Injuries, inconsistency plague Browns once again

Football Betting Lines

12/20/2006 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Browns lost another game this past Sunday. That should have come as no surprise, considering they were facing a very good Baltimore Ravens squad on the road.

Romeo Crennel's troops displayed grit, fighting back from an early 14-point deficit to even the score with a pair of Derek Anderson touchdown passes, and executed reasonably well in a number of phases. In the end, however, Baltimore's talent and ability to take advantage of Cleveland's injury-riddled defense propelled the playoff-bound Ravens to a hard-fought 27-17 victory.

The Browns played with four regulars - end Orpheus Roye, linebacker D'Qwell Jackson, cornerback Gary Baxter and free safety Brian Russell - out for the season on the defensive side of the ball. And while the playing field was leveled somewhat when Ravens quarterback Steve McNair was forced to leave early on with an injured hand, Cleveland's shorthanded state of a unit that wasn't deep to begin with helped make Kyle Boller, the much-maligned former No. 1 pick, temporarily look like the star somebody in the Baltimore organization wrongfully envisioned.

For a brief moment, the Browns actually looked like the team steamrolling its way into the playoffs instead of the Ravens. Anderson, the relatively unknown backup pressed into service three weeks ago, brilliantly orchestrated an eight-play, 84-yard drive against one of the NFL's most feared defenses midway through the third quarter. And when he delivered a 14-yard scoring strike to Braylon Edwards to cap the series, Cleveland suddenly was dead even with the AFC North champs.

Unfortunately, the Browns played like a 4-10 team headed nowhere the rest of the way. Less than a minute after Edwards' score, Ravens' rookie receiver Demetrius Williams blew past two defenders and hauled in Boller's deep pass for a 77-yard touchdown. Three plays later, Anderson was intercepted by Chris McAllister, and failed to move the offense over the remainder of the day.

"There are usually a couple of key plays in a game that determine whether you win or lose," said Browns linebacker Kamerion Wimbley. "When those plays came up, they made the plays and we couldn't get it done."

Wimbley's remarks were referring to Sunday's game, but they could just as easily be attributed to a host of others over the course of this season. The Browns also failed to seal the deal against the Ravens back in September, blowing an 11-point lead heading into the fourth quarter and losing 15-14 on a last-second Matt Stover field goal. Cleveland also failed to maintain a sizeable late margin during a four-point defeat to hated Pittsburgh last month.

If the Browns manage to win those games, we'd be discussing a .500 team apparently headed in the right direction instead of a franchise seemingly stuck in neutral.

SOMETHING TO PROVE

Anderson was selected by Baltimore in the sixth round of the 2005, and began last season as the Ravens' No. 3 quarterback before being cut loose by the organization in September. The 23-year-old certainly did some good things in his second career start, accumulating 223 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 23-of-32 passing and completing 13 straight throws at one point. He also threw two costly interceptions, however, one of which was turned into a short Jamal Lewis touchdown run in the first quarter.

"He played decent, but in his effort to try to make some plays there are some things he could do better," said Crennel. "But I thought he was calm. He wasn't overly excited about the possibility of going back and playing his old team."

Anderson's play has begun to stir talk of a quarterback controversy in Cleveland, where injured starter Charlie Frye has been underwhelming at times but is still regarded by the organization as its long-term answer. Anderson has produced a solid quarterback rating of 85.0 in his three appearances, compared to a 72.0 for Frye, who has also thrown 16 interceptions in his 12 starts this year.

It looks like Anderson may get another opportunity to state his case, as Frye is still hampered by an injured right wrist and may not be available again for this Sunday's game with Tampa Bay.

JACKSON LATEST CASUALTY

Jackson is the most recent Cleveland defensive starter to be placed on injured reserve, as the rookie linebacker decided to undergo toe surgery after hurting himself in the team's Week 14 loss at Pittsburgh. The second-round draft choice had started each of the Browns' first 13 games and ranks second on the team with 93 tackles.

Leon Williams, who was picked two rounds behind Jackson in last April's draft, made his first career start on Sunday. The former Miami star was in on 11 stops and also forced a fumble.

"I thought he came in and a nice job," said Crennel of Williams. "He made plays and made tackles. He didn't have mental errors."

SHUT OUT

Cleveland failed to win any of its games against fellow AFC North foes this season, marking the first time since the Browns entered the NFL in 1950 that the franchise has not won an intradivisional matchup. Cleveland didn't fare much better against its rivals during last year's 6-10 campaign, going 1-5 in division play. The lone victory came against the Ravens.

BAY OF PIGS

The Browns play their final home game of the season this Sunday against the lowly Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team that hasn't won on the road yet in 2006. The Bucs came close last Sunday, however, taking NFC power Chicago into overtime before suffering a gut-wrenching 34-31 loss.

Cleveland has been quite successful in its limited meetings with Tampa Bay, having won five of the six previous encounters. The Browns have also taken both games with the Buccaneers as the host team.