CLEVELAND — Maybe general manager Phil Savage was onto something in his infamous e-mail.
There are 31 other teams Browns fans could root for, and they can’t all be this maddening.
The team that excited everyone with 10 wins last year, significant offseason additions and glimpses of brilliance this season is officially done teasing for 2008. A lifeless 16-6 loss to the Houston Texans (4-7) on Sunday left the Browns 4-7 and squashed any wishful thinking about the playoffs.
The Browns fell to 1-5 at home, as they were beaten by a team that had been winless on the road. The hundreds of people that left orange seats empty all afternoon must’ve seen it coming.
“We didn’t play very well at all on either side of the football,” coach Romeo Crennel said. “We just made too many mistakes. It was just … not good.”
The Browns have five weeks left in the season, and they promise to be a long five weeks. Crennel’s job is in jeopardy — that feels like an understatement — and he may not be alone. Savage has had a pair of image-tarnishing incidents in the last month, including sending an e-mail to a fan last week that read: Go root for Buffalo—f#@* you.
Even worse, it’s his collection of talent that has underachieved.
When the Browns needed a play to mount a rally Sunday and keep hope alive for the season, the biggest names on the offense pounded nails into the coffin.
Brady Quinn fell to 0-2 in starts at home and was yanked after throwing his second interception. He went 8-for-18 for 94 yards and a 21.3 rating.
“I decided to try to get a spark from Anderson,” said Crennel, who named Quinn the starter for the Colts game Sunday.
Anderson entered for the final play of the third quarter with the Browns trailing 16-6 and led four possessions. They ended with a punt, a missed field goal from 39 yards, a fumbled handoff to Jamal Lewis and an interception off Jason Wright’s hand.
Anderson was 5-for-14 for 51 yards, an interception and a 17.3 rating.
“It’s frustrating,” he said. “I hoped I could come in and give a little better spark. I expected a little more from myself.”
The quarterbacks could easily point the finger at receiver Braylon Edwards. He dropped two passes that would’ve gone for first downs, was beaten to the spot on a slant on Quinn’s second interception and failed to come up with a touchdown from Anderson that would’ve cut the deficit to three with 7:49 left. Cornerback Jacques Reeves got a hand on the ball, but it deflected into the midsection of Edwards, who couldn’t hold on as he fell to the ground in the end zone.
“That’s a catch I have to make for my team,” said Edwards, who has a league-high 18 drops. “I’ve got to go somewhere and get my head together.”
There might not be a shrink’s office big enough to handle all the Browns’ problems.
Tight end Kellen Winslow was called for another pass interference, wiping out a first-down completion in the fourth quarter. Left tackle Joe Thomas was whistled on consecutive plays for a false start and holding Mario Williams. Lewis lost a fumble and carried just 10 times for 58 yards.
Edwards’ non-touchdown and the penalties were part of an infuriating 18-play drive that featured two illegal contact calls on Houston, an Edwards drop through his legs on a great throw by Anderson and Phil Dawson’s first missed field goal from inside 50 yards.
“We’re just inches away on little things,” Anderson said. “But we’ve got to run the right routes, we’ve got to catch the ball, we’ve got to throw the ball, we’ve got to block.”
Crennel put an end to any quarterback controversy by announcing that Quinn would start next week. Quinn hadn’t heard the news when he talked to reporters, and was focused on the benching.
“I didn’t really have any inclination I was on such a short leash,” he said.
Quinn went 1-for-5 for 7 yards and his first two career interceptions in the third quarter while posting a 0.0 rating. He played with a small fracture in the tip of the index finger on his throwing hand, but said it wasn’t a factor.
Crennel called Quinn a “gamer” for playing with the broken finger, but said he looked “good enough” in practice to give him all the first-team repetitions and the start. He didn’t like the decisions on the interceptions and made the quick hook.
“The fourth quarter’s the most crucial one,” Quinn said. “It’s usually where games are won or lost and I just wish I would’ve been able to be in there to have a chance. I’m a guy who likes to go 12 rounds.”
The Browns entered with the league’s third-best turnover ratio at plus-8, while the Texans boasted an NFL-worst minus-13. But on Sunday, the Browns committed five turnovers and the Texans two.
Quarterback Sage Rosenfels was 16-for-20 for 190 yards, a touchdown and a 122.9 rating at halftime, as the Texans had a 259-124 edge in yardage. Rosenfels finished 24-for-32 for 275 yards, a touchdown, two interceptions and an 84.8 rating.
Houston managed just a field goal after halftime, but it was three more points than the Browns could muster.
“They tried to give it to us, but we didn’t take it,” special teamer Joshua Cribbs said.
The defense struggled early and soft coverage allowed Andre Johnson 10 catches for 116 yards and Kevin Walter seven for 93 and a touchdown. But the Texans only scored 16, which shifts the onus back onto the offense.
“I’m very concerned, because there are some elementary things that we didn’t do,” Crennel said. “Handoffs, recognition of things that are happening on the field that we need to recognize and make adjustments, handling the pressure package. There were just a lot of things we didn’t do.
“You put all those things together and it makes for a bad situation.”
One that looks like it will only get worse in the season’s final month.
Contact Scott Petrak at 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com.
 

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