Analyzing a loss

The Browns spent Monday reviewing the game film from Sunday's 13-6 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

The Browns’ two-game winning streak, which started on November 28 against the Carolina Panthers and continued December 5 at the Miami Dolphins, came to an end on Sunday afternoon with a 13-6 loss to the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
Buffalo forced five fumbles, recovered two and also registered an interception against the Browns, who had lost just one fumble over the last three games heading into Sunday. Defensively, the Browns allowed Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to rush for 49 yards on four carries and complete 14-of-23 passes for 142 yards and one touchdown.
“In watching the tape and talking to the players, I think the best way I can say it is disappointing,” said Browns coach Eric Mangini. “It was disappointing to me because it’s really not the way that we play football and we’ve made a lot of strides in doing that in terms of eliminating the self-inflicted wounds, putting the ball on the ground five times and interception. That’s taking points off the board and defensively, not doing a good enough job on some game-plan specific things.
“It wasn’t a secret that Fitzpatrick is a mobile guy and creates some plays with his feet and I don’t think we did a very good job with that,” he continued. “On special teams, I thought we were hot and cold, but typically, that’s been a real edge for us in most games and it wasn’t. It wasn’t one guy; it never is. When you win, when you lose, it’s a collective effort and I’m looking for us to continue to improve.”
The Bills outran the Browns 192-to-105 and held a 56-yard edge in the passing game. Buffalo brought the same intensity against the Browns that it had while playing the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs.
“Those guys fight every, single game and they fought with every team that they’ve played,” said Mangini. “They faced a lot of good teams deep in overtime and had chances to win it and I respect the way that they’ve played the whole season. It hasn’t always worked out for them, but as head coaches talk before the game, we can relate to the games that they’ve had. They’ve been competitive in every, single game. They’re growing as well in a new system. I didn’t expect anything but that type of fight.”
The Bills’ intensity spread to the defensive side of the football, where they limited the Browns to 2-of-10 on third down. Buffalo had been allowing opponents to convert 44.2 percent of their third downs.
“We weren’t very good on third down to extend drives, which doesn’t help; putting the ball on the ground doesn’t help,” Mangini said. “The time of possession was skewed heavy in their favor and that’s a collective deal where, defensively, we need to get them off the field so they can’t eat up the clock and offensively, we’ve got to be able to extend drives so we have more chances to continue to the full complement of plays. I think our per-carry average was good on the day, but you want to do that throughout the course of the game.
“I believe we’re in that phase of trying to win consistently and that’s part of growth and part of growth of any team, any organization,” he continued. “It’s the gameday component of it and the day-in, day-out component of it that we all need to do that better. We’ll learn from the tape and make sure that as we move into Wednesday that we string good days together and play our brand of football week-in and week-out”
SHOULDERING THE BURDEN
Though the game ultimately comes down to executing assignments and making the plays that present themselves, Mangini took responsibility for the team’s performance.
“There are things from a scheme perspective that we could’ve done better as well. I’m not saying it’s all playing,” he said. “There’s some things that I feel we could’ve done better from a coaching perspective too and that’s the way it always is. It’s never just the players or just the coaches. It’s all of us. We’re all in it together. When it’s up and down, we all need to pull a little bit harder.”
MAKING PLAYS
Quarterback Jake Delhomme completed 12-of-20 passes for 86 yards with one interception Sunday afternoon and connected with six different players. Though he spread the ball around, the Browns had just two pass plays of 15 or more yards. The team’s longest pass play was a 34-yarder to Mohamed Massaquoi on a second-and-five from the Browns’ 24-yard line in the second quarter.
“I thought we could’ve done a better job of getting open yesterday in all the areas, receivers, tight ends,” said Mangini. “I thought Buffalo did a good job in terms of covering those guys up. That’s going to happen at some point and you’ve got to find a way to get open. That’s what receivers do.

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