Monday, October 11, 1999Browns 0-5 and unhappy
'We had to win this one,' Edwards says
BY SCOTT MacGREGOR
The Cincinnati EnquirerCLEVELAND — The Browns were crushed.
This was the one game they knew they could win, the game they had to have. And when they led 17-12 in the waning moments Sunday, they could taste their first victory in five tries as the new Cleveland Browns.
But Akili Smith and Carl Pickens ruined all that with their game-winning touchdown pass to give the Bengals an 18-17 victory. It was a dagger right into the heart of Cleveland.
“We had to win this one,” said Browns fullback Marc Edwards, a Norwood High School graduate. “We've been improving every week, but we took a step backwards this week.”
What was so galling, Edwards said, was losing to a team that came in 0-4 and was outplayed until the final two minutes. That and the fact that the Browns repeatedly wasted good field position in the fourth quarter and failed to convert on third down on all seven of their second-half possessions.
“It just hurts that it's a team we should have and could have beat, and we didn't finish it off,” Edwards said. “We have to take advantage of every single opportunity we get.”
Browns cornerback Ryan McNeil, who covered Pickens on the winning touchdown, said it hurt but “I'm sure there's going to be more that will hurt worse. There's going to be wins, and we'll feel pretty good about ourselves. We made some things happen. But it wasn't enough. Even if we won, we couldn't be satisfied. We have a lot of things that need to go back to the drawing board.” McNeil summed it up best when he said, “We played better for 59 minutes and 55 seconds, but it still wasn't enough.”
When Pickens came down with the ball on the touchdown with five seconds remaining, the Browns and their sold-out stadium of 73,048 went from pandemonium to sullen brooding. Linebacker Jamir Miller looked as if he were going to burst with anger.
“I was upset. I don't like to lose,” Miller said. “I'm out there to play to win. When it comes down like that, it hurts. If anybody has ever played a competitive thing in their life, they understand.”
But the locker room was not an angry atmosphere, but one of disappointment.
“It makes it even tougher when they finish you off like that and don't even give you a chance,” Edwards said.
Browns coach Chris Palmer understands the growing pains of expansion, having suffered them as an assistant coach in Jacksonville five years ago. But it doesn't make it any easier to take.
“There will be several of these types of games,” Palmer said. “It doesn't make you feel any better knowing these games are coming. It will test our character, and we'll find out if we're really in this to get better or just go through the motions.”
Not even an expansion team can be pleased with coming close, not against the Bengals.
“Hell, no. We're going to be battling our way through 16 games,” said defensive back Corey Fuller. “I'm tired of that excuse. The thing is the W. (Effort) don't sell no tickets. They want wins, wins, wins.”
Now 0-5, the Browns may have blown their best shot at beating perhaps the only team on their lowly level.
“There are two ways we can go: Up or down,” Miller said. “Well, we really can't go any further down, so we can only go up.”
Bengals Stories
Browns 0-5 and unhappy