BROWNS Postseasonhopes dim after loss

Injured cornerback Daylon McCutcheon could play against Jacksonville.
BEREA (AP) -- A week ago the Cleveland Browns looked like legitimate playoff contenders.
Now their playoff hopes look dim and their locker room is full of talk of disappointment.
The Browns 13-6 loss to the Carolina Panthers dropped Cleveland to 6-6, tied with Baltimore, 1 1/2 games behind Pittsburgh in the AFC North.
Coach Butch Davis said the loss was discouraging, then corrected himself. "It's not discouraging as much as disappointing because I felt like we would play better," Davis said.
"Now we're like 10 or 11 or 12 other teams in this league who are 5-7, 6-6 or 7-5 fighting your guts out every week and hoping we don't get kicked in the stomach."
Quarterback Tim Couch, who posted his worst statistics of the season, said the Browns lost a chance to put themselves in a better position to make the playoffs.
"It's frustrating. It really is. We've had our chances this year to be right in the middle of everything right now," Couch said.
Couch still has hopes for the season. "You still never know -- all we know right now is we have to win the next four games."
Problems
Carolina came into Sunday's game with an eight-game losing streak, and a string of off-field problems.
On Thursday, running back Lamar Smith, the team's leading rusher, was charged with drunken driving and suspended for the rest of the season. Wide receiver-kick returner Steve Smith was reinstated for Sunday's game after a one-game suspension for beating up teammate Anthony Bright during a film session.
In addition, the Panthers released starting right tackle Chris Terry last week following a series of incidents stemming from a domestic violence charge this summer, and rookie defensive end Julius Peppers, who has 11 sacks, is may be suspended for the rest of the season for testing positive for a banned substance.
But the Panthers held the Browns to 130 yards passing, intercepted three of Couch's passes and recovered two Cleveland fumbles.
"A lot of things went wrong," Couch said. "A lot of guys didn't play their best games, me included."
Defensive back, Daylon McCutcheon, who last week had six screws surgically implanted in his right thumb to heal a fracture, said he may be ready to play Sunday in Jacksonville.