Week 15 Keeps The Playoff Dream Alive

With another narrow victory naturally. Arizona triumphed over Cleveland 20-17 in overtime. John Skelton lead his fourth 4th quarter comeback of the season, throwing for over 300 yards and a TD. He was also intercepted once, and sacked 4 times, but take the bad with the good.

The sacks might be on the offensive line, since the running game failed to engage for the second consecutive week. Beanie Wells had 51 yards on 15 carries, and the team as a whole had just 74 yards, at 3.1 ypc. For the Browns, Peyton Hillis ran for 91 yards, and they averaged 4.1 ypc. However, O'Brien Schofield had sacks on consecutive plays, and thanks to a Whisenhunt challenge, the second one produced a fumble the Cards recovered and turned into the tying points. Let's hear it for the young linebacking corps! Whoo! This 3-4 defense thing might not be such a stupid idea after all, now that they have personnel fit to run it.

I suppose I shouldn't be so excited about a narrow victory over a team that's now 4-10. But it was so easy to see Arizona losing this game. They're on a bit of a roll. Analysts are praising their defense, they're in the wild card hunt, and they just beat the big, bad division leader. And here come the suckass Browns into town, with their backup QB under center. That's a game ripe for the Cards to blow, and they nearly did. They had to overcome a 10-point deficit in the 4th quarter, after all. But overcome it they did.

I can't quite figure this team out. Their defense is good. Not great, and it has its bad moments, but those are to be expected with the number of young guys they're starting. Their offense shows flashes, mostly with Kolb as QB, but the pass blocking and run blocking are so spotty. Sometimes they're good, frequently (especially the pass blocking) they aren't. I don't know if that's a talent issue, or a coaching one. The complaints I see online about Levi Brown suggest he, at least, is a talent issue, but who knows.