Progress of any kind in the Browns' struggling offense is encouraging, even if it comes in a game when they don' get close to the end zone.
As the Browns prepare for their game Sunday against the Lions in Detroit, a game between two 1-8 teams in strong contention for the first pick in the draft, coach Eric Mangini believes Brady Quinn showed improvement in the 16-0 loss to the Ravens on Monday night. The Browns were 5 of 16 on third downs.
Considering they were 6 of 30 on third downs during the 10 quarters Quinn started at the beginning of the season, that is progress though certainly not enough to win games. Though the Browns were better on third down, the loss to the Ravens was the first time the Browns have been shut out this season.
"I've tried a lot of different things (to get the offense going) and obviously it's not been successful enough," Mangini said. "We're going to have to keep trying things until we get to the point where we need to be. Running the ball as efficiently as we possibly can, but also to me, it comes down to third down, being able to sustain the drives on third down. We just haven't done that effectively enough."
Quinn will start against the Lions despite posting a 23.5 passer rating against the Ravens in his first start since he regained the job from Derek Anderson. The Browns were in Ravens territory only once and never penetrated the Baltimore 45.
Anderson was given five starts after replacing Quinn at halftime of the first Baltimore game. The offense looked the same under both quarterbacks, particularly recently.
Anderson passed for 99 yards against the Packers on Oct. 25 and 76 yards against the Bears on Nov. 1. Quinn passed for 99 yards against the Ravens.
According to Elias Sports Bureau, only one other time since 1990 has a team's quarterbacks played three straight games with fewer than 100 yards passing. The 2005 San Francisco 49ers, with rookie Alex Smith at quarterback in two of them, went three straight games with sub-100 yards passing and lost them all.
The Lions gave up 344 yards passing last week, but that was to Brett Favre and the Vikings' potent offense. Quinn cannot be expected to shred the Lions as Favre did, but he is keeping a positive attitude in a bleak time.
"We've had some moving parts," Quinn said. "We' trying different things. As a team, we're not executing the way we need to. I don't know why that is. It's hard to answer and put a finger on at this point.
"If you asked our coaches and players, I think they would say the same. It's one thing here and one thing there on each play that seems to take away from executing or making a bigger play than it is."
The Browns came out in the no huddle against the Ravens. They might try the same thing against the Lions, but generally once the Browns use a new strategy they store it in mothballs the next week.
SERIES HISTORY: 18th regular-season meeting. Lions lead series 13-4. The Browns have won only one time in Detroit dating back to 1952, and that was in the Pontiac Silverdome in 1983. The re-born Browns have not played a regular-season game in Ford Field.
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