Friday, Aug. 14 (AM) – For quite some time, the initials for the NFL have stood for “Not For Long.” The league changes just like that – in a veritable snap of the fingers – in a variety of ways. Whatever or whomever worked yesterday doesn’t necessarily work today. In fact, many times it, or he, doesn’t. And so it is with the Browns right now. In the two-week span since training camp began, the overall script of the team has completely flipped. Whereas the running game was supposed to carry not just the offense but the Browns as a whole, giving the iffy quarterbacks less to do and as such less to mess up, now it’s the quarerbacks showing the way, hoping all along that the iffy running backs don’t mess it up. Starting quarterback Josh McCown and backup Johnny Manziel have played well throughout training camping camp and they do so again in the 20-17 loss to the visiting Washington Redskins on Thursday night at FirstEnergy Stadium in the preseason opener. McCown was on the field for only the opening drive but was 5-of-5 passing for 33 yards and a touchdown on a two-yarder to wide receiver Travis Benjamin. McCown scrambled out of the pocket and was just about ready to throw it away when he spotted Benjamin all alone in the back of the end zone. It was a heady play by McCown, capping off pretty much a flawless drive. Manziel played longer – five series – and was 7-of-11 passing for 42 yards. His TD came with his feet on a 12-yard run. The running game, though, was awful. Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell, the two top backs – supposedly, anyway – combined to rush for just 16 yards in eight carries. It looked even worse than that. They hit the holes with all the drive and determination of someone sleepwalking. McCown and Manziel are proving they’re going to perform better – perhaps even much better – than previously anticipated, but neither one of them is good enough at this stage of their careers to put the team onto their shoulders for long periods of time. It just isn’t going to happen. This is still a run-first team. That’s the way it was built. And that’s the way it’s going to stay. This is very simple: The Browns can continue to wait to Crowell and West to get their acts together and begin playing like they did a year ago, which may or may not happen. After all, their body of work in the NFL is not very extensive. Do the Browns really know what those two will do? But if it doesn’t happen and the Browns wait too long to go to an alternate plan, then the season could unravel quickly and head coach Mike Pettine and General Manager Ray Farmer will have put themselves onto the firing line. Or, as we’ve said in this space several times already, they can go out and the sensible thing – the one that has a much better chance to be successful — and sign running back Ray Rice, a proven commodity. His presence would put everything back into proportion and give the Browns the ability to make their running game go, their offense go and the team go – and with it save Farmer, Pettine and their support people of possibly having to find jobs at the end of the season. More on this later. But think about this: The New York Jets, who host the Browns in the regular-season opener, got punched in the jaw Thursday night with a 23-3 loss to the Detroit Lions. The Jets were non-competitive. With the Jets, Tennessee Titans and Oakland Raiders as their first three opponents, the Browns, with a good running game that would enable them to enact their plan as they laid it over the offseason, could start 3-0. But if the Browns can’t run the ball, then the Jets, Titans and Raiders would be circling the date with Cleveland as a win. Yes, that would completely flip, too, which is the way it works in the NFL.