Cleveland Browns’ fans, we have all been here before. We start the season off wholly optimistic and as the season goes on we slap a smile on our faces and continue to cheer on our team, but have that sinking feeling in our stomachs as that “losses” column grows. The Browns ended the 2011 season 4-12. Nothing really good can be said about this. We are Browns’ fans and the most passionate and loyal in the league, but it is truly impossible to find something great to say about this season.

So, what can the Browns do to make 2012 a great season? Which playing position needs the most improvement? The three positions that really need work are quarterback, wide receiver and right offensive tackle.

For the time being, we can put the right offensive tackle to the side and talk about quarterbacks and wide receivers. The Browns’ two main quarterbacks are Colt McCoy who is still battling the symptoms of a concussion, and Seneca Wallace.

Colt McCoy was the starting quarterback throughout most of the season and Seneca Wallace finished out the last three games after McCoy was injured. Neither had a stellar season. Wallace has far more experience, but went 0-3. McCoy went 4-9. Honestly, it doesn’t seem like we need another quarterback, but to simplify things for the quarterbacks that we have. Personally, I would like to see Wallace start and give him a receiver that can handle the ball.

This brings us to wide receiver. We have our main receivers as Josh Cribbs, Greg Little, Jordan Norwood and Mohamed Massaquoi. All of these guys are talented in their own right, but all have also missed some monumental passes this year that they simply should not have missed. You can have the best quarterback in the game, but if the wide receiver is missing his passes, he is going to be ineffective. So, it seems like the Browns need to work on the wide receiver position. It would be nice if they would get their hands on Justin Blackmon from Oklahoma State. That would be a Browns’ fans’ dream. Even if they cannot, they need to work with their current players and get them into better shape for next season. These guys are in the NFL, so they obviously have talent, they just need to start showing it and bringing it to every game.

R. Elizabeth C. Kitchen is a lifelong Browns fan who grew up in a household of Browns’ fans. She was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and still lives there. Regardless of the trials and tribulations the Browns have been through, she remains loyal, albeit honest about her home team. Follow Rose on Twitter @Rose_Kitchen

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The Cleveland Browns are now the proud owners of a 4^th pick in the 2012 NFL draft. This gives the Browns a decent chance to pick up a good player in the draft. But, what do they go after? Fans are getting really tired of hearing, “there is always next year,” so the Browns really need to choose well so that 2012 can be “the year” for the Browns to at least make it to the postseason.

The Browns need a receiver. Holding the record for most drops will not get them far in 2012. Right now they need to do what needs to be done to get Oklahoma State’s Justin Blackmon.

In the 2011 season, the Browns’ best receiver – Greg Little – only had two touchdowns and caught 61 passes for 709 yards. So, while a lot of folks are yelling for a new quarterback, and I am not saying that we have awesome quarterbacks, it is evident that our receiving end is in desperate need of attention.

The Browns could go for quarterback Robert Griffin III and probably have a better chance at getting him with a number four pick. However, you can have the best quarterback in the game, but if your receivers cannot catch a ball, a great pass really means nothing.

We also have to look at the overall youth of the Browns’ team. This is a very young team, and in the 2011 season, they had a handful of rookie starters. This could have certainly had an impact on the game because so many guys are learning the NFL level of playing at one time. Do we really want another year of a rookie quarterback, regardless of how great he is on the college level?

“We don’t want to sit here and keep trying to grind with bringing in a young quarterback and having to go through those growing pains,” Seneca Wallace said. “You guys have been hard on us all season long and what we need is to win and win now.”

He isn’t wrong. The Browns need a winning 2012 season. No more of this “next year” stuff. They need players who will catch passes and make touchdowns.

R. Elizabeth C. Kitchen is a lifelong Browns fan who grew up in a household of Browns’ fans. She was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and still lives there. Regardless of the trials and tribulations the Browns have been through, she remains loyal, albeit honest about her home team. Follow Rose on Twitter @Rose_Kitchen

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Cold. Windy. Miserable. That about sums up my experience at the Cleveland Browns game on Sunday, January 1. In addition to a good dose of Cleveland winter, the Browns unfortunately fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers by the score of 13-9.

Coming into the game I honesty was not expecting much. A win against the Steelers would be a fantastic way to end a mildly disappointing season while a loss would guarantee a better draft pick. (Am I really justifying a loss here?)

I was looking for a competitive football game, and based upon the final score it would appear the win could have gone either way. When taking a look at the final stats, the Steelers played poorly but the Browns were simply awful.

Quarterback Seneca Wallace completed just 16 of 41 attempts for a total of 177 yards on the day. He threw no touchdowns and was picked off once.

On the other hand, Joshua Cribbs had a career game netting seven receptions for 91 yards. Unfortunately, that was the lone bright spot for the Browns. For one of the only players that is passionate and wants to be on the field as much as possible, embraces and interacts with the fans, and genuinely loves Cleveland, he deserved all of his success in the game. I just wish it were enough to contribute to a win. One guy cannot do it all.

Peyton Hillis, who may have played his last game in Cleveland, carried the ball 10 times for 30 yards.

For the Steelers, Ben Roethlisberger was only marginally better than Wallace going 23 for 40 for 221 yards. His decision to play with a lingering sprained ankle did not make much sense, especially with the playoffs right around the corner.

Isaac Redman racked up 92 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown. As the only touchdown of the game, it broke up the field goal battle between Phil Dawson and Shaun Suisham.

Dawson was 3-3 on the day hitting from 26 yards, 45 yards, and 49 yards on the day. Suisham was 1-1 in extra points and 3-2 in field goals hitting from 19 yards and 29 yards.

When all was said and done, the Browns fell yet again and finished the season with a 4-12 record. But in true Cleveland style—Just wait until next year!

More Cleveland Browns Commentary from this Contributor:

The Cleveland Browns’ experience: A fan’s take

Cleveland Browns lose to Cardinals in OT, QB debate begins: A fan’s reaction

The benefits of being a die-hard Cleveland Browns fan this season: A fan’s perspective

Cleveland Browns prepare for tough game against Baltimore Ravens: A fan’s view

Cleveland Browns release Pro Bowl veteran Pontbriand in favor of rookie Yount: A fan’s reaction

Sources:

All data provided by NFL.com

Paul Rados is an avid Cleveland Browns fan and a Featured Contributor for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. Follow him on Twitter @PSRados or leave him a message on Facebook. For a complete look at his freelance work please visit his Blog.

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The
Pittsburgh Steelers
had no problems getting by without
Ben Roethlisberger
in their latest game, but the franchise quarterback says he plans to play in the team’s potentially significant regular-season
finale in Cleveland.

The progress of a game on the opposite end of Ohio may determine how much.

A first-round bye is in sight for the Steelers with a victory over the Browns on Sunday and some help, but otherwise they’d
likely need to win three times on the road to make a return trip to the Super Bowl.

After suffering a high ankle sprain in a 14-3 win over Cleveland in Week 14, Roethlisberger played through pain in a 20-3
loss at San Francisco 11 days later, throwing three interceptions as Pittsburgh blew a chance to stay in the driver’s seat
for the AFC’s top seed.

Needing two wins and a Baltimore loss to win the AFC North and guarantee at least a first-round bye, the Steelers (11-4) rested
Roethlisberger in favor of
Charlie Batch
last weekend against St. Louis. Batch threw for 208 yards while Pittsburgh rode a 116-yard rushing performance from
Rashard Mendenhall
and a dominant defensive effort to a 27-0 win.

Baltimore held off a late rally by the Browns to win 20-14 that same day, but the division’s current leader – by virtue of
a head-to-head sweep of the Steelers – hardly has it easy in Week 17. The Ravens travel to Cincinnati, where a win would put
the Bengals in the playoffs as the AFC’s No. 6 seed and third qualifier from the North.

A Baltimore loss and Pittsburgh win would give the Steelers the No. 2 seed, and potentially No. 1 should New England falter.
But anything else leaves Pittsburgh as the AFC’s fifth seed with no week off, almost certainly requiring the defending conference
champions to win three road games to reach a fourth Super Bowl in seven years.

It was unclear early in the week if the Steelers would risk Roethlisberger for what amounts to a 50-50 shot at best at a bye,
but Thursday the recently named Pro Bowl passer said he’d give it a go.

“As long as I can deal with pain, I’ll be out there,” Roethlisberger said. “I don’t want to let the guys down, so I’ll do
what I can to be out there.”

Coach Mike Tomlin’s offensive coordinator agrees – to a point.

“I want him out there but not at the risk of injuring himself,” Bruce Arians said. “If he can’t move around and get out of
the way, there’s no sense in getting him out there.”

While the Steelers need help from the Bengals – offensive lineman
Trai Essex
said he “might peek a couple of times” at the scoreboard – they’re focused on the Browns (4-11), especially considering they
didn’t put the Dec. 8 meeting away until a 79-yard Roethlisberger-to-
Antonio Brown
touchdown with 2:52 left.

“Cleveland’s going to do whatever they can to put a damper on our season as much as possible,” Essex told the Steelers’ official
website. “They’re not having the year I’m sure they wanted to, but whenever we play against each other it doesn’t matter what
our record is, we’re going to get their best and they’re going to get ours.”

Roethlisberger isn’t the only quarterback to have sustained a potentially significant injury in the first meeting. Browns
quarterback
Colt McCoy
took a helmet-to-helmet shot from Steelers linebacker
James Harrison
late in the fourth quarter, a hit that drew Harrison a one-game suspension and opened the door to Cleveland’s coaching staff
receiving plenty of criticism.

McCoy returned to the game, but was later diagnosed with a concussion. The decision to send him back in led to the NFL instituting
a policy that requires teams to have a certified athletic trainer in the press box help medical staffs evaluate injured players.

One of the harshest critics of the Browns’ handling of the situation was none other than Harrison, who said last week that
Cleveland should be disciplined since he was docked one game.

As for his play, Harrison claims he’s lowered his target area. Browns linebacker D’Qwell Jackson isn’t so sure.

“Harrison is who he is and whether you fine him, you suspend him, he’s not going to change,” Jackson said.

McCoy, who missed the past two games, has not been medically cleared and is unlikely to return for the finale.
Seneca Wallace
figures to get the call again after throwing for 373 yards, two TDs and an interception in losses to the Cardinals and Ravens.

“We have to try to take advantage of every opportunity and make sure we do it at 100 percent,” Wallace said. “Do it at a high
level and minimize mistakes. Against teams in this division, we can’t give them easy ones.”

As long as Roethlisberger’s been in Pittsburgh, matchups with Cleveland have typically been just that. The Steelers are 13-1
against the Browns with Roethlisberger starting, and he’s thrown seven touchdown passes without a pick in his last four visits
to Cleveland.

“You never want to lose to Cleveland,” Steelers safety
Ryan Clark
said. “When you are in this city, when you play for this organization, that’s a game you don’t want to lose.”

Read More: Troy Polamalu (SS – PIT), Seneca Wallace (QB – CLE), Phil Dawson (K – CLE), Isaac Redman (RB – PIT), Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns

The Pittsburgh Steelers scored 13-straght points and maintain a 13-9 lead over the Cleveland Browns heading into the fourth quarter.

Pittsburgh opened the half taking the ball down to the the Cleveland 11-yard line before having to settle for a Sean Suisham field goal and then finally cracked the end zone for the first time when Isaac Redman ran the ball seven yards for six. The play capped a seven-play drive as the Steelers took advantage of good field position after Troy Polamalu intercepted a Seneca Wallace pass.

Seneca Wallace bounced back and moved the Browns into the red zone on their next drive by throwing to Josh Cribbs and then running the ball himself for 20 yards. But after taking a sack on third and long, the Browns settled for a 49-yard field goal by Phil Dawson.

Redman has handled the running back duties admirably for the Steelers, putting up 70 yards on 17 carries. Wallace leads the Browns with 44 yards rushing but has completed just 7 of 20 passes for 102 yards.

For more on the Cleveland Browns, go to Dawgs by Nature. You can also head over to SB Nation’s main NFL hub at SBNation.com/NFL.