Unrivaled Misery
November 21st, 2006
By: CRS Staff
We came after their tails
all right.
We came after their tails,
their Special Teams, and even their facemasks (the latter occurring at the worst of times).
Of course, a lot of good it is to grab your opponent by the tail when the football is already 20 yards downfield. Not sure if that’s what Braylon had in mind.
So I guess the upside is
this game finally had the look of a true Browns/Steelers rivalry game, which is to say the Browns again played well enough
to lose in crushing fashion instead of ending the suspense quickly. Early in
the 4th quarter Joshua Cribbs did his best Eric Metcalf impression, returning a kickoff 92 yards in a play reminiscent
of Metcalf’s two-return thriller against the Steelers in ’94. Unfortunately,
this was immediately followed by Grantham/Crennel doing their best Fazio/Davis impression, rushing no one and dropping all
eleven defenders into coverage while still getting picked apart in the secondary (OK, so maybe they didn’t rush all
eleven, but would it have made any difference if they had?). Playing the role
of journeyman Tommy Maddox this year was Ben Roethlisberger, who like his teammate four seasons ago could not find the end
zone with a compass for three quarters before turning into Joe Montana. Symmetry
really is a bitch, sometimes.
As a lifelong Browns fan,
how bad was this loss? So bad that I don’t even consider the Steelers a
rival anymore. To truly be a rival you have to win a game every once in awhile. It’s why Ohio State/Michigan is a great rivalry.
Redskins/Cowboys is too. Cardinals/Cowboys is not, and therein lies my
point. Remember when we used to laugh at Bengals fans who would tell us they
grew up hating the Browns? Aww, how cute that they hate us, we thought. Years later we are the ones watching the growing Bengals/Ravens & Steelers/Ravens
rivalries from the outside. My best friend, a lifelong Steelers fan, didn’t
even bother to call and talk smack after Sunday’s game, something he now hasn’t done in at least three years. Why would he? What’s left to be
said that hasn’t after his team has gone 12-1 over the last 13 meetings against the Browns?
I saw where one Browns player
was quoted as saying the good news is the team gets a rematch in three weeks. That’s
good news? To any Browns fan, that should be a stern warning to remove all sharp
objects from the TV room between now and December 7th. After all, you just never
know which Browns team will show up that day – the ones who get blown out, or the ones who will leak like a sieve
in the 4th quarter.
The Browns can talk themselves
into thinking next time will be different all they want. If they can even half-convince
themselves that it’s true, good for them. As for me, I’m going to
try and find a Cardinals fan in Arizona who might still be looking for a rival.
