Coming off of an impressive, some might say shocking, rout of the previously unbeaten defending world champion Giants, the Browns' stock had never been higher this season. The 4-2 Redskins came into the game looking to bounce back from an equally surprising loss at the hands of the lowly Rams.
Both teams played a first half that was an exercise in futility, with the first 14 series of the game resulting in 13 punts and a missed field goal. With no score at halftime, both teams looked flat and out of rhythm, running meaningless plays and exchanging punts with no less than five three-and-out series between them in the first thirty minutes.
Clinton Portis ground out 175 yards over the course of the game, but the Browns defense kept him out of the end zone until midway through the third quarter, when he scampered in for the game's first score. The Browns would answer with a field goal to send the game into the fourth quarter with the Redskins on top, 7-3.
After that, both teams returned to their first half form. Santana Moss would give the Redskins a 14-3 lead thanks to some shoddy tackling by the Browns and a couple of impressive spin moves of his own. The Browns would drive down the field with Derek Anderson showing the closest thing to consistency that he had shown all game long only to be stopped cold at the 1 yard line and come up empty after bad play calling. Clinton Portis would then commit a rare fumble to set the Browns up again, this time pounding it in from the 1 to cut the score to 14-11, following Braylon Edwards' 2 point conversion reception. Following a big stop by the Browns defense, poor play calling and clock management left the Browns' Phil Dawson trying a career-long 54 yard field goal attempt for the tie, which went wide and gave the Redskins the 14-11 victory.
This game was everything that Monday's game against New York wasn't. The Browns ran poor routes, Derek Anderson couldn't hit his receivers and when he did they dropped balls on him all over the field. The defense couldn't tackle or stop the run. Our two-minute clock management is still completely absent and when time is a factor, this team can't seem to get on the same page. Coach Crennel continues to make you scratch your head, opting to go for it on fourth and goal in the fourth, trailing 14-3, when a field goal would have made it a one score game. On the subsequent drive, he then opted to try to pound it in from the 1 yard line with the exact play that had failed on the previous drive at the 1 yard line - leaving little guesswork for the Redskins defense. We did play one of our cleanest games in terms of foolish penalties, though, so maybe we're getting that corrected.
Things don't get any easier for the Browns, as they stay on the road and head to Jacksonville next week to face a Jaguars team that a lot of people expect great things from and find themselves mired at the .500 mark after some tough losses to elite teams.