Well, it’s going to be a bad week for those folks who want the Cleveland Browns to fire everyone in the front office and start fresh in 2023.
That’s how it works doesn’t it? We mean, when the Browns lose, the coach should be fired usually because a play call doesn’t work. These people do understand there is another team on the field and they can execute as well, right?
Anyway, the Browns went out on Sunday and beat a team with playoff aspirations on the road, defeating the Washington Commanders 24-10, thus raising their record to 7-9 and next week they have a chance to do the same thing to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
And if they win, they will have the same record as last season. It’s not progress, but it’s not regression either.
What the game re-emphasized to us is this team has not quit on its head coach, and for that reason alone, Kevin Stefanski should continue with his current gig.
We will say again, this doesn’t mean Stefanski doesn’t need to improve some things, and we would also say we are sure even the great Bill Belichick learns something every season.
We wish Stefanski had kept the field goal in the first half which would have given the Browns a 6-0 lead. We understand the analytics people would say the field goal didn’t mean much because a touchdown would allow Washington to take the lead, but much as we say in basketball about long twos vs. threes, taking three points is better than getting none, which is what happened.
The stars came out offensively for Cleveland. Nick Chubb ran for 104 yards on 14 carries. Amari Cooper caught three passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns, and Deshaun Watson threw three TD passes.
Watson was sacked four times in the first half. His receivers couldn’t get open and his offensive line was having a problem with the Commanders rush. Adjustments were made and the second half was dominated by Cleveland, whose defense forced three turnovers.
After forcing just eight turnovers in the first 11 games, the defense has come up with 11 in the last five. That’s a weird statistic.
Also odd was Watson’s passer rating of 122, his highest of the season. We have always said QBs will have a good passing efficiency rating if they stay away from interceptions, and have a very good yards per attempt ratio.
Watson completed only half of his 18 passes but had a great 9.4 yards per throw. The league leader for the season is Tua Tagovailoa at 8.9. Watson’s best average as a Brown was 6.6 in the loss to Cincinnati.
Slowly, week by week, he is shaking the rust off.
However, back to the coach. We have said previously we would only consider a change if the team quit playing for this staff, and based on Sunday, that’s simply not the case.
It does not mean change aren’t needed on the staff. We understand this group doesn’t give out a lot of information to the media, but when they do talk, it makes you shake your head.
Joe Woods said last week the defensive tackles weren’t the problem in stopping the run. Our first thought was if it isn’t them, then do you know what the problem is, and if so, why not fix it?
One more game remains, and the Browns should have the same goal: Win and spoil another team’s playoff hopes in front of their fans. In a bitterly disappointing season, that would add some sweetness.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 