Seven seconds from a tie

So this morning I got a call asking if I wanted a free ticket to the Browns game. I declined. The thought of spending close quarters with a bunch of angry drunks did not seem all that appealing. Instead I watched from the relative safety of my couch.

And what did we learn from our Browns today:

1. That didn't look like a team that quit on its coach to me
2. #11 jerseys are going to sell out this week
3. Shaun Rogers is the man.
4. Josh Cribbs is the man 1a.
5. Braylon Edwards is not the man.

As far as the quarterback situation we learned pretty much we knew all along. That if Brady Quinn could not beat out Derek Anderson we were in trouble. It is pretty apparent that Anderson gives the Browns the best chance to move the ball and score. It is also pretty apparent that Anderson is what he is. He has a gun. If his first read is open he can be pretty good. If his first read is covered, trouble is lurking. You have to take the good Derek with the bad Derek. While it seems Brady is afraid to take chances, Derek is not. It just happens that Derek isn't the best decision maker. But Anderson confirmed he is the guy for at least right now.

The defense played well. Carson Palmer made a veteran play scrambling on the third and long and that was the difference maker.

From home it is hard to tell if one of the reasons Massaquoi was able to catch so many balls was because Edwards was drawing so much coverage. But regardless Edwards had no catches. Yet he did do one thing today, he confirmed my passion for this team. I sat quietly in the first half. Watched the Browns go down 14-0. I never got mad. I never cursed. However I saw that penalty Edwards committed coming several seconds before he did it. In fact I started talking to the television. It went like this:

"Nice run. Hold the ball. Ohhh nice hit. Get away Edwards. Get AWAY EDWARDS! PLEASE DON'T! NONONONONONONO! YOU STUPID @#$%&#$% @#$%&#@ #$@#%&%"

I went storming into the kitchen. Ready to bust stuff. Nearly gave myself a heart attack. Had no idea the penalty was off-setting for a good while. I get the guy is talented. But I don't want to hear he was helping a teammate. He wasn't. That was a selfish and stupid move. But he did rekick start my passion for this team. My expectations have been so severely lowered that I wasn't even getting mad. Seriously I am excited that the Browns competed. They played hard and I will take that.

Wow barely losing to a fraud team like the Bengals has me slightly optimistic. Hopefully this is rock bottom.