@tim-couch-pulls-out said:

1. Craig Robertson is good. When he went out, Carder couldn't handle the TEs at all. We missed Robertson a ton.

2. Fozzy Whitaker looks like he can play in this league. Running and catching.

3. Obie is pretty damn good (fumble was a terrific defensive play) and McGahee is totally toast. Yikes.

4. Skrine was yet again really, really good. And I'm saying that on a day Haden literally took Green out of the game. Our corners are playing championship football.

@tour2ma said:

The coverage was good, but the last part of that sentence hits the nail on the head. Cincy was playing man a whole bunch of snaps yesterday. You have to give your WRs a chance to make a play and Campbell has shown throughout his whole career he won't do that. What that translates to in general is what we saw yesterday or what the Chiefs saw last night. With a great defense a guy like Campbell/Smith can get you 17-24 points and be in the game. But, just like the chiefs, with Campbell under center we can't afford to spot a team so many points. Campbell didn't do anything to win or lose the game yesterday. The block punts and fumble TD is what broke the will of the team.

@bbedward said:

The problem with hanging this on Campbell is we have no idea what he was seeing downfield. It's not like Gannon was commenting continuiusly on this or that receiver being wide open and then being backed by replays of them skipping downfield without a stripped helmet in camera shot.

What we heard was "sooner or later you have to trust your guys to make a play". Translated from football speak this means coverage was good. (see below)

@badnewsbrowns said:

Man that Campbell windup has got to make you cringe ... no zip seemed like every ball floated.

Agree in general, but the one instance of a ball with a little zip was the TD bomb to Gordon. That was a pretty pass hitting a WR with only a half step on the DB in stride.

@tim-couch-pulls-out said:

You guys are pitiful.

I'd say bi-polar, but pitiful works as well.

if someone isn't reaming this team out and burning them up in practice this week it'll be a shame and we will get pounded come next sunday.

@slowburn said:

Unfortunately, the Squealers found their legs today. We're going to get thrashed next week if the Browns play like they did today.

We win, we're the greatest team in the world.

We lose, we're the worst.

Sack up and take this loss like a man.

We played like shit, the playcalling left a lot to be desired, and our special teams was atrocious. It's not the end of the world. We still have a good play at second in the AFCN as well as a wild card berth.

After week 2, who was expecting to be able to say that?

@bonedawg said:

Campbell showed us why he is a perpetual backup in this league. If Gordon would actually try he might make a game changing grab. D is stout, but if we lose Horton we will move backward next season. We are what we thought we were......mediocre at best!

Sucks that such a great game by the D went for nothing... flukey special teams plays cost us a game we should have won.

Wish the playcalling was a little bit more creative.. would have been nice to see some trips formations with some screens to Little and Gordon to get them the ball the make some plays.. especially Little early on because he would get physical with those guys.

They need to put Mcgahee out to pasture and let Oby take over full time. Really bad job out of the coaching staff to pull Oby inside the 10 after his long run got us there, should have left him in ..he'd have probably scored.

it's the anemic offense that has been blatantly fucking bad for years now. holmgren set us back five years. even though there's a wee bit of a running game, it's not enough. our OLine from the center right sux balls. receivers who are mentally not in the game or drop balls that are right in their hands or catchable by people on other team's practice squads.

sure our QB situation sucks but if norv fucking turner and straw chewin goober can't figure out how to utilize what we have with their combined offensive geniousness (how come everyone is a genious before they come to cleveland and once they get here say "fuck it")?........................

either our talent on O sucks that bad that there can be nothing done except upgrade every position via draft or FA or they (offensive coaches) should be so ashamed of some of these performances and hand in their resignation papers.

if horton is destined to be a head coach next year i say WE HIRE HIM!.

@kc3902 said:

The running backs weren't the problem. They all played relatively well (especially Ogbonnaya). The coaching staff abandoned the run way too early as usual. It looked like the return of the Weeden playbook out there. A disgusting showing all around. Too many mistakes. The only real positive I saw was that AJ Green was shut down. The defense played pretty well.

The RBs weren't the problem. Not having a power back was the problem. The weather limited out playcalling, having a power back to couple with Obi and Fozzy would have opened up the ground game a bit more.

Having Trent, or just any bigger back in general, would have increased our chances of getting TD's in the first two red zone possessions that we turned into FG's. Having a player to push the pile is immeasurably important in the redzone, as it forces the defense to respect the play action.

Not all on Campbell, but I didn't believe the "check down Charlie " until I actually saw it today.

@browns149 said:

I did but I can still type. Campbell didn't have a good game, but neither did the wrs. The rare times they showed wide field coverage- no one way open. hence all the checkdowns.

Can't blame the defense for this loss. How many teams get two punts blocked in the same quarter? Add in a fumble 6. Yes the Bengals deserved to win, but every bounce went their way.

This is the one game all year that I wished we had Trent Richardson on the roster. His 2.0 YPC would have been welcome. Say what you want, but he played well against Cincy.

@miktoxic said:

Well... seeing as I did not expect great things from this season, even having a couple big games is a plus.

On the other hand, while let downs, like today's, do sting, on balance I'll take 2013 over any recent year.

And I think the upgrades are evident...