Written by Thomas Moore

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Another Monday, which means another post-mortem on another Cleveland Browns loss.

You would think we’d be used to this by now, with the Browns having lost nine games in a row dating back to last season, but it doesn’t get any easier.

As usual on the day after, talk around Brownstown has focused on coach Pat Shurmur and what he does – or doesn’t do – on the sidelines each week.

The Browns had another slow start on Sunday, falling behind Buffalo 14-0 in the first quarter. That continues a disturbing trend under Shurmur, as the Browns have been outscored in the first quarter 103-32 in the 19 games he has been coach. During that span, the Browns have only scored two first-quarter touchdowns and been shut out 11 times in the opening quarter.

“Was our team ready to play? Absolutely,” Shurmur said on Monday. “Did we execute efficiently? Absolutely not. When you start a game that way that’s what happens. I felt like, just like every week, I thought our guys fought hard. We need to play better, we need to coach better, we need to do everything better and then we’ll win games.”

So what gives? Wide receivers Mohamed Massaquoi and Josh Cribbs have been around for a lot of the losses and they don’t really have an idea.

“We have to look at it and figure it out,” Massaquoi said. “Each week we try to bring in a game plan to try and get us some success, but we started a little slow. And whenever you do that, you spot them by 14 points and it’s almost impossible to win.”

“It’s about playing football. You know, executing,” Cribbs said. “You know, our defense is good enough to stop them, they did, we went down and scored a touchdown, they gave us another opportunity and then we keep getting opportunities. We just have to take advantage of those opportunities and when it is time to score we must score. Good teams score when given the opportunity, and we did not get that done.”

Not being able to put points on the scoreboard early is certainly a problem – especially at home as it can take the crowd out of the game almost before it starts – but first-quarter points don’t necessarily translate into wins. In the two years under Eric Mangini, the Browns outscored their opponents by 42 points in the first quarter, but the team still ended up posting consecutive five-win seasons.

Having trouble scoring in the first quarter is not unique to Cleveland, of course, no matter what you hear on talk radio. Take the Denver Broncos for example. The Broncos have been outscored by 40 points in the first quarter through the first three weeks of the season, despite having a “veteran” coach in John Fox (who too many people wanted the Browns to hire last year) and Peyton Manning at quarterback. We don’t want to imagine what it would be like around here if the Browns were relying on a 36-year-old quarterback who’s had four neck surgeries and a coach who’s only had one winning season out of the past six.

Whatever is the cause – poor preparation during the week, a young offense that is still finding its way, or something else – the Browns need to fix it and soon as the season is rapidly slipping away from them.

Shurmur is also criticized for doing things that, well, every NFL coach does. While some of his decisions can at times be frustrating, one of his biggest sins is that he goes to much by the book when it comes to game situations.

So far this season we’ve seen Shurmur pass up a two-point conversation attempt against the Eagles because the chart that coaches use said it was not the “correct” time to go for two. (“I think that decision is made near the end of the game where it’s a one or two possession game,” Shurmur said in defending the call).

Then on Sunday, Shurmur decided to punt with the Browns trailing by 10 and about six minutes left in the game. At that point in the game the Browns really had nothing left to lose (except for another game) and most fans would not have had a problem with Shurmur going for the first down rather than punting. But that is what NFL coaches do every week across the league and Shurmur followed suit.

We really wish Shurmur would be more willing to chart his own course rather than following the “book” (of course, the face that “going by the book” is a cliche just shows that Shumur isn’t really out of step with other NFL coaches). We’ve reached the point where, if the Browns get across the opposing 35-yard-line, they should just be in four-down territory. Take a chance; after all, what’s the worse that can happen?

Even when Shurmur tries to do the right thing, the situation doesn’t always work out for him. Take the current case of wide receiver Greg Little.

The second-year wide receiver had another critical drop on Sunday against Buffalo and continues to turn some fans off with his Usain Bolt posing when he does manage to catch a pass. (Although Little said on Monday that “I never wanted this to happen where the pose took a negative spin, so if it manifested in that way, I just won’t do it anymore.” So there is at least that).

Shurmur made it clear on Monday that Little needs to start producing – and stop posing – on the field.

“We can’t play a guy that’s gonna drop footballs,” Shurmur said. “When he goes out in the game, he’s gotta catch the football. We have a long list of things that we practice, and we need to get better results. That’s the reality of it.

“I’ve had my conversations with him about (the posing). Now whether people see me ranting and raving on the sideline at a player, trust me, I have my conversations with him. All along, I’ve had my conversations with him about all issues.”

So let’s say Shurmur decides to bench Little, what are his options? Massaquoi could miss Thursday’s game against Baltimore with a hamstring injury. Is it really going to help matters to have rookies Travis Benjamin and Josh Gordon as your starting wide receivers against the Ravens?

This isn’t to make excuses for Shurmur or absolve him of any blame in the situation the Browns currently find themselves in – he certainly has to carry his share. But it is naive to think he is 100 percent of the problem.

With every loss more and more fans are calling for incoming owner James Haslam to fire Shurmur – preferably within minutes of being approved as owner of the Browns at next month’s owners meeting. But will that really make a difference? Think about it, you have to go back to the early ’80s – when the Browns replaced Sam Rutigliano with Marty Schottenheimer – for the last time an interim coach worked out for the Browns.

Will naming offensive coordinator Brad Childress as the interim make Brandon Weeden make better decisions? Or open up holes for running back Trent Richardson? If defensive coordinator Dick Jauron takes over, will the defense learn to tackle? Or not fade in the fourth quarter?

It’s not going to happen. For better or worse, the Browns need to ride out the season with Shurmur before they make any kind of decision on his fate.

Weeden and Richardson have only been here a short time, but they already know what has to be done.

“You know you just have to keep your head down, don’t get distracted by what’s going on around outside this locker room, and keep grinding and doing what were doing,” Weeden said. “This locker room has got a lot of level-headed, good sound quality guys and we’re going to stick together. That’s what you’ve got to do. None of us want to lose, a lot of us have come from other places that haven’t lost a lot of games, we’ve got to continue to fight, and stick together and stay positive. Like I said, it’s a long season. You can’t get distracted by what’s going on around you.”

“We’ve got to keep fighting, you’ve got to keep trying to motivate the team and I’ve got to keep motivating myself,” Richardson said. “As far as me stepping in the role of being a leader, I have to make sure I’m doing everything correctly at all times. And so yeah, we’re 0-3 but we have another game Thursday, so we’ve got to go right back to the drawing board and try and find a way to win, no matter what it takes.”

No matter how much fans (and the media) want to accelerate the process and can’t accept that things take time, this team is still trying to figure out how to win. With a roster loaded with rookies and second-year players, where did the expectations come from that this team would be better, especially early in the season? And if fans and the media did expect the team to win, who’s fault is that?

Things are not good right now for the Browns and, with the Ravens and the Giants up next on the schedule, they are likely to get much worse before they start to get better.

But it may also be time to accept that replacing Shurmur during the season is not going to solve anything.

Hey, sometimes the truth is a harsh bitch. Browns fans should know that better than anyone by now.

(Photo by The Plain Dealer)