Is Patience Best Course Of Action For Browns?

The Cleveland Browns had great expectations coming into the 2019 NFL season, and instead they were a huge disappointment, likely finishing the year with a losing record.

Again.

Many folks around northeast Ohio place the blame solely on head coach Freddie Kitchens, demanding his head as soon as the 16th game of the campaign is completed in Cincinnati.

However, it’s not just Kitchens who should be blamed and that’s why we can’t get on board with firing him when the season ends.

This is not to say Kitchens is the next Bill Belichick or John Harbaugh, but rather he should get the opportunity to make changes based on his experience of 2019. Let’s see if he can grow in the position.

We understand everyone’s impatience, but is it worth the risk of starting over…again.

Besides, there are other things we would like to say answered or addressed by the Browns’ front office.

Can John Dorsey change his philosophy of team building? Right now, the Cleveland GM bases everything on talent, and talent alone. He doesn’t seem to worry about character or work ethic.

Sometimes (Kareem Hunt) it works. Other times (Antonio Callaway, Odell Beckham Jr.) it doesn’t.

You have to look beyond the talent. Does the player have a solid work ethic, do they work hard in the off-season, are they a good teammate? Do they want to be great?

Our thought is (and we wrote about this earlier in the season) the Browns need more guys like Nick Chubb and J.C. Tretter, guys who play hard, do their work, and value winning above everything else.

We would like to see two players in particular dedicate their off-season to working toward winning.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Baker Mayfield reached out to say, Drew Brees, a quarterback similar in game and stature, and pick his brain on how to prepare for a season, and how to dedicate yourself to having a successful NFL career.

And what if Beckham, instead of jet setting around the globe, got his body in top condition? After all, he’s battled injuries in each of his last three seasons. We would also like to see him in mini camps, so he can develop chemistry with his quarterback.

We are sure Mayfield and Beckham aren’t the only issues too.

The offensive and defensive coordinators should also be examined.

If Kitchens returns, does his philosophy match Todd Monken’s? We have had the nagging thought all season that the offense run late last season when the Browns were lighting up the scoreboard isn’t the one they ran this season.

Did the defenses adjust, or did the Browns adjust themselves out of success?

Defensively, stopping the running game has to be a priority. The Browns have consistently finished in the bottom half of the NFL in run defense over the past 10 years.

We understand today’s pro football is pass happy, but if you can’t stop the run, it makes it tougher to rush the passer and play press coverage.

Again, the organizations’ philosophy was to pressure the QB, and that’s a sound strategy, but you can’t ignore stopping the ground game either. For the most part, teams that don’t stop the run are bad football teams.

In our opinion, it would be best if everyone took a step back and fix the things that went wrong in 2019, rather than throw it all away and start over in 2020.

The Browns are no longer devoid of talent, but they now need to become a team.

Browns Don’t Have Enough Talent, Stop Saying They Do.

All year long, we have been reading about all the talent the Cleveland Browns have.

The Browns have so much talent, they will certainly make the playoffs in 2019. That was an opinion shared by a lot of experts, both nationally and locally.

The fact is although Cleveland has a lot of talent in some areas, they don’t have enough throughout the roster. And that’s a big reason why Freddie Kitchens’ team sits at 5-7 with four games remaining.

GM John Dorsey bears the blame for this. Dorsey put together a roster with a lot of style, but no substance.

Yes, the Browns have great skill players on offense with Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt, Odell Beckham Jr., and Jarvis Landry. However, their offensive line hasn’t allowed that talent to show through.

Sunday, the Steelers defensive line couldn’t be blocked well enough for Baker Mayfield to use those weapons, particularly his receivers. He simply didn’t have time enough for anything to develop.

Defensively, Dorsey emphasized the front four and the secondary, which is a good place to start in today’s NFL. Rush the passer and cover the wideouts. It’s sound strategy, and they spent a lot of money on it.

Unfortunately, the Browns, as has been the case for most of the last 20 years, can’t stop the run, ranking 7th from the bottom in the league this season. If you can run the ball effectively, it negates a pass rush and puts the entire defense back on their heels.

It’s funny that Dorsey, who seemed to be all over the television, radio and print media when the Browns were the talk to the town in the second half of last season, winning five of their last seven, has vanished this season.

When is the last time he’s been seen on camera?

Shouldn’t he be held accountable for the losing record to date, at least as much as the coach? After all, he’s the architect.

It’s a lot different to take over a team that has won one game over a two year period, and put them on the road to being an average NFL squad. There was nowhere to go but up.

Taking that same team from a 7-8-1 record to a playoff berth is a tougher job.

Dorsey added a lot of shiny trinkets, like Beckham, last spring and summer, but he forgot that football is still a game won in the trenches. We are confident he knows better, because we helped build the Chiefs current roster.

This isn’t to say Dorsey should be fired after the season. You can’t keep having knee-jerk reactions every time someone tries something and it doesn’t work out.

However, we are tired of hearing about all of the talent on the roster. There is in some areas, but in other areas (offensive line, safety) it is lacking, and it needs to be addressed.

Football is a sport that is very symbiotic. All areas have to work in concert with each other. You have Odell Beckham Jr. but he can’t stand out because you don’t have a QB with a strong arm (Eli Manning), or you don’t have good enough protection (Mayfield).

Either way, it’s a waste to have him on your roster because you cannot maximize his talents, unless you have an offensive coordinator who is open to try different things.

We aren’t sure the Browns have that either.

John Dorsey has to take care of these weaknesses before the 2020 season, or he and Kitchens will be on a very hot seat. The Browns ownership has never been known for their patience.

Can the Browns take a leap into contention next season? Absolutely. But you have to have talent spread out throughout the roster, not concentrated in a few areas.

Kitchens Starts Instilling Discipline On Browns

One thing about doing something for the first time is you plan it out in your head, but sometimes the results don’t turn out the way you envisioned.

We believe this is what happened to Browns’ coach Freddie Kitchens.

When the long time assistant got his first head coaching job, he probably figured he’d be like the young college graduate who gets his first teaching job. He’ll be the cool new guy, allowing the students freedom of choice in terms of doing their homework, taking tests, classroom behavior, etc.

Sometimes, the students (depending on where you teach) have enough self discipline to handle this. They understand their job to get their assignments done, and they want to please the cool new teacher. They want him to be their friend and their teacher.

Other times, the students take advantage of the laissez faire attitude of the head of the class, and then the teacher has a choice. Does he continue with his original plan, and get run over by his classroom, or does he put his foot down.

Kitchens got the head coaching gig in Cleveland because of his relationship with quarterback Baker Mayfield and the way the Browns’ offense performed in the second half of last year.

He figured he could lead the entire team the way he related to Mayfield, and everything we be fine.

Unfortunately, not all players have the internal drive to succeed that Mayfield has, so when Kitchens gave them freedom, and the Browns started 2-6, and did so while committing stupid penalties, and doing questionable things like wearing very expensive watches during games, and taking unnecessary risks with the football.

After the New England game, Kitchens had enough. Three early turnovers took his team out of the contest early, and after the game, he said things had to change. The penalties and turnovers had to end.

The penalties stopped against Denver the following week, but the Browns lost anyway, falling to 2-6 despite the Broncos playing a QB that hadn’t taken a meaningful snap in years.

In that game, Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. wore cleats in violation of NFL league rules. Kitchens claimed he didn’t notice, but we guess he did and wasn’t happy.

Before the next home game, WR Antonio Callaway showed up late. Kitchens told him he would not dress. A few days later, it was revealed Callaway failed another drug test, and was released.

Then, news came out yesterday that S Damarious Randall missed a practice, and so the coaching staff left him in Cleveland for today’s game.

Fans were upset by this news, but they were the same folks who complained about the lack of a firm hand by the coach. You can’t have it both ways.

Whether this change came from on top or it was Freddie Kitchens realizing being a “players’ coach” wasn’t working, we agree that it was needed.

And kudos to the staff and/or organization for figuring out that the original plan wasn’t working.

Being a leader involves making some tough decisions, and Kitchens figured it out. That’s why unless there is a total collapse by the team, we think Freddie Kitchens will be on the sidelines when the Browns open the 2020 season.

It took a little while, but the toughness we thought we would be getting from Kitchens finally appeared.

Thoughts On Browns’ Fate This Year And Myles Garrett

With all of the fallout from the brawl at the end of the Browns win over the Steelers last Thursday night, people have forgotten Cleveland has won two straight over teams with a winning record, and their playoff hopes are still alive.

We have maintained that 9-7 will likely get the final post-season spot in the AFC so after the loss to Denver, it meant Freddie Kitchens’ squad could only have one more hiccup to have any chance to play an extra contest this season.

The Browns passed the first two tests, although both games were at home, as is this weekend’s game vs. the 2-8 Miami Dolphins.

Cleveland will be shorthanded defensively without the indefinitely suspended Myles Garrett, and Larry Ogunjobi, who will miss one game as a result of the melee at the end of the Pittsburgh game.

The need to continue winning is the most upsetting thing to us, and probably Garrett’s teammates as well. Losing the team’s best defensive player isn’t conducive to reeling off a streak of victories, particularly when the Steelers and Ravens remain on the slate.

Let us state for the record that Garrett obviously deserves the suspension and we believe it will extend into next season, the first two games of 2020, a total of eight games.

One has to wonder, though, how Steelers’ QB Mason Rudolph avoided missing any games. He was no doubt an instigator, and should have had to sit down for one game, at the very least.

We do wonder about the national narrative that says Garrett hit Rudolph late on the Steelers’ penultimate offensive play and that the former first overall pick has a reputation for playing outside the rules of the game.

Pictures have clearly showed the Browns’ DE hitting Rudolph just after the ball was released, it is clearly not a late hit, and the tackle was more of a dragging the guy down, nothing violent about it.

As for being a “dirty” player, Garrett has been in the NFL for two and a half seasons, and has received four roughing the passer penalties and one unnecessary roughness calls according the The Pro Football Database.

The Browns will miss one of their best players, every team in the NFL would too, but they can’t let the suspension get in the way of the business at hand, which is to continue winning.

They can’t overlook Miami, a team that plays hard for Brian Flores despite their record and their obvious strategy of copying what Cleveland did several years ago.

Then comes the rematch with the Steelers, which will be a huge step because of what happened and that the game is in Pittsburgh.

And of course, the Ravens will arrive in Cleveland with revenge on their mind. Baltimore has the second best record in the AFC and hasn’t lost since the Browns laid a beatdown on them.

Kitchens and defensive coordinator Steve Wilks will need to generate a pass rush someway the rest of the season without Garrett, who has 1/3rd of the team’s sacks this season. A stat the Browns rank 6th in the league in.

Against Miami, Cleveland will have their top two pass rushers out. Will Wilks blitz more to get pressure and depend on corners Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams to defend.

Is it impossible? No. After the Dolphins’ game, Ogunjobi will be back and perhaps so too will Olivier Vernon.

As Kitchens said, everyone will just have to do their job better for the Browns to keep winning. That’s all anyone can do right now.

What Browns Need To Do Tonight. Besides Win

Tonight is another big test for the Cleveland Browns, as they take on Pittsburgh in a nationally televised tilt.

When you start out 2-6, virtually every game is a big test, unless you want your flickering playoff hopes extinguished.

There is no question the Browns’ playoff hopes are slim, but in our opinion, the last team in the post-season in the AFC will likely have a 9-7 record, so if Freddie Kitchens’ squad can go 6-1 here on out, and the schedule is favorable, although it is minimal, Cleveland still has life.

How do they do it?

The simple answer is to continue to play turnover free football, and that depends a lot on Baker Mayfield, who over the past three games has hit on 73 of 111 passes (65.8%) with four TD throws and just one interception.

By the quarterback rating system, two of Mayfield’s three best games have come in the last two weeks. That’s why the growing criticism of the second year pro is puzzling to us.

The Steelers live on turnovers. They rank second in the NFL to New England is causing them, and if you remember when the Browns played the Patriots, the Cleveland turnovers early (three in the first quarter) dug a trench the brown and orange could not get out of.

Pittsburgh ranks 11th in total defense, 10th against the pass and 14th vs. the run. The Browns rank 15th in rushing offense, but second in average yards per attempt, so starting the game showing you can run the ball would be beneficial to Cleveland.

However, what that statistic means is Kitchens and offensive coordinator Todd Monken have been reticent to running the ball, which is another problem altogether, particularly now with both Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt available.

Offensively, the Steelers are challenged without their two time Super Bowl winning quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. They are 6th from the bottom of the NFL in passing yards and 14th in running the ball.

They rank right around the middle in the league in turning the ball over, but the Browns have been woeful in that category ranking fifth worst in the NFL with just nine in the first nine games.

They intercepted just four passes for the season.

Pittsburgh is an opportunistic football team, so not to be redundant, the Browns must limit their opportunities, and that means being careful with the football, which could be difficult on a frigid night.

Unfortunately, these Browns haven’t been the most patient of teams in terms of taking what defenses give them, although they have improved over the past two games.

Mayfield is aggressive by nature, and Kitchens seems to like using exotic motions and plays at seemingly the wrong time. Both tendencies need to be stifled this week, as the conservative approach is needed.

The Steelers are 3rd in the NFL in sacking the QB, and we know the Browns offensive line isn’t the most solid unit on the team. So, a good strategy might be the throw on early downs and set up shorter yardage situations on second and third down.

The good news for the Browns is although the Steelmen have a very good defense, Cleveland has already faced five defense statistically better in New England (1st in total yardage), San Francisco (2nd), Buffalo (3rd), Denver (4th), and the Rams (10th).

That’s right. The Browns have faced the top four defenses in the NFL through the first nine games.

There can be no patting themselves on the back after last Sunday’s win over the Bills. This will be another tough affair for Freddie Kitchens and his football team.

Holding onto the ball and not allowing big plays could be the determining factor tonight.

Assigning Blame? Don’t Forget Dorsey And Others.

We said Sunday’s game at Denver was a “must win” for the Cleveland Browns, and they lost.

Now, with the playoffs being a extremely vague possibility, we are sure that week by week, people will be picking over the coaching of Freddie Kitchens, and pointing out things that should get him fired.

However, no one focuses on two other people who should share the blame with the head coach, and they would be GM John Dorsey and defensive coordinator Steve Wilks.

When the Browns started winning last season, there were some who were quick to get close to Dorsey and be his friend. Perhaps that has clouded their view of the GM.

When Dorsey traded for Odell Beckham Jr. last spring, he signaled that the franchise was all in going for a playoff spot this season. However, he was doing so with a rookie head coach.

Unlike the situation in Los Angeles with Sean McVay, who has former head coach and long time NFL assistant Wade Phillips as a mentor, the only former head guy on Kitchens’ staff is Wilks, who guided Arizona last season.

There are coaches with a lot of experience on the staff in James Campen (15 seasons), Stump Mitchell (16), and Wilks (14), but wouldn’t it have been better for Kitchens if a guy who has had some multiple years as a head man in the NFL that he can talk to every day?

There is something to say about continuity too. The Browns finished last year winning five of their last seven, and part of that was the play of QB Baker Mayfield, who thrived under the offense called by Kitchens.

Yes, Kitchens still calls the plays, but bringing in an offensive coordinator in Todd Monken, who runs an entirely different scheme, seems to have halted the momentum built a year ago.

This is clearly not the same attack as last season, and we do wonder if there has been any considerations within the offense to play to the personnel’s strengths.

We seem to remember a lot of slants run for Beckham in New York, trying to use his ability to run after the catch to advantage. We’ve seen almost none of that with the Browns.

And by the way, the trade for Beckham seems to have the quarterback trying to keep him happy as well. Mayfield didn’t seem to force a lot of balls into coverage last year.

More than a few analysts have said perhaps the second year quarterback wasn’t ready to play with a big time wide out like Beckham.

Another question is the choice of Wilks as defensive coordinator. Wilks seems to want to play a lot of zone coverage, but Dorsey seemed to go out of his way to draft cover cornerbacks in Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams, and then invested a lot in the defensive line to pressure opposing quarterbacks.

If that was the intent, then Wilks isn’t making the best use of the tools he has either.

Kitchens is getting a lot of blame for being in charge of the island of misfit toys that has been assembled by Dorsey. It seems like the GM just decided to bring in a bunch of talent and expected a rookie head coach to make them fit.

That might be okay in other sports, but in football, the players have to play as a cohesive unit, and if one person is in the wrong spot, or freelancing, it screws everything up.

Perhaps that’s the story of the 2019 Cleveland Browns.

Not The Time To Fire Kitchens

It is interesting to see both Browns’ fans and some of those covering the team have gone to the default mode with the team off to a 2-5 start.

Fire the coach.

This is not to say Freddie Kitchens is blameless in the early season struggles, but he isn’t the only person who should be shouldering the blame either.

First, the schedule has turned out to be more brutal than originally thought. Really, outside of the opener vs. Tennessee, have the Browns had a bad loss this season?

Their other four losses are to two teams who are undefeated (New England and San Francisco) and another to the defending NFC Champs, the Rams. The fourth is to a 5-2 Seattle squad.

Turnovers killed the team in all of the losses, but outside of the 49ers contest, the Browns didn’t get blown out in any of them.

And we realize “not getting blown out” isn’t the bar this team set for itself in the off-season.

We also don’t think Kitchens is coaching the team to commit penalties. We are sure it is emphasized on a weekly basis to not make the pre-snap infractions that have been all too frequent for this football team.

However, Kitchens and his staff should start having consequences for these types of penalties. Players should start to lose playing time or even roster spots if they cannot do simple things like know the snap count or line up in the correct position.

Look, we aren’t saying Nick Chubb should’ve been benched for his two fumbles, but guys who are reserves shouldn’t be allowed to do these things.

We think about Antonio Callaway, who seems to be frequently out of position or dropping passes. That’s a good enough reason to give Rashard Higgins more playing time at that spot.

We hate to say this, but the biggest reason to see this through is you can’t keep firing coaches after one year. Bringing in a new coaching staff would mean Baker Mayfield would be on his third coach and third (or fourth, depending on your point of view) offensive coordinator.

You have to see this through.

The nit picking about the challenge flags and things Kitchens says isn’t relevant. Whether the head coach didn’t challenge the pick play called offensive pass interference instead of saving it for a possible fumble recovery later had no bearing on the final score Sunday.

As for press conferences, Kitchens has shown he isn’t going to criticize players in the media (except for Higgins), and his answers should be taken with that in mind.

We look at the rest of the schedule and think the Browns will be the more talented team in all nine games, and that means nothing on the surface, because they have to execute.

This Sunday’s game in Denver is a must win. No, it doesn’t eliminate Cleveland from playoff contention mathematically, but they have to end a three game losing streak and beat a team with the same record, but without the same strength of schedule.

Winning next Sunday, and then following up with a win at home vs. Buffalo can get this train back on the tracks. Victories breed confidence. We saw that last season.

But it starts with baby steps. Take care of business against the Broncos. Play smart, don’t turn the ball over, keep the penalties to a minimum.

That should be the mantra this week. Do those things, and you will win.

Firing the coach? That doesn’t accomplish anything.

Winning Is Habit Browns Have To Develop

The bye week is over and the Cleveland Browns return to the gridiron rested and ready to go this Sunday.

That’s the good news. The bad news is they play the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, who also happen to be undefeated this season.

The narrative surrounding the Browns seems to change every week, and since they were off last Sunday, the discussion is how can Freddie Kitchens’ team dare compete with the Baltimore Ravens, who sit atop the AFC North standings at 5-2.

After all, the Ravens beat Seattle on the road, a Seahawks team that came into the game at 5-1 after beating the Browns in Cleveland the week before.

Apparently, people have forgotten the Browns’ 40-25 beating of the Ravens in Baltimore just a few weeks before. We guess the Ravens improved by leaps and bounds in that three week span.

We aren’t taking away anything from Baltimore’s win in Seattle, it was damn impressive. However, not overreact to that contest either.

NOTE: We understand because football is played just once per week, there is a natural overemotional reaction to every game.

We were thinking though, what would the Browns’ record be if they had played the schedule Baltimore has played to date?

The Ravens opened up with the Dolphins and Cardinals, the latter in Kyler Murray’s second professional start. It’s easy to project wins in both games for either Baltimore or Cleveland.

Baltimore’s next two games were against the Chiefs and the Browns, so there is one loss in there, and those were followed by division games vs. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. Since the Steelers were using their third string QB and the Bengals are bad, it’s not a reach to think that’s two wins for the Browns.

And again, credit to the Ravens for beating Seattle, which the Browns couldn’t do, even at First Energy Stadium.

So, the Browns would be 4-3 at least if they had played Baltimore’s schedule.

However, the biggest thing the fast start did for Baltimore is provide confidence. Winning early in the season breeds confidence. You saw that in the second half of the game in Seattle this past Sunday.

In the same vein, the Browns’ 2-4 start has the players and coaching staff questioning themselves a bit. That plays in close games late.

Remember how the team (and the fans, for that matter) felt last season after Hue Jackson was fired and they started to win. Suddenly, the big plays are made when they are needed.

And no doubt, it helps the Ravens that John Harbaugh is one of the five best coaches in the NFL. That is no slight on Freddie Kitchens.

Yes, the Ravens’ schedule gets tougher. Four of their next five games are against the Patriots, Texans, Rams, and 49ers.

After this Sunday, the Browns will have played three of those teams already, and they don’t have Houston on the slate.

But let’s say Cleveland loses this week to fall to 2-5 (which isn’t a stretch). Yes, they play Denver on the road, which is a winnable game, but it would be coming off a three game losing streak.

That means it will not be easy. It’s more difficult for teams to break losing streaks, particular for a group of players that hasn’t won together, or a franchise that hasn’t had a winning season since 2007.

So, let’s not pencil in a bunch of wins in the second half just yet.

Winning is a learned skill. The early schedule, and the early performance have not helped the Browns education.

Browns Have Plenty To Fix During Week Off.

Back in the late 1960’s, when the Browns were heading into a playoff game, the late sports editor of The Plain Dealer, Hal Lebovitz used to talk about “zero defects”, meaning the football team needed to stay away from mistakes in these big games.

We thought about that as we watched Sunday afternoon, when the Browns squandered a 20-6 lead and fell to 2-4 after a 32-28 loss to Seattle.

Freddie Kitchens’ squad is second in the NFL in turnovers on the season with 14, sandwiched in between the New York Giants and Tampa Bay, two teams who didn’t come into the season with big playoff aspirations.

And the Browns also are tied for the league lead in penalties (with Atlanta), and they have accumulated the most yards penalized to date.

You put those two things together, and it is amazing the Browns have won two games.

It is difficult for a coach to tell his team not to commit turnovers and still have them be aggressive, but in the past two games, interceptions before halftime have hurt the Browns badly.

This past Sunday, Baker Mayfield’s pick with a 20-12 lead and under two minutes to go was a terrible decision. The intended receiver, Jarvis Landry, was surrounded by defenders. With the score in his favor, the quarterback should throw the ball in Lake Erie instead of trying to fit one in.

At the very least, Cleveland should’ve went into the half with a 23-12 lead.

Now, it wasn’t Mayfield’s fault the defense let Seattle go 88 yards to cut the lead to 20-18 before intermission.

After a promising start to the season, the defense has been bad the past three weeks, allowing at least 175 yards rushing in each contest.

Here is a current list of the worst teams in the NFL against the run:

Cincinnati (0-6)
Miami (0-5)
Kansas City (4-2)
Cleveland (2-4)
Washington (1-5)

Another old adage for football teams is if you can’t run the ball and stop the run, it’s tough to win, and that holds true even in today’s pass happy NFL.

You can see from this list, you have to have an overwhelming offense to overcome not being able to stop teams from running the ball, and the Chiefs have lost two straight because their opponents have controlled the clock and played keep away.

Kitchens said during training camp the defensive front might be the strength of the team, but right now it looks far from that, and as for the pass rush, the Browns rank 4th, but it seems like if it isn’t Myles Garrett (9) applying the pressure, it simply isn’t there.

Cleveland is only in the middle of the pack in terms of quarterback pressures.

We understand it’s a pretty simplistic viewpoint, but it’s clear these are the two areas to clean up during the bye week.

The defense has to be better against the ground game. They cannot let opponents control the line of scrimmage and gash them for big yardage.

Offensively, they have to hold on to the ball, you cannot continue to turn it over at this rate and win football games.

It has been a brutal schedule to be sure. Cleveland has played two of the best five teams in the NFL thus far (San Francisco and Seattle) and will play another one (New England) in their next game.

The team currently leading the division, Baltimore, has to play the 49ers and Seahawks, as well as the Rams.

So, the division is still in play.

But the Browns have to get into “zero defects” mode. If they can, this season will still have a long way to go.

Browns Offensive Plan Seems Inconsistent.

There has been no NFL team more schizophrenic than the Cleveland Browns in 2019, and because they are still a very inexperienced group, we should have expected that.

It seems like every week Freddie Kitchens and his coaching staff are trying to reinvent themselves, and that’s why we are seeing results that resemble a roller coaster.

For example, the Browns were very successful in their win vs. Baltimore running the ball and throwing quick hitting short passes, for the most part. Yet, against San Francisco, a team with a very good front four, they decided to throw the ball downfield early.

After the pass by Odell Beckham Jr. on the game’s first play, three of Baker Mayfield’s next four passes were considered “deep throws” according to the play by play on NFL.com.

None were completed, one was intercepted, and Cleveland was lucky the turnover didn’t turn into points.

It seemed like a curious game plan to say the least.

We thought going into the game the Browns might be better off calling some short passes on early downs to gain the down and distance advantage since the 49ers are very good up front.

Get into 2nd and 4 or 3rd and 3 situations instead of long distance situations where the San Francisco pass rush can pin their ears.

Keep with manageable down and distances. However, here are the first few distances the Browns had to cover on third down on Monday night:

3rd & 13: Deep pass to Ricky Seals-Jones (incomplete)
3rd & 7: Baker Mayfield sacked
3rd & 3: Mayfield fumbled (no short pass options open)
3rd & 6: 12 yard pass to Jarvis Landry for a first down.
3rd & 12: incomplete pass

Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter said he thought the Browns were trying to run their offense to keep people happy. It appeared they were forcing the ball to Antonio Callaway, just returning from suspension.

Mayfield’s first interception was intended for the second year receiver.

And the first quarter seemed to be more about getting Beckham involved. The first play was a pass from Beckham to Landry, and the second was an incomplete pass to OBJ.

Later in the first quarter was another long throw to Beckham and a reverse for him too.

It certainly seems like the coaching staff was trying to feature the former Giant after he caught just two passes last week. Was he complaining about not getting the ball? No one has reported anything like that.

Mayfield doesn’t seem to have a ton of confidence in the offensive line’s pass blocking, so why not run some short passes early and run the ball to take the pressure off of them. Putting them in long yardage situations just exacerbates the problem.

The weird thing is the inconsistency in the play calling from week to week. The Browns had a lot of success the week before using short, quick passes and then went away from that against San Francisco.

Did the 49ers take it away from them? It’s doubtful that early in the game, because they didn’t seem to try any of those plays.

And the longer passes seem to play against the weakness of the offensive line, longer developing plays seem to put more pressure on that group.

Right now, the Browns need someone to say this is how we are going to play and then implement that plan on a weekly basis. It’s called having an identity.

Hopefully they will start to develop one.