PITTSBURGH -- Romeo Crennel is either a genius or an idiot. I'm willing to hear arguments in either direction after his Cleveland Browns' baffling 31-28 loss Sunday to Pittsburgh.
On the one hand, only a genius could put Cleveland's shoddy collection of talent in position to beat the Steelers -- and claim a share of the AFC North lead -- despite being unable to run, pass or defend. As inept as the Browns were on Sunday, they still could have beaten one of the best teams in the NFL.
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| D'oh, Romeo! Phil Dawson and Dave Zastudil can't believe what they just saw. (AP) |
And I'm not the only one.
In the Pittsburgh locker room, the Steelers were dumbfounded by a fourth-quarter sequence that cost the Browns two timeouts. It happened with 3:13 to play and the Steelers having taken a 30-28 lead, pending the extra point, on Heath Miller's 2-yard touchdown catch. Although the catch seemed clear both live and on the initial replay, the Browns called a timeout to consider challenging the call.
In other words, the Browns willingly burned one timeout to contemplate risking a second timeout on a challenge. Which is exactly what happened. Crennel challenged the call, and when replays confirmed the call -- touchdown -- the Browns were out a second timeout.
"I thought it was weird to use two timeouts," Miller said. "I don't know why they would do that."
Nobody knows. In the Cleveland locker room, several seething Browns refused to discuss Crennel's clock mismanagement. They'll be angrier in the coming hours when they realize Crennel basically blamed the whole screw-up on them, saying, "I'm not exactly sure what happened -- (the first) timeout was called on the field. ... Some guys on the field felt we needed to challenge."
Crennel paradoxically tried to take the blame after that, saying, "Put it on me." But by then it was too late. He had already put it on his players. I talked to three different Browns defenders who were on the field for Miller's touchdown, and none of them knew which player, if any player, called the timeout. Defensive tackle Shaun Smith pinned the responsibility to his coach.
"That's not my decision," he said of the timeout and the challenge. "You'll have to ask the coach. I don't call any timeouts."
Smith then tersely cut short the interview.
If you didn't watch the game, you might be wondering: Why all the fuss about two poorly spent timeouts? Here's why: When Miller's touchdown was confirmed, the Browns had little more than three minutes left to force overtime. Time was the essence, which means timeouts were of the essence. Cleveland used its final timeout with 2:38 to play and the Steelers unsuccessfully trying to run out the clock.
This story is no hypothetical exercise in clock management -- this game came down to the final seconds, with the Browns trying desperately to get into field goal position. Cleveland didn't quite get there. Derek Anderson led the Browns from their 33 to the Steelers' 35, but with no timeouts he had to spike the ball three times on Cleveland's final five plays, the last one coming on third-and-7 from the 35.
