The Browns play down to the level of the Buffalo Bills after suffering five fumbles and one interception in wet conditions.
View full sizeThe only touchdown in Sunday's game came on this Ryan Fitzpatrick pass to tight end David Nelson against the coverage of Mike Adams in the second quarter. Buffalo never let the mistake-prone Browns seriously challenge in the second half of a 13-6 Bills victory at Orchard Park, N.Y.ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- It was cold and wet. But the Browns expected that.
The Buffalo Bills were a better team than their 2-10 record. But the Browns realized that.
Yet, like a nightmare they couldn't shake from their minds, the Browns could not stop the events that would lead to a 13-6 loss to their I-90 nemesis. As predictable as lake-effect snow, the Browns played down to their competition and produced a stinker of a game to fall to 5-8.
"We can't be a good team until we're consistently good," said Josh Cribbs. "We do play up and down to teams' talents."
The Browns fumbled five times -- three by running back Peyton Hillis -- and Jake Delhomme threw an interception. Only one of Hillis' fumbles were recovered by the Bills, but the repeated errors traumatized the Browns' one-dimensional offense.
Whenever Delhomme had to throw, odds were good that the combination of a wet ball and his shaky arm would make for plenty of wounded ducks tossed up for grabs. Delhomme was 12-of-20 for 86 yards and lost a fumble on a strip sack. His longest completion of 34 yards was underthrown, causing Mohamed Massaquoi to stop and wait for it to float down.
"I'm not using [the wet conditions] as an excuse," Delhomme said. "We didn't play good football. It's very disappointing. You have to take your medicine."
The game turned when the Browns ran over the Bills on their first possession, but came up about a half-yard short of the end zone and settled for a field goal.
Hillis ran seven times for 49 yards, smashing through the 1,000-yard season barrier on his fourth carry. But on third-and-goal from the Bills' 1, Hillis was stopped cold running behind fullback Lawrence Vickers. It was Hillis' first third-and-1 failure of the season.
Tony Grossi's Take
- Offense: This shouldn’t be too hard to analyze. Five fumbles, two lost. One interception. Eighty-six yards passing. Nine first downs and 187 total yards. After Peyton Hillis’ first of three fumbles, the offense didn’t seem to know whether it wanted to run or throw. Hillis also got stopped on third-and-1 for the first time all year and it set up the deflating field goal on the opening drive. Bottom line: Poor. Very poor.
- Defense: Fred Jackson made runs when he had to and Ryan Fitzpatrick made throws when he had to. The Bills did a great job of mixing up the run and pass. It was all set up by uncanny success on first down. They had 26 plays on first down and gained 118 yards, a 4.5-yard average. And they ran the ball 25 of those times. Bottom line: Gave up 323 total yards on a wet, slippery day.
- Special teams: Josh Cribbs had only one punt return for seven yards and did not get a chance on kickoffs as the Bills kept the ball away. Mostly because of that, Browns had a five-yard advantage on average drive start. But C.J. Spiller’s 33-yard punt return was the only big play. Bottom line: Time for another backwards pass to spur something.
- Coaching: What do you do when you lose confidence in your runner and your quarterback in the same game? That’s what it looked like after Hillis’ fumbles and Jake Delhomme’s wobbly passes. You’ve got to punch the ball in on that first drive. Bottom line: One step forward, two steps back.
— Tony Grossi
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Rather than give it another try, coach Eric Mangini elected to leave with a sure three points.
"I did think about [going for it], but I felt like the game was going to be close, like a one-score game," Mangini said. "I figured we would have more drives later on."
Except nobody took into account this: What happens if Hillis contracts a case of fumble-itis?
A strip-sack by linebacker Chris Gocong and a recovery by cornerback Eric Wright gave the ball right back to the Browns at the Bills' 25. On first down, Hillis took the ball and went into his hurdling mode. Trouble was, Bills safety Jairus Byrd was expecting it. Byrd stayed on his feet and rammed the ball loose with his helmet.
"You knew from watching film that he has been [hurdling] for a while," Byrd said. "If you get him in the open field, he's going to try to stiff-arm you or jump you. It was something I knew was coming. I prepared for it."
Delhomme's 34-yard completion to Massaquoi set up another scoring drive, but again the Browns came up short and had to kick a short field goal. Delhomme's third-down pass from the 8 whistled out of the end zone.
The Bills would take a 10-6 lead at halftime on back-to-back excellent scoring drives engineered by unheralded quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. He scrambled for 13 and 12 yards and also made a couple of tough throws on an 89-yard touchdown drive. Wide receiver David Nelson made a good grab of a Fitzpatrick laser throw from 11 yards for the score.
On his next possession, Fitzpatrick burnt the Browns again with an 18-yard gain on a bootleg. The Bills advanced to the 5 before settling for a field goal.
"He made plays with his arm and his feet," said Browns defensive end Brian Schaefering. "And Fred [Jackson, 112 yards on 29 carries] was a great runner today."
In the second half, the Browns' offense descended from fingernails on chalkboard to sticks in the eyes.
Hillis fumbled twice in the span of four plays. He recovered one and Vickers the other. Two plays later, Cribbs lost the ball on an end-around carry. He recovered. But the repeated miscues discombobulated everything. Throw a wrench into a badly-running offensive machine and it's virtually unwatchable.
"I wasn't like myself today," Hillis said glumly, despite totaling 108 yards on 21 carries. "I let myself down in a lot of ways. Me putting the ball on the ground sure didn't help things at all and I take full responsibility for that."
Hillis has eight fumbles on the season, five lost. Byrd, who forced two of Hillis' fumbles, said, "He is known for putting the ball on the ground. That's something we preached coming in."
The Browns had the ball three times in the fourth quarter and failed to gain a first down. Delhomme lost the ball on a sack by linebacker Arthur Moats. Originally called an incomplete pass, the play was changed to a fumble after a replay review.
The other two drives ended on a Delhomme incompletion for tight end Robert Royal and a pass intended for Massaquoi that was intercepted as blitzing safety Bryan Scott got a piece of Delhomme's arm.
"I don't think we had enough energy throughout the game," said receiver Chansi Stuckey. "I think we were just kind of waiting around for something huge to happen and it never happened. I think we should have just taken it upon ourselves to just attack a little more instead of just waiting for somebody to do something."
Like on the first possession. From the 1.
"You'd like to go back and do anything twice, but that's not the way it works," Hillis said.