BEREA, Ohio -- In the locker room of a winless team, faces often say more than words.
Romeo Crennel doesn't need to tell you how well he understands the gap between the harsh realities of what the Cleveland Browns' season has become and the giddy expectations of what it was supposed to be. His players don't, either. Looking at them speaks volumes about their frustration, anger, and disappointment over being 0-3.
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It isn't necessary to remind the Browns of the "darling" status they achieved after winning 10 games and coming within a whisker of the playoffs last year. Or that schedule-makers gave them five prime-time television appearances. Or that prognosticators made them the favorite to win the AFC North and compete for the conference championship.
"If you asked me before the season what we would have been right now, I would have said 3-0," center Hank Fraley said. "As a team, we just haven't played well."
But there is something that certain faces, the ones belonging to Crennel and his core players, can't reveal: Panic. Not now. Not when there is enough season left to rebound from this nightmarish start.
Crennel's usual warm smile was replaced by a look of steely determination when he showed up for his midweek news conference. He dispensed with his usual "Good morning, how are you today?" greeting and got right down to business. His players followed suit.
"There are a couple of guys on each team that set the precedent in terms of confidence and swagger," wide receiver Braylon Edwards said. "You look at a team like Dallas. If you see Terrell Owens panic, you're nervous. You look at New England. If you see Tom Brady panic, you're nervous. On this team, the guys that can't panic are (tight end) Kellen (Winslow), myself, and (running back) Jamal (Lewis). If we don't panic, (the rest of the players on offense) don't panic. It's as simple as that.
"And that's especially true for No. 3."
No. 3 would be Derek Anderson. In 2007, Anderson's prolific passing landed him a Pro Bowl appearance and a new three-year contract worth a reported $24 million. Now, he could very well be a bad quarter from landing on the bench.
Anderson hasn't had any of the magic he displayed through the first nine games of last season (when he threw 20 of his 29 touchdown passes), which is the biggest reason the Browns went from scoring an average of 25-plus points per game last year to only two touchdowns in three games. He has been timid. He has missed throws. He has always taken risks with the ball, but this year he's taking too many bad ones.
After Anderson's terrible performance in the Week 3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the calls began from fans, media, and even former Browns great Jim Brown, an executive advisor to the franchise, to bench him in favor of Brady Quinn. Anderson looked distraught in the visitors' locker room in Baltimore. A few days later, after learning he would remain the starting quarterback against 0-3 Cincinnati on Sunday, his face indicated he was in a slightly better mood.
Anderson insists he has come to grips with the fact that Quinn would, as Crennel pointed out, "be ready" to step in if necessary against the Bengals. Known for cracking jokes in the huddle to help relax his teammates, Anderson also insists he has not lost his sense of humor.
"You've still got to have fun; it's a game," he said. "Obviously, it's not as enjoyable when you're getting your tail whipped. But you've got to have fun with it and enjoy a little bit."
The offense needs a spark, and perhaps Quinn could provide it. The only problem is that he had every opportunity to win the starting job in training camp, but performed too poorly to win it. Like the rest of the Browns who were part of a 0-4 preseason, Quinn showed he was not ready for primetime. Still, he hasn't lost faith in the skills that convinced the Browns to make him a first-round draft pick last year.
"I think every quarterback would come in and say he would give a team a spark," Quinn said. "We're very confident about (our) abilities and in our team's abilities. I think the biggest thing for us right now is just to put everything together. Offensively, we haven't really shown what we're capable of."
Edwards, who made the Pro Bowl after catching 16 touchdown passes last year, has yet to reach the end zone this season. He's caught only eight passes and has nearly that many drops. He's also drawn several penalties.
Offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski has been strapped by the fact he is missing an effective third target to go along with Edwards and Winslow. Joe Jurevicius, whose dependability had been a great source of security for Anderson, has yet to play a down after undergoing knee surgery. Donte' Stallworth, who was supposed to be an explosive free-agent addition, has yet to play a down because of a quadriceps injury.
Last year, Chudzinski was able to spread the ball around to six or seven receivers, get the lead, and hammer with Lewis to kill the clock. This year, he would be happy to simply get some halfway decent production from more players than just Winslow, who leads the team with 14 receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown.
Chudzinski also wouldn't mind getting some key players healthy again. The starting offense has not had a single day of practice together this year. Injuries began hitting the unit from the start of training camp, and even the stars weren't immune. Anderson, Edwards, Winslow, and Lewis all missed action during the preseason. The interior of the offensive line is still hurting. One guard, Eric Steinbach, missed the Baltimore game with a shoulder injury and will probably sit out the Cincinnati game as well. Another, Ryan Tucker, still hasn't played since undergoing surgery in May to repair a fractured hip.
Receiver Joshua Cribbs, one of the top kick returners in the league who can be a dynamic situational weapon on offense, missed the season-opener against Dallas with a high ankle sprain suffered in the preseason. He sustained shoulder and hamstring injuries in Week 2 against Pittsburgh. Defensive back Sean Jones underwent knee surgery and is out until the end of October or early November.
Not that the Browns expect anyone to cut them slack for their injuries.
"My high school coach used to tell me, 'If Jamal Lewis gets injured today, we're still going to play on Saturday,'" Lewis said. "Just because we have injuries is no excuse for us to be where we are right now. We just have to go out there, as a team, and play better."
That means defense as well as offense. Linebacker Kamerion Wimbley, a first-round draft pick in 2006, has been a huge disappointment. He has yet to register a sack this season and has been credited with only one quarterback pressure. The Browns' pass rush has been mostly non-existent, producing a mere three sacks and 10 pressures.
Defensive tackle Shaun Rogers has been every bit the difference-making force the Browns expected him to be when they acquired him from Detroit for a third-round draft pick and cornerback Leigh Bodden and gave him a reported $40-million contract. However, Corey Williams, the defensive tackle Cleveland picked up from Green Bay for a second-round pick and also gave a reported $40-million deal, has done very little.
With each loss, the pressure mounts. Most of it results from the promise that the Browns offered at the end of last season. Edwards, for one, thinks that that has as much to do with the struggles of this year's team as anything else.
"We have to go out there and win games this year based off what we're going to do this year," the receiver said. "Right now, we don't have the team we had last year. Whether we're better or worse remains to be seen. (But) we don't have that team, so we have to stop living off 2007. This is '08. And (the remaining 13 games) is the start of a new season."
Players are fighting to maintain confidence. It's harder for some than others to avoid the moping that Crennel said he has noticed from some members of the squad. But they realize it can be done.
"It starts with yourself," defensive end Shaun Smith said. "You've got to believe in yourself and keep going. Always have confidence and stay confident, no matter what happens to you."
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Crennel and Bengals coach Marvin Lewis are under intense pressure to win the NFL's battle of Ohio. The outcome could very well determine which one is still employed next week.
"Somebody's going to be crying and somebody's going to be happy at the end of this one," Crennel said. "What you've got is a must-win game for both teams, so it should make for a good game."
It has been widely speculated that, if the losses continue to mount, general manager Phil Savage might very well push for a coaching change. Savage and Crennel joined the Browns in 2005. Their relationship has been the subject of plenty of league-wide buzz. It is generally understood that Savage holds the vast majority of power within the Browns' football operation and that has created tension between him and Crennel.
Savage has generally drawn more favorable reviews for his drafting and free-agent signings than Crennel has for his coaching. Savage has had three notable hits: Offensive tackle Joe Thomas, the third overall pick of last year's draft; Jamal Lewis, a free agent from the Ravens who revived his career in '07, and Rogers. Wimbley, who had only five sacks last year after getting 11 as a rookie, and Williams seem to be misses, while the verdict remains out on Edwards, Anderson, and Quinn. Stallworth has to fall into the latter category because he has yet to play, but his lingering health issues aren't inspiring much confidence in his ability to make a much-needed impact.
Crennel heard harsh criticism after each of the first two games for choosing to kick a late field goal rather than going for a touchdown that his scoring-challenged team desperately needed. Team owner Randy Lerner was known to be particularly upset with the players' lifeless showing against the Cowboys. Ultimately, it is the coach who is responsible for a team's motivation -- or lack thereof.
Rumors have circulated on the Internet that former Steelers coach Bill Cowher, an NFL studio analyst for CBS, has purchased a home in suburban Cleveland. Knowing that Cowher was a former Browns player and assistant coach, some folks in the Cleveland area have gone as far as to presume that he already has worked out an agreement to become the team's coach and GM -- replacing both Crennel and Savage -- after the season. That seems far-fetched, but Cleveland media outlets have fielded plenty of questions about the subject.
Crennel avoids talk about his future and pours the bulk of his energy into "trying to get more out of the players who have shown some consistency and effort for us and see if we can be more productive that way."
As difficult as coping with the 0-3 record and accompanying fallout might be, coaches and players realize it's still very possible to turn around a season. They are well aware that the New York Giants were 0-2 before eventually going on the tear that ended with a Super Bowl victory. When Crennel was defensive coordinator in New England, the Patriots got off to a 1-3 start in 2001 before rallying to win the first of their Super Bowls.
"It's still early in the season," Fraley said. "You can fight back and get back in this thing. It's not a runaway yet."
Which is another way of saying that there's no need for the Browns to panic.
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