Written by Thomas Moore

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The Cleveland Browns could not have asked for a better situation on Sunday against the Washington Redskins.

The Browns, in their home finale to the 2012 NFL season, were facing one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL and, because of an injury, the Redskins were forced to start Kirk Cousins at quarterback instead of dynamic rookie Robert Griffin III.

All the Browns had to do was take advantage of the opportunity staring them in the face.

But, just like a rube who continually falls for a Nigerian e-mail scam, it is the Browns who are continually being taken advantage of, rather than the other way around.

Final score: Washington 38, Cleveland 21.

The loss snaps the Browns three-game winning streak, kills all the premature talk about a drive for the playoffs and certainly deals a serious blow to Pat Shurmur’s chances of coming back for a third year as Browns coach.

“We went in at halftime not playing our best football but we were ahead,” Shurmur said. “As happy as I’ve been the past three weeks saying it was a team win, this was a team loss. I thought we struggled to move the ball effectively throughout the game. I don’t think we played our best football.

“We lost the game, we’re disappointed we lost and we’re just going to push forward.”

The Browns gave up 329 yards and two touchdown passes to Cousins, making his first start of the year, as the Redskins rolled up 430 yards of offense. Cousins did a good job of spreading the ball around, as four receivers had more than 50 yards in receptions.

He was also 15-of-19 for 229 yards and both touchdown passes using a play-action fake, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

"They just figured out what we were doing and they made some plays," defensive end Jabaal Sheard said. "They ran with it when they made plays.

“We knew they ran the boot, but not that good.  They did a good job of disguising it.  They set it up well.  It’s just something you have to go to film and figure out who has it.  I’m not sure if I had it, or if it’s a reaction thing.”

On the flip side, the Brandon Weeden from Week 1 showed up at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Weeden was 21-of-35 for 244 yards and two interceptions and several more passes batted down. Other than a 69-yard touchdown pass to Travis Benjamin, where Benjamin simply blew by the defense, Weeden looked bad all day.

"I don’t think it was a setback," Shurmur said. "I don’t think it was his best game, but I think that can be said for all of us. Why does he get passes batted down? We throw a lot of shallow crossing concepts. We throw the ball on the interior of the defense quite a bit. There are times when the rush gets stymied, if you might, and then they just stop and put their hands up. That happens though. I can’t say that’s always the case, but that could be a couple things you could write about.”

And the Browns really needed Weeden to be better than that as they were going up against the NFL’s No. 1-ranked rush defense.

Running back Trent Richardson got into the end zone twice, but only had 28 rushing yards on the day as the Browns just ran for 58 yards as a team.

And for reasons known only to the coaches, the Browns just ran the ball three times total in the second half – on a day when Weeden was struggling to get anything going.

“I just think we got out of our gameplan,” Richardson said. “I thought it would be a good day for our running game. It was shocking. But the game is bigger than me. Coach has to do what he does.”

Shocking is certainly one way to put it.

The Browns defense actually looked pretty good in the first half, holding the Redskins to just two yards of offense on their first four possessions. But it was a different story in the second half, as the Redskins held the ball for more than 21 minutes and scored touchdowns on four of their first five possessions.

The first touchdown covered just 15 yards – thanks to a Weeden interception that he threw right to London Fletcher – but the next three scoring drives covered 60 yards, 67 yards and 76 yards.

Contrast that with the Browns in the second half – whose second-half possessions looked like this ...

• Two plays, interception
• Three plays, punt
• Five plays, turnover on downs
• Three plays, interception
• Three plays, touchdown
• Four plays, turnover on downs

... and, well, you get an idea of why they lost.

The defeat puts a spotlight on the continued struggles of the offense, which has now scored 21 or fewer points in seven of its last eight games. That’s the same offense that is filled with first-round picks in Weeden and Richardson, and second-round picks in Greg Little and Josh Gordon.

It would be very helpful if all the offensive woes could be placed on the play calling of Shurmur and offensive coordinator Brad Childress, but if it turns out that Weeden is carrying his share of the water for the offense, then the Browns are worse off than fans want to think about.

“I think there were a couple of throws I missed and we just weren’t in a rhythm,” Weeden said. “We couldn’t get any back-to-back plays and find a spark. I didn’t play well enough for us to win. I’m not losing any confidence and I believe we are going in the right direction, but I just didn’t play well.”

So the Browns sent the faithful home disappointed – again – and missed an opportunity to win their fifth home game of the year and show everyone that they were truly starting to turn things around.

"It’s very surprising," Richardson said. "The way we game planned for the whole week, we thought it was going to be a good outcome, but you’ve got games where some outrageous stuff happens. Today, we let ourselves down and we let the whole city of Cleveland down. Everybody, especially season ticket holders, I feel bad for them and I want to say as a man, I just want to come to them and apologize.

"This was the last home game. We were supposed to go out with a blast. It was a big ball game for us and we didn’t do what we were supposed to do.”

“It’s upsetting because as players we wanted to give our fans a better final game at home and give them something to cheer about,” Weeden said. “You always look back and wonder what we could have done different.”

The Browns finish the season with two consecutive road games, so fans won’t be able to see the team at Cleveland Browns Stadium again until next fall.

But just who will still be wearing the Orange and Brown by the next home game remains to be seen.

(Photo by The Associated Press)