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Monday, January 06, 2003

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

The Cleveland Browns were only minutes removed from turning a 12-point lead into a stunning NFL playoff loss to their archrival in a span of six minutes. But the reaction in the locker room seemed one of disbelief rather than despair, of anger rather than angst.

And most of the wrath was focused on the defense.

"Hell, yeah," cornerback Corey Fuller replied when asked if his group should foot the blame for the 36-33 loss to the Steelers yesterday at Heinz Field. "Put it on the defense. We blew that one. ... Kelly Holcomb played like a star, and we blew it. And now? We're going home."

Losing in outrageous fashion was hardly new to these Browns. This is the team that lost its opener to Kansas City when linebacker Dwayne Rudd celebrated what he thought was a game-ending tackle by removing his helmet, only to be penalized and allow the Chiefs to kick the winning field goal. They blew two other fourth-quarter leads, to the Steelers and Indianapolis Colts.

And it's not as if Cleveland hadn't experienced close games. This was the Browns' fifth consecutive game decided in the final minute, the 11th of the season, the 15th in 33 games under Butch Davis as head coach.

As Holcomb, who was exceptional in his relief role at quarterback, put it, "Nobody knows better than us that it's never over 'til it's over."

But that wasn't how the Browns' defense behaved late in the game.

For three-plus quarters, they had employed an aggressive approach in forcing Tommy Maddox from the pocket, stuffing Amos Zereoue and knocking Hines Ward and Plaxico Burress off their routes. But after going up, 33-21, with 10:25 left, Davis altered his defense, using only three down linemen and seldom blitzing.

Davis insisted he didn't change his strategy.

"We wanted to stay aggressive," he said. "We talked about rushing the quarterback, about blitzing. We just didn't get the pressure in the second half that we did the first."

The players backed Davis.

"That stuff doesn't matter," free safety Earl Little said. "When you get out there, you've got to make plays. We just didn't. We let those guys make their passes. Give credit to Pittsburgh. They came out and made plays."

"Hey, all we've got to do is line up, execute and go to the spots," Fuller said. "In football, when you get that big of a lead, you don't want to play so aggressively that one big catch can hurt you."

The Steelers didn't hurt the Browns with one big catch but with several little ones.

They went three-and-out on their first possession after falling behind by 12, but Maddox began to take advantage of his extra time in the pocket with the next series. He moved the Steelers 77 yards on 10 plays, all through the air, and took only 2:24 off the clock.

The drive was aided significantly by three penalties against the Browns, including an egregious one for unnecessary roughness against safety Robert Griffith.

"That's 35 yards right there that they didn't have to earn," Fuller said. "Plus, they stopped the clock."

Next time the Steelers got the ball, the Browns stuck with three down linemen and were burned again. Maddox completed four of five passes to move the Steelers 58 yards to the Cleveland 3, from which running back Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala scored the winning touchdown with 54 seconds left.

"It's disappointing anytime the defense gives up points at the end of a ballgame," Davis said. "They are obviously going to be under the microscope in a situation like that, and you just have to make plays. They are capable of making the plays they made in the first half. We got sacks, and we tackled in the running game. For one reason or another, we just couldn't in the second, whether it's due to fatigue or not having enough depth."

Despite a wealth of experience with late losses, the Browns took this one exceptionally hard. It was Cleveland's first playoff appearance since being reborn in 1999.

"It's very disappointing," linebacker Earl Holmes said. "Anytime you have a team like that down and you keep the crowd totally out of it like we did for 3 1/2 quarters ... it was up to us. We controlled our destiny."

"It's tough," defensive tackle Orpheus Roye said. "Everybody's dreaming about getting a chance to play in the Super Bowl and, just like that, it was gone."

Davis clearly was crestfallen, too, but he attempted a positive spin.

"I don't know that I've been as disappointed in a ballgame in an awful long time," he said. "But this team has come a long way, farther than anyone in America thought it would. I don't think very many people were writing last summer that the Cleveland Browns would be in the playoffs. ... But it certainly is disappointing to have it end the way it ended."