We try to wait a few days after a Browns game before we comment because football by its nature is an emotional sport, and we feel we can more accurately discuss what happened by waiting an extra couple of days.
There is no question Cleveland football fans should feel disappointed this season. The Browns are no longer the 1-15 or 0-16 squad in terms of talent. This team has many very good players, but sometimes things don’t work out.
And we know that frustrates the hell out of many fans.
A few things we’ve seen the past few days put things in “perspective”.
First, the Browns have lost six games by six points or less this season, and it would have been seven had not Najee Harris went 37 yards in a short yardage burst at the end of Monday night’s loss to Pittsburgh.
Cleveland has played 16 games this year, and had a solid chance to win 14 of them. That should be an encouraging sign.
We also read that over 80 field goals were missed in the NFL this season (and not all of them by Chase McLaughlin). Only one of those misses came against the Browns. That would seem to be an anomaly.
Sometimes the breaks go against you. Sometimes the injury bug bites. We know about the injury issues the Baltimore Ravens have had since training camp, but the Browns had the least number of players who were active for all of the first 16 games of the season.
Through the first five games of the season, the Browns were rolling. They were 3-1 going into Los Angeles for a game against the Chargers, and put up 42 points and 531 total yards in a 47-42 loss. After that, the offense disappeared.
That was also the game Jack Conklin was injured and basically missed the rest of the season, and the Browns primary offensive line back up, Chris Hubbard, was already out for the year.
We believe all fans of struggling football teams have a go to move when assessing blame for a poor season: The head coach and the quarterback. Cleveland is no different.
Folks seem to forget Kevin Stefanski is in just his second season as a head coach. Are they better at their current job than they were after the second year of doing it? Of course.
Stefanski probably would like some do-overs this season, but we are confident he will continue to get better and grow with the position. Remember, the guys who hired him are still in place, and we doubt they have lost confidence in him.
As for Baker Mayfield, he seemed to be playing very well in the first two weeks, before he was injured. Should he have continued to play? That’s a second guess right now. We wanted to play and the team officials deemed him okay to go.
We aren’t going to pretend he played well down the stretch.
We mentioned the Chargers game earlier. Including that contest, Cleveland ran for at least 150 yards in each game to that point, and exceeded 200 yards twice.
After that game, the Browns rushed for 150 yards just four times in 11 games, exceeding 200 only in the Christmas Day loss to Green Bay.
The entire offense seemed to sag with the running game, Mayfield included.
That said, should Andrew Berry look to upgrade at QB? Yes, the same as he should look to get better at every other position. Can he get someone better than Baker Mayfield? Maybe he can. Maybe he can get someone who fits better or can be more consistent.
One caveat. Does Mayfield have the “yips”? Has he lost confidence in himself? We’ve seen the films of receivers being open, but the QB not being able to pull the trigger. If that’s the case, the Browns’ front office may have no choice.
Make no mistake, the front office needs to shore up both the wide receiver and tight end positions no matter who the quarterback is. We like David Njoku and Harrison Bryant as receivers, but neither are in the upper echelon of their position right now, and certainly, none of the wide outs are.
The Browns aren’t a bad football team. A few tweaks and some better health and they should be making another run at a playoff spot in 2022.
Fortunately, Andrew Berry and Paul DePodesta don’t have the same mindset as fans. And that’s a good thing.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 