Poteat Penalty Blunder Costs Browns 38-37 in Detroit
You’ve got to be kidding me.
The Browns are the worst team in the league, it’s now official. This after Sunday’s unreal setback, 38-37 to the Detroit Lions in a game that they basically had won more than once. First, they scored a franchsie high 24 first quarter points to lead at one point 24-3, only to see that go quickly away.
Then, they were up 37-31 when Matt Stafford heaved a desperate pass towards the end zone with no time on the clock, and Hank Poteat was called for pass interference, which gave the Lions the ball at the one with one last play. Of course the defense allowed a Stafford to Brandon Pettigrew TD pass to end the complete collapse at 38-37.
“Once the quarterback rotated out of the pocket and they were in the end zone, you try to force the receiver out of bounds,” Poteat said. “That’s what I tried to do.”
Yeah, and in the end, he was flagged for it, and the Browns couldn’t do anything, even after a time out, to stop Stafford, who had five TD passes. The first rookie to do that since some guy named Ray Buivid for the Bears in 1937.
“It was more a function of wanting to make sure we had the right personnel and we wanted to take a look at what they were going to do,” Mangini said about calling the time out on the last play. “We had the timeout so at that point I thought it was a good idea to use it, look at it, and get the guys in spots we thought they needed to be in.”
Yeah, and it did nothing, as the Browns fell on a play fake. Overall, Stafford was was 26 of 43 for 422 yards with the five TD’s. It wiped out the best offensive day of the year for the Browns, who watched Brady Quinn go 21 of 33 for 304 yards with four TD’s. In the end, it didn’t matter.
“I’m just so upset that my team fought so hard late in the game to put us in a situation to win and it came down to the penalty that I caused,” Poteat said.
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This post has 2 comments
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:33 am
Was this the Cavs? First and fourth quarter playing? Could it have been due to Daboll not letting Quinn air it out in the 2nd and 3rd quarters? Could it have been because the defensive backfield didn’t show up on the Lions 5 TD passes? Could it have been that the refs gave the Lions a time out at the end of the game when they were out of time outs? Could it have been that the Browns wanted the number 1 pick in the upcoming draft?
Sure there were highlights and some firsts for the team and individual players, but the end result was exactly the same. The best thing about this game was that Quinn had a chance to acquire some confidence.
Everyone thought the Browns would beat the Lions, but that wasn’t to be. Now the only chances for wins are Oakland and KC. But they both have 3 wins. I picked them 1-15 and it’s looking more like it every week. Like I said earlier, it’s one thing to be a die hard dedicated fan, but it’s another thing to be gullible. I for one, think it has taken way to long to build something here. Prior to the 1995 moving of the Browns, we always had something to hope for. A chance to make the playoffs. Since the return, all we have to hope for is a high draft choice (which they have done poorly on, in the past).
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:13 am
This is yet another notch in the Browns’ lengendary losses column — which has some pretty spectacular flops. No need to recount them all here — or anywhere — but this is a team that is known for how it fails, not how it succeeds. The one sure thing you can count week in and week out is the Browns finding a way to lose. If hope is defined as the knowledge that good things can happen and faith is defined as the belief that they will happen to you, then it seems these ships have sailed from Cleveland harbor.