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But there was an edge in Crennel's breakdown of the many breakdowns that led to a 27-21 road loss to the Arizona Cardinals and dropped the Browns to 7-5.
"We lost a game that we didn't play well enough to win," Crennel said Monday. "It's disappointing because we feel like we could have won."
In his post-mortem, Crennel quickly zeroed in on the four turnovers and 10 penalties that had much to do with why the Browns spent all of their lost day in the desert playing catch-up against a banged-up Arizona team missing two starters in the secondary and standout receiver Larry Fitzgerald.
"We had four turnovers, and three of them ended up in points for them," Crennel said. "We only got one turnover ourselves, so we lost the turnover battle. That was huge. And we had far too many penalties. We just didn't play smart football."
On the subject of boneheaded plays, Crennel seemed most vexed by cornerback Leigh Bodden kicking the ball after the Browns successfully defended a third-down pass play in the first quarter. Bodden, who claimed ignorance of the rule forbidding such an action, was flagged for delay of game. The penalty gave the Cardinals a gift-wrapped first down and set up their second touchdown.
"If he (Bodden) didn't know that kicking the ball was a penalty, then why don't a lot of people kick balls?" Crennel asked. "You cannot kick the ball unless you're a punter or a kicker lining up to kick an extra point, field goal or kickoff."
Crennel also was displeased with the personal foul called on Simon Fraser during the kickoff that preceded the Browns' last-ditch drive in the waning moments of the fourth quarter.
"I could have done a much better job of getting those guys prepared and to understand the ramifications of their actions and the choices they make on the field," Crennel said. "We're going to have to work on that and get some things done there."
The 15-yard mark-off against Fraser pushed the Browns back to their own 18-yard-line and made it that much tougher for quarterback Derek Anderson to get his offense in position to attempt a Hail Mary pass to tight end Kellen Winslow Jr.
Winslow made a spectacular grab of the 37-yard aerial, but was ruled out-of-bounds on contact with two Arizona defenders.
"The disappointing thing is that it had to come down to one play," Crennel said.
"If we eliminate the turnovers and the penalties, we can probably win the game," he added. "We couldn't eliminate them. We lost the game, a game that could have helped us as this season progresses. That hurts also."
Once he was done dissecting Sunday's loss, Crennel turned a more optimistic eye toward the final four weeks of the regular season.
The Browns are on the road this Sunday to face the New York Jets. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. After that come home dates with Buffalo (Dec. 16) and San Francisco (Dec. 30) and a road game against Cincinnati (Dec. 23).
"We're still in decent position," Crennel said. "The thing we have to do is play better football. If we play better football, we'll give ourselves a chance. But nothing is given in this business. You have to play good every Sunday.
"This team has some resiliency," he added. "These guys have shown they can bounce back. They've shown they will fight to the end, just like they did Sunday. We just have to get them to be more consistent."
The "P" word
Crennel said he didn't think all the outside talk about playoff contention had any impact on the way the Browns played Sunday.
"I don't talk to them about playoffs. I just talk to them about the next game and doing what we need to do to win the next game," he said. "I know that other people have been talking about playoffs, but I don't talk about it. Hopefully, they listen to me more than anybody else."
Linebacker Andra Davis seconded that emotion.
"No one in this locker room or in this organization has mentioned playoffs," Davis said. "There is a lot of football left. A lot of things can happen."
D-line woes
Nose tackle Ethan Kelley and defensive end Orpheus Roye both were sidelined by knee injuries Sunday. Crennel downplayed fatigue among the remaining defensive linemen as a possible contributor to Arizona halfback Edgerrin James picking up big chunks of rushing yardage in the fourth quarter.
"We didn't fit where we needed to fit a lot of times on those plays," Crennel said. "If we had been more disciplined, we'd have been able to stop some of those runs. Those guys early in the game were able to play the run a little better."
Crennel said it's a "possibility" that Kelley will be cleared to play against the Jets.
