Written by Thomas Moore

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It was there for the taking on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens.

The Cleveland Browns just don’t yet know how to take it.

The Browns squandered a golden opportunity to get their first win in 10 tries against the Ravens, extend their home winning streak to three games, and go into the bye week having won three-of-four games.

Instead, the Browns lost 25-15 to fall to 2-7 on the season.

In our preview story, we quoted Browns corner back Joe Haden as saying that, “(Baltimore is) a beatable team, they’re really talented though not to put anything past them, but everybody in the division is beatable. We just feel like our team is on the verge of being at the top.”

We pointed out that until the Browns actually showed that was the case on the field, it was all just talk, and Sunday’s game was a perfect example of that.

The Ravens jumped to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, thanks to the Browns going three and out on their first two possessions. While the Browns were doing that, the Ravens were busy putting together back-to-back touchdown drives of 70 yards and 66 yards.

In the first quarter the Ravens had 11 first downs and 86 rushing yards, while the Browns ran a total of seven offensive plays, gaining 22 yards.

But starting with the second quarter – and extending until deep into the fourth quarter – the Browns defense completely dominated the Ravens. In eight consecutive possessions, the Browns forced seven punts and held the Ravens to six three-and-outs.

The Browns limited the Ravens to just seven first downs after the first quarter and 51 rushing yards.

But while the defense helped right the ship but the offense could not take advantage.

The Browns outgained the Ravens 183 yards to 37 yards in the second quarter (holding Ray Rice to just eight yards rushing), but continually settled for field goal after field goal after getting into the red zone. As good as he is, Phil Dawson being so reliable is sometimes the worst thing to happen to the Browns as it takes away any sense of urgency from the coaches to actually score touchdowns.

“There were just some fundamental things about football that we have to do if we are going to win the game,” Browns coach Pat Shurmur said. “We found a way to stop them on eight straight drives; we moved the football into the red zone and didn’t score any touchdowns.

“You start getting threes instead of sevens when you find your way down there then the outcome is much different. There was some sloppiness in there and I’ll take responsibility for that.”

Consider that, on Sunday, the Browns made four trips into the red zone and walked away with a field goal each time. That’s after reaching the 15-, 14- and 11-yard line (twice).

In the second quarter, Dawson hit on field goals of 32 yards, 28 yards and 29 yards to take the Browns into the half trailing just 14-9. Dawson is now 17-for-17 on the season and has made 21 in a row (see our previous comment about coaching complacency).

Cleveland had a chance to actually try for a touchdown at the end of the first half after taking over on their 39-yard line with 1:03 left to play. But a run by Trent Richardson on first down took 20 seconds off the clock. The Browns moved to the Ravens’ 19-yard line but, with just six seconds left on the clock and on timeouts, Shumur settled for a field goal.

Dawson added a 33-yard field goal in the third quarter and, with 8:48 left in the game, his 41-yarder meant the Browns had come all the way back to take the lead at 15-14.

Of course, the Browns should have been leading 19-14 because, two plays before Dawson’s field goal, Brandon Weeden hit Josh Gordon for an 18-yard touchdown pass. But the play was called back by an illegal formation penalty on running back Chris Ogbonnaya, who was split out wide in a four wide receiver set.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop the clock!

The Browns had the following wide receivers active for the game on Sunday: Greg Little, Gordon, Josh Cribbs, Travis Benjamin and Mohamed Massaquoi.

So why was a third-string running back split out wide on one of the game’s biggest plays? It’s almost as if the coaching staff things they get bonus points for degree of difficulty when putting together the offensive game plan. Time and time again they just don’t seem to be unable or unwilling to put the Browns in a position to succeed.

Following Dawson’s field goal to put the Browns ahead, the defense finally cracked, allowing Baltimore to drive 81 yards for a touchdown, with Joe Flacco hitting Torrey Smith for a 19-yard score. The resulting two-point conversion gave the Ravens a seven-point lead at 22-15.

The Browns took over with plenty of time – 4:26 – to tie the game. But following a six-yard pass to Massaquoi on first down, Weeden threw incomplete on second down, hit Little for two yards on third down and four (of course) and missed Little on fourth-and-two.

“It will be a fun thing for everyone to talk about this week just like when we lost a game and I didn’t go for it,” Shurmur said. “In both situations the decision didn’t lead us to a victory, did it? Right? So that’s why you talk about it. Had we converted it and we move forward then it would have been talked about in what a gutsy move it was, right? And I think it’s fair.”

Because the Browns went pass happy they only took 36 seconds off the clock – with the way the defense had been playing perhaps they would have been better served to punt on fourth down, especially holding two timeouts.

In any event, the Ravens took over, drove to the Browns’ 24-yard line, and Justin Tucker’s 43-yard field goal sealed the win for the Ravens.

Richardson had a solid day, rushing for 105 yards and 4.2 yards per carry., becoming the first rookie to rush for more than 100 yards against Baltimore since Fred Taylor did it for Jacksonville in 1998.

But Weeden had a rough day and looked like a rookie, throwing for just 176 yards and being intercepted twice (once on the contractually obligated Ed Reed interception, another one when tight end Jordan Cameron couldn’t be bothered to turn around and look for the ball on a Ravens’ blitz).

“They played a little more zone coverage than I expected coming in,” Weeden said. “We played them four or five weeks ago and last time they blitzed a lot and this time they played more zone. I started out and wasn’t in a rhythm; I missed a couple of throws early but I got into a rhythm in the second and third quarter.

“We did a lot of good things but we kicked a lot of field goals.”

The Browns have now scored just two touchdowns in their past 10 quarters of play – so much for thinking “touchdowns not field goals.”

“It’s frustrating,” Richardson said. “But we can’t point fingers. We all have to be accountable for what we do. I’ve got to run harder. We gotta make better calls. We have to make sure we pick up blocks and catch the ball, and we have to do the right things.

“Once you’re in the red zone, you have got to score some kind of way.”

The win was Baltimore’s 11th consecutive division victory, their 15th win following a loss and the fifth consecutive year they have swept the Browns.

So the Browns head into the bye week with just two wins. They could have added to that total if they hadn’t squandered opportunities against Philadelphia, the Giants, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Baltimore.

But this the NFL and you are what your record says you are.

“We need to make more of the good plays and less of the bad plays,” Shurmur said.

We know, coach. Let’s stop talking about and start doing something about it.

(Photo by The Associated Press)