Browns Report: Fitting End to Poor Offensive Season
Cold, Hard Football Facts for January 02, 2012

By Adam Dobrowolski
Cold, Hard Football Facts Proud Beat Writer

With the country inviting in a new year, there was a chance for the Cleveland Browns to give their fans some fresh hope for improvement in 2012. Instead, with a 13-9 loss at home to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Dawg Pound simply saw a repeat of what plagued the Browns in 2011.

For one last time, here's five lessons to learn.

1. Seneca Wallace didn't prove to be any more effective than Colt McCoy.
With a chance to play in the final three games of the season, Seneca Wallace wanted to prove himself worthy of a starting quarterback position. However, he didn't get the job done as the Browns lost those three games by a combined 13 points. Perhaps if Wallace played one level better than Colt McCoy, the Browns win a few games and Wallace gets a chance to further prove himself in 2012.

Wallace posted a weak 50.27 Real Quarterback Rating. This includes completing only two of 14 passes attempted to Greg Little or Mohamed Maasquoi.

Overall, Wallace finished with a 65.87 QBR, while Colt McCoy finished with a 75.16 QBR. Clearly, neither quarterback worked in this limited offense, and McCoy should be the leading candidate to return as the starter in 2012.

2. Outside of Jabaal Sheard and Ahtyba Rubin, the Defensive Hogs struggled again.
Sheard and Rubin did some solid work, combining for 11 solo tackles and two sacks. However, Pittsburgh still dominated in the trenches on offense. The Steelers completed eight of 16 third-down conversions, ran for 4.47 yards per carry and made only two negative passing plays.

Take away the two fumbles from Isaac Redman, and this game probably isn't as close as it was. Although Ben Roethlisberger was limited by his ankle injury, Pittsburgh handled any issues by dominating Cleveland's Defensive Hogs. The failure to force more negative passing plays prevented an upset for the Browns.

3. Once again, the offense lacked any big play ability.
Perhaps it's getting old, but the Browns failed to make any gamechanging plays on offense once again. Cleveland's longest compelted pass was 23 yards, while the longest run was 27 yards. In fact, all 10 the longest plays from the Browns came from Wallace, eight via pass and two via run.

With the two biggest plays of the game coming from Redman, it's no wonder the Browns once again scored in the single digits against the strong Steelers defense.

4. Josh Cribbs finished the year strong.
After registering a punt return for a touchdown last week in Baltimore, Cribbs showed up with a big offensive day. Cribbs caught a team-high seven passes for 91 yards. Outside of Greg Little's 131-yard performance two weeks ago in Arizona, Cribbs had more receiving yards in a single game by a Browns player this year. While Cribbs has long been considered a playmaker, he showed good possessive abilities in a consistent basis.

Furthermore, Cribbs made a team-high three special teams tackles. Talk about good value!

5. The defense won't be a huge focus in the 2012 draft.
Cleveland didn't allow more than 20 points in its last four games. Better yet, the Browns didn't allow more than 24 points in their last eight games. With young players like Sheard, Joe Haden and Phil Taylor playing very well this season, the Browns will likely look to improve the offense in the draft.

As the week progresses, we'll more into detail on what the Browns need for 2012 and what to expect statistically, given this year's trends.