Browns learn hard lesson

CLEVELAND -- In a game with first place in the AFC North on the line, it wasn't too difficult to distinguish the contenders from the pretenders.
The Pittsburgh Steelers came to the home of their most bitter rival, took their best shot early, then set about to dominate the Cleveland Browns Sunday in a game that wasn't nearly as close as the final score might indicate.
Prior to the game, you could sense the resulting three hours of controlled mayhem would set the tone for the second half of the season, and Pittsburgh was clearly the aggressor from the 11 minute, 45 second mark of the second quarter. That was precisely the moment the Browns scored for a 14-3 lead.
From that point, the Steelers dominated at the line of scrimmage and used Amos Zereoue to run the ball, Tommy Maddox to throw it, and enough gadget plays to make one wonder if Bill Cowher had been replaced as coach by Bret Maverick, riverboat gambler.
Yes, the Browns made it close, scoring a touchdown with less than five minutes remaining. But, take away Dennis Northcutt's punt return touchdown and the Tim Couch-to-Quincy Morgan score against a Steelers defense in prevent mode, and the resultant 16-point margin would have been pretty accurate.
What must be done
Teams that want to contend for a championship do whatever is needed to win a game, even if it means dusting off the playbook for plays that might make a normally-conservative head coach cringe.
It means running the football -- and conversely, stopping the run. Sunday, Pittsburgh rushed for 136 yards, or exactly 100 more than Cleveland.
It means converting third downs, a statistic Browns coach Butch Davis said is "... what the NFL is all about." The Steelers were 10-for-20; Cleveland was 2-for-9, or 22 percent. Davis said successful NFL teams convert around 40 percent.
(An interesting statistic: Both teams averaged 4.6 yards per play, but the Steelers finished with 391 total yards to the Browns' 193, and ran 85 plays to Cleveland's 42.)
Contending football teams don't commit 11 penalties, as the Browns did on Sunday. They don't get called for having 12 men on the field during a key third-down stop, as Cleveland did.
And contending teams don't run half as many plays as its opponent, gain half as many yards and lose the time of possession, 42:10 to 17:50.
Still had a chance
The Browns, though, did all of those things, yet still managed to have a chance to win the game with as little as 41/2 minutes to go.
(The only phase of the game in which the Browns won was special teams, but even that was tempered by Phil Dawson's poorly struck kick on his final extra-point attempt.)
Part of Davis' post-game press conference included some very telling remarks. In between the coach-speak and the absolute refusal to criticize the players, Davis talked about discipline and rhythm.
The Browns had little of either. Defensive players by nature, and particularly at this level, must exhibit a kind of reckless abandon and "devil-may-care" attitude. It's a necessary makeup for a violent and sometimes seemingly out-of-control game, but what separates the best players from the journeyman is the ability and common sense to have the discipline to not commit silly penalties or lose sight of his assignment.
More than one Browns defender echoed Davis' mantra about "discipline," or in the case displayed Sunday, a lack of it.
The Steelers came to town, and in less than 20 minutes could have been on their way to a blowout loss. Instead, they relied on discipline and a sense of confidence to take control of the game and ultimately, the division.
Davis can only hope his team learned a valuable lesson.
XRob Todor is sports editor of The Vindicator. Write to him at todor@vindy.com.