For reference:
3. The loss to Pittsburgh showed how something remains amiss with the Browns in terms of having a heart and a single purpose. After the game, Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said: “We were looking to strike a blow for team in these circumstances and stand up for the game of football.”I resist criticizing coaching as I'm hopeless in calling football plays, but I can't help to notice that the Browns head coach is not just inexperienced and immature, but he's charmless and dull-witted. That may explain a lot about the locker room's weird shenanigans.
6. I wrote the Kitchens column before he wore the “PITTSBURGH STARTED IT” T-shirt and before Damarious Randall was left back in Cleveland. Those were more signs of the team’s immaturity. Then it showed up on the field. After taking a 10-0 lead in the middle of the second quarter, they were outscored, 20-3, for the rest of the game.
12. The Browns have some big names and Pro Bowlers. But they are 5-7, despite acting at times as if they are 9-3. It’s a group of underachievers. There’s a sense at least some members of the coaching staff are over-matched.
13. Kitchens talked about “learning experiences” after the game. He talked about “matching the intensity” of the Steelers for the entire game. My sense is he doesn’t know what to say about some of the problems facing the team.
As with the author of the article quoted [who is a peer, a fellow Crash Street Kid*, and someone with whom I have an acquaintance], it is the die-hard fans for whom I have sympathy.
*Cleveland reference that requires more explanation than I have time for this morning. Suffice it to say that Terry and I are neighborhood guys.