The Cleveland Browns seemed poised to at least tie up their game against Philadelphia in the fourth quarter, trailing 20-13 and having a first down and goal at the Eagles’ 8 with four and a half minutes left.
But then the mistakes occurred. A false start on rookie Zak Zinter on 3rd and goal from the three moved Cleveland back. Then as the Browns were going for it on fourth down, Jedrick Wills jumped and push the team back to the 13-yard line.
From there, Kevin Stefanski thought it was too risky to have a fourth and goal from over 10 yards and kicked a field goal, hoping the defense could get the ball back one last time.
It was just another couple of mistakes in not only a season plagued with errors, but an entire off-season of decisions being made that have backfired on the organization.
In their playoff season a year ago when they went 11-6, the Browns ranked 10th in the NFL in offense. But apparently, that wasn’t good enough for the brass, and they replaced Alex Van Pelt, who had been the offensive coordinator since Stefanski was hired, with Ken Dorsey, who worked with “dual threat” quarterbacks at Carolina and Buffalo.
Offensive line coach (and guru) Bill Callahan left because his son Brian was named head coach with the Titans, and the Browns went outside the organization to hire Andy Dickerson, who they interviewed for the OC job.
Why they didn’t go with Scott Peters, Callahan’s assistant is a question that should be answered by the front office. In the name of continuity, it might have been the wiser choice.
They also dismissed long time running backs coach Stump Mitchell and brought in Duce Staley.
The point is there were a lot of changes on the offensive coaching staff considering the offense performed pretty well last season, especially when you factor in the number of different starting quarterbacks the team played.
After Joe Flacco’s very good play down the stretch last season, the Browns could have brought him back to be the backup quarterback, but they feared the fans’ reaction if Deshaun Watson didn’t play well, so they passed on him.
He went to Indianapolis where he has a 102.2 passer rating with seven touchdown throws and just one interception in three games. For a frame of reference, Watson has five TD passes in six contests.
All of these changes were made with the idea of getting Watson to perform as he did when he was with Houston, in 2020. Instead, he is playing worse than he has ever played.
During his partial seasons with the Browns, 2022 due to suspension and 2023 because of injury he wasn’t this bad. In six starts this season, the quarterback has yet to throw for 200 yards in a game.
Even worse, he’s now started 18 games in a Cleveland uniform and has yet to throw for 300 yards. As a frame of reference, Flacco had four such games in the five he started for the Browns last season.
It’s been a year filled with mistakes starting with the front office trying to fix something that didn’t need to be fixed. It’s continued on to the playing field where penalties, dropped passes, and coverage breakdowns are causing the Browns to lose every week.
The players need to play better. The front office needs to admit their mistakes as well.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 