Sunday, December 20, 2009

Browns at Chiefs - Week 15 - Record: 3-11

How wretchedly woeful is this, as I listen to the Arrowhead fan boos reign down on the Chiefs and their loss to an equally pathetic Browns team.

Len Dawson said it best when at one point he very simply and very plainly said something he'd been saying all year. "Where was the defensive line and the linebackers?"

Here were the un-eye-popping stats for their go-to back of the game, some previously unknown guy named Jerome Harrison. 88 carries for 301 yards in 13 games. Last year he had 246 rushing yards total.

This one game: 34 carries for 286 yards, the third highest rushing total in NFL history.

There are a number of other woefully wretchedly woeful things I could mention: Our special teams finally got beat bad, letting their go-to return guy torch us for two touchdowns. The Browns had scored 158 points all year, they put 41 up against us today. A team put 40+ points against us for a third game in the last four.

And yet again yet again yet again--our dropped passes.

Last week I brought up the idea that Matt Cassel might be throwing a heavy ball. I realize I was too severe. Much of the problem is that we just have a bunch of receivers with bad hands. Even Dwayne Bowe returning after his four game suspension dropped passes. Today Cassel demonstrated he's got what it takes, nothing different than what we all know about him, and that with some time, coaching, an O-line, and receivers without butter on their fingers he can't help but get even better.

Otherwise, what's new. Just another woefully wretched woefully embarrassing experience.

Thank goodness that there is some hope. There's Cassel. There are our fine cornerback Brandons, Flowers and Carr. Our fine kicker is so young that we can count on him being around for a while, at a point when we'll actually have a pretty good team. Our fine punter was still (with the exception of one shank) booming punts again today. Jamaal Charles with his trick shoulder and all is getting us to believe he may actually be an above-average back.

And our fine industrious GM has his nine draft picks in the first six rounds in April.

Right now it is really bad, but there's every reason to believe this is the worst it will be. It can only get better. Maybe not this year, that's a given, but there is real hope.
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