We may have a few more than five big things today.

So let's get to it.  Now.  Because I'm crabby, and I know who I'm crabby at.  Normally I have a list of things that stuck out to me, and I come up with somethign clever, but nothing clever here,just a good ol' fashined rant.

FIVE BIG THINGS

1) 

2)

3)

4)

5)

1-5)  Yeah, them. Oh Grossi's running all over town saying Mangini's back on the hot seat, Daboll's back on the hot seat, blah, blah.  But let's call a spade a spade here.

WE LOST THIS GAME BECAUSE OUR OFFENSIVE LINE WAS JUST OFFENSIVE.

Oh, what in particular was so offensive?  Let's see.  I pulled the following from a book my dad read to me when I was 4.

From the Great big picture book of football you read when you're 3 -

Ways an offensive line can suck:
1) Run blocking can fail to open up holes.  CHECK
2) When run blocking, open up holes where defenders want you to, so they can run blitz your ass.  CHECK
2a) When pass blocking in a play action play, open up holes where defenders want you to, so they can blitz your ass. CHECK
3) Get bum rushed so that the pocket collapses immediately in pass protection. CHECK
4) Come off your blocks slowly, so a screen can get stuffed because you didn't get in front of the play Ch... wait, they did that okay.  And I guess they look good in uniforms, there's no Nate Newton sloth here.

So there we go, they screen blocked well, and they looked nice in their white uniforms and orange helmets.  Super.

They got McCoy hurt, they got Hillis like 8 yards on 231 carries, and when they needed to push a pile, well, they came off their blocks quick, and got our skill players killed.  They came off their blocks quick all day.  On top of that, one thing they're normally exceptional at - using good footwork to stymie a defender's moves - well, they stood around and tried to use their upper body while defenders ran right by them.  It was a miserable performance from a line that just needed to play bad to win us a game.  They played worse than that, and they lost.

6)  Okay I'm still pissed at the offensive line. I mean, ABRAM ELAM MAKES LIKE ONE PLAY EVERY 40 NFL GAMES!!!! YOU CAN'T WASTE IT!!!  YOU GET THREE TURNOVERS FROM YOUR SAFTEIES AND THE ONLY PERSON WHO CASHES IN IS ABRAM ELAM?!?!?!?!?!

What planet did I move to?

7)  Brian Daboll Status update:  Last month I would have put Daboll at "Housing market is bad, get that 'for sale' sign up early."   Lately, he's worked his way up to "Live out of your suitcase, rent, don't own, but don't book your exit flight quite yet."  I don't see a reason to change that, because I didn't think the play calling was awful, I didn't think the gameplan was bad, I just saw an offensive line who performed so poorly, that it didn't matter what was called.  Run on first down?  No gain.  Pass on first down?  Quarterback hurry, incomplete pass if lucky.  Play action on first down?  Colt, why don't you wear Jake's walking boot this week?  It's not like we were good playcalling away from a win here.

In fact, there is something developing that makes me think quite highly of Mr. Daboll.  Whatever is happening during the week, Colt McCoy is developing into a quarterback with good instincts, especially in that 2 minute drill.  This happens through well coordinated practices and planning.  Through real personnel development, and then having a player who can absorb it.  I'm not saying this is all Brian - but Colt doesn't get this through just learning plays.  He's learning it from wise old hands like Delhomme, Wallace, and maybe Holmgren and Haskel - and also from Daboll - who may not be a great gameday guy, but may ge a very good X's and O's guy, and a terrific practice guy.

8) Which brings me back to the line.  I mean you've got to accidentally open a hole sometime, right?

9) Defensive kudos.  MJD is a bowling ball of a man, and he's gonna get his yards if he gets a hole, but through opportunistic blitzing, sheer determination, and good strategy, the defense didn't let any other player beat them.  Yeah, they had the QB to TE play working, but Garrard to Mercedes Lewis wasn't our undoing.  MJD broke one run, but fumbled away 7 points to Abram Elam (see #6) - that's a zero sum game.  He wasn't our undoing.

THE INABILITY OF THE OFFENSIVE LINE TO BLOCK SO WE COULD GET MORE THAN 3 POINTS OFF THE OTHER 5 TURNOVERS WAS OUR UNDOING.

10) Calm down, Chris  - Okay, it's just one game.  Okay, we're not making the playoffs anyway, and okay, in the end, the reason we lost isn't something that really speaks to the long term health of the franchise.  Yeah, sometimes you just go out and lose.  It happens.  There's no reason to overreact to this, and no reason to scrap the team and bring out the pitchforks calling for people's heads (now calling for the offensive linemen's feet and legs - maybe).

But in the end, we watch this with these games not because we think the Browns are going to Dallas to play in the Super Bowl, but we watch because it's fun.  We have reasonable expectations this year that watch players who play competent, competitive, entertaining football.  And when we have a defense that does those things, and a few offensive playmakers who are starting to do those things, it hurts to watch a supposed strength like our line let us down.

I think the line will be fine, and Carolina is a nice reprieve, so I'm done ranting.  It's out of my system.  Now let's hope this game is out of theirs.