By Joe Hunley--Cleveland Browns Report

The outcome of the game between the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Ravens does not amaze me as much as the way this meeting unfolded. I picked the Browns to fall to the Ravens by 11 points in my weekly Browns prediction, however, I did not foresee a disastrous outing by Browns quarterback Colt McCoy, nor a highly questionable "clock management" to end the first half.

Browns quarterback, Colt McCoy had a miserable outing-- 15 completions for 149 yards, zilch for touchdowns thrown, and three interceptions. We all knew that sooner or later, this highly accurate passer, gifted with a poise and calm unseen in a rookie QB, would have a disastrous outing. The cold and windy weather had little to do with it (in my opinion), the Kid just had a bad--well, very bad day.

At times McCoy seemed to hurry his throws, made several misreads and seemed to be frustrated, understandable when having such a miserable day. We have all seen his leadership abilities, and as I stated his calm and poise. Now, this coming Sunday we will have another answer to the ongoing "is he the real deal" question--how will the rookie perform against Pittsburgh, given such a rocky performance against the Ravens. My guess is that McCoy will learn from this experience, put the last game behind him, and come out unshaken.

Why wasn't Mike Bell used against Cincinnati as he was against the Ravens? The Browns ran the ball a total of 14 times against the Bengals, all 14 in the hands of Peyton Hillis. After stopping Hillis, possibly due to an ongoing injury, the Ravens were given a dose of Mike Bell--two receptions for 48 yards, along with seven carries for 27 yards. By no means is this a dominating performance by Bell, however you must question the lack of Browns coaches to use him to give Hillis a rest, or give him a shot when Hillis is not effective, as during the Bengals game.

When did it become a good decision to set aside a touchdown in favor of a field goal. The last time I checked a field goal got you three points, while a touchdown gave you six. Why, with over two minutes to go in the first half, and three timeouts would one waste so much of the remaing time that they would settle for a field goal without allowing a couple attempts  to the end-zone. The strategy was to not allow the Ravens enough time to score again before halftime--hence the running down of the clock. But then, with three timeouts, along with good clock management, it would have been simple to allow enough time for a couple shots to the endzone, then given the lack of success--kick the field goal.

Not allowing your team to at least take a few shots into the end-zone, can be looked upon as a question of their ability. Teams that play to win have a tendency of going for touchdowns and when failing at the attempt they settle for the field goal. Few winning teams will drive the length of the field--with a field goal as their motive!