FirstStopFantasy: CLEVELAND BROWNS LOSE TO DETROIT IN A TALE OF TWO HALVES

CLEVELAND BROWNS LOSE TO DETROIT IN A TALE OF TWO HALVES

by Hal Bent - FirstStopFantasy.com


The Cleveland Browns decided to start Halloween a few weeks early this season: on Sunday they dressed up Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde.  In the first half of their match-up against the Detroit Lions, the Browns leaped out to a 17-7 lead as quarterback Brandon Weeden was on top of his game as he had 12 completions in 20 attempts for 135 yards passing and the Browns rushing attack had ripped off 115 yards on the ground.  Meanwhile, the defense had continued its recent strong play and held Detroit’s potent aerial attack to only 83 yards in the air and running back Reggie Bush was limited to 14 yards rushing.  Then, the second half happened and Mr. Hyde emerged for Cleveland.
In the second half, Detroit ripped off 24 unanswered points and rolled to a 31-17 victory over the Browns.   Detroit took over the game on both sides of the ball while the Cleveland offense fizzled. By the time the Lions finished feasting on the Browns, they had limited Cleveland to eleven yards rushing in the second half and running back Reggie Bush added 64 more yards rushing to go with five receptions for 57 yards.  Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford finished with almost 250 yards passing and threw for three second half touchdowns.
In fact, Detroit went touchdown, ten play drive ending in an interception, touchdown, field goal, and touchdown in the second half. Conversely, Cleveland went punt, punt, punt punt, interception, and ended the game at the Detroit nine yard line.  As good as Cleveland had looked early on, they looked just as bad later on.
What Detroit on defense did against Cleveland is they dialed up the pressure.  According to ProFootballFocus.com, the Lions got nine quarterback hurries, six hits, and two sacks in the game, with a lot of the pressure coming in the second half.  Under pressure, Brandon Weeden lost his cool.  In watching the game replay, it appeared that every single time that he moved off his spot due to pressure, something bad happened. The worst play was the backward, back-to-the-line-of-scrimmage and back-hand lob that should never had been thrown and ended up in the arms of Detroit’s DeAndre Levy.
Quarterback Brandon Weeden had simply the worst interception thrown with his bizarre under-handed toss, but there was the intentional grounding penalty on the drive prior in the fourth quarter when it was 21-17 and Weeden had just found Josh Gordon for fourteen yards to start the drive...For more, click here: http://firststopfantasy.com/nfl-teams/cleveland-browns/cleveland-browns-lose-to-detroit-in-a-tale-of-two-halves/

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