Well, it's over. The losing streak against Pittsburgh, that is. I'll be honest, I don't know how they won that game, but first, let's concentrate on the obvious. There must be something about home night games the past two years. Since the loss to Pittsburgh on a Sunday night last year, the Browns whipped the Giants, then-defending Super Bowl champs. This year, they held the Ravens to 13 points, then mugged the Steelers, defending Super Bowl champs, last night.

Love him or hate him, Eric Mangini probably keeps his job as coach for next season, with that result. What did he say at the start of the year? There would be less penalties. They would be competitive within the division. The second time through the division, the defense has been awfully tough. Although I think they benefited by boneheaded offensive play-calling in both the second Ravens and Steelers games, you cannot argue with the result. There would be improvement by the end of the season. I think our crazy owner would give him passing grades on all three. Mangini today channeled Lou Brown by saying, "It's starting to come together."

Special mention needs to go to Rob Ryan, the defensive coordinator, and Bryan Cox, the defensive line coach. Ryan, with only one day of practice, basically designed a fun plan for the defense, which was basically throwing the kitchen sink at the Steelers. Mindful of the freak defense that Glowik installed in the defense a while ago with the Browns. You know, the one that worked for about an hour that season. Cox gets kudos because his unit has been the most decimated by injuries and they came to play last night.

Before we go all Winston Wolf on each other because of the win, here come the buts. The combination of not being embarrassed on national TV, a short week of practice and the weather conditions all came together for the Browns. The Steelers could not string together three consecutive good plays on offense and they had no answer for Josh Cribbs. None.

You do realize our QB was 6-for-19 for 90 yards last night, don't you? Granted, Brady Quinn did not turn it over, but I don't wanna hear that he "managed the game". In the second half, they had 3 three-and-outs and punted 5 times, totalling 76 yards. Yikes! You cannot tell me that you were not constantly looking at the scoreboard as it went from 13-3 to 13-6 and were just waiting for the inevitable 13-13 score? Which, for once, did not happen. As a matter of fact, the Browns best drive came with Cribbs running the Wildcat.

Brian Daboll still cannot call a game. Evan Moore seems to have come from nowhere to be a decent pass-catching tight end. Made a nice, one-handed catch for 24 yards in the first quarter for 24 yards. Next play, the Browns call for a reverse, not with Cribbs, but with Stuckey. WTF? Next play, deep ball to Massaquoi, FAIL. Next play, short ball to Massaquoi, FAIL. Momentum gone. Perfect example of Daboll's play calling meshing with Quinn's shortcomings at QB. Too many third-and-longs for my taste.

Conversely, the Steelers had numerous third down attempts, from short to medium length. And they didn't cash in on many of them. I'll give the defense credit for those stops, but again, I'm not sure how it happened.

Let's see how the Browns do in their final roadie at Kansas City. I'm glad they beat the Steelers, finally. But let's put an end to this talk about how it saved the season or how this makes up for the shitty results we've seen for most of the year. In the two Browns wins, they have outscored the opponents, 19-9.

The Floyd Reese as Czar Watch begins.

Meal of Links

Didn't we just do this? It's the year in band names. Really liked: I Was A Lover DeLorean Was A Dealer.

The White Stripes tour of Canada will be documented in a rather pricey box-set. The new trailer is pretty choice. Arrives March 16, 2010. Pre-orders...NOW!

Sears Killed My Dog.

There have been some excellent photo essays this year. here's another. The Ghosts of Shopping Past.

Exercise Yard

Catching up with Marvin "Bad News" Barnes. I don't know if he was a character or a thug, but he was always highly entertaining.

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