Browns Trying To Right The Wrongs They Inflicted On Themselves

The NFL playoffs started this past weekend, a grim reminder that it was only one year ago the Cleveland Browns were participating. Yes, it might seem like eons ago, but it was only 12 months.

While others want to sound the woe is us card when it comes to the Browns (as usual), we can’t get past the point that the organization did this to themselves. They replaced several offensive coaches, in essence tearing apart something that needed building upon.

The Charles Barkley quote keeps ringing in our ears, “if it ain’t broke, don’t break it”.

We questioned a few times why when offensive line guru Bill Callahan went to Tennessee to coach with his son, the front office simply didn’t hire his assistant, Scott Peters, to succeed him. This would have been perfect sense, continuing the blocking scheme Callahan brought to Cleveland.

In an interview after the season ending loss to Baltimore, after hearing the news that Andy Dickerson was fired as the O-line coach, Joel Bitonio and Jack Conklin wondered out loud why the Browns made the change in scheme. They said they would like to go back to that.

It’s something else we always say. The players know when the coaches or the front office does something dumb. And nothing erodes the relationship between a coach and the players like doing something that doesn’t work and keep sticking with it.

And all these moves were made to justify the biggest mistake the Browns made in the last 10 years (perhaps in franchise history), the trade for Deshaun Watson. And compounding a mistake is always worse than just moving on from it.

Remember, Watson ruled out the Browns before the deal was made and only agreed to come to Cleveland when they fully guaranteed the contract. That should have sent a message that he really didn’t want to be here. And let’s face it, he still doesn’t want to be here.

It’s akin to being unemployed and taking the first job offer you get even though you know it’s not a good fit for you. Watson felt he could make it work, but his heart really wasn’t in it.

And the organization did not show Watson any tough love. Instead of telling him to conform to Kevin Stefanski’s offense, which has been proven, they instead decided to breakdown what was working, and try to make it more “Watson friendly”.

We guess the best news out of this is the organization decided to try to reverse the course after one season, a 3-14 disaster true, but they didn’t stick their heads in the sand and pretend everything was okay.

They hired a new offensive line coach, Mike Bloomgren, who lost his job as head coach at Rice University. Who did Bloomgren coach with earlier in his career with the Jets? That’s right, Bill Callahan.

The candidates for offensive coordinator also seem to have Stefanski’s offense, which means running the football in mind. It will be interesting to see who gets the gig, but it won’t be a pass first coach like Ken Dorsey.

As for Watson, his re-tear of the Achilles’ tendon virtually assures what was always thought to be true. His career in Cleveland is over.

The worst thing about it? The loss of draft picks and wasting three years of the careers of so many players.

Garrett Is In Concert With The Fans In Saying Get It Fixed

Myles Garrett caused quite the commotion last Friday in his weekly chat with the media, telling the Browns’ front office to get their act together.

And as usual, there was a lot of overreaction from the media and Browns’ fans.

First, Garrett did not ask to be traded. In fact, he said he wanted to finish his career with the Browns. He said he did not want to be part of a long rebuilding program such as the one the team started in 2016 when they stripped it down and rebuilt from the ground up.

Garrett was the first pick in the ’17 draft after Cleveland went 1-15. He played on a team that went 0-16 in his rookie year.

He will also be 29 years old next season and understands his NFL future isn’t going to be lengthy.

We compare it to LeBron James’ second tenure with the Cavaliers in which he continually put pressure on the front office to put a winning team on the court. He didn’t want to be on a real good team, he wanted to be with a group that can compete for titles.

Garrett has played for the Browns eight seasons and has participated in three playoff games, winning one. He will likely be named to his sixth Pro Bowl this season, and of course was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year following last season.

And when he retires, he will likely head to Canton to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Since 1960, he’s the greatest defensive player the Browns have ever had. He’s just would like to see how the team is going to compete next year and the following seasons. He’s tired of wasting his talents on what has turned out to be a mess of a season.

In a way, Garrett was talking for the fans. He was on a squad that made the playoffs a year ago, with coaching and leadership that guided the team through four different quarterbacks.

After the season, the front office decided to make wholesale changes to that coaching staff and overhaul an offense that proved to be pretty effective.

Gone were people like Alex Van Pelt, Bill Callahan, and Stump Mitchell. Since Cleveland’s first run to the playoffs in 2020, the Browns have been a running team, led of course by Nick Chubb. In the defensive end’s comments Friday, he talked about the lack of a running game this year, and how that impacts his side of the ball.

He probably can’t believe after all these years; wholesale changes were made to a winning season. Frankly, we thought the same.

And all the changes were made to suit a quarterback who came here with great numbers but hasn’t really produced since he arrived in town.

As the best player on the team, he feels it is fair for the powers that be show him what the plan is going forward. Maybe he saw the reports that they were planning to give Deshaun Watson a shot at the QB job next year, and he knows that’s not going to work.

Perhaps he just wants to be reassured this isn’t going to be another total rebuild again. Teams in the NFL go from fourth to first place every year, why can’t the Browns do the same thing next season?

That 1-15 team that Garrett and David Njoku arrived to play with didn’t have players like Denzel Ward, Grant Delpit, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Jerry Jeudy, and Wyatt Teller on it.

We are sure the front office’s plan didn’t include making their best player upset.

Garrett is with the fans on this. He’s saying to the front office, “get it fixed”. He’s earned the right to make that comment.

2024 Has Been A Year Of Mistakes For The Browns

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.

Three People To Watch For Browns Not Named Deshaun Watson

With the Cleveland Browns’ season starting today, it is clear that the player with the most pressure on him coming into the season is QB Deshaun Watson. The Browns paid a hefty price for the quarterback, giving up three first round draft picks and paying him a ton of guaranteed cash, and have received little return on their investment.

However, there are others under the microscope for us as the 2024 season kicks off today.

Offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey. Let’s face it, the Browns’ offense hasn’t exactly been broken over the last four seasons with Kevin Stefanski and Alex Van Pelt running it. Since Stefanski became head coach, Cleveland has ranked between 14th and 18th in yards gained, right in the middle of the pack.

Dorsey’s offense in Buffalo, where he was offensive coordinator in 2022 ranked 2nd in yardage, but he was let go during the season last year.

He did have Josh Allen, one of the better QBs in the NFL guiding his attack. He comes to town with a reputation for getting the most out of “dual threat” quarterbacks, having worked with Allen and Cam Newton during his time in Carolina.

His job here is to get the most out of Watson, get him back to the player he was in Houston. However, let’s not forget the Browns’ offense hummed under Joe Flacco late last season and Stefanski has gotten the best out of pretty much every quarterback he has worked with. Except one.

Offensive line coach Andy Dickerson. He’s replacing a legend in Bill Callahan, recognized as one of the best line coaches in the business. Callahan left to coach with his son Brian in Tennessee, and the Browns made the right decision in allowing that to happen.

If the offensive line has issues this year, no doubt Dickerson will be under scrutiny because he’s not Callahan. The interior of this unit is solid with guards Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller, and center Ethan Pocic.

Right now, the tackle spots are up in the air, but that’s due to injury and not the coaching. As we write this, we don’t know who will start at left tackle.

Much of the Browns’ success under Stefanski has been the ability to run the football, much of that due to Nick Chubb of course, but also Bill Callahan. Can Dickerson maintain that level of excellence, especially has injuries occur?

And that brings us to…

Running back Jerome Ford. The third-year back got his first extended action last season when Chubb went down and averaged a little less than four yards per carry. Chubb, of course, is one of the best in league history, averaging 5.3 yards per carry for his career.

However, remember D’Ernest Johnson? He got 100 carries in 2021 for Cleveland and averaged 5.3 yards per carry. Last year, Pierre Strong picked up 4.6 yards per attempt.

If the Browns are going to run the ball effectively, and yes, they will need to, Ford has to do better than four yards per attempt.

For us, he seems to hesitate when he approaches the line at times instead of putting his head down and getting two yards, he looks for the big gain and loses yardage.

Perhaps that comes with experience, and we will see that in ’24. But no doubt, the Browns need the running game, especially if they have leads going into the fourth quarter.

Schwartz Has The Chops To Fix The Defense

Let’s face it, the best thing about the Browns’ hiring of Jim Schwartz as defensive coordinator is that he is not Joe Woods. No doubt, fans had to be tired of the excuses and lack of communication on that side of the ball.

Another positive is the experience factor. It seems the most heralded assistant coach Kevin Stefanski has is offensive line coach Bill Callahan, a former college and pro head coach who has been around a long time. His unit is arguably the strongest on the team.

Why not add another veteran of the coaching wars. Schwartz got his start right here on the heralded Bill Belicheck Browns’ staff which also featured Nick Saban, Eric Mangini, Kirk Ferentz, and Woody Widenhofer. He’s been around the NFL for a long time.

We are not going to judge the hire now, nor are we going to predict how Schwartz is going to coach the defense. Our hope is he will do what good coaches do, that is, look at the personnel he has and develop a plan that maximizes the talent of the players.

In a radio interview, former Titans’ safety Blaine Bishop said Schwartz reinvents himself wherever he goes because he looks at the talent on the roster and adjusts his scheme to suit the strengths of the players. We certainly hope that trend continues.

However, in 14 years as defensive coordinator with Tennessee (2001-08), Buffalo (2014), and Philadelphia (2016-20), his defenses have finished in the top half of the league eight times, and six of those seasons ranked in the top ten in yards allowed.

In points allowed Schwartz’ defense finished in the top 16 nine times, four of those in the top ten.

He seems to put an emphasis on stopping the run, finishing in the top ten eight times in allowing rushing yards. That should be a relief to Cleveland football fans who watched opposing teams punish the Browns’ defense running the ball. The Browns probably would have been worse than 7-10 had some teams not forgotten the brown and orange couldn’t contain the running game.

We understand there will be an adjustment to a new coordinator next year, so it is unlikely the defense will be dominant to start the season, but really, is that any different from the last two seasons? In each of those years, Woods’ defense was below average in the first eight games.

We also get there will be some personnel changes too. But those would have been made anyway because it is doubtful the Browns would be able to effectively stop the ground game with the current roster. However, this team still has some top end players in Myles Garrett, Denzel Ward, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Greg Newsome, and rookie Martin Emerson.

Our guess is Schwartz will look at those cornerbacks and will play more man-to-man than his predecessor, and we fully support that. He will also likely look at the defensive front and ask for help so the defense can be stouter against the run.

You know how we feel about that. You can’t win in the NFL unless you can stop the run.

Bringing in a veteran coach with a track record of success most likely isn’t a bad thing. The defense was the reason the Browns went 7-10 this season, not playcalling or lack of yelling by the head coach.

That’s why we should all be happy about the hire.

Having Running Back Depth Is Huge For Browns

Many times, the thing that separates the good teams from the great ones in the NFL is depth. While bad teams have some good players, if those players go down, there isn’t anyone close to replace them, and the team can’t overcome the loss, and start losing.

We saw that to a degree last season with the Browns, when Myles Garrett was suspended, and the Cleveland defense couldn’t put any pressure on opposing passers. That was a major factor in a 2-4 record in those games, and the opponents scoring 30 points in half of those contests.

In Sunday’s 49-38 win over Dallas, the Browns lost perhaps their best player, running back Nick Chubb, to a knee injury, and it was announced yesterday, he would be put on injured reserve, with reports being he will be out about six weeks.

While it is a blow having Chubb on the sidelines, it is one area where Cleveland has some depth because of the presence of Kareem Hunt, who led the NFL in rushing in his rookie season (2017).

Hunt now figures to get the bulk of the carries, although after the Dallas game, they aren’t too far apart in attempts, as Chubb has carried the rock 57 times, Hunt has 50 carries.

While both Chubb and Hunt are elite backs, Sunday’s tremendous total of 307 rushing yards shows they are just a part of the machine that Kevin Stefanski, offensive line coach Bill Callahan, and running backs coach Stump Mitchell have put together.

We say machine because when Chubb left the game in Dallas, D’Ernest Johnson, who had 26 in five NFL carries prior, came in and ran for 95 yards in 13 carries, and Dontrell Hilliard, who was on the practice squad the previous week, picked up 19 more on five attempts.

The Browns lead the NFL with a whopping 5.9 yards per carry, and are averaging over 200 yards per game on the ground. The Baltimore Ravens did this a year ago, but no other team has done it for a full year in a 16 game season.

You have to go back to the 1970’s to find teams that averaged 200 yards per game on the ground outside of the Ravens. It was done six times in that decade before the league went to 16 games in 1978.

This shows the zone blocking scheme, popularized by the Shanahan family (Mike and Kyle), installed by Stefanski and Callahan is more than doing its job. It also shows the improvements made by the front office in the off-season, drafting Jedrick Wills, and signing Jack Conklin as a free agent has paid tremendous dividends.

However, it helps that with Chubb not being able to see the field for awhile, that Cleveland has a back the caliber of Hunt to pick up the slack. And you might see more end around runs for Odell Beckham Jr., who had 73 yards rushing on Sunday.

The offense will get a big test coming up this weekend when the Indianapolis Colts come to town. The Colts lead the NFL in total defense, and are allowing just 76 rushing yards per game, and since an opening week loss to Jacksonville, haven’t allowed more than 11 points in the last three weeks.

Here is the problem for other teams, though. If they crowd the line of scrimmage to stop the run, Baker Mayfield and his cadre of receivers, led by Beckham and Jarvis Landry can stretch the field and spread out the defense.

Through four weeks, there is a lot to feel good about in regards to the Cleveland Browns being able to put points on the scoreboard.