Richardson not used to losing

BEREA — Trent Richardson, you’re not in Tuscaloosa anymore.

The shock to the Browns’ prize running back isn’t the hitting or the speed or the life-changing money that goes along with being a star NFL player on a struggling football team. It’s the losing.

Losing is as foreign to Richardson as the Russian language. During his three years at the University of Alabama the Crimson Tide was a combined 364. They won the BCS championship in the 2009 and 2011 seasons.

If the Browns do not beat the Bills on Sunday in Cleveland Browns Stadium or the Ravens on the road a week from Thursday, they will have lost as many games this month as the Crimson Tide did during Richardson’s entire career at Alabama. Richardson was drafted third overall by a team that lost at least 11 games each of the last four years.

“It’s different; most definitely it’s different,” Richardson said after losing to the Bengals, 34-27, dropped the Browns to 0-2. “Now I’m a professional, but the one thing you do learn is you have to get right back up. You can’t stay on the ground that long.

“When it comes down to it, some day it has to click in my mind I’m not a college football player

anymore. I’m starting a new chapter in my life. We have to do everything we can to make sure we don’t get used to this losing. We can’t get used to that.”

The situation isn’t unique to Richardson, of course. The best college quarterback is often drafted by the worst team in the NFL. Andrew Luck of Stanford and Robert Griffin III of Baylor went 1-2 to the Colts and Redskins in April. Each of those players has already led his new team to a victory.

Richardson rushed for 107 yards on 19 carries, caught four passes for 36 and scored two touchdowns against the Bengals and still it wasn’t enough to stop the bleeding.

Not that Richardson is taking a “Hey, don’t blame me” attitude. It’s just the opposite. He is such a team player he said had the Browns offense done more with its first possession, Adam Jones wouldn’t have had the opportunity to return a punt 81 yards for a touchdown.

Richardson was very “ordinary” in the opener, as former Browns great Jim Brown might say. He rushed for 39 yards on 19 carries and caught one pass for five yards in the 17-16 loss to the Eagles after missing the entire preseason recovering from knee surgery.

“I thought Trent played a much better game than week one,” Coach Pat Shurmur said. “That’s a statement of the obvious. I still think he can do some things better when he doesn’t have the football, which means we probably ought to give him the ball every time he’s in there. He ran hard. His legs looked fresher. He looked to me like a guy that practiced all week.”

Richardson’s drive to lead the Browns in a different direction is obvious. He has skills that can’t be coached. His 32- yard touchdown run started inside. He bounced outside not once but twice and then beat the Bengals defenders to the right side of the end zone.

Four Bengals had shots at him on his touchdown catch. Two grabbed at air. Richardson ran threw one tackle and spun out of another.

“At some point we have to put up more points than the other team is putting up,” Richardson said. “If they score on special teams, we have to come back and score. We did a good job (offensively), but I think we can do an even better job. When we start winning, it’s going to be much better. I think it’s going to come together. It can’t get worse.”

The Browns are one of only six winless teams. The others are the Titans, Jaguars, Chiefs, Raiders and Saints.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Browns running back Trent Richardson, left, isn’t used to losing, but he’s already lost half of the games (2) than he did in his entire career at Alabama (4).