Offense needs to pick it up in second half

A peek inside the Browns’ locker room near the end of halftime as they make sure they have everything they need to resume the game:

“Helmets?” Check. “Gatorade?” Check. “Offense?” Uh oh. Someone keeps forgetting the offense. …

The Browns will try to end a four-game losing streak when they meet the Pittsburgh Steelers at 1 p.m. Nov. 15 at Heinz Field. There are many reasons they are 2-7, and one of them is they have been outscored, 51-3, in the second half of the last three games. Rookie running back Duke Johnson thinks he knows why.

“We’re leaving the offense in the locker room,” Johnson said.” I don’t think we come out to play in the second half. First half we come out the way we want and the second half we come out and tell ourselves we’re going to come out even better, but yet we don’t do it.”

It doesn’t seem to matter who the quarterback is. Josh McCown was under center when the Browns managed only a field goal in the second half of a 24-6 loss to the Rams on Oct. 25. He was also the quarterback when the Cardinals scored 24 points and the Browns none on Nov. 1 after the Browns took a 20-10 lead in the first half.

Johnny Manziel was the quarterback on Nov. 5 in Cincinnati when the Bengals piled on a 14-10 halftime lead with 17 unanswered points in the second half.

Manziel is expected to start against the Steelers, though head coach Mike Pettine is hoping to keep the identity of his starter a secret right up to game time. But if the Browns don’t figure a way to find the end zone after intermission, it might not matter.

“They didn’t even tell us who’s starting,” center Alex Mack said. “I think it’s a competitive advantage to keep the other team guessing because the two quarterbacks have such different styles.”

Offensive coordinator John DeFilippo, not surprisingly, is a little touchy on the subject of secondhalf problems, especially this week as the Browns try to find a way to win in a place where they haven’t won since 2003. It doesn’t help that the Browns are 31st in the league in rushing.

The inference is opponents are better at halftime adjustments offensively and defensively.

“I’m not going to buy into the notion that we don’t come out in the second half with adjustments or whatever because when you look at our scoring over the season, it’s really a three-point or a four-point differential throughout the whole season in terms of points per halves,” DeFilippo said. “The thing we need to do is come out and be focused to play a complete football game, not a great game in the first half or great game in the second half. “

The Browns have scored 17 offensive touchdowns – eight in the first half and nine in the second half, but they haven’t scored one in the second half since beating the Ravens, 33-30, in overtime on Oct. 11. They have scored in both halves only twice – in the 28-14 victory over the Tennessee Titans with Manziel at quarterback and the 30-27 loss in San Diego with McCown in charge.

The Steelers, 5-4, are vulnerable. They have allowed only 28 points in the third quarter but they have given up 78 in the fourth quarter.