A Win's a Win, But...

While everybody is still jazzed up about the wild ending to yesterday's game, I think Kellen Winslow's reaction to yesterday's game is probably the most appropriate one. K2 was reportedly a little down in the locker room, and was quoted as saying "We've got to play better. We didn't play well in the second half. We've got to play better, man."

All's well that ends well, but for the second week in a row, the Browns blew a big lead to a division opponent on the road. It's somewhat understandable if the opponent in question is the Pittsburgh Steelers, but to blow a 27-14 lead at the beginning of the 4th quarter to the likes of Kyle Boller and the anemic Baltimore Ravens offense is pretty disturbing.

The Browns are starting to have fans thinking about playoff possibilities. They've certainly got a golden opportunity to make a playoff run, but if they continue to take their foot off the gas pedal and try to sit on a lead, they aren't going anywhere. They simply don't have the defensive firepower to play that way and win consistently.

As far as I'm concerned, the Brown simply must make the playoffs this season, if for no other reason than to avoid having CBS's 5th or 6th team announcers assigned to most of their games. Otherwise, we'll be stuck with the likes of Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker or Ian Eagle and Solomon Wilcots calling Browns games for the foreseeable future.

Wilcots, who has very nearly perfected the "frequently wrong but never in doubt" approach to broadcasting, was particularly grating yesterday. He spent a good deal of the first half wondering out loud whether the Browns believed that they were good enough to beat the Ravens, apparently oblivious to the fact that they'd already done so once this season. Then he somehow convinced himself that the Browns got a bit of a break when the replay system broke down on Baltimore's challenge to Carter's reception in the second quarter -- even though the replay that CBS broadcast plainly showed that Carter had both feet in bounds.

But the highlight of Wilcots' performance came with Dawson's field goal at the end of regulation. He and his partner were absolutely clueless about what was happening on the field. I can't blame him for that, since it was one of the most bizarre events I've ever witnessed. Still, you'd think that if he didn't know what was going on, he'd at least shut up until things were sorted out. Unfortunately, he chose not to do that. Instead, he kept babbling about how although the ball passed through the uprights, it bounced back in front of the goal post, as if that somehow mattered.

There are lots of reasons why it would be great to see the Browns make the playoffs this season, but I think that an opportunity to move up the TV commentator food chain definitely belongs on the list.