Somehow, The Browns Pull Out A Win

The Cleveland Browns pulled a rabbit out of a hat Sunday and upset the Green Bay Packers 13-10 when Andre Szmyt made a 55-yard field goal as time expired.

The 0-6 start that many people predicted for the Browns won’t happen. But we think we speak for everyone in saying that halfway through the fourth quarter, we figured Kevin Stefanski’s crew was not only going to lose, but they were going to be shutout.

The offense took advantage of some penalties and got the ball to the Green Bay one with five minutes to go but got pushed back and had to settle for Szmyt’s first field goal. We imagine fans all over northeast Ohio were shaking their collective heads when the first down play was a rollout pass to reverse offensive lineman Luke Wypler.

Another instance of Stefanski trying to get too cute.

But an ill-advised pass by Jordan Love resulted in the Browns’ first turnover of the year, an interception by Grant Delpit and this time Cleveland punched it in to tie the game.

Then, a contribution by the special teams. Shelby Harris blocked a field goal with :21 left on the clock and gave the Browns one last chance.

There was great execution on a short pass to David Njoku, not in the play design, but in getting the offensive line back to the line of scrimmage so Joe Flacco could kill the clock and leave time for Szmyt’s heroics.

Unbelieveable

The reality about this football team is as long as they stay relatively healthy, the defense is going keep this team in games. It’s that good. Green Bay put up 266 and 404 yards in their first two games, both wins, but picked up 230 yards against Cleveland.

Cleveland’s defense had five sacks, as the Packers went into the game refusing to let Myles Garrett ruin their offense, and that created opportunities for everyone else.

Maliek Collins had a sack and a half, Alex Wright had one, Garrett and rookie Adin Huntington shared one, and the rookies also shined.

Carson Schwesinger continues to impress. He got his first sack and was in on 10 tackles. Mason Graham teamed up with Collins on a sack. And the defense allowed just 81 yards on the ground.

Right now, you can make the case they are the best defense in the league. And they haven’t faced any opponents that didn’t have solid, if not, high powered attacks.

Another rookie, RB Quinshon Judkins was a key in the fourth quarter, ripping off a 38-yard run in route to gaining 94 yards on the day.

The offensive line still appears to be a concern. Dawand Jones left the game in the first quarter and Jack Conklin missed the game again, so most of the way, the Browns were playing with Cornelius Lucas and KT Leveston were playing outside.

Flacco heard boos during the game as the Browns couldn’t muster much of an offense, maybe due to the offensive line play, and maybe because Stefanski has preached not putting the ball in harms’ way.

Right now, he is checking down virtually every pass play. The longest pass plays were a 17-yard toss to Jerry Jeudy and another to Isaiah Bond. There was a 13-yard play to Harold Fannin Jr., where he basically carried defenders to get that much yardage.

If we were defending the Browns, we would put nine in the box to stop Judkins and dare Flacco to air it out. And if defenses do that, it makes it difficult for Stefanski to establish the ground game.

However, a win is a win. The gauntlet doesn’t get any easier with a visit to Detroit, another high-powered offense next week.

Meaningless Game Done, Meaningful Ones Start Again This Weekend For Browns

The Cleveland Browns concluded the exhibition portion of their schedule Sunday with a 31-14 defeat at the hands of Cincinnati. Technically, the game counted in the standings and the Browns end the 2023 season with an 11-6 mark, but the contest meant nothing to Kevin Stefanski’s crew and it was handled accordingly.

Heck, the Browns started a quarterback who wasn’t even on the roster for the previous game, signing Jeff Driskel from Arizona’s practice squad and putting him under center.

And yes, that should tell you how much Stefanski wants to see P.J. Walker play for the team.

The game itself was pretty much over by halftime as the Bengals led 24-0, but it seemed defensive coordinator lit into his unit during the break and that side of the ball performed much better in the second half, holding Cincy to seven points.

Alex Wright continued his fine play with another sack, and rookie Isaiah McGuire flashed as well with a sack. D’Anthony Bell had an interception on the Bengals’ first drive, continuing his fine play.

The offense sputtered much of the day until Driskel connected with David Bell for a pair of touchdown throws in the fourth quarter. Ironically, the last time the Browns were shutout was by the Bengals in 2014, which was Johnny Manziel’s first career start.

So, Driskel fared better than that.

Keep in mind, the Browns’ bye week was following the fourth game of the season, so they have had a long stretch without time off, and with all of the injuries the squad has suffered this season, there is no question in our mind that resting the veterans who are banged up was the correct call.

As for a loss of “momentum”, we aren’t worried about that. Stefanski’s mantra has been going 1-0 every week, and that won’t change now that the playoffs are starting.

Saturday, the Browns will travel to Houston to take on a team they defeated on Christmas Eve, 36-22, in a game that wasn’t that close. Cleveland had a 36-7 margin in the fourth quarter.

Of course, the Texans didn’t have the likely rookie of the year in QB C.J. Stroud. We did hear a former player turned analyst say over the weekend that the key term in discussing Stroud is “rookie”. He said the playoffs are a different game and it will be difficult for a quarterback, especially a first year one, in his first playoff game.

Stroud was impressive Saturday night in the win that clinched a playoff spot for Houston, but then again, the Colts’ defense is not the Browns’ defense.

The Browns were the stingiest unit in the league in allowing teams to move the football and allowed 44 less first downs than any other team in the NFL. And after a slow start in gaining turnovers, they finished tied for fifth in the league in that stat.

Yes, Stroud is good, and the Texans are a solid football team. The games where the Browns play the Jets or the Cardinals (sorry, Jonathan Gannon) are done. This is the playoffs, only the best teams are remaining.

The Browns are one of those teams. And Saturday, everyone will play. It should be exciting.

Browns’ Draft? Not Excited, But Not Bad

We think everyone can agree that a draft without a first round pick cannot be considered sexy. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be impactful.

The Cleveland Browns traded its first round pick (and those for 2023 and 2024) for QB Deshaun Watson, and then traded down from the 44th pick, and the people who love the NFL Draft around town went crazy.

We still believe there is a portion of the fan base around the city who assume everything the Browns do is stupid and everything the Ravens and Steelers do is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Cleveland has a pretty solid roster and the likelihood that someone picked over the weekend would be projected to have a starting spot on the 2022 team was slim to begin with.

So, how did GM Andrew Berry and the local gridiron team do in the draft?

Their first pick was CB Martin Emerson of Mississippi State at pick #68. While cornerback was not a position of need for the Browns, in our view, you can never have enough good corners, and we know it will remain to be seen if Emerson is just that.

The scouting report on Emerson is that he is better in man-to-man coverage than zone, and it feels like the Browns don’t play enough of that style of defense. Maybe they will start, although that probably goes hand in hand with stopping the running game better.

The draftniks seems to like the next choice, 6’7″, 270 pound Alex Wright out of UAB. He will probably be a pass rusher in Cleveland. The problem for him according to scouts is inconsistency. Like cornerbacks, we feel you can never have enough guys to go after the opposing team’s passer.

We really like the pick of David Bell in the third round. We’ve seen a few Purdue games and he stood out. Does this translate to success in the NFL? That remains to be seen, but he played against big time competition and succeeded. And he’s a big target at 6’2″, 210 pounds. He seems like a slot receiver, which the Browns need.

Everyone loves the choice of Perrion Winfrey because the draft “experts” had him ranked as a second round pick, and the Browns got him in the fourth round. The scouting reports say he has great athleticism for a man his size (6’4″, 292 pounds). Earlier, we said the Browns needed help stopping the run. Hopefully, Winfrey can help there and put pressure up the middle on opposing QBs.

We can’t end this without looking at the most controversial choice, drafting K Cade York from LSU at #124. We saw one expert say this was not an area of need for the Browns, to which we would ask if he watches the games.

We have no problem with this pick. Chase McLaughlin was one of the worst field goal kickers in the NFL last season, and Cleveland lost six games by six points or less.

Does picking York this high make him a surefire success in the pros? Of course not, but he winds up being as good as Phil Dawson, it’s a great pick.

Think about this, if all of the current players were put into a draft today, where would the Ravens’ kicker, Justin Tucker go? He might go in the first round, he’s that much of a weapon.

Time will tell if any of the players drafted by the Browns this past weekend can contribute. Many will be special teamers at least for the first year.

It was a depth draft for Cleveland. Hard to get too excited.