On Sunday afternoon, Eric Mangini coached his first game in one of the most storied rivalries throughout NFL football; however, the new head coach could not end the 11-game losing streak to the Steelers. The one time fierce rivalry is losing its flare as the Browns have become Ben Roethlisberger's play toy. Cleveland kept it close, and midway through the 3rd quarter the Browns were only down by a field goal; however, the Steelers' passing game then took over and dismantled the Browns. Despite the outcome, Cleveland showed an almost respectable brand of football in their 27-14 loss.

Browns Without Key Contributors - The Cleveland Browns started the game without LB Kamerion Wimbley and TE Steve Heiden. Wimbley was out with flu-like symptoms, and Heiden was sidelined with a knee injury. I remember being a young kid watching this game and guys would play with casts on their arm. Now, Wimbley is out with flu-like symptoms. I guess its hard to get up for any game when you are 1-5, but this game is supposed to mean something no matter what. With Wimbley out, LB Jason Trusnik got the start and TE Greg Estandia filled in for Steve Heiden as backup tight end.

(Wild)Cat's Out Of The Bag - The Browns started the game in the Wildcat formation with Joshua Cribbs taking the snaps. The Wildcat proved to be an effective tactic for the Browns as Cribbs rushed for an average of 7.5 yards on 6 carries, but Cribbs did throw an interception in the red-zone, and he became the first player since 1950 to throw an interception and have a kick return for a touchdown in a game. With the lack of offensive production that is plaguing the Browns, expect the Wildcat formation to become a prominent part of the Cleveland offense.

Take It To The House - Josh Cribbs continues to show his value week in and week out. This week it came in the form of a 98-yard kick return for a touchdown. At the time, the Steelers just scored on a 52-yard touchdown pass from Roethlisberger to Ward to make it 14 to 0 in the second quarter, and the Browns were in danger of letting this game get out of control. Cribbs galloped through a Pittsburgh defender's diving attempt at a tackle and recorded his 8th career return for a touchdown and 3rd vs. the Steelers.

• Show Me The Money- The front office of the Cleveland Browns needs to take care of Cribbs' contract situation ASAP. Cribbs is the best weapon Cleveland has, and with the possibility of the Wildcat formation, who knows what Cribbs is capable of? If the Browns let this contract situation continue and Cribbs becomes disgruntled, the one shinning spot on the Browns roster besides the punter is going to be serious about a trade in the next couple of days before the deadline.

• The Good - Contrary to popular belief, I am capable of commending Derek Anderson when he shows signs of hope. Anderson does give the Browns the best chance to achieve big gains and moves the chains better than Quinn. In this game, Anderson showed his abilities in a great 3rd quarter opening drive. D.A. led the Browns on a 6 play, 66 yard scoring drive in which he went 4-for-4 passing and three passes went to rookie Mohamed Massaquoi for 60 yards. The drive was capped off by a 1-yard touchdown pass to FB Lawrence Vickers; however, on the next drive the Cleveland coaching staff decided to go away from Anderson's hot hand and run on 1st and 2nd down. D.A. is streaky; when he is on, you have to continue to stick with him throwing the ball. The Browns failed to do that after his great 3rd quarter drive and paid for it as Cleveland failed to score again.
  

• The Drops - Anderson's 9-for-24 (38 percent completion rate) was not an accurate stat. Once again, the offense sprinkled in a plethora of drops. I am beginning to feel sorry for D.A., and I openly dislike him. The Browns have seemingly held on to Braylon Edwards as the Jet we received for him in the trade, Chansi Stuckey, drops the ball just as well as Edwards. Throw in a couple drops from Jamal Lewis and Massaquoi to the mix and a possible 16 for 24 day for Anderson turns into a 9 for 24 day. The Browns totaled 7 dropped passes.
  

• The Bad -When dealing with D.A., if there is a compliment, there is bound to be a criticism not far behind. Besides the great opening drive in the second half, Anderson failed to develop any consistency with the offense. Anderson was victim to some drops, but some of the drops can be attributed to Anderson's placement and velocity. If D.A. continues to throw 2-yard rockets behind Jamal Lewis, he is going to continue to see dropped passes. Anderson also threw a couple passes that were caught out of bounds to wide open receivers that could have been thrown a little closer to the receiver's inside shoulder. Anderson's worst pass of the day came with 5 minutes left in the game. Cleveland was on Pittsburgh's 26-yard line and D.A. had a wide open Massaqoui running towards the back pylon. Massaquoi had two steps on both the cornerback and safety. Anderson then threw a pass a couple yards short of the end zone which resulted in an interception and the loss. Also, during the last 4 minutes of the 3rd quarter, D.A. was sacked twice and lost the ball both times to fumbles.
  

3rd Quarter Game Of Hot Potato -The last 4 minutes of the 3rd quarter was by far the sloppiest 4 minutes stretch of football I have seen all season. In that 4 minutes, the Browns and the Steelers managed to turn the ball over 5 times. It started with an interception thrown by Roethlisberger and caught by Brodney Pool. The ball was then returned to the Steelers on a D.A. fumble. Then, Willie Parker decided he wanted to fumble the ball back to the Browns and Abe Elam recovered it. On the next drive, Anderson once again fumbled the ball back to the Steelers. To cap off the turnover fest, Rashard Mendenhall coughed one up to David Bowens. The last 4 turnovers occurred in just a 2 minute and 32 second span.

Cement Boots - Jamal Lewis seemed to be wearing some heavy shoes as he only rushed for 21 yards on 11 carries. That is a despicable 1.9 yards per carry. The longest rush Lewis logged was only 4 yards. When your feature back is not getting you productive yards on first down, it becomes increasingly more difficult to move the chains.

• Harrison/Cribbs Rushing Attack - Josh Cribbs and Jerome Harrison also combined for 11 carries and more than tripled Lewis's yardage. Cribbs and Harrison rushed for a combined 71 yards on 11 carries; that is a 6.4 yard per carry average. If Cleveland wants to be more effective with moving the ball, they should look to go to more of Cribbs and Harrison and stick with Lewis on short yardage downs.
  

Zastudil Making It Rain - Punter Dave Zastudil continues to state his case for the Pro Bowl with another dominate punting performance. Yes, I just said that. Zastudil followed up last week's historic punting performance with another gem. Three of Zastidil's five punts were downed inside the 20-yard line.

Yardage Diff - The Cleveland Browns are fortunate that they only lost this game by 13 points because the yardage differental was outrageous. The Steelers outgained the Browns in total yards 543 to 197. Ben Roethlisberger threw for 417 yards compared to Derek Anderson's 106. Roethlisberger had a field day with Cleveland's secondary, but I find it hard to blame the secondary when Roethlisberger had 6 plus seconds to throw every play.

The Game Ball Goes To: Joshua Cribbs: Cribbs continues to get up for the Steelers game; he recorded his 3rd kick return for a touchdown against the Steelers. Cribbs also ran for 45 yards on 6 carries for an average of 7.5 yards. Despite his displeasure with his current contract, Cribbs continues to go out every Sunday and put it all on the line. If the Browns do not take care of this man, it is going to be a big mistake. Cribbs logged 158 return yards on 3 kick returns and 1 punt return, and he also forced the Steelers to kick short a couple times which left Cleveland with good field position.

Next week, it does not get much easier for the Browns as they play host to the Green Bay Packers. All we can hope for is to see some progress and maybe a few balls are caught instead of dropped.

- J.V.

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