There’s a lot of reasons why the Browns lost 30-27 to the host San Diego Chargers this afternoon, and we’ll try to touch on as many of them as possible as the week goes on.
But the main reason they lost was because of all those penalties – 12, to be exactly, including an offside call on veteran Travon Williams after the Chargers missed a field goal as time expired. San Diego took the five-yard penalty and drilled the re-boot right through the uprights on an untimed play to win the game.
It’s not really Williams’ fault that he erred at the most inopportune time, and it’s not the fault of those who committed the other 11 penalties, most of them of incredibly stupid variety.
Indeed, as we said in a recent piece concerning the story of Browns Pro Football Hall of Fame head coach Paul Brown and the incompetent driver of the team bus, don’t fire the guilty players. Instead, fire the people who hired them.
And in that case, then, this loss can be placed squarely at the feet of the members of the Cleveland coaching staff, especially head coach Mike Pettine. When a team commits a lot of penalties, particularly silly ones that scream lack of focus and preparation, it’s the fault of the head coach and his lieutenants. The Browns have been plagued all season with penalties, and they also committed plenty of them in 2014 in Pettine’s first year. So this has been going on since the get-go.
It’s hard enough to beat teams in the NFL. You can’t beat yourself in the process, and that’s what the Browns have done time and time and time again under Pettine.
And every time this happens, he digs a little deeper hole for himself. That is, he’s a step closer to getting fired, probably at the end of the season, should it happen.
The Browns are 1-3 and they look about as sharp and precise as a dull blade.
There’s no excuse for that, and I’ll be interested to hear Pettine’s continued excuses for – er, explanations of – why it happened.
And the fact he doesn’t lose his cool on the sideline – just once – when his players’ heads aren’t in the game is maddening. Do something – say something – for crying out loud. You’re the coach.
That’s a lack of leadership, and leadership comes from the head coach, which is why this one is on Mike Pettine.
