Monday, October 5, 2015

On The Mark 10.5.15: #Browns v. #Chargers Recap

Offensive defense, penalties lead Browns to a 30-27 stinker against the San Diego Chargers
By @MarkW2112

Leave it to the Browns to find another way to lose against an opponent they should have beaten soundly.  The very thin on players San Diego Chargers managed to still beat the Browns, 30-27 in another "only the Browns" way.  With the score tied at 27 with less than a 1:30, Phillip Rivers led the Chargers down the field in order to get a Josh Lambo 39 yard field goal try with 2 seconds left.  Unbelievably, he missed the kick.  However, Tremon Williams is called for being off sides, which set up a 34 yard field goal by Lambo, this time good, to send the Chargers fans home happy and Browns fans frustrated with their ineptness yet again.

On the positive side, Josh McCown threw for 356 yards and 2 touchdowns with Duke Johnson catching one of them on a 34 yard pass to the corner of the end zone. He had a career day with 85 yards receiving and 31 yards rushing. Isiah Crowell led all rushers with 62 yards on 12 carries. 

Phillip Rivers was able to lead a depleted Chargers offense to 3 touchdown drives thanks to huge gains by Danny Woodhead and Dontrelle Inman, who hadn't even had a catch until today.  Rivers was 23 of 38 for 358 yards and 3 touchdowns.  The Chargers defense was able to sack McCown 4 times after only having 1 sack the first 3 games.

My take:  The Browns always find ways to lose.  Today was no exception.  The Browns had many opportunities for touchdowns but were only able to get field goals by Travis Coons.  But the defense was yet another disaster.  Starting the game blitzing Phillip Rivers seemed to work at first but the offense was able to adjust and blow threw huge holes in the defensive secondary.  Pierre Desir did a good job in place of Joe Haden but it wasn't enough to stop several big gains and touchdowns.  The worst of it was the off sides by Tremon Williams after Josh Lambo missed the 39 yard field goal which would have sent the game to over time.  While not as bad as the Dwayne Rudd helmet toss of 2002, it was yet another embarrassing chapter in how to lose like a Brown.  The other non factor was Dwayne Bowe having 1 pass throw to him, which he subsequently dropped.  It's just another foot note in the on going saga that is the Cleveland Browns.

Player of the game:  Josh McCown.  No, the Browns didn't win, but he put them in a position to win with his 356 yards passing and 2 touchdowns

Turning point:  Josh Lambo missing a 39 yard field goal with no time left, only to have him kick it again from 34 yards after an off sides on Tremon Williams.

Next game:  In Baltimore against the Ravens, (can't wait to see how they screw that game up).

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