Browns Wins Despite Delhomme

Daryl Ruiter, DSN

Cleveland – Doink, wide left, no good.
John Kasay's bank shot off the left upright as time expired allowed the Cleveland Browns to escape with a 24-23 win over the Carolina Panthers Sunday at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

The Browns finally dodged a bullet.
"I feel like it was multiple bullets," coach Eric Mangini said. "It was machine gun fire because we dodged a few of those things. I don't want us to make those mistakes to put ourselves in a position where it has got to come down to a kick with five seconds left."
The missed kick was redemption for Jake Delhomme who single handedly let Carolina back into the game in the second half.
Delhomme, who suffered a high ankle sprain in a week one loss to Tampa Bay and reinjured it against Atlanta on October 10^th, made just his second start for the Browns.
"I haven't played in so long," Delhomme said. "I felt there would have been some rust, and I wanted to minimize it as much as possible. I thought I did okay, at best."
Eve with a few misfires, the first half started well for Delhomme against his former team as he completed 12-of-18 passes for 149 yards and the Browns raced out to an early 21-7 lead.
The second half did not go so well.
Delhomme was intercepted twice in his first two attempts of the third quarter. The first did not cost the Browns points thanks to a missed 46-yard field goal by Kasay.
"I did not see Jon Beason," Delhomme said of the first interception. "I was concentrating on the safety and the linebacker. I faked and both of them bit. I went to throw and there was Beason. He's a heck of a player."
The second interception went for a pick six courtesy of cornerback Captain Munnerlyn, who ran it back 37-yards, to cut the Browns lead to 21-20.
"I was very disappointed," Delhomme said. " I tried to force it too much to Mo (Massaquoi). It wasn't good."
Since the 2008 divisional playoff against Arizona, Delhomme has thrown 10 touchdowns and 29 interceptions.
Mangini was asked about the ability to correct Delhome's carelessness with the football.
"However old the dog is, keep teaching him," Mangini said. "Jake knew what he did on that play right away and I think those tings are correctable. There are times to take chances and there are times to just cut your losses and move forward."
Carolina did just that this season by letting Delhomme go in March.
While Delhomme and the offense continued to sputter, the Panthers quietly chipped away and finally jumped in front 23-21 thanks to Kasay's 43-yard field goal with 7:04 left.
The Browns regained the lead on Phil Dawson's 41-yard field goal with 2:42 to play.
Rookie Jimmy Clausen, who has been in and out of the starting lineup, completed 16-of-28 passes for 195 yards and an interception while nearly completing an improbable and miraculous comeback that almost sent Mangini over the edge.
"There were too many expletives going through my mind at that point," Mangini said. "'We should not be here lining up for a kick,' is what was going through my mind."
Not surprisingly, one thing not going through Mangini's mind after the game is committing to Delhomme going forward.
"I want to see where Colt (McCoy) is," Mangni said. "Jake did a lot of good things in the game and, obviously, the one thing that we can't have is turnovers. That's not a secret, he knows that and he understands that and that's what we need offensively. So that has to be eliminated for us to move forward."
Oddly enough the Panthers are still paying Delhomme over $12 million this year.
Carolina is paying a steeper price on the field after falling to 1-10.
Delhomme almost cost the Browns a needed win but they dodged a bullet and improve to 4-7

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