Browns Keep Firing Long Passes, Lose Once Again

So, the biggest news of the week for pro football fans in Cleveland was that Kevin Hogan was named the starting quarterback, giving rookie DeShone Kizer time to watch and learn.

Surely, the way Hogan played in the second half last week, getting the ball to David Njoku, Seth DeValve, and Duke Johnson, would carry over to this week and we would see a more efficient offensive game.

And early on, it seemed to work. Heck, the Browns even picked up two first downs on their first drive, an improvement from the usual three and out.

The Browns even tied up the game at 3 in the first quarter after pinning Houston deep in their own territory after a punt and getting a good return from Jabrill Peppers.

After the Texans scored on a deep pass, the Browns were moving again, mostly using the ground game to get the football in the red zone.

After Hogan overthrew the ball on first down, his next pass was another overthrow picked off by Johnathon Joseph and run back 82 yards for a touchdown.

That seemed to be the end of the running and short passing game.

And Hue Jackson’s squad dropped to 0-6 on the season with a 33-17 loss, and are now 1-21 during his tenure as head coach.

After that interception, Cleveland ran the ball just twice the rest of the first half, and that turnover occurred with 11:08 left in the second quarter!

Cleveland trailed 24-3 at halftime, and was lucky it wasn’t worse. They got the ball back with slightly over three minutes to go in the half, and threw three passes, two of them deep throws, giving Houston the ball back with 2:33 left.

Luckily, the defense held.

Our point is if you are going to run that type of offense, there is really no reason not to play Kizer, he is more suited and has the bigger arm to throw the ball downfield.

As a result of this type of offense, the Browns were just three of 14 in third down conversions, a woeful 21.4%. That doesn’t help the defense of course.

Duke Johnson, a player one of the Browns’ own coaches said is a threat every time he touches the ball, had five carries and caught three passes.

The two tight ends, Njoku and DeValve? Both caught two passes.

Meanwhile, Jackson has his quarterbacks heaving 20-25 yard patterns on a week to week basis.

Thank goodness for Myles Garrett, who had another sack today, his third in two games, and had five tackles total.

We liked Deshaun Watson coming out of Clemson, but he didn’t do anything today that knocked our socks off. He is just in a better system and has some playmakers surrounding him.

Texans’ coach Bill O’Brien didn’t ask his rookie to make a lot of throws outside the numbers, the way Jackson does with his passers. Watson makes a lot of short tosses in the middle of the field.

Which is what we would like to see the Browns do with Kizer.

The one positive we can think of is Zane Gonzalez made a field goal today, a 41-yarder. He needed that.

Another telling sign on the Browns coaching was 11 penalties. Granted Cleveland has the youngest roster in the NFL, but the yellow flags are a constant issue. Doesn’t that reflect on the staff?

We all know the definition of insanity. Yet, Jackson doesn’t seem to want to do anything differently on offense. He continues to chuck long throws to a mediocre wide receiver crew.

Name another team in watching other games that throws deep ball this often.

Bringing up the insanity thing again…maybe the fans fall in the same category.

Tribe’s Loss Stings, But Future Is Still Bright.

While it is certainly a shock to our system that the Cleveland Indians’ season ended abruptly Wednesday night, our biggest takeaway is that it’s baseball.

Look at it this way, the best team in football wins around 85% of the regular season games. In basketball, that figure is around 75%.

In baseball, a team that wins 100 games in the regular season, is victorious in 62% of the contests. A five game period like the one the Tribe just went through in the Division Series, occurs in June or July all the time.

The Indians didn’t hit, scoring just five runs combined in the last three games, and that isn’t going to get it done. You have to get more offense.

Players like Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, and Edwin Encarnacion couldn’t get a hit, let alone one in the clutch, and all three had slumps during the regular season.

We questioned not using Mike Clevinger as a fourth starter in this series and not starting Yandy Diaz at third base, and those are legitimate now as well. The former wasn’t the bullpen weapon Terry Francona thought he would be, and perhaps Diaz’ bat could have helped the offense.

However, people thinking there will be drastic changes, or need to be drastic changes are just wrong.

As it stands right now, the Indians are the favorite to win the American League Central Division in 2018, and their roster is set up to contend for the next few years.

And as we just learned and should remember from last year’s run to the World Series, once you get in the playoffs, you have a good chance to win it all.

We have said many times that the best thing about the Indians is their two best players are 25 (Ramirez) and 23 (Lindor). And they have one of best prospects in the game in Francisco Mejia coming soon.

Where Mejia will play is up for debate at this time.

And don’t forget about Bradley Zimmer, who tailed off after a hot start, but should improve in his second big league season.

They still have the best starting rotation in the game, and if Trevor Bauer has found some consistency, they could have a top three that is the envy of any GM in the game, and Clevinger went 12-6 in his first extended big league experience.

They also have Danny Salazar, Josh Tomlin, and Ryan Merritt to fill out the rotation.

Bryan Shaw and Joe Smith are free agents, so there may be a couple of holes in the bullpen, but we wouldn’t be surprised if one or both are back in 2018.

The front office does have some decisions to make. Carlos Santana and Jay Bruce are free agents, and Michael Brantley has a club option for ’18.

Our bet on the free agents is that it will come down to years, because the Indians can’t afford to pay a player big money (over $10 million per year) for someone who isn’t producing.

And where will Jason Kipnis play in 2018? It’s pretty clear the Tribe wants to use Ramirez at 2B going forward, so is Kipnis’ move to the outfield permanent. A lot could depend on what happens with Santana and Bruce.

We think many fans got caught thinking the playoffs would be a cakewalk because of last year. The Yankees were a better club than either the Red Sox or the Blue Jays, and most of the key players stopped hitting.

It’s a reminder of how special last year’s run to the Fall Classic with basically three starters was.

It’s painful now, but the future is very bright for the Cleveland Indians. Just win the division next year and take another shot at winning the whole thing.

Why Is Hue Held Blameless?

We understand how it goes when covering a team. Reporters talk to the coaches everyday, and unless the coach is a total jerk, we are sure they develop a good relationship.

And when you cover the Cleveland Browns, and the front office representative, Sashi Brown is kind of condescending to the media, it is probably natural to support the coach when at all possible.

However, in watching the games, it is hard to see if objectivity is used, why the front office should be under attack.

One veteran media member said yesterday that the Kenny Britt signing is proof that Brown is over his head as Executive Vice President of the team. What?

Wouldn’t the signing of CB Jason McCourty alone counteract the Britt acquisition?

And that’s not even bringing up getting Jamie Collins, Briean Boddy-Calhoun, and Jamar Taylor in trades or guys brought in off the waiver wire.

While the “you have to have a football man in charge” people don’t want to admit it, the two drafts the Brown regime has overseen has more promising players chosen than most drafts in recent memory.

Another reporter wrote after Sunday’s loss to the Jets that Jackson couldn’t be blamed because Zane Gonzalez missed two field goals and DeShone Kizer turned it over twice in the red zone. Huh?

He’s in charge, right? He gets credit when players play well.

He’s developed the game plan that put in an audible for an option pitch near the goal line that resulted in a fumble. The second turnover was simply an awful throw by Kizer.

Jackson is also the coach who didn’t put in a system to protect a 21-year-old rookie quarterback. Look at the two quarterbacks most media members bring up as guys the front office blew it by passing on.

Carson Wentz is having a fine season for the 4-1 Eagles. But his offense is also 4th in the NFL in rushing. Deshaun Watson, passed over this season, is playing well too, but the Texans are 3rd in running the football.

The Browns rank 23rd in rushing and this past week gave their quarterback more carries than Duke Johnson had touches.

The failure to commit to the running game is on the coach, it’s not Sashi Brown’s fault.

In fact, Brown spent a ton of money on two offensive linemen, both of whom start for the 2017 Browns.

We also read someone bemoaning the players the front office let go, bringing up Alex Mack and Mitchell Schwartz. Mack started in the Super Bowl, and Schwartz starts for the NFL’s best team in Kansas City.

Those are fair criticisms.

Then, Terrelle Pryor was brought up. The same Pryor who has 13 catches for 186 yards on the season to date. Heck. Ricardo Louis has 15 receptions for 204 yards.

Also mentioned? Gary Barnidge, who isn’t on an NFL roster.

And of course, Joe Haden is always brought up. Haden is still a decent cornerback in the NFL, but he no longer can match up with top receivers. Stop comparing him to the memories of him four years ago before the injuries took their toll.

Yesterday, a member of the Browns’ broadcast crew admitted Cleveland has more talent than the Jets, the team that defeated them last Sunday. They are now 3-2 on the season.

So, why can’t the Browns win some games? We aren’t advocating firing the head coach because the organization can’t keep doing that.

However, it is time to start holding the coaching staff accountable. Don’t protect him because he’s a good guy, and point the finger at someone who you don’t know.

Decisions In Red Zone Cost Browns.

We are sure most of the focus of today’s 17-14 loss by the Cleveland Browns to the New York Jets will be on Hue Jackson’s decision to remove DeShone Kizer at halftime.

However, that shouldn’t mask the terrible coaching decisions made during the game. Although the smile on fans’ faces after watching Myles Garrett, who recorded two sacks in his debut, shouldn’t be discounted.

Quite frankly, the Browns dominated this football game, particularly in the first half, which ended with Cleveland trailing 3-0.

In total, the Browns gained 419 yards offensively, compared to 212 by the Jets. And they still lost.

With this one-sided statistical edge, Jackson should have to answer for a case of trying to be too cute offensively when his team got into the red zone.

The first time the brown and orange got inside the Jets’ 20, Cleveland ran an option pitch on third down, the first time the play has been used all year.

The pitch went off of Isaiah Crowell’s hands and was recovered by New York, so instead of at least three points (more on that later), the Browns were kept off the scoreboard.

Later, on the Browns’ next possession, rookie kicker Zane Gonzalez missed a 52-yard field goal. More to come on that front.

The next time Cleveland got the ball close, on a 3rd down and three from the Jets’ four, Kizer threw an interception when it looked as if had he floated the ball over the safety, it would have been a TD pass to TE Seth DeValve.

Before the half ended, Gonzalez missed another field goal, this one much more makeable, from 39 yards. It’s tough to keep missing opportunities to score points.

So, instead of 20 points possible in the first half. Jackson’s team emerged with zero, a combination of crazy play calling, execution by the rookie QB, and poor special teams play, mostly by the kicker.

In the second half, Kevin Hogan, who completed 16 of his 19 throws for 194 yards and two touchdowns, seemed to have more rhythm with the attack, and also looked more amenable to getting the ball to the teams’ best offensive players: Crowell, Duke Johnson, and tight ends David Njoku and DeValve.

But another curious decision came in to play. Down 10-7 in the fourth quarter, the Browns had a 4th and 2 from the Jets’ three. A field goal ties the score, and even with Gonzalez’ issues, he has to be counted on to make a 20 yard attempt, right?

Instead, the coach wasted a timeout, and ran Crowell up the middle, and he wasn’t even close.

That the defense, who was dominant for most of the day allowed a 97 yard drive didn’t help matters, but why not keep the momentum and tie the contest?

Cleveland ran 33 times today, but a closer look at the numbers shows than 10 of those attempts were by the quarterbacks.

Johnson had just nine touches, and produced 83 yards, including a 41 yard run after catching a screen pass.

Njoku scored his third touchdown in five games. Why aren’t the Browns using him more?

Removing Kizer was the right decision in our opinion. He was hurting the team’s chances at a victory. He holds the ball to long and the inaccuracy he was plagued with in college is rearing its’ ugly head.

It’s time for the rookie to watch for awhile, and we would definitely start Hogan next week against the Texans.

He’s earned the gig.

Besides stubbornness, trying to show people how smart you are is our least favorite attribute in coaches. Sometimes the obvious move is the right one.

Jackson has showed each of those things in the last two weeks.

Yankees A Huge Challenge For Tribe

Anyone who is an ardent fan of baseball knows that it is a funny game. It is probably the one sport where the best team not winning the World Series would be the norm.

The Cleveland Indians finished the regular season with the American League’s best record, so they get the winner of the wild card game as their opponent in the Division Series.

Unfortunately, the winner of that game, the New York Yankees, might just be the second best team in the AL.

The Indians led the league in run differential, outscoring their opponents by an incredible 254 runs. The Yankees were second, with a +198 mark, just slightly ahead of Houston’s +196.

It is not the ideal situation to play the second best team in the league in a best-of-five series.

Many people have focused on Terry Francona’s decision to start Trevor Bauer in game one, but we have always thought the even numbered games are most important in a series until the deciding game, and that may be Tito’s thought process in using ace Corey Kluber in the second game.

If Bauer wins the series opener, how great will it be to have Kluber going with a chance to take a commanding 2-0 lead.

And if the Indians lose game one, you have perhaps the AL’s best pitcher to tie up the series at a game apiece.

Another reason is Francona seems hesitant to use Josh Tomlin as a starter. If Kluber pitches game one, Tomlin would seem to be the most likely candidate to pitch a potential fourth game.

If Bauer goes in the first game, Kluber still would be the game five starter, and Bauer can go in game four, backed up by the bullpen, which has starters Danny Salazar, Mike Clevinger, and Tomlin as members.

There is no question the Yankees are a different team outside of the bandbox that is new Yankee Stadium, but amazingly, they pitch better at home too.

New York has a 817 OPS as a team at home, but that figure drops to 755 on the road. As a comparison, the Indians have a 782 OPS at Progressive Field, and a 793 OPS away from home, another reason the Cleveland tied Houston for the best road record in the AL at 53-28.

The Yankees also have a very good bullpen, perhaps second only to the Indians.

Just as Francona can shorten a game by going to Joe Smith, Bryan Shaw, Andrew Miller, and Cody Allen after five innings, Yankee skipper Joe Girardi can do the same with David Robertson, Chad Green, Tommy Kahnle, and Aroldis Chapman.

It will be very important for the Tribe to get an early lead in each game.

These games will probably be long. The two teams involved are one and two in the American League in walks, but the big difference is in strikeouts.

The Indians have a strikeout staff leading the AL in whiffs, and the Yankees rank 6th in the league in fanning. New York’s pitching staff ranks 4th in strikeouts, but Indians’ hitters are second to last in the junior circuit in whiffing.

The one decided edge the Tribe has is in the starting pitching. While Luis Severino is one of the sports’ best young starters, Francona has three of perhaps the top ten starters in the AL at his disposal.

It is very likely that this Yankee team is better than the Red Sox or Blue Jays teams the Indians met last year in the post-season.

Make no mistake, this series will be a challenge.

Failure To Run Not Doing Kizer Any Favors.

With the Cleveland Browns struggling once again this season, and rookie QB DeShone Kizer playing like, well, a rookie, another tradition has surfaced among fans and media alike.

That would be bringing up all of the quarterbacks the franchise has passed on in recent history.

However, no one is taking into account the circumstances that Kizer is dealing with to date.

When Kizer was named the starter in the pre-season, we (and just about everyone else) assumed Hue Jackson would protect the youngster, emphasizing the running game and the defense.

Only four teams right now have averaged less rushing attempts per game this season, and outside of Green Bay (3-1), the other three teams have combined for one win (by Miami) on the season.

Now, there are those who say because those teams are losing, they have to throw the football, but the teams who have accumulated the most rushing yards on the season right now are Jacksonville (a surprising 2-2), Denver (3-1), Philadelphia (3-1), Houston (2-2), and Tennessee (2-2).

What do all of those teams have in common? They all are playing relatively young quarterbacks, including two that the Browns passed up on, Carson Wentz and Deshaun Watson.

It’s almost as if a good recipe to win with a young quarterback is to run the football.

Would you be surprised if we told you Cleveland averages more yards per carry as a team than the Steelers, Bengals, or Packers? Well, they do, which makes it more curious as to why Jackson seems to give up on the run so easily.

Even Mike Pettine knew not to give up on the run.

Remember Pettine’s first game as head coach? The Browns trailed the Pittsburgh 27-3 at halftime, but instead of throwing the football all over Heinz Field, he stuck with the run, using 13 running plays in a third quarter where his team cut the lead to 27-17.

It can be done.

The lack of commitment to the running game is also hurting the defense. The Browns had the ball for 31 minutes in the opening day three point loss to Pittsburgh.

That number dropped to 26 minutes in the week two and three losses to Baltimore and Indianapolis, and reached a season low 24 minutes in Sunday’s defeat by the Bengals.

It’s not like the passing game is working either. Cleveland’s average yards per pass attempt of 5.0 ranks 29th in the NFL. And, of course, the nine interceptions thrown by Browns’ passers is three more than any other team in the league.

Jackson’s team has thrown the third most passes in the NFL, behind just Arizona and the New York Giants and tied with Green Bay. Those three teams all have veteran signal callers, two of them winning Super Bowls.

If Jackson wants to keep playing Kizer, and he should because once he was named the starter there was no turning back, he needs to protect him.

Commit to running the football even if you fall behind by two touchdowns early. Why not line up in two or three tight end sets, utilizing TEs Seth DeValve and David Njoku in the passing game?

And running the ball would control the clock, keep your defense fresh, and shorten football games. That’s what teams that lack talent should do.

It’s time for the Browns to take care of their rookie quarterback. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the coaching staff is interested to doing just that.

Stubbornness? See Jackson, Hue

When we watch the Cleveland Browns play this year to date, we think of the scene from the movie Tin Cup, when the producer of the telecast of the US Open says someone needs to tell this guy he doesn’t have to hit it from there.

Perhaps someone needs to tell Hue Jackson that he doesn’t have to keep having his rookie QB, DeShone Kizer throw the ball downfield to wide receivers who have trouble holding on to the football.

The Browns dropped to 0-4 on the season, getting boat raced by the previously winless Cincinnati Bengals 31-7 at First Energy Stadium.

This game turned early, when Emmanuel Ogbah strip sacked Andy Dalton on the Bengals’ second play of the game, and the Browns took over on the Cincy 30-yard-line.

Three plays netted no yardage, and Zane Gonzalez missed a 47 yard field goal, and the Bengals never looked back.

We watched the game thinking why don’t the Browns do what Cincinnati does on offense, which is run the ball, call some easy pass plays for Dalton, and occasionally take shots down the field?

Instead, Jackson has Kizer firing the ball down the field all the time.

Look, we understand Cleveland allowed 31 points for the second week in a row, but we will make one excuse for Gregg Williams’ unit. They are on the field all the time.

After winning the time of possession in the opener against Pittsburgh (31 minutes to 29), the following three weeks have seen Cleveland having the football 26, 26 and 24 minutes in the last three games.

That’s a tough way to play especially for a young team.

In the first half, the Browns had one drive where they made more than one first down, the drive that resulted in an interception off of the hands of Kenny Britt.

That’s a tough job for the defense, especially because they are missing three of their best players in Myles Garrett, Jamie Collins, and Danny Shelton.

Meanwhile, the offense can’t claim they are missing any key players.

We talked last week about getting the ball to the four best players on offense. This week, here are the results:

Isaiah Crowell: 7 carries, 20 yards, 1 catch 8 yards (8 touches)
Duke Johnson: 4 carries, 13 yards, 9 catches 47 yards (13 touches)
Seth DeValve: 1 catch, 2 yards–4 targets (1 touch)
David Njoku: 2 catches, 11 yards–3 targets (2 touches)

So, that quartet touched the ball 24 times in Cleveland’s 61 offensive plays.

That doesn’t seem like enough, does it?

Jackson has to understand what he is doing, right?

He’s killing his defense because they are on the field constantly. It doesn’t excuse a 61 yard pass and run on a screen pass where no one touches the ball carrier, but you can understand why the defense runs out of gas in games.

Put Kizer in some safer down and distance positions.

Our chief pet peeve with coaches in professional sports is stubbornness. Jackson is displaying all of the classic symptoms.

We understand he favors an offense that throws downfield, but he doesn’t have the personnel to do that. So, you have to adjust. Until he does, you are going to have games like this.

And you aren’t really helping a rookie quarterback.

Can Jackson change? That’s the million dollar question. But he needs to, or he is going to give the front office something they probably don’t want to consider.

We understood what the Browns did a year ago. However, they need to make progress this season in the standings. They way they are going about their business isn’t allowing that to happen, if indeed it can.

Will Added Depth Be Enough For Cavs

Basketball season is just around the corner and the most interesting team in the NBA is probably the Cleveland Cavaliers.

A team that has gone to the NBA Finals three consecutive years has made some drastic changes to the roster.

In fact, the Cavs might have the deepest roster in the league, with 14 players currently on the roster who have had success in the NBA.

That number includes the newest Cavalier, 12 time all star Dwyane Wade, who signed with the wine and gold after getting a buyout from the Chicago Bulls.

Tyronn Lue will need all the depth because there is a lot medical issues on the roster, so the 12 players who are active will probably change on the night by night basis.

Isaiah Thomas will likely miss the first two and a half months with his hip injury, so he will not be part of the mix early in the season, and we would expect Wade, who will turn 36 this season, to get plenty of games off as well.

Veterans like Kyle Korver, Channing Frye, and Richard Jefferson are others who may not be active every night when the schedule gets heavy.

Lue will have to find a balance between rest and rust for these players, making sure they can stay sharp in the regular season while making sure they are sharp for the post-season.

What will this mean if the Cavs and Golden State Warriors match up in The Finals for a 4th straight season?

For one, Cleveland played even with the Warriors when LeBron James was on the floor, but when James was on the bench, Golden State rolled.

Hopefully, there is way more firepower off the bench, and it’s not just the extreme isolation ball (Kyrie Irving) or one dimensional three point shooters.

With players like Wade and Derrick Rose, Lue has more players who can create their own shots at his disposal, and that will keep more pressure on opponents.

Face it, last year, the only Cavs who could create offense were James and Irving. This year, Lue has James, Wade, Rose, and Thomas when he returns.

And they still have JR Smith, Korver, Frye, and of course Kevin Love, who can knock down threes. Don’t sleep on Jae Crowder in that regard either.

Cleveland also added a premier defender in Crowder, which will take some of the responsibility for guarding Kevin Durant away from James, and veteran Jeff Green, who can cover both small and power forwards.

There is no question is our mind that the difference in the Finals was Durant.

If he can be slowed down, it would definitely help the Cavs’ cause.

While giving the veterans some rest, he could use that time to develop young players Cedi Osman, Ante Zizic, and Edy Tavares. The latter two could be key because the roster still seems to be one quality big man short.

It will also be interesting to see how quickly the newcomers gel with the players who were here last season.

Lue and James have made the transition much quicker than it has taken other teams in the past.

Will the Cavs miss the player they traded to Boston? They certainly will miss his incredible shot making ability.

On the other hand, they won’t have to play a completely different style with James off the floor, which could lead to a reduced workload. They should also have ball movement no matter who is on the floor.

It should be fun and it should be interesting to watch the Cleveland Cavaliers this year. Watching a highly motivated James won’t be bad either.

Unreal Tribe Putting Up Unreal Numbers

When a major league baseball team wins 29 out of 31 games it is clearly something incredible.

The hottest stretch for a team we can remember was the 35-5 stretch the 1984 Detroit Tigers started that season. That carried the Motor City Kitties to a World Series title.

Each time the Tribe lost in that span, they rebounded with resounding wins, an 8-4 win over Kansas City after the Royals ended the American League record 22 game winning skein, and an 11-4 thumping of Seattle after the Mariners beat the Tribe in walk off fashion last Friday night.

Still, there are more remarkable numbers surrounding the 2017 Cleveland Indians.

First, the franchise is on the verge of winning 100 games in a season for just the third time in history. Keep in mind, the Indians have been playing baseball in Cleveland since 1901. Only the 1954 team (111 wins) and the ’95 squad (100 wins) have accomplished this.

Consider the tremendous season Carlos Carrasco is having. The right-hander is 17-6 for the year, and has allowed 167 hits in 192 innings, striking out 212 hitters, while walking just 45. His ERA is 3.43, well below the league average.

Then look at the unworldly numbers put up by his teammate, Corey Kluber.

Kluber has pitched seven more innings than Carrasco and has allowed 32 less hits. Kluber has fanned 50 more hitters while walking nine less hitters.

That’s one reason Kluber could and should become the first two time Cy Young Award winner in the history of the franchise.

You have the incredible season from Jose Ramirez. We think everyone will now realize that last season was not a fluke for the switch-hitter, who turned just 25 years old a week ago.

Ramirez has 86 extra base hits, the 7th highest total in club history and if he can get three more in the final six games, only Albert Belle (103 in ’95), Hal Trosky (96 in ’36) and Grady Sizemore (92 in 2006) would have more.

If two of those would be doubles, Ramirez would have 53 on the season, and the last time an Indian had more would be 1923 when Hall of Famer Tris Speaker had 59.

That’s a historic season and remember, he’s only 25.

Speaking of tremendous young players, 23-year-old switch-hitting shortstop Francisco Lindor is another Tribe player making history.

Lindor has already set club records for home runs in a season by a shortstop and middle infielder, and he is approaching 80 extra base hits for a season and 100 runs scored for a season.

Remember when fans were concerned about Edwin Encarnacion early in the season?

The slugger should get at least one more RBI in the final six games, which would give him 100 for the fifth time in the last six years. He has also set a career high in walks without his strikeouts increasing over last year.

There is also a possibility of him reaching 40 home runs for the third time in his career.

We know the Indians will be home on October 5th for the first game of the Division Series. They still could get home field throughout the American League playoffs too.

If the pitching continues like it has over the last month, it could be a very fun month of October for Terry Francona’s team.

Browns’ Offense Needs To Use Playmakers

Nobody with any common sense figured the Cleveland Browns would be a playoff team, but they did expect some kind of improvement.

We would feel satisfied with four or five wins this year.

However, after a promising beginning at home against the Steelers, confidence for that improvement is beginning to wane for even the staunchest supporters of the organization.

The Browns fell behind one of the teams they should be able to compete with, the Indianapolis Colts without Andrew Luck, 28-7 before rallying but falling short 31-28, and dropping their record to 0-3 on the season.

Offensively, Hue Jackson seems to have a couple of problems.

First, he seems to have a hard time committing to the run. Isaiah Crowell ran the ball four times for 16 yards in the first five offense plays for Cleveland.

That was followed up by seven consecutive passing plays, of which one was completed.

On the Browns’ first touchdown drive, in which they tied the game at seven, Cleveland ran the ball four times for 37 yards, the other 38 came on a pass completion to Kenny Britt

At that point in the game, Crowell had seven carries for 34 yards. He carried the ball just five times the rest of the game, which still had 43 minutes to go.

When the Browns got the ball back down by a touchdown on their next possession, they ran six plays, four of them passes.

Enough of that train of thought, the other problem the offense has right now is they don’t get the ball to the guys who can make plays.

Crowell ran 12 times and caught two passes. Duke Johnson ran the ball twice, yes twice, and caught six passes, accounting for 104 yards, many of them coming in the fourth quarter, although he did score the first TD on a 19 yard run.

We may be in the minority, but Seth DeValve can make big plays. Yet, he caught only two balls for 29 yards. For the season, he has 8 catches, averaging over 16 yards per catch.

Rookie David Njoku, who will frustrate you with drops, has found the end zone twice in three games.

Instead the Browns targeted these three players 22 times in the passing game: Britt, Rashard Higgins, and Ricardo Louis. The trio caught six passes.

Our criticism is that instead of forcing the ball to a mediocre wide receiver group, Jackson needs to get his playmakers involved.

Defensively, the inability to stop WR T.Y. Hilton plagued the Browns. Hilton caught seven passes for 153 yards and a 61 yard touchdown hookup.

Gregg Williams crew held the Colts under 100 yards rushing and a 2.6 average per rush.

But Indianapolis converted 8 of 17 third downs and that allowed them to win the time of possession statistic.

To be fair, the failure to use the running game doesn’t help keep the defense off the field.

Neither does losing the turnover battle, 3 to 1, although one of DeShone Kizer’s interceptions came on the last play of the game.

Joe Schobert continues to impress with eight tackles and a half a sack, and Nate Orchard had a sack as did Emmanuel Ogbah.

There were adjustments made at halftime, and the Colts got just a field goal in the second half, and that score was the result of an offside penalty on 4th and 2 from the Browns’ 40.

That’s something we would like to see from the offense. Adjustments. Use the players who can make plays, and stop getting away from the ground game so early.

Take some pressure off of your 21-year-old rookie quarterback. We thought that was the plan when Kizer was given the job. Unfortunately, as of right now, that’s not the case.