Photo: Joshua Gunter/Cleveland.com

The Denver Broncos were scheduled to play host to the Cleveland Browns Sunday, but Cleveland decided to send a high school junior varsity team instead. On a serious note, today's game between the Browns and the Broncos was by far the most painful thing I have watched since Schindler's List (good movie...but it's not something you want to watch again the next day). Cleveland showed no real signs of having an NFL level offense, and if it was not for two botched field goal attempts, the score would have been 33-6. The Browns did not even block the field goals; the kicker just missed them on his own. All in all, Cleveland put on a disaster of a performance, and I am going to be hard-pressed to sort through all of the mess that was left on the field Sunday.

Golden Opportunity Wasted - The Browns caught a big break to start the game when Denver fumbled the opening kick off on the 22 yard line. I love Phil Dawson as much as any Cleveland Browns fan, but I did not want to see him on the field unless he was kicking the point after on that possession. When an offense is struggling as much as Cleveland's is, you have to get in the endzone to get excited about what you are doing. This game would have been totally different if the Browns put 7 points on the board after that turnover, but I guess the whopping 22 yards they had to travel was just too much.Quinn. The Browns' offense was 1st and goal on the Broncos 7 yard line and proceeded to run Jamal Lewis off the guards on 1st and 2nd down for a grand total of 3 yards. Add the incomplete pass on 3rd down and you have another Phil Dawson field goal.

Rookie Mistake - After Cleveland's defense forced Denver to punt on their first possession, rookie center Alex Mack delivered a rolling shotgun snap that resulted in a first and goal possession for the Broncos, and yes, Denver took advantage of the turnover and scored a touchdown...I know it is a foreign concept to the Browns, but if you put the ball in the endzone it is worth 6 points and more than likely it's going to be worth 7. The Broncos' touchdown was a product of one of the worst shotgun snaps I have ever seen. I know Alex Mack is adjusting to the NFL, but that snap was unacceptable.

2nd Quarter Thoughts - After Phil Dawson put three more points on the Browns' score at the end of the 1st quarter, the Browns entered the 2nd quarter down 7 to 6, but it seemed as if it was more lopsided than that. Cleveland managed to gain 33 total yards in the 2nd quarter on two possessions, and the only thing stopping the Broncos was their own kicker who missed two field goal attempts in the second quarter.

One thing that was very apparent in the first half was the amount of time that Kyle Orton had to throw the ball. I thought our secondary did a decent job for the amount of time that Orton had to look over the field. There was virtually no pressure put on Orton during the first half, and that is the reason the Broncos were 6 for 10 on 3rd down conversions in the first half. Orton had enough time to find a wide receiver that was going to get him a first down. On the other hand, The Browns were 2 for 7 on 3rd down conversion and that is because A) Brady Quinn had a limited time to make a decision as a result of the pressure Denver was applying, B) Brady Quinn continually threw passes to receivers that were short of the 1st down marker, and C) The play calling did not leave much room for a realistic first down and the receivers were running short routes.

The Broncos' kicker did manage to make one out of three field goals in the 2nd quarter and the score at the half was Broncos 10, Cleveland 6.

2nd Half all Broncos - If you watched the second half of the Browns game, you realize it was a big waste of time. I am just going to hit home on a few things that happened in the second half.

• Elvis Dumervil Owns John St. Clair - All together, the Browns offensive line has been less than stellar the first two games. Going into this season, I thought the O-line had the potential to be a strength of the team. On Sunday, 10-year veteran John St. Clair looked like he needed to be headed to the retirement home. St. Clair allowed Elvis Dumervil to sack Brady Quinn 4 times. Dumervil's 4 sacks tied a Broncos record for most sacks in a game, and all of Dumervil's sacks came in the second half.

• Cleveland Has a Rush Game? - In the 2nd half, the Cleveland Browns rushed for a grand total of 9 yards. Just let that soak in for a second.

• Bend Don't Break then Break - I am going to give the Cleveland defense a tiny bit of credit; they kept the Browns in the game for three quarters. The only problem with our defense is we are playing a bend don't break style of defense, and our offense does not produce enough for that style of defense to work. When you continually play to not give up the big play for the whole game and your offense can not score, your defense is going to wear down. That is exactly what has happened to the Browns D in the first two games. At the end of the game, the Broncos had six plays of over 25 yards, and the Browns largest gain was for 25 yards.

Team Grade: F

The Cleveland Browns showed today that this season is very much a work in progress, and it is going to be hard to watch at times. The Denver Broncos are not a very good team and they made the Browns look like a junior varsity team. There was not one area that Cleveland performed well in. The Cleveland offense only racked up 200 total yards. This game was one of the longest sorriest excuses for football I have ever watched...ever!

Eric Mangini and the Cleveland Browns look to rebound as they have a tough match-up against the 2-0 Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore next Sunday... Until then, try not to look back on this performance.

-J.V.

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