Browns lose; it's depressing

No running game, a porous offensive line, a QB who tries to press the issue but yet doesn't throw downfield. Is it 1999? 2001?

The story is again Couch/Holcomb. Couch started fine, looked okay, made some decent thrown including a superb downfield toss while rolling out of the pocket. Unfortunately that was his only thrown that traveled any real distance. Everything else was short stuff. Jamel White dropped an easy 3rd-down catch. Quincy dropped another easy 3rd-dwon catch with lots of open field ahead of him. Then Couch threw picks including the backbreaker, a horrible throw that was returned for 6 in the 3rd quarter.

Then the team doctor came running out of the locker room, sprinting down the sidelines to Butch Davis with the urgent news that Holcomb's injured leg was now, miraculously, healed! Yes, the team's official starting quarterback was now fit to play! Hooray!!! What fortuitous timing!! We are saved!!!

Holcomb came in as the gun slinger, threw a 15 yard out, then went deep down the sideline nearly getting a catch but instead a defensive interference penalty. A TD followed. The offense clicked. James Jackson ran hard and had a nice reception or two. Another TD. It's a game. But we lost and the taste was bitter.

The good:

• Holcomb looked sharp
  
• Jackson is playing hard
  
• Green was decent until getting hurt
  
• Courtney Brown, again, had a huge sack that kept the game within reach
  
• The fans were sensible and didn't boo Couch off the field but still managed to make their displeasure known
  
• Henry continues to have a heck of a season
  

The bad:

• Couch pressed more and more as the game went on. He pressed when the game was still within reach, and as a result, blew it.
  
• Several times Couch had single coverage on the outside with Morgan or Davis and never took a shot.
  
• Trips formations -- I love it sometimes, but hate it all the time. Is it impossible that Davis beats his man on a go route? Or Morgan gets a step on a post?
  
• The o-line struggled as expected; it may get worse
  
• Jamel White is still running through cobwebs
  
• Roye, Warren, and Lang were not in uniform. Were they?
  

I didn't listen or read to the post-game comments. I don't want to know how we contained Tomlinson. Or how we had the right reads but didn't make the plays.

But the Browns will beat the Patriots Sunday with Holcomb at the helm. It's just gonna come down that way.