Browns Toothless in Loss to Panthers By Mark Riley

The skies over Cleveland Browns Stadium were gray and the temperature was absolutely frigid, and the Browns performance matched the frosty weather in the loss to the Carolina Panthers 13-6.

The Browns, coming off a stellar victory at New Orleans, appeared poised to solidify their drive for a potential playoff birth, but came out as flat and uninspiring as the skies overhead, and lost to a Carolina team that hadn't won since week 3.

Sporting the "alternate" orange jerseys, the Browns were outplayed and out coached in most every facet of the game, giving up 5 turnovers and squandering several opportunities to score. Even with a blocked field goal by Gerard Warren and a pair of interceptions by Corey Fuller and Earl Little, could not stem the tide and the Browns were unable to sustain any drives and completely bogged down in the Red Zone.

"You make it extraordinarily difficult to win when you turn over the ball like we did today, the turnovers were clearly the difference in the game", said Head Coach Butch Davis.  Clearly, Butch is right. 10 of Carolina's 13 points came as a direct result of Browns turnovers.

Still, with 2:08 to go in the game the Browns had a chance to tie, and in typical Cleveland Browns Stadium fashion, an unbelievable and frenetic play left most of the fans confused and bewildered. Carolina DB Reggie Howard appeared to grab an interception at the Carolina 30 yd.line. However, as Howard dove and came down with the ball, it popped out and rolled beyond his reach. Kevin Johnson scooped up the fumble and scurried the remaining 27 yds. for an apparent Browns TD with 1:57 on the clock.

Now comes the sickening part: After officials huddled, they decided that the pass was incomplete. Cleveland's coaching staff would have challenged the call, but were out of timeouts and unable to challenge the play which had started before 2 minutes remained. Had the play started inside of 2 minutes, the play would have automatically been reviewed by NFL rule. 

On the ensuing play, Browns QB Tim Couch  tossed a ball to Andre Davis, but he juggled the ball and Panther CB Emmanuel McDaniel grabbed it for his 2nd pick of the day, and in effect the game was over.

The lone bright spot on the day was once again the performance of RB William Green who rushed for 96 yds. on 24 carries and had 138 all purpose yds. accounting for over half the Browns 258 total yards.

The Browns fall to 6-6 and stand 1 1/2 games behind the Pittsburgh Steelers who defeated the Browns next opponent Jacksonville 25-23. In order for the Browns to have a shot at the playoffs, the MUST win all 4 of their remaining games. Aside from the visit to Jacksonville, Cleveland has Indianapolis at home, then travels to Baltimore and returns to the Lakefront for Michael Vick and the Atlanta Falcons.

A 10-6 record MIGHT get them in the playoffs, but anything less is an end to a promising season that has turned into one snake bite after another. But as any other true Browns fan this writer says, "Cheer up fans, there's ALWAYS next year".

Lastly and certainly most importantly, just two words....GO BUCKS