The Browns are 4-7, three games off their pace after 11 games last season. They finished 10-6 last year and entered 2008 with high hopes, but those hopes crashed before September ended when the Browns started 0-3.

Players in the locker room support Crennel. The Browns are 24-35 under his leadership.

"That's not my call," center Hank Fraley said when asked whether Crennel's job should be on the line. "Romeo is a great coach. I love him as a coach. I have a good relationship with him. Guys around the locker room do.

"I know when you're not winning, the head coach gets pointed at first. He's a good coach to play for. It's disappointing we're not performing for him. The coaches get you to Sunday, and then it's up to you to produce. They're not the ones making the blocks, making the catches, making the runs and making the tackles."

Strong safety Sean Jones was drafted by Butch Davis in 2004. He spent the season on injured reserve. His first season on the active roster was 2005, also Crennel's first season. Jones does not want to go through another coaching turnover, although as a free agent next winter he might be elsewhere in 2009.

"We're going to do everything we can to fight for Romeo," Jones said. "We have to play as a team. We have to hold up our end on defense and others have to do their job."

Special teams star Joshua Cribbs said players should blame themselves for not living up to potential.

"No one can give us the ultimate advice, the ultimate lecture to help us physically win the football game," he said. "We have to do that ourselves. We have to look ourselves in the mirror, not the coaches. They can say 'It was my fault, this and that,' but it's our fault as a team. That's why we have to stick together as a team."

Crennel appreciates the support, but he says his players have it all wrong.

"They are incorrect because I'm the head coach and the buck stops at my desk," Crennel said. "It is my charge. If we don't win games, it's on me. We have coaches who work very hard to try to get a good plan, try to put it out there and try to get the guys to execute.

"When the team doesn't play well, it falls on the head coach. Just like when the offense doesn't do well, a lot of times it falls on the quarterback, rightly or wrongly. In this position, the scrutiny goes with it."

This is the 10th season of the expansion era, and Crennel is the Browns' third head coach. After Sunday he will be the longest tenured coach the Browns have had since Bill Belichick lasted five seasons from 1991-1995. Butch Davis coached three seasons and 11 games and then quit. Chris Palmer was fired after two seasons.

SERIES HISTORY: 25th regular-season meeting. Browns lead, 13-11. The Browns hold the series edge, but they have beaten the Colts only once in seven games since 1992 when they won 21-14 in 1994. The Browns beat the Colts six straight times between 1978 and 1986. Cleveland has never beaten Indianapolis since the Colts drafted Peyton Manning. Manning is 4-0 against them, but in the last two meetings it was the Browns' offense that disappointed. The Colts won the season opener in Cleveland, 9-6, in 2003 and 13-6 in Indianapolis in 2005. Manning was 17 of 43 for 211 yards and two interceptions in the 2003 game. He was 19 of 23 for 228 yards and an interception in 2005.