight end Kellen Winslow said.
``We wanted to win this game so bad,'' quarterback Charlie Frye said. ``A lot of emotion went into this game.''
Mainly because of the 41-0 loss last season.
But the 24-20 Pittsburgh win meant the Steelers were left to chatter. Again.
``If you talk and lose, you're still losers,'' linebacker Joey Porter said. ``They talk like they're a different team, but in reality they're not.''
For the first three periods, the Browns bottled up the Steelers and Roethlisberger. The defense intercepted him three times and held him to 48 yards passing.
In the fourth period, Roethlisberger took over, completing 18-of-29 for 229 yards with two touchdowns.
Roethlisberger's play led to inexplicable dominance by the Steelers in the final quarter, as Pittsburgh ran 37 plays and had 19 first downs.
Most of the time, the Steelers went from the shotgun with a spread formation. Roethlisberger would drop back, look, avoid the rush and complete a pass.
Both his touchdowns came on broken plays.
The first time, he ran right, threw across his body and found Santonio Holmes for a 20-yard score.
The second time, he was avoiding Kamerion Wimbley when he flipped the ball to Willie Parker for the game winner.
The Browns got a 92-yard kickoff return from Cribbs in the fourth period, but that didn't faze the Steelers, who just kept right on spreading the field and completing passes.
The one Browns possession midway through the period was three-and-out, and took 1:04 off the clock.
``They had all the breaks, all the bounces,'' Porter said. ``But when it was nail-biting time and you've got to make plays, who made them?''
And who made the big mistakes?
Phil Dawson missed a field goal.
Simon Fraser was penalized for blocking Roethlisberger illegally after an interception, meaning the Browns' return inside the Steelers 10 late in the half was negated.
The Browns allowed Roethlisberger to somehow find Holmes for 21 yards on third-and-20.
Wimbley was penalized for a face-mask violation on a sack.
And Nick Eason inexplicably backed off from sacking Roethlisberger because he thought the ball had been thrown.
``That would have been a sack, and they probably would have kicked a field goal,'' Browns coach Romeo Crennel said.
``In this league, they protect the quarterback too much,'' Eason said. ``When I saw his (pump fake), I was trying to not shove him off. I know when you push off of him, they call the penalty. Obviously, he still had the ball. Next time I'll hold on.
``But they've been trying to protect the quarterback so much in this today. Next time I'll run through him.''
Instead of a sack, Roethlisberger threw the ball away, and the Steelers went on to a Willie Parker one-yard touchdown run. On that 17-play drive, Eason backed off the sack, and the Browns were penalized three times on defense.
On the Steelers' final drive, the Browns used their second timeout after a Pittsburgh timeout. Crennel said the defense was tired and need the timeout.
But it meant that when the Browns took over at their 43, they had one timeout and 27 seconds to work with.
Frye moved the Browns to the Pittsburgh 22, but his last-gasp throw to Braylon Edwards was tipped by Troy Polamalu.
Edwards got his hands on it, but the officials said Edwards was out of bounds when he touched the ball, and the pass would have been incomplete.
``I was just putting it up there to give Braylon and Joe (Jurevicius) a shot at it,'' Frye said.
Teeth will be gnashed over that play, but the Browns might look back to the first half, when they missed chances and kept the Steelers in the game.
A Frye fumble on a sack ended the Browns first drive at Pittsburgh's 33. Dawson's 44-yard field goal hit the crossbar. A drive to the Steelers' 9 ended with a field goal, not a touchdown. And Fraser's penalty cost the Browns field position inside the 10.
The offense scored no touchdowns: the Browns' touchdowns came from Cribbs and cornerback Daven Holly, who returned an interception 57 yards in the first period.
``We had our spurts like we always do,'' Frye said. ``We look real good at times. We don't look real good at times.''
Measuring the bitterness of the defeat was nearly impossible in the Browns' locker room.
``We should have beat them,'' Holly said. ``Handily.''
``We wanted to beat these guys as badly as we possibly could have,'' linebacker Andra Davis said, referring to 41-0.
``All the work you put in,'' Frye said. ``All the time you spend watching film, practicing.
``You want to see the reward of it.''
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By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sportswriter
CLEVELAND - The Browns continue to find new ways to define gut-wrenching.
Sunday in Cleveland Stadium, it went like this: Lead Pittsburgh 10-0 in the second quarter, 10-3 at the end of the third quarter and 20-10 with 9:21 left.
Then let the Steelers score two touchdowns in the game's final 4:24, the last on a Ben Roethlisberger flip with 32 seconds left.
What seemed like an uplifting win turned into one more difficult defeat.
And this one cut deep. The Browns thought they had taken a step to erasing the Christmas Eve debacle from last season. Instead they were left to describe the indescribable.
``Devastating,'' Joshua Cribbs said.
``I'm speechless,'' tight end Kellen Winslow said.
``We wanted to win this game so bad,'' quarterback Charlie Frye said. ``A lot of emotion went into this game.''
Mainly because of the 41-0 loss last season.
But the 24-20 Pittsburgh win meant the Steelers were left to chatter. Again.
``If you talk and lose, you're still losers,'' linebacker Joey Porter said. ``They talk like they're a different team, but in reality they're not.''
For the first three periods, the Browns bottled up the Steelers and Roethlisberger. The defense intercepted him three times and held him to 48 yards passing.
In the fourth period, Roethlisberger took over, completing 18-of-29 for 229 yards with two touchdowns.
Roethlisberger's play led to inexplicable dominance by the Steelers in the final quarter, as Pittsburgh ran 37 plays and had 19 first downs.
Most of the time, the Steelers went from the shotgun with a spread formation. Roethlisberger would drop back, look, avoid the rush and complete a pass.
Both his touchdowns came on broken plays.
The first time, he ran right, threw across his body and found Santonio Holmes for a 20-yard score.
The second time, he was avoiding Kamerion Wimbley when he flipped the ball to Willie Parker for the game winner.
The Browns got a 92-yard kickoff return from Cribbs in the fourth period, but that didn't faze the Steelers, who just kept right on spreading the field and completing passes.
The one Browns possession midway through the period was three-and-out, and took 1:04 off the clock.
``They had all the breaks, all the bounces,'' Porter said. ``But when it was nail-biting time and you've got to make plays, who made them?''
And who made the big mistakes?
Phil Dawson missed a field goal.
Simon Fraser was penalized for blocking Roethlisberger illegally after an interception, meaning the Browns' return inside the Steelers 10 late in the half was negated.
The Browns allowed Roethlisberger to somehow find Holmes for 21 yards on third-and-20.
Wimbley was penalized for a face-mask violation on a sack.
And Nick Eason inexplicably backed off from sacking Roethlisberger because he thought the ball had been thrown.
``That would have been a sack, and they probably would have kicked a field goal,'' Browns coach Romeo Crennel said.
``In this league, they protect the quarterback too much,'' Eason said. ``When I saw his (pump fake), I was trying to not shove him off. I know when you push off of him, they call the penalty. Obviously, he still had the ball. Next time I'll hold on.
``But they've been trying to protect the quarterback so much in this today. Next time I'll run through him.''
Instead of a sack, Roethlisberger threw the ball away, and the Steelers went on to a Willie Parker one-yard touchdown run. On that 17-play drive, Eason backed off the sack, and the Browns were penalized three times on defense.
On the Steelers' final drive, the Browns used their second timeout after a Pittsburgh timeout. Crennel said the defense was tired and need the timeout.
But it meant that when the Browns took over at their 43, they had one timeout and 27 seconds to work with.
Frye moved the Browns to the Pittsburgh 22, but his last-gasp throw to Braylon Edwards was tipped by Troy Polamalu.
Edwards got his hands on it, but the officials said Edwards was out of bounds when he touched the ball, and the pass would have been incomplete.
``I was just putting it up there to give Braylon and Joe (Jurevicius) a shot at it,'' Frye said.
Teeth will be gnashed over that play, but the Browns might look back to the first half, when they missed chances and kept the Steelers in the game.
A Frye fumble on a sack ended the Browns first drive at Pittsburgh's 33. Dawson's 44-yard field goal hit the crossbar. A drive to the Steelers' 9 ended with a field goal, not a touchdown. And Fraser's penalty cost the Browns field position inside the 10.
The offense scored no touchdowns: the Browns' touchdowns came from Cribbs and cornerback Daven Holly, who returned an interception 57 yards in the first period.
``We had our spurts like we always do,'' Frye said. ``We look real good at times. We don't look real good at times.''
Measuring the bitterness of the defeat was nearly impossible in the Browns' locker room.
``We should have beat them,'' Holly said. ``Handily.''
``We wanted to beat these guys as badly as we possibly could have,'' linebacker Andra Davis said, referring to 41-0.
``All the work you put in,'' Frye said. ``All the time you spend watching film, practicing.
``You want to see the reward of it.''
LINK
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