Cleveland Browns: Great First Half Spoiled by Stupidity

First Energy Stadium was pumped. The fans were loud and the Cleveland Browns looked to improve their record to 4-2 on the season and move the winning streak to four games. What could possibly go wrong against the Matthew Stafford-led Detroit Lions?

After shell-shocking the Lions in the first half, the Browns laid a dud in the second half. Lions head coach, Jim Schwartz made all the right adjustments offensively and defensively. The Browns were out scored 24-0 in the final thirty minutes. This game was a tale of two halves.

Second year quarterback, Brandon Weeden continued to show why he won’t be wearing brown and orange in 2014. With over six minutes left in the game and an opportunity to tie the game, Weeden made quite possibly the worst decision of his career. Trying to avoid taking a sack, Weeden shoveled a pass 15 yards to the sideline where linebacker DeAndre Levy was graciously awaiting the floating errant pass. The interception led to seven points and put the Lions up two scores with two minutes left in the game. That unfortunate series of events could be quite possibly the worst blunder of the 2013 campaign.

But, why are Browns diehards’ surprised? All the signs were there. They had to of known that if the game came down to Weeden vs. Stafford, the Browns would lose. It’s this type of game that separates the men amongst the boys – and sadly to say, Weeden is a boy.

While much of the blame can go on the Browns temporary 30-year old signal caller, some of the miscues were also on the Browns’ pedestrian-like defense. The orange-and-brown defense spent 33 minutes and 29 seconds on the field and allowed 366 yards, including four passing touchdowns. It was clear after the second Weeden interception, they were deflated as Stafford marched down and put the game away. Third downs are also becoming a huge issue for this defense. The Lions were 8/14 (57%) on third down conversions.

While most Browns fans want Weeden’s head by noon today, there’s only one remaining important question – what choices do they have this deep in the season? Do the Browns ride with Weeden the rest of the way, turn the reigns over to Jason Campbell, or sign a free agent quarterback off the street that has zero chemistry with the offense or team? These are all questions that will be answered sometime near the future.

Ryan Ruiz is the Cleveland Browns Beat Writer for The Inscriber: Digital Magazine. You can follow him on Facebook: Ryan (BrownsWriter) Ruiz and Twitter @ryanpruiz24. Ryan is also a Browns correspondent for The Sportsfix. Tune in every Friday at noon on www.thesportsfix.net.