Cleveland fails to score in third consecutive game

Browns best bet is to keep losing for a good draft pick

The Cleveland Browns failed to score a touchdown for the third consecutive game on Sunday. Not surprisingly, they were dealt their third straight loss, falling 28-9 to the Tennessee Titans.

The visiting Browns were held to three field goals by the Titans, who improved to 12-1 and clinched the AFC South Division title. The defeat left the Browns at 4-9.

“We looked at the tape and tried to figure out some things to see what we can do to help this team,” Browns head coach Romeo Crennel said at his Monday press conference. “I think the circumstances on this team have changed as we look at it, and what we have to do is we have to realize the limitations that we have to work with and try to put the players in the best position to be able to execute and make plays.”

After the Browns built a 6-0 lead in the first quarter Sunday on a pair of Phil Dawson field goals, the Titans seized control in the second period, scoring on a 28-yard pass from Kerry Collins to Ahmard Hall and later on a 3-yard run by LenDale White.

The Titans increased their advantage to 21-6 when Collins completed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Justin Gage with 11:46 remaining in the third quarter. After the Browns' Dawson kicked a 39-yard field goal early in the fourth, Tennessee capped the scoring with a 25-yard run by Chris Johnson with 8:22 left.

“Tennessee is a very good football team; we knew that going in,” Crennel said. “And they started hitting on pretty much all cylinders there in the second half and we couldn’t hold them back.”

Johnson, a rookie first-round draft choice out of East Carolina, finished the game with 136 yards on 19 carries, increasing his season rushing total to 1,094 yards. White rumbled for 99 yards on 24 carries, as the Titans amassed 235 yards on the ground.

The Tennessee defense held the Browns to 178 total yards, including a paltry 35 yards rushing. Ken Dorsey, starting his first game at quarterback for the Browns following season-ending injuries to Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson, completed 22 of 43 passes for 150 yards with one interception. Jamal Lewis ran for just 7 yards on seven carries, while Joshua Cribbs was the Browns' leading rusher with 24 yards on six attempts.

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Crennel said he will consider expanding the role of Cribbs, who gained his rushing yardage while lining up at quarterback in the wildcat formation.

“It looked like Cribbs was a spark, and so I think that we’ll have to give him a chance to be more of a spark and try to manage his other duties as well,” Crennel said.

Cribbs, who played quarterback during his collegiate days at Kent State, has been a standout kickoff returner throughout his career with the Browns.

“The guy plays really hard,” Crennel said about Cribbs. “He’s got some talent, got some toughness, he’s competitive and so I think all those ingredients make for an exciting player. When he gets the ball under his arm, everybody is excited about it and what he is capable of because we’ve seen that he can run for touchdowns. We’ve been working on things all during the year; some we haven’t used in the games. His package has gotten larger as the year has gone on so I think that if you use him more than that package that you have in, you just pull from those plays and that package is a pretty substantial package.”

By Tom Kessler
ProFootball-fans.com Cleveland Browns Correspondent