Brandon Weeden has had a few bright spots this year. And to his credit, the Browns have looked almost like a professional football team at times, which is amazing considering where they were earlier this season after an 0-5 start.
Brandon Weeden does a dumb thing
He threw the ball away on 4th and 3, which isn’t really something you should do, ever.
David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
That said, Weeden has regressed in recent weeks, making poor decisions, having lots of balls batted down at the line of scrimmage (he leads the league with 21 tipped passes) and missing receivers. Oh, and he’s already 29 years old, which doesn’t help when the microscope is already on a team that hasn’t had a successful quarterback since returning in 1999.
Sunday has been another day of regression, encapsulated by one play in the third quarter. Weeden ran toward the sideline on 4th and 3. And he threw it out of bounds. An interception would have been like a punt. An incompletion would have been the exact same. Trying to run for the first would have been a noble effort. But Weeden threw it out of bounds, the T.S. Eliot Wasteland of 4th-down decisions.
On the next possession, Cleveland went 3-and-out, and then Weeden was intercepted by London Fletcher. It led to a second half full of Shurmurface.
You know that thing they say about not making a face or it will stay that way? Shurmur is proof that isn’t just an Old Wives Tale. His face is permanently stuck that way. Which is fitting because that’s the face I make every time I have to watch the Browns under Pat Shurmur.
The Browns had some momentum, winning three in a row for the first time under Shurmur and getting Kirk Cousins at home in his first NFL start, but they're the Browns, so they acted like the Browns. Drafting Weeden might end up being the last big decision Shurmur and GM Tom Heckert made together, and it pretty much sums up the Mike Holmgren regime quite nicely.
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