It was a tumultuous week for the Cleveland Browns, especially on Thursday when Vice President of Football Operations Sashi Brown was fired by owner Jimmy Haslam, and replaced later that day by General Manager John Dorsey.
Amazingly, Hue Jackson was given a vote of confidence by the owner and it was announced he would be back for the 2018 season, despite a 1-27 record during his tenure.
With Dorsey in attendance at First Energy Stadium, the Browns blew a two touchdown lead they gained late in the third quarter, and lost to the Green Bay Packers in overtime, 27-21, dropping them to 0-13 on the season, and 1-28 since Jackson took over last year.
We have maintained most of the year that the Browns were not as bad as their record indicated, and today was another example, as Cleveland dominated much of the first three quarters, but couldn’t come up with the victory.
Jackson’s team outgained Green Bay, and held the Packers to under 100 yards rushing for the game, but lost because they played not to lose after scoring to make it a 21-7 game, and because of another horrible turnover by DeShone Kizer.
After that last score, with 2:49 left in the third quarter, it seemed Gregg Williams’ defense went into prevent mode, allowing Brett Hundley to complete short pass after short pass, leading to a 13 play, 75 yard drive to close the gap to 21-14.
After the first drive of the contest, the Browns’ defense hadn’t allowed the Packers much, so we don’t understand the change in philosophy. With three minutes to go in the game, we could understand it, but there were 18 minutes left.
It is worth noting that Jackson challenged a juggling catch, that clearly (on live look) appeared to be a catch, costing the Browns a timeout.
The score that tied the game was set up by a special teams’ gaffe, allowing Travis Davis to return a punt 65 yards to the Browns’ 25 with a little over two minutes to go.
Instead of pinning Green Bay deep in their own territory, they had a short field for the game tying score.
When was the last time the Cleveland special teams had a game without a glaring mistake?
Offensively, Jackson has talked all year about the lack of talent.
Granted, Josh Gordon just returned last week, but Isaiah Crowell, who had 121 yards on 19 carries, has been here all year.
Corey Coleman, criticized recently for being just an average player, caught five passes for 62 yards, and seems to be a good compliment for Gordon.
Unfortunately, TE David Njoku didn’t seem to be part of the game plan, catching just one pass for three yards.
Still, we saw some nice play calling. The game opened on a play action pass on first down, with Kizer hitting Gordon for 38 yards.
We also saw a number of screen passes, and even a shuffle pass in the red zone, which Duke Johnson turned into a touchdown.
We wonder where that has been all season.
However, with a chance to win, Kizer tried to make a big play when he should have eaten the ball, and threw an interception, his second of the day, when Clay Matthews Jr. hit his arm, forcing the ball to go straight up in the air, where it was picked off by Josh Jones.
That led to the game winning TD in overtime, and the Browns’ 14th straight loss.
File this one into the list of games the team could have won this season. It’s far too many for a team without a win.
There is talent on this football team, and thanks for that should go to the deposed Brown. Unfortunately, the problem is poor coaching, and at least for the time being, that problem still exists.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 