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Error-plagued loss to Cardinals humbles Browns
By George M. Thomas
Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Tuesday, Dec 04, 2007
BEREA: Browns players said the P-word had little to do with their 27-21 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
That word is ''playoffs.''
Because of the perceived ease of the team's schedule this month, fans and the media have used the word freely when talking about the Browns.
Guard Eric Steinbach said that subject is the furthest thing from his teammates' minds. ''No, not this team. Not this locker room. We know what our goal is; it's whoever we're playing that week,'' he said. ''We've got four games left, and we're going to come out each week. Then we're going to sit back and see what happens.''
Coach Romeo Crennel said the team's focus should remain on short-term goals.
''I don't know because I don't talk to them about playoffs. I just talk to them about the next game and doing what we need to do to try and win the next game,'' Crennel said at his weekly news conference Monday. ''I know that other people have been talking about playoffs and all of that stuff. Hopefully, they listen to me more than they listen to everybody else. But we didn't play well enough yesterday.''
To say it wasn't the Browns' best performance of the season might be generous. They had 10 penalties for 77 yards, including a few that showed a lack of discipline. They had four turnovers — two fumbles and two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown.
Such mistakes don't normally lead to victory.
''You can't spot a team 14 points in the game, especially on the road. It's tough to come back,'' Steinbach said. ''It's tougher to come back to get the lead when you're away versus when you're at your home stadium.''
For whatever reason, the Browns have started more than a few games slowly before making comebacks to win. The team can't put its finger on why that is happening.
''I don't know what the magical answer is for starting out fast,'' Steinbach said. ''But that's our goal every week and sometimes we do it, sometimes we don't.''
Linebacker Andra Davis said the team cannot allow the slow starts to continue.
''I put it in the same category as that Oakland game earlier in the year. We should have won that game also. We were prepared for this game,'' Davis said. ''We didn't take them lightly. They just made plays and we didn't.''
Running back Jamal Lewis implied that it's something that comes with maturity as a team.
''It's just a mentality. You have to go out and start fast. This season, we've came from behind a lot of times because we can score points and things of that nature, but we just have to have that mentality,'' he said.
''That's something we really have to get together because if we want to be the caliber of team that we want to be, we're going to have to start fast and finish.''
All three said the loss Sunday in Glendale, Ariz., was a wake-up call for an evolving team.
''Sometimes games like one of those deals that sneak up and bite you can be a good thing. It can be a good thing just to humble you and let you know that, look, we need to get better,'' Lewis said.
''We need to come out here and practice every week and get better and that's what championship teams do. That's what great teams do. . . . You can't get content.''
Glass half full?
Crennel took little solace in the fact that his team was still in a position to win at the end of the game.
''If you chose to, you could. But I chose to look at all of those other plays that we screwed up. If we get those right, it doesn't even come down to one play,'' Crennel said.
''I take a little satisfaction in that we kept fighting. Defensively, we had that goal-line stand, and offensively, we drove it down with two minutes and had a chance to win the game.''
Belichick moment
For one second Monday, Crennel sounded like New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick when asked about Leigh Bodden's delay-of-game penalty for kicking the ball Sunday.
''If (Bodden) didn't know kicking the ball was a penalty, then why don't a lot of people kick the balls? You can not kick the ball unless you're a kicker lining up to kick an extra point or on a kickoff,'' he said.
''You don't kick the ball. If he didn't know, then I did a poor job.''
Brownies...
Lewis said he was nursing sore ribs. . . . Wide receiver Braylon Edwards appeared to have his elbow wrapped in ice after practice.
George M. Thomas can be reached at sportswriterabj@sbcglobal.net. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/sportsblitz/
BEREA: Browns players said the P-word had little to do with their 27-21 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
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