Dec
9
Written by:
LarryMac
12/9/2009 10:28 AM
After narrowly dodging a television blackout, the Browns weren't able to sidestep LaDainian Tomlinson and the red hot San Diego Chargers.
The Browns offense continued to be erratic, scoring on their first possession of the game for the first time this season, when Brady Quinn found Mohammed Massaquoi for an 11 yard strike.
An injury-riddled defense managed to hold the Chargers in check and keep the Browns in the game, with San Diego holding onto a 13-7 halftime lead after the Browns missed a 43 yard field goal and lost a costly fumble when Quinn was sacked on a 3rd and goal at the San Diego 3 yard line.
In the third quarter, the Chargers took over. The Browns netted only 10 yards of offense and held the ball for less than 3 minutes as the Chargers pushed their lead to 27-7, including a 4 yard TD run by Tomlinson that marked the 150th of his career - marking the quickest that any player has reached the milestone.
In the fourth quarter, Tomlinson broke through the Browns defense for an 11 yard dash that moved him past Jim Brown for 8th all-time on the rushing yardage list and saluted the Cleveland legend, who was in attendance. The Browns' offense returned in the fourth quarter, as well, and pulled to within 30-20. Cleveland recovered the ensuing onside kick and clawed their way into field goal position, cutting to lead to 30-23 and setting up a second onside kick which Tomlinson recovered, allowing San Diego to burn the clock and hand the Browns their franchise-record 10th straight home loss.
The Good: The Browns offense put together sustained drives against one of the NFL's better defenses. Their 23 points in this game were probably a better testament to the team's growth than the 37 that they scored against the woeful Lions. Brady Quinn passed for 271 yards (second highest total in his career, after the Lions game) without an interception. Evan Moore, signed off of the practice squad, led the team with 6 receptions for 80 yards and looked like the "hands" receiver that this team has needed so desperately all season.
The Bad: he play-calling looks more and more suspect when this team executes. The Browns ran the ball and threw short routes when they needed two scores at the end of the game and didn't even attempt to punch the ball in on first and goal at the San Diego 2 yard line - opting for a sweep, and two passes (the second of which led to the Quinn sack/fumble).
The Ugly: Brady Quinn shows ZERO pocket awareness. Twice the Browns had drives short circuited because Quinn was oblivious to a blindside blitz. The line held up the blitz in both cases, only to have Quinn roll out and hold the ball too long without any idea of what was going on around him inside and outside of the pocket.
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