Did the Browns practice, prepare?
By STEVE KING
Late in his team’s 38-7 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday at Heinz Field, the Browns’ Jamie Gillan, though kicking deep in his own end zone, boomed a long punt, only to have it nullified by a penalty for having too many men on the field.
Baker Mayfield feeling better, expected to do more in practice as we shift our focus to the Bengals
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) October 19, 2020
📰 » https://t.co/zpd4wm2CNm pic.twitter.com/41zl07F8y3
I said a bad word, or two, or three, or perhaps the same word one, two or three times — sorry, God, forgive me for I have sinned, but does it make it less serious if it were done during a Browns game, against Pittsburgh? — and then I became even more incredulous.
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“For crying out loud, guys,” I muttered to myself, “this isn’t brain surgery. It’s a punt. The ‘Scottish Hammer’ guy on your team kicks the ball to the guy on the other team who is standing back there all by himself. Then you run like crazy — “like your hair’s on fire,” as former Browns head coach Butch Davis used to say — to where’s he’s at and try to tackle him.
“And there can be only 11 guys from your team on the field at any one time, and the team can have only 11 guys.
“Pretty simple, huh?
“Well, yeah.
Did the Browns practice?
“Then why in the name of Horace Gillom — the best punter the Browns have ever had — can’t y’all get it right?”
But to be fair, that was one of the last few of the seemingly endless string of mistakes — poor play, poor coaching, poor performance, poor everything — on what was a fitful day for the Browns. As such, then, you can’t dwell on this faux pas too long, because, again, it does not stand alone, but it nonetheless really stands out since it is the poster child of what went on.
That spawned yet another thought. I said to myself, “Did you guys practice for this game, or did you take the week off and just showed up to play? But if you did practice, then you practiced all the wrong things, or else the players didn’t listen to the coaches.
“Either way, it’s absolutely, completely unacceptable.”
