The weather wasn't as bad as expected, but the Browns were worse. Still in the hunt for a playoff spot, although remote, Cleveland played their most disappointing game of the season. They were riddled with inept ball handling and presented a subpar second half offense. The game was never for the Browns out of reach of winning, but the goal line was out of reach, not even scoring one time. Late in the fourth quarter Mohamed Massaquoi was wide open going down the right side, but a break down in the protection of Delhomme caused his pass to fall short and it was intercepted, thus thwarting what could have tied the game. End of game, end of story.Peyton Hillis figured to be dominant in this game. Hillis did have a hundred yard effort running for 108 yards. His efforts were overshadowed by three fumbles, one of which occurred at a key moment shortly after Buffalo turned over the ball with a mistake of their own on their end of the field in the first quarter. Jake Delhomme only had a total of 86 yards of passing and threw one interception with no touchdowns. Hillis seemed to be his primary target again and Watson only caught one pass through the whole game. Jake only averaged a little over 4 yards per completion and compiled only two first downs passing. That pretty much sums it up as to what went wrong, no offense. Defensively the Browns hung in there and provided a gift for the offense, a gift they squandered. The gift was a Fiztpatrick fumble caused by a Chris Gocong sack that put the ball on the 25 yard line of the Bills. Hillis returned the gift on the very next play. Thanks but no thanks.
The Bills offense could only muster up one touchdown, but that is all they needed. Fred jackson had a good day running with 112 yards. Ryan Fitzpatrick spread 142 yards between 7 receivers. David Nelson caught an 11 yarder for the only score for the Bills. Ryan Lindell kicked two field goals to account for the other 6 points. The Bills were happy to get this win when considering all the close games that haven't gone their way all season long.
Joshua Cribbs was again unexplainably missing from the offensive scheme, not even used to return kickoffs. He was thrown to only once and ran the ball once, which almost ended disastrously. The Browns have been sidelining a key element in Joshua Cribbs. The Browns are lacking the long ball threat where Cribbs could be used and have abandoned something that worked quite well last year, the wildcat offense. I am not saying Mangini should rely on the wildcat, but he should be incorporating it at key moments. I am not saying Mangini should be going long all the time, but at least do something the opponents aren't expecting because judging by past performances, they certainly don't expect the Browns to go vertical. Mangini needs to unleash the offense or maybe he lacks confidence in his own offenses capabilities. You have to do what you have to do to win, or has he given up on this season?
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