Cleveland Browns battling bad case of the dropsies

October 25, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

CLEVELAND (AP) — The only thing the Cleveland Browns have caught in the past two weeks is the flu.

Dropped passes — as many as 16 of them — have plagued a sputtering offense that wasn’t exactly breaking any land-speed records to begin with. In last week’s 27-14 loss at Pittsburgh, quarterback Derek Anderson had nearly as many balls dropped (7) as caught (9).

Rookie wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi was guilty of three drops, miscues that offset his five receptions and a 43-yard grab. One week earlier, he had three more drops.

“Self-inflicted wounds,” he called them.

The Browns (1-5) are hoping to latch onto the football better this today as they face the Green Bay Packers (3-2), whose biggest concern is protecting quarterback Aaron Rodgers, banged around like a pinata at a kids’ birthday party in the past few weeks.

Cleveland’s offense has been awful through six games. Under first-year coordinator Brian Daboll, the Browns are ranked 31st in total yards, 31st in passing, 30th in scoring and Anderson, who replaced Brady Quinn as the starter after 10 quarters, is the lowest-rated QB in the league with a 41.7 rating.

For comparison’s sake, New Orleans’ Drew Brees has a league-leading 118.4 rating. An even scarier stat: Anderson’s 8.5 rating in the fourth quarter.

Anderson has hurt himself with bad decisions, forced passes and incorrect reads. But he has gotten little or no help from the Browns’ fumble-fingered receivers and backs. Anderson’s many critics — and they are vocal as Quinn remains popular — point to his cannon arm as the reason behind the high number of drops and incompletions.

Anderson has struggled at times with his touch on dump-off passes and screens, passes Quinn throws well.

But Anderson doesn’t think his arm strength should be blamed for Cleveland’s rash of drops, which has rivaled a flu outbreak that kept 12 players out of practice on Wednesday and 10 on Thursday.

“I don’t throw it that hard,” Anderson said. “Sometimes on intermediate throws it just looks like I am not throwing it hard and it’s coming harder than it looks. It kind of gets on guys a little bit faster, but I think for the most part I’ve been a lot better than in the past.

“It’s something that I’ve tried to work on and I’m going to keep working at it.”

Cleveland’s receivers have been staying after practice to work on their pass-catching skills. They line up in front of the JUGS machine, which fires footballs at them with more velocity than even Anderson can muster. Perhaps a bigger reason for the Browns’ offensive woes than the drops is the dramatic turnover the unit has undergone in coach Eric Mangini’s first season.

Mangini traded tight end Kellen Winslow before the season and dealt wide receiver Braylon Edwards, the team’s top playmaker, earlier this month. So instead of those two primary targets, Anderson is throwing passes to Massaquoi, rookie Brian Robiskie, wide receiver Mike Furrey (with Detroit last season) and Chansi Stuckey, who came over from the Jets in the deal for Edwards.

Anderson doesn’t want to use the newness of the group as an excuse, but it’s a legitimate one.

“We do have a lot of new guys,” he said. “It’s going to take time. We continue to work after practice, just keep working, throwing, catching and getting used to each other.”

As for the Packers, they don’t want to drop the proverbial ball this week against a team they should handle.

Green Bay is coming off a shutout win over Detroit and doesn’t want to look past Cleveland, a team the Packers blanked 17-0 in the exhibition opener.

Rodgers has thrown for more than 300 yards in Green Bay’s past two games, but has taken a pounding. After giving up eight sacks on Oct. 5 against Minnesota, Green Bay’s offensive line allowed Detroit five more sacks last week, bringing the season total to a league-high 25.

At least Anderson isn’t getting dropped like that.

Packers left tackle Chad Clifton is still being bothered by an ankle injury that kept him out of two games. If Clifton can’t play, rookie T.J. Lang will start and try to keep Rodgers away from Pro Bowl nose tackle Shaun Rogers and a Cleveland defense ranked dead last overall.

Rodgers, though, isn’t taking the Browns lightly.

“They’re a good defense, strong and athletic,” he said. “Their record may be 1-5, but they have a very talented defense and they’re playing pretty well together. The defense is keeping them in games. It’s going to be a tough task for us.”

The Packers don’t want to get too far ahead of themselves, but it may be tough for them not look ahead. Next week, Green Bay has a rematch against the Vikings: Brett Bowl II. This time, at Lambeau Field, where the Cheeseheads may give Favre a rude homecoming.

For now, the Packers want to keep themselves and their record healthy, which could be a challenge in Cleveland.

Rodgers was asked if he worried about some of the Browns’ infected players breathing on him.

“Yeah,” he joked. “Hopefully there’s no sacks and it won’t be an issue.”