How many things can I bitch, whine, complain, be frustrated about and/or pound my head over about this Browns loss tonight? I set the over/under at 12.

1) I really can’t complain when the offense puts together TWO decent drives the whole game, and even those are aided by penalties and end in a field goal and interception in the end zone.

2) Aaron Shea really should have caught that pass. The TE’s were playing so well all game, blocking, hustling, catching, running, and for a pass to squirt off your hands in that situation, its just disturbing.

3) Even after he didn’t catch the pass, what part of the “we’re going to crack down on defenders holding receivers” speech in the preseason did this crew miss? Ray Lewis (see previous post about felony convictions and such) had a handful of jersey and an arm around the hip before Shea even came out of his cut.

4) They got away with it, but why does this team continue to insist on throwing 6 yard passes into traffic on third and 8 or 9? Antonio Bryant made a great move to get the first down out of it, but if he would have gone down… I don’t know what I would have done, let’s just be glad he got the first down.

5) So you just give up a 106-yard interception return for a touchdown to go down 14. Granted there’s only 26 seconds left, but you get the ball out near the 40 or so, and RUN the ball? Put it up! Heave it! Do something other than run out the clock. This is the team that has lived for 5 years pulling things out of their ass and either winning, or almost winning ball games. This is a team that gave up 14 points in less than a minute (I think) to the Bears a few years back and lost a game in overtime. It was a little different circumstance, but it happened! Maybe they’ll point to losing Kellen Winslow, Jr. on an onside kick as to why they didn’t want to try anything, but as a fan of this team, and wanting to see them win 4 games all year (six if Cincinnati’s fans are paying attention), this being one of them, do SOMETHING to show you have faith in pulling a miracle out. None of us expect it to happen, but none of us expected Quincy Morgan to come down with that ball (um, supposedly) against Jacksonville, none of us expected Dennis Northcutt to come up with that “backwards” onside kick against Tennessee… it happens. Bust your ass until the clock hits :00.

6) I think after Kelvin Garmon was injured, he false started on the trainer’s table. Three times.

7) You lose a game to one of your most hated rivals. Don’t stand at mid-field laughing and joking with the opponents. Shake hands, sure, but smiling minutes after a pissy performance against your rival? I hate that!

8) You have a change of possession timeout after a punt. If you want to review the punt, you have a 2 and a half minute commercial to look really hard at replay to see if you want to review it. When its obvious on the first look at replay that no one touched the ball while in the endzone, take your medicine and keep your timeout. Bootch went to the craps table one too many times with his semi-impeccable replay challenge record. It bit him in the ass when he should have seen it coming.

9) When you’ve just blown one timeout on a bad challenge, don’t take another 2 minutes later because you can’t figure out what defense to call on a two point conversion. (A 2-point conversion that was converted easier than…well it was pretty easy, lets say that.) Especially when said 2-point conversion only means that the opponent goes up 7. They had been getting 4 yards a pop on ya for most of the game anyway, what’s saying they couldn’t run Felon #2 up the middle and get it anyway. You’re still down 7 and you have another timeout left.

10) If the other team is going to have a band, complete with a guy in a drum major outfit with a whistle leaning against the front row railing, I expect at least one pass to be thrown with full intent of knocking him off the railing. If you don’t get the offense close enough to throw at him, do it in warmups, or simply find him after the game and kick his ass then.

I guess I couldn’t get to 12, I thought for sure there was alot more hatred in me than that.

On the bright side, Lee Suggs ran *fairly* well against such a solid defense, Richard Alston showed good promise as a KR even aside from the 93-yarder (which I finally got to see!), and Garcia made some plays happen with his feet, which is why we’re paying him. Now all they have to do is win. Hopefully next week, the Steelers’ fans have been getting way too cocky. (Including one I came across online who is a big fan of “Heinz” Ward. Apparently she meant “Hines” Ward, I guess. If you’re gonna get on the bandwagon, at least learn the names. Sheesh!)

Oh, and one more note from the Ravens game… Ed Reed will be the next one to share headline space with the words “warrant”, “felonious” or “indictment”. Of course, he’ll walk, but that’s really beside the point, right?