Sloppy Browns begin season in dismal fashion

CLEVELAND -- One game into the regular season, and it's not too soon for the Cleveland Browns to start looking for the panic button.

To say Braylon Edwards' Browns dropped the ball in Week 1 is a serious understatement. (AP)

I know that sounds as preposterous as it is premature, but you weren't at Sunday's 28-10 waxing by Dallas ... and if you were you'd know I'm right. The Browns couldn't tackle, couldn't cover, didn't pressure the pocket and produced almost no offense.

Now the bad news: Pittsburgh is next.

The Steelers are supposed to be Cleveland's competition for the top spot in the AFC North, but the Browns better be careful. They lost their last nine to Pittsburgh and 15 of the last 16 -- and if they blow another next Sunday here that would put them two games behind the Steelers and 0-2 at home.

Not good.

OK, so they were missing Pro Bowl returner Josh Cribbs, safety Brodney Pool and wide receiver Donte' Stallworth. And running back Jamal Lewis and Braylon Edwards are nursing injuries that had to affect them, but that doesn't explain nor excuse the inept play that characterized their performance.

Granted, they drew a tough opponent. The Cowboys are loaded with talent, and they played like the division champions they are. But the Browns are supposed to be a division threat, too ... only you'd never know it watching them play.

"We could have done better than we did," coach Romeo Crennel said in an understatement. "A lot of things went wrong."

Correction: Everything went awry, and if Cleveland isn't concerned now, maybe it should be, and here's why: After scoring on a 16-play, nine-minute drive early in the second quarter the Browns never had a series last more than three downs until the fourth quarter.

Never.

In fact, in the second and third periods they gained a grand total of 32 yards in five possessions. Afterward, Crennel and his players spoke of "missed opportunities," but I'd like to ask: What missed opportunities? They never had the ball.

Cleveland got drilled, pure and simple. The Browns weren't beaten; they were sliced, diced and spliced by an opponent that, at least on this afternoon, was light years beyond them.

Maybe Crennel won't acknowledge it, but he didn't have to. He demonstrated it when he took a meaningless field goal on a fourth-and-3 at the Dallas 17 in the beginning of the fourth quarter, to cut the margin from 21 points to 18.