CLEVELAND — It was hard for Cleveland’s players to say why the Browns defense played so badly during Sunday’s 37-27 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Was it a lack of execution by the defenders, poor play calling or a mixture of both?
The frustration was evident when nose tackle Shaun Rogers — who had a solid outing with nine tackles (five for losses), two quarterback hits and a sack — was asked what was missing.
“If I knew the answer, it wouldn’t be missing,” he said. “If ya’ll saw the game, you know what happened, and … that’s pretty much it.”
With that, the 6-foot-4, 350-pounder grabbed his bag, shoved his way through the horde of reporters surrounding his locker and left the clubhouse.
The trouble began hours earlier when the Browns — holding a 27-13 lead — managed to sack Baltimore rookie quarterback Joe Flacco on second-and-10 for a 6-yard loss to the Ravens’ 15-yard-line.
Facing an inexperienced quarterback, who had just thrown an incompletion on first down and got manhandled by D’Qwell Jackson on the next, the Browns decided to rush only their three linemen and drop their linebackers into a zone coverage.
But Flacco was able to find receiver Derrick Mason on a skinny post down the middle for 20 yards and a first down. The play kept the drive alive and allowed the Ravens to march down and score their first seven of 24 unanswered points.
“It was an opportunity for us to change the field position and force them to punt … and we just missed it,” cornerback Eric Wright. “I don’t necessarily disagree or agree with the call. The play comes in and I just execute my responsibility on the play.
“No matter what defense you play, you have holes.”
Both Jackson and defensive captain Andra Davis thought the play call was correct, and that the Browns didn’t need to be aggressive and blitz the young quarterback.
“With the guys we have up front, they’ve been putting good pressure on the quarterback all year so I wasn’t surprised by the call at all,” Davis said. “It was a great call, they just made a good play.”
The momentum seemed to shift after fullback Le’Ron McClain capped that drive with a 1-yard touchdown. Flacco found his rhythm and hit Mason, who used a nice spin move to put Wright on the ground, for a 28-yard touchdown. Wright received no help on the play as both safeties were playing up in the box on blitz coverage, leaving no Browns defenders behind him.
“I slipped out of my break, went in and tried to tackle him,” Wright aid. “I was already falling down and I just missed it. I missed the tackle. I mean, you guys seen the play. I missed the tackle and they scored a touchdown. I take responsibility and I’m totally accountable for that.”
Things got worse as rookie running back Ray Rice, who had been chipping away at the Browns all day, finally broke free for a 60-yard sprint down the sideline. Brandon McDonald made a touchdown-saving push out of bounds at the
3-yard line, but three plays later Matt Stover’s 22-yard field goal gave the Ravens the game-winning points.
“When we went up 27-13, we knew there was no way we were going to give up no more touchdowns because we’ve been doing pretty good at keeping guys out the end zone,” Davis said. “But then they hit some big plays on us. When it went bad, it just got real bad. We let this one slip through our fingers.”
Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. 

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