BROWNS HAVE NO ONE TO BLAME BUT THEMSELVES
By STEVE KING
Yes, it was an exciting game.
You might tag it, “the game of the year in the NFL this season.” The ESPN announcing crew doing the Monday Night Football game between the Browns and Baltimore Ravens at First Energy Stadium, including former Cleveland safety/special teamer Louis Riddick, called it that afterward.
It was all that indeed – and then some.
But in the end, the Ravens won 45-42 – OK, really 47-42 — on a booming 55-yard field goal by the best kicker in the game, Justin Tucker, with two seconds left, plus a big, heaping dose of quarterback Lamar Jackson.
And the Browns have no one to blame but themselves.
Their defense couldn’t stop the electrifying Jackson, and the Ravens offense, all night. One stop – one play – at any number of points in the game would have sealed the deal for the Browns. But they couldn’t do it. While their offense is certainly there – it is certainly playoffs-worthy, that can’t be denied – their defense still needs a lot of work.
O be sure, the Browns defense played with a lot of heart, but the group simply needs more talent.
I knew it, you knew it, we all knew it going into the game, and now this fact is substantiated, again.
But there’s nothing that can be done about it until the offseason.
And no, I don’t think the presence of injured cornerback Denzel Ward would have made enough difference.
A loss hurts. These games are all about winning, especially now in this stretch drive to the playoffs. There is no consolation about playing well and coming close. That’s for losers. The Browns don’t want to be that anymore.
On this night, they were, though. But they can’t dwell on that. They’ve got three big games left, beginning Sunday night against the host New York Giants in a second straight nationally-televised game, and they’ve got to get back to winning.
And if they don’t bounce back from this emotional kick to the gut – and through the uprights – and lose to the Giants, then once again, they will have only themselves to blame.
