Another Loss And A New QB For Browns

The Cleveland Browns’ season just keeps going downhill faster and faster. Last Sunday’s loss started with the Bengals taking the opening kickoff back for a touchdown, and although the defense played pretty well, the Browns fell to 1-6 with a 21-14 loss to Cincinnati.

The other significant event in the game was QB Deshaun Watson apparently tearing his achilles tendon on a non-contact injury in the second quarter thus ending his season. Watson has now been with Cleveland three years and has yet to play in more than seven games in a season.

Inexplicably, that did not give veteran Jameis Winston a shot at playing QB. Winston was demoted to the #3 quarterback, available only if the first two passers were injured. Dorian Thompson-Robinson was designated as the backup and was lackluster at best, completing 11 of 24 throws for a paltry 82 yards.

After the game, we saw a number of media people touting Thompson-Robinson (DTR) as the starter next week, with the opinion that the Browns need to see what they have in him.

We don’t get it. First, he was a fifth-round draft pick, so he was far from highly regarded coming into the NFL. Second, what has he shown when he has been on the field to make anyone think he can be a viable NFL quarterback?

We know he didn’t prepare as a starter last week, but when he comes into the game, he looks like a gimmicky, run first QB. He’s doesn’t seem real accurate, and so far, six of his 136 NFL throws have been picked off.

As a comparison, Watson has had three interceptions in 216 passes this season.

Wouldn’t it be better to see if Winston can have a comeback to his career like Geno Smith, Baker Mayfield, Jared Goff, or Sam Darnold? And if the losing continues, they can always play DTR in the last couple of games.

Look, more than likely, the Browns are going to draft a QB with their first round pick next spring. Perhaps Winston can be your bridge quarterback to open next season if Watson isn’t ready or another move is made with him.

Anyway, back to the game. There were more mistakes. Motion penalties, illegal shifts, lining up offsides. We know the coaches don’t coach this, but there has to be consequences to habitual offenders. Perhaps the loss of some playing time would allow the message for these players to soak in.

The Browns couldn’t run the ball either, gaining just 77 yards on the ground with 44 of those yards on runs by Thompson-Robinson. The only good thing was seeing Nick Chubb back on the field, getting 22 yards on 11 carries. His longest run was five yards, but still it was great to see him back on the field after his terrible knee injury last year.

The defense played well mostly, although one of the Bengals’ touchdowns was a pass to Ja’Marr Chase with big play magnet Greg Newsome II in coverage. The defensive back just can’t avoid giving up a big play pretty much every week.

We would guess more players who were brought in for this season, veterans on one-year deals will be (and should be if possible) moved for draft picks before the trade deadline. We have no problem with that.

However, we don’t want to hear the word tanking. It breeds a losing environment that is tough to get rid of. Browns fans more than anyone else should understand that.

What needs to be done is getting a victory and getting back to the philosophy that worked for the most part over the last four seasons.

It won’t be easy for sure

More Defensive Gaffes For The Browns Lead To A Loss

Being a Browns fan is filled with frustration on most Sundays it seems, and the 23-20 loss to Atlanta a couple of days ago was no exception.

We know Cleveland did not have either of their starting defensive ends, Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney, but to us, they still had the better roster going into the game and we felt they should have won regardless.

We get many people like to point fingers at Kevin Stefanski, blaming the head coach for losses is a cottage industry for northeast Ohio football fans, and we think getting only three points on two trips inside the five yard line isn’t acceptable. However, we felt going in the offense probably needed to score 30 points, and perhaps the head coach did as well.

And really, this is the first game you can point at the offense being a problem, particularly in the second half. Also, if they would have salvaged seven points out of the two goal line situations instead of three, the offense would have put up at least 23 points in each of the four games.

Going into the season without Deshaun Watson, the “formula” for winning was run the football and play defense. To date, the first thing has worked, the Browns rank second in the NFL in rushing after four games.

The defense continues to let the team down.

Against the Falcons, the problem was the rush defense, which up to this game was actually pretty good, although some issues started to creep up in the first half against the Steelers.

Atlanta gained over 200 yards on the ground, going the length of the field on one drive without completing a single pass. Usually, the Browns are doing that to opponents (they did have 177 yards on the ground themselves), but they were on the receiving end of it this time.

And it wasn’t as though the defense overreacted to Marcus Mariota lighting up the Cleveland secondary either. He was terrible, completing just 7 of 19 throws for 139 yards and an interception.

We don’t know what the record of teams giving up 200 yards rushing in the NFL is, but it is safe to assume that team rarely win when that occurs. It happened to the Browns most recently twice in 2020 against the Raiders and Ravens, and Stefanski’s crew lost both games.

We should also add in addition to having a porous defense against the rush, the defense also supplied another blown coverage in the secondary, which based on Mariota’s numbers in the second half, was likely the only way he could complete a pass.

We know GM Andrew Berry didn’t draft Denzel Ward, but he gave Ward a huge contract and he did draft Greg Newsome and Martin Emerson. We doubt we made those moves thinking they would be very effective in a zone scheme.

But that’s what they seem to be playing a good deal of the time.

By the way, we are curious as to what John Johnson III’s comment of “it wasn’t us” was all about. There still seems to be a lot of finger pointing on the defensive side of the ball.

Remember, this was the supposed “easy part” of the Browns’ schedule and they went 2-2. Things have to improve soon especially defensively if getting Watson back doesn’t become a moot point in terms of making the playoffs.

Luckily, no one has taken control in the AFC North.

Another Breakdown, This Time Results In A Loss

Cleveland Browns’ fans should be celebrating the first 2-0 start to a season since 1993 this morning, but instead, they are incensed the team blew a 13 point lead with under two minutes to go at home against one of the three AFC teams no one is projecting as a playoff contender, the New York Jets.

Last week, in discussing the Browns win over Carolina, we said the breakdowns in the secondary have to be fixed, as it just didn’t happen in week one, it occurred many times in the 2021 season as well.

Wouldn’t you know, it happened again.

The long pass to cut the lead to 30-24 was bad enough. The defense simply cannot let the opponent score that quickly. And it appeared Denzel Ward thought he was supposed to get help deep, and he didn’t, so someone was on the wrong page.

However, it also happened at the end of the first half, when no one thought to pick up Breece Hall coming out of the backfield and allowing the Jets to tie the game going into the half.

Again, if this was a one time thing, it can be excused. It’s not. It happens over and over and over again, and if we were Kevin Stefanski, Joe Woods would have to come up with a good reason that it happens along with a course of action to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

It’s not like there is no talent in the secondary, it is loaded with high draft picks, so that would seem to us that GM Andrew Berry is also not happy with Woods.

Ward and Greg Newsome are first round picks, Grant Delpit is a second rounder, and Martin Emerson is a third rounder. John Johnson III is a high priced free agent. That’s a lot of draft capital and financial commitment involved to accept play like this.

Look, the reality is the Browns have dominated each of their first two games and should have won both by 10 or more points, but they are a Cade York 58-yard field goal miss away from being 0-2 despite that.

The offense has operated just as everyone expected coming into the year without Deshaun Watson. And they’ve scored 56 points in the two games. There is nothing to complain about there.

After a rough start against Carolina, Jacoby Brissett was very good last Sunday, completing 22 of 27 passes for 229 yards. Amari Cooper caught nine balls for 101 yards and Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt combined for 187 total yards.

We know David Njoku dropped a pass, but overall, we can’t think of anyone on offense who had a poor game. Everything operated according to plan.

However, all of that was erased because the defensive secondary can’t get its act together.

Maybe Stefanski has to give up the play calling responsibilities to make sure he’s more involved with the defense. But something needs to change going forward, starting Thursday night against Pittsburgh.

The breakdowns simply have to stop. At a certain point, Stefanski needs to tell Woods he doesn’t want excuses, just results. After all, this is professional football. There are no moral victories.

Not All Wins Are Works Of Art, Browns’ Fans

When it comes to winning in sports, we think sometimes fans don’t understand how difficult it really is, especially at the professional level.

It is even more difficult to do coming off a loss, something Ohio State fans saw on Saturday, and Browns viewed Sunday afternoon at First Energy Stadium. There is a certain lethargy that goes with losing the previous game, and sometimes it takes a quarter or a half to shake the staleness that goes with losing away.

There is no question the Cleveland Browns are a better football team than the Houston Texans, but it took Kevin Stefanski’s team a little while to show it.

Still, a win is a win, and the Browns, along with the rest of the AFC North are sitting at 1-1 after two games, so it now becomes a 15 game season, we guess.

Here are some impressions following the win in the home opener–

**We said before the season started the defense would be a work in progress, and shouldn’t be truly evaluated until week five or six, and we haven’t changed that opinion. There are so many new pieces involved and it takes time to trust your fellow defenders.

That said, it was a little troubling to see the lack of pressure on Houston quarterbacks. The only sack came from blitzing S Grant Delpit, who looked good in his NFL debut. Myles Garrett still gets held quite a bit though, and drew a penalty towards the end of the first half.

You would think Denzel Ward and Greg Newsome would be a solid corner combo, but the Browns seemed reluctant to put either in press coverage last Sunday.

However, it’s still early. The unit should get better with experience.

**Nick Chubb is the best running back in the NFL. We know around here that is stating the obvious, but Chubb is fifth in the league in rushing yards, despite being 19th in carries.

The Browns are not going to give Chubb the 25 carries per game so he could pile up the huge yardage needed to get notice nationally. First, they have an excellent back in Kareem Hunt to team with Chubb, and also they want Chubb to play with the Browns for a long time. They are prolonging his career.

Now, when they get to the playoffs, and need the fourth year pro out of Auburn to tote the rock 25 times, he will be fresh. And that time may come at the end of this year.

Oh, and by the way, the only running back in Browns’ history better than #24 wore #32.

**We all knew the Browns had plenty of offensive weapons coming into the year, and we still haven’t seen Odell Beckham Jr. But GM Andrew Berry looks like he added two more in this year’s draft in WR Anthony Schwartz and RB/WR Demetric Felton, each of whom has been a factor already this season.

Felton scored his first NFL touchdown on a great run after catching a short pass on Sunday, and made a great move after another reception.

Also, you have to give Stefanski credit for trusting these rookies, because some veteran coaches would not. Trusting players regardless of experience is the mark of a great coach in our book.

**We still don’t understand why folks don’t think Baker Mayfield is the answer at QB. Again, because of the way the Browns run things, he’s never going to be someone who throws for 300 yards on a weekly basis.

But he’s a leader and he shows toughness. And for those who questioned his accuracy in the past, he’s completed 81.6% of his passes in the first two weeks. He only has one touchdown pass, but again, that’s because of the running game.

If you don’t think the Browns’ offensive is running well, consider that Jamie Gillan has punted three times in two games. That used to be his total for for a half. And Chase McLaughlin has attempted one field goal.

That’s efficiency.

Browns Put Emphasis On Defense In Draft.

It would seem that the way to beat the spread offenses which have become the rage in the National Football League is to do it with speed. And it would appear that Cleveland Browns’ GM Andrew Berry would agree.

The overwhelming take away from this year’s selections is all of the defensive players taken by the Browns, and they took five of them, can run and cover the field.

Obviously, the two players everyone is excited about are the team’s first two choices, CB Greg Newsome II and LB/S Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. Both were expected to be picked in the first round, so Berry had to love it when the latter was still available with the 52nd pick, and the Browns moved up to take them.

We look to history, and the last time the Browns had an excellent defense was in the late 1980’s. spearheaded by cornerbacks Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield.

Now, we certainly aren’t comparing Denzel Ward and Newsome to that duo, but having two solid corners makes it tougher on today’s pass-happy offenses, not to mention it allows Myles Garrett and his friends more time to get to the quarterback.

Owusu-Koramoah (JOK) was the Butkus Award winner last season as College Football’s top linebacker, and should be a perfect fit in the defense coordinator Robert Woods likes to play, which is a 4-2-5.

If Grant Delpit can return from his achilles’ injury, and with Ronnie Harrison and free agent signee John Johnson III as well, Woods has players at that position that can defend the pass and also can come up and stop the run.

The emphasis on speed didn’t just stop on the defense, either. Cleveland’s third round pick was WR Anthony Schwartz from Auburn, who may be the fastest player in the draft. If the Browns can develop him, he could wind up being the deep threat the offense needs. Make no mistake, the offense needs speed at the wide receiver spot.

And we still contend either Jarvis Landry or Odell Beckham Jr. are playing their last season in a Browns’ uniform, so this could be a case of Berry thinking about the not-to-distant future of the football team.

We also love the pick of DT Tommy Togiai in the fourth round. We saw some draft sites with him getting picked earlier. Togiai seemed to get better this season as it went along, and if he keeps developing, he could be in the rotation this season.

The best things we can say about this draft is none of the picks seemed to defy logic. The Browns didn’t pick anyone a lot higher than projections, and they actually chose players who were projected to go a lot higher, like Owusu-Koramoah.

They also looked at players who may not be impactful this season, but there will be able to get on the field in 2022.

Berry has earned the trust of the fans, because of players they picked a year ago in the later rounds, like Harrison Bryant, Donovan Peoples-Jones, and Nick Harris. All three were taken after the 100th pick in 2020, and all were contributors in the playoff season.

If Newsome and Owusu-Koramoah can produce as the front office thinks, the Browns’ defense will be much improved. And if that happens, there could be big things coming at First Energy Stadium in the fall.