Jan
3
Written by:
LarryMac
1/3/2009 1:34 AM
The hapless Browns took the field in Pittsburgh against a Steelers team that had already secured its place in the postseason as well as a first round bye. Almost fittingly, the Browns stumbled in with recently-acquired Brad Gradkowski at the helm following the season-ending injuries to Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson to go with the previous week's injuries to Ken Dorsey. The game played out pretty much as one would expect, about the only thing that the Browns were able to do to even remind the Steelers that they had played a game was knock Ben Roethlisberger out of the game late in the second quarter with a concussion. As for actual gameplay, they may as well have stayed home and phoned in their forfeit.
The Browns defense struggled to keep the team in it and managed to shut out the Steelers until Willie Parker broke a 34 yard run late in the second quarter. Heinz Field held its breath late in the quarter when Roethlisberger went down after a vicious hit by Willie McGinest and D'Qwell Jackson. After roughly fifteen minutes, Big Ben was carted off the field leaving Byron Leftwich at the helm. Soon thereafter, Leftwich uncorked an ugly 8 yard touchdown scamper to make it 14-0 at the half.
The Steelers added a field goal in the third and two more touchdowns in the fourth to complete the rout.
The Browns offense? No such thing. The Browns missed a long field goal in the first quarter and never managed more than 18 yards on any of their subsequent possessions. Donte Stallworth led the Browns receivers with 12 of Gradkowski's 18 yards. The lone bright spot was Jamal Lewis' 94 yard effort, which put him over the 1000 yard mark for the season.
So ends one of the most disappointing seasons this franchise has ever seen. There may have been worse seasons statistically, but not from a team with this much talent. Let the rebuilding begin.
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