Barely Hanging On

1980 Cleveland Browns Week 4

Barely Hanging On

Okay, this one was scary.

I know as well as you know that the Browns have a better team than the Buccaneers.

However, we didn’t exactly play like it today. No matter what I did, I simply couldn’t get the offense to work right — and the defense started to scare me.

It seemed like every other minute Doug Williams was scrambling out of the pocket for another first down. Brian Sipe threw so many bad passes that I wanted to scream, and I foolishly kept running Reggie Rucker on the same patterns until the game warned me to knock it off.

I really have to put the blame on Pruitt. I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention or not to this fact. If Pruitt doesn’t have a good rushing game, we can never seem to set up the passing game, and that usually results in us giving the ball up early and having a frustrating game.

Pruitt had 1.3 yards per carry, gaining only 28 yards in 21 attempts, with no touchdowns and a long run of 4 yards.

Correspondingly, Rucker was our biggest receiver, with only 103 yards of receiving. In other words, if Pruitt doesn’t open up that passing game for us, the entire offense starts to sputter out.

We spent most of this game tied: first 3-3, and then 10-10. We were fortunate to get a field goal early in the 4th quarter, and our defense then stifled Tampa Bay to give us the victory.

But, man, this one really had me worried.

Game Stats

You can sort of see the problem here.

We didn’t dominate this game at all. We were neck and neck with Tampa Bay in terms of overall yardage. Our passing was a little bit better than theirs, but our rushing was a lot worse. And we missed tackles like it was nobody’s business.

At least my clock control strategy has been working. We’ve dominated possession in each of our four games so far, which I think bodes quite well for the future.

Also — blitzing worked well, though keeping that cover 2 defense intact left us vulnerable to the quarterback sneak. My problem here was not doing my homework on Tampa Bay. If I had known beforehand that we were up against a very mobile Doug Williams, I would have probably left only one man in coverage, or at least would have made sure we had a free safety looking for the possible run.

We need Mike Pruitt to run better, though. Without him, we’re done for.

I’m also not exactly thrilled with Sipe, who had several poor passes. Yes, he was better than Williams — but Williams was able to scramble and turn broken plays into positive yardage. Sipe has this tendency to throw the ball away, or, even worse, to take the sack.

I’m worried that my hair will go prematurely grey if this keeps up.

Other Action

Broncos 36, Patriots 28: At New England, a trio of 4th quarter Bronco field goals gave them the victory. New England played well but couldn’t pull off the win.

Redskins 26, Seahawks 13: At Washington, the Redskins made short work of the hapless Seahawks.

Cowboys 17, Packers 0: At Green Bay, Dallas pitched a defensive shutout.

Vikings 24, Lions 0: At Detroit, we experienced another shutout in the Midwest, as the Vikings simply pulverized the Lions.

Falcons 30, 49ers 21: At San Francisco, a late Atlanta touchdown put an end to San Francisco’s desperate 4th quarter comeback attempt.

Oilers 24, Bengals 14: At Cincinnati, Campbell rushed for 132 yards and Stabler passed for another 178 to lead the Oilers to victory. Houston is one of those teams that we’re quite concerned about in our division.

Bears 26, Steelers 23: At Pittsburgh, the Bears handed the World Champions their first loss of the season, this one capped off by a 97 yard kickoff return by Dave Williams at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Pittsburgh look dangerous in this replay, and have not shown the signs of aging that they showed in real life.

Colts 31, Jets 23: At Baltimore, the Jets blew another one, giving up 17 points in the 4th quarter for their 4th straight loss to open the season.

Eagles 24, Cardinals 6: At St. Louis, Philadelphia held the hometown Cardinals to only 61 rushing yards, overcoming 300 yards of passing by Jim Hart for a convincing win.

Chargers 44, Chiefs 27: At Kansas City, Air Coryell was in full force as Dan Fouts threw for 404 yards en route to the victory. Kansas City looked like they never recovered from that loss to us the week prior.

Bills 26, Raiders 14: At Buffalo, the Bills were in control of this one from the start to the end, making the vaunted Raider offense look pathetic.

Rams 57, Giants 7: At New York, the Giants gave up 547 yards as the Rams won this one in a laughter.

Dolphins 21, Saints 14: At Miami, a last second Dolphin touchdown completed a massive 4th quarter comeback.

Standings

We host Denver next week, in a game that should be a challenge for us. We’re not playing poorly, but both the Steelers and the Oilers look excellent. San Diego, meanwhile, is scoring points at an amazing pace.