There are days when we all wish we could just turn the lights back off and crawl back into bed. Apparently the Cleveland Browns felt that way on Sunday. After showing a flash of brilliance, that was quickly doused by their own hand, the Browns played lethargically and were flat for most of the game in a 19-14 loss to the New Orleans Saints.

The Browns brought in veteran defensive players Willie McGinest and Ted Washington this off-season to improve the run defense, so far no good. The Browns yielded 150 yards rushing to the combination of Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush on the day and the defense as a unit failed to sack Saints QB Drew Brees. The defense was not affective in trying to get the Saints off the field on 3rd down as well. The Saints completed 50% of their attempts, 9-18 on the day.

The defense can't take all the blame for Sunday's poor performance though, the offense was not much better. The inability to run the ball and sustain any drives really put the defense in a bas situation. The Saints offense had over 5 and a half minutes more of offense then the Browns. The browns could only muster 85 total yards rushing and 44 of that was from QB Charlie Frye.

Frye's day was definitely a mixed bag. At times he made some good plays with his feet to get a way from pressure. At other times he held the ball too long and was sacked, putting the offense in a bad situation in terms of down and distance. The day looked very promising when Frye took the first snap from center and lofted a bomb 74 yards to Braylon Edwards for a TD, at least it would have been if there was not a penalty on the play. New left tackle Kevin Shaffer was flagged for holding on the play and the Browns never recovered. Could Frye have thrown it a bit earlier, it appeared he could have as Edwards was wide open by at least 10 yards, but that was then and this is now.

Frye was also victimized by multiple dropped passes by Browns receivers on Sunday and ill timed penalties. In fact the Browns had over 115 yards negated on offense due to penalties.

The Browns did get to see just how big of a weapon TE Kellen Winslow II could be for the offense though. Once offensive coordinator Maurice Carthon decided to start using him, Winslow caught 8 balls for 63 yards and 1 TD and also drew a pass interference penalty in the end zone that set up the Browns other score. The 18 yard, all effort TD that Winslow scored was his first as a pro and was an indication that the much maligned and injury plagued TE has made his way back to top form.

Even with all the bad play the Browns still had a chance to win the ball game. With under 2 minutes to play the Browns got the ball at mid-field and had the ball game in their own hands. Ironically a Frye slant pass went off of Edwards' hands and into the hands of Jason Bullocks of the Saints.

Head coach Romeo Crennel was not pleased with the effort the team put forth on Sunday and he shouldn't be. He indicated that the team did not take their game to the next level and played poorly on both sides of the ball. He is not ready to concede the season and said the team will line up and try to get a win next week when they travel to Cincinnati to play the defending AFC North champion Bengals.

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