Every season on Cleveland’s gridiron usually starts in the
dumps. Whether it be lousy front office, or player injuries in preseason camps,
and not to mention the fact we have to look up at the Steelers and Ravens all
year. Ugh...
But this season seemed to have a little bit of momentum
behind it. For one, we were all football starved for the length of the summer,
so there was just general excitement to get the players back out on the field.
Add in the fact that the Browns, until the last 5 games of the season, have a
considerably light schedule, and a new coach who scores points is now manning
the sidelines. The 2011 season seemed like a chance for the Brownies to make
some noise from day 1.
We got to open up at home against a Cincinnati team starting
a rookie QB and a rookie WR, and then catch an Indianapolis team that will bewithout the best quarterback in the NFL in week 2. I was getting giddy at the
thought of my Brownies being 2-0 to start the team. For the first time in a
long time the Browns were favored in their week 1 matchup, and not just favored
because they were the home team, they were 7 point favorites over the Bengals.
I was brimming with excitement at my opportunity to see the
Browns start the year off with a win for just the second time in thirteen
years. And as the game continued on and the Browns clung to a 3 point lead, the
defense had been making plays, Joe Haden looked every bit the part of a first
round draft pick out there swatting balls, and our two rookie defensive lineman
were holding their own. And then, in the fourth quarter, it happened…
Nothing new in the life of a Browns fan. Just another one of
those, “that can only happen in Cleveland” type plays that you rarely see in
football. The Bengals had broken the huddle early and rushed up to the line of
scrimmage and somehow manage to snap the ball before the Browns could even get
out of their defensive huddle. It resulted in the Bengals rookie wide receiver
walking untouched into the end zone for the go ahead score. And just like that
the game had slipped away. Bye- bye lead, good bye optimism, hello same old
song and dance.
I still watch every game and root for the team to win, that
will never change. The sad part is this team is actually a decent group, and
they have a chance to win games this year. But Sunday the entire team, coaches,
and players, were not prepared. You cannot win games committing 11 penalties,
and you certainly cannot win games when your players are confused about the
play call. The Bengals may have been sneaky about it, but you get a week to
prepare for different personnel looks.
Oh
well, there’s always next year, right?
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