Back in the late 1950s and early ’60s, the Browns’ arch rivals at the time, the New York Giants, had a dilemma.
Although they had a number of great offensive players, including Pro Football Hall of Famers Frank Gifford, Y.A. Tittle and Roosevelt Brown, along with Kyle Roye, Alex Webster, Charlie Conerly, Del Shofner, University of Toledo product Mel Triplett and Bob Schnelker, a Galion, Ohio native who played at Bowling Green and was picked by the Browns in the 1950 NFL Draft, they struggled to score points. The offense, in fact, played second fiddle – and then some — to a talent-laden defense that was considered one of the best in that era, if not also in the history of the game.
It got so bad, in fact, that the New York defensive players cracked to the offensive players as they passed them while trotting off the field, “Just hold them.”
To a much, much lesser degree, the Browns are in a similar situation now. They certainly haven’t had great defenses in the expansion era, but they have played better overall than the offenses. It’s definitely been that way in recent weeks, and it was the case again today in the 24-6 loss to the St. Louis Rams at the not-even-half-full Edward Jones Dome.
The Browns had an offensive turnover – this time, a fumble by wide receiver Taylor Gabriel – returned for a touchdown for the second straight game and committed four turnovers in all. Combine that with enough offensive penalties, especially ones at crucial times, to choke an elephant, and it’s easy to see why they lost by 18 points to a team that was as mediocre as advertised. The Browns made the Rams look like juggernauts.
Week after week, it’s the same old story with the Browns in that the offense makes way too many mistakes and way too few big plays. That makes it virtually impossible to compete in the NFL, where teams, because of years of rule changes favoring the offense, score points in bunches.
It’s not fun to watch, either. In fact, it’s downright boring.
When the Browns fix their offensive problems, a lot of other problems on the team will magically disappear. And the best way to fix the offense is to fix the quarterback position, which the Browns have never really done since they returned to the field in 1999.
Josh McCown may complete a lot of passes for a good number of yards – he did so again today — but none of that really matters. What’s important is that he doesn’t make plays in crucial situations.
And he doesn’t win.
With him at the helm, teams are doomed to lose. His clubs are 2-15 in their last 17 games as a starter.
Will somebody please tell that to Browns head coach Mike Pettine? He needs to win a lot of games – and ASAP – to have any chance at all to save his job.
