The Browns And Their QBs. Is This Group Capable Of Getting It Right?

It is hard to imagine a professional sports team screwing up something as badly as the Cleveland Browns have their quarterback situation.

It all started with the “tanking” of 2016-17, when the team famously went 1-31 over a two-year span, and they selected Myles Garrett with the first overall pick in 2016 draft.

The following season, after finishing 0-16, the Browns picked Baker Mayfield with the first pick in ’18 and the improvement started. Cleveland went 7-8-1 when Mayfield took over as a starter (6-7 with him starting) and he set a rookie record for touchdown passes in a season with 27.

Cleveland made a coaching change during the season shifting from Hue Jackson (2-5-1) to Gregg Williams (5-3) but decided to move on from Williams after the season. Mayfield had a good chemistry with Freddie Kitchens, who became offensive coordinator when Williams was elevated to head coach.

So, the front office made the ill-advised decision to make Kitchens the head coach, thus giving a second-year player a lot of power within the organization. That was a mistake.

Mayfield regressed in his second year, and so did the Browns, as they dropped to 6-10 and Kitchens was replaced by Kevin Stefanski, and the pairing got Cleveland to the playoffs and an 11-5 record.

The former first overall pick had his best year yet, with 26 TDs and just 8 interceptions. But the following season, one filled with Super Bowl hopes, he was injured during the second game of the year and tried to play through it. The result was a drop to 8-9 and reported clashing with Stefanski and others in the locker room, notably Garrett.

Was Mayfield brash and arrogant? Yes, but he was that when he was drafted. Were those traits exacerbated because you gave someone a head coaching job because he had a solid relationship with him? Probably. Could he have been guided by having some veteran leaders in the locker room? Who knows.

At this point, the Browns’ front office was distracted by the jingling of shiny keys. Deshaun Watson was available, and the Browns did everything in their power to bring him to town.

Remember that Watson ruled out coming to Cleveland, so the franchise guaranteed his contract (the other owners hated that), and traded a boatload of draft picks, including three first rounders, to bring him to town, knowing he would likely miss a bunch of games immediately for violating the league’s discipline rules.

Did we mention Watson also sat out the previous season?

With Watson healthy in ’23, the offense still sputtered, and Watson suffered a shoulder injury and missed the rest of the season. So, eventually the Browns signed Joe Flacco who got hot at the end of the year, got the team back to the post-season.

Certainly, getting Watson back with Flacco as his back up would be a great combination heading into ’24. Except the Browns didn’t do that. And not only did they not bring back the passer who took them to the playoffs, they also fired most of the primary offensive coaches, hiring some to put in a scheme better suited to Watson’s talents.

Now, after starting the 2025 season with four QBs, a mix of two veterans and two rookies (who thought drafting two quarterbacks was smart), you have just the two first year players at the helm in a season where the division has taken a downturn.

And it seems like the franchise is hell bent on taking a quarterback in the first round of next year’s draft. They are convinced themselves they have to have the first overall pick to get one, even though there is plenty of evidence you don’t have to take one there.

The point is this group has completely mangled the quarterback position. All of them. Jimmy Haslam, Paul DePodesta, Andrew Berry, and Stefanski.

Do you trust them to ever get it right?

Browns Should Have Accountability For Coach and GM

When the Haslam family bought the Cleveland Browns in 2012, initially there was a lot of change. Rob Chudzinski was hired as a coach for the 2013 season, promptly went 4-12 and was fired.

Mike Pettine held the job for two years. Hue Jackson for 2-1/2 seasons, including 1-15 and 0-16, so we can see the ownership was trying to be more patient. But Gregg Williams finished the 2018 season, was let go, and Freddie Kitchens had the gig for a year.

The same was true in the front office. Michael Lombardi was the GM in ’13, followed by Ray Farmer for two years, Sashi Brown for a couple, and John Dorsey for three seasons.

And rightly so, the Haslams were criticized for the turnover, not establishing any continuity within the organization.

The question we have is have they flipped the script now and perhaps are giving the people who run the football team a little too much rope?

The GM/head coach combination of Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski has been in place for five seasons, and some of the people who cover the Browns think they will be safe for this season as well.

We like Stefanski, who guided the Browns to two playoff appearances in the five seasons, and has gone through a slew of quarterbacks, compiling a 40-44 record to date. He’s been named coach of the year twice, once because he guided the Browns to their first post-season appearance since 2002 in 2020.

The second came when Cleveland went to the playoffs despite using four different starting quarterbacks, including Dorian Thompson-Robinson and P.J. Walker in 2023.

As for Berry, you can make the argument he has completely mangled the most important position in sports, the quarterback. Dissatisfied with former first overall pick Baker Mayfield, he engineered (maybe he did, maybe he didn’t, but he’s the exec on record) perhaps the worst trade in NFL history, dealing three first round picks and guaranteeing the contract of Deshaun Watson.

We absolutely agree Stefanski and Berry should get a pass for the incredibly bad 2024 season, because it seems to us that year was about justifying the horrible deal for Watson, and not really about winning.

When you change several coaches, including the offensive coordinator, and change the offensive line blocking scheme, after a playoff season you have to think that was something decided by the entire organization (i.e. ownership) and that’s why the pair weren’t fired after the 3-14 debacle.

However, if the Browns don’t play better this year, meaning be competitive on the field, a spotlight should be shone upon the coach and GM.

The coaching staff fiasco seems to be repaired, and although they don’t seem to have a “franchise” QB, the veteran that got them to the post-season in ’23 is back in Joe Flacco, and they seem to have reinstituted an emphasis on the running game.

As for the GM, in his tenure, he has selected one Pro Bowl player. Part of that is not having three first round picks, but he seems to have chosen a lot of solid players, but no impact guys.

And in this past draft, despite needs on the offensive line, safety, and wide receiver, he took two running backs (we like both of them, by the way) and two quarterbacks.

We don’t want the ownership to return to their ways of firing people every two years, but we have no issue with having some accountability for Stefanski and Berry after this season.

Creating a mess and using it as a reason to keep your job shouldn’t be how it works.

Finally, Garrett Has Some Help Rushing The Passer

For much of Myles Garrett’s career with the Cleveland Browns, he’s been a one-man gang in terms of rushing the passer. Last year might have been the best example of that. Garrett led the team with 16 sacks and the next best total was Taven Bryan who had three.

This is Garrett’s 7th season in the league, and on paper, this is the best group of defensive linemen Garrett has ever been surrounded with and probably the most accomplished defensive coordinator the Browns have had in his tenure (with all due respect to Gregg Williams).

It is interesting that the years where Cleveland had a decent pass rusher to pair with Garrett were the bad seasons the Browns have had since he was the first overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.

In his rookie season, the Browns had the 14th ranked defense and although Garrett played just 11 games, he led Cleveland in sacks with seven. Ranking second was LB James Burgess, and the next best defensive lineman was fellow rookie Emmanuel Ogbah, who had three.

The next two seasons, the best pass rusher to compliment Garrett was DT Larry Ogunjobi who had 5.5 sacks in both 2018 and 2019. Garrett had 13.5 in ’18 and dropped to 10 in ’19, which of course was the year he played only 10 games because he was suspended.

When the Browns finally made the playoffs in 2020, there finally was pressure coming from the other side at defensive end as Olivier Vernon had nine sacks to go along with Garrett’s dozen. And the following season, Cleveland went 8-9 with Jadeveon Clowney contributing nine sacks and Garrett getting a career high 16, which he matched last season.

Williams liked to put pressure on the opposing quarterback, but as we noted before, it seems Joe Woods’ philosophy was if Myles doesn’t sack the passer, then we need to go to Plan B.

That’s not Jim Schwartz’ plan.

This off-season GM Andrew Berry brought in several defensive linemen, basically overhauling the unit outside of Garrett. Part of this was brought about by Cleveland’s dreadful performance against the run in 2022, but Schwartz loves to have depth so he can rotate lineman and keep them fresh.

They brought in Za’Darius Smith, who has 54.5 sacks in his career and has accumulated at least 10 in three of his last four seasons. That total would be the highest by any Garrett teammate since the former Texas A & M standout arrived on the shores of Lake Erie.

Another pass rusher acquired by Berry is Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, who had five sacks in his first full season in the league last year for Houston.

And during training camp, the Browns signed Shelby Harris as a free agent. Harris only had two sacks last year for Seattle, but had two seasons (’19 and ’21) in Denver where he got to the QB six times.

Add in DT Dalvin Tomlinson, whose 2.5 sacks for the Vikings last season would have tied him for third on the team in Cleveland a year ago. Tomlinson was brought in primarily to be a run stopper, but he can get to the QB as well.

Former Browns’ GM Ernie Accorsi used to say the two most important positions on the field were quarterback and guys who can get to the opposing QB.

The Browns should have found some help for Myles Garrett in that regard this off-season.

Mayfield’s Problems In ’19 Based In Browns’ Dysfunction?

It is amazing to us that so many people have soured on Browns’ QB Baker Mayfield. At this time last year, he was the toast of the town in Cleveland, setting the record for touchdown passes by a rookie.

He was brash, cocky, and he won games. Cleveland went 6-7 in his starts, and while that’s not even above .500, when the team won a single game in the previous two seasons, you appreciate it.

Many of the fans who now want to replace Mayfield at the position also are highly critical of Freddie Kitchens, which doesn’t make sense to us.

If you think Kitchens was a terrible head coach, then doesn’t it follow he adversely affected the quarterback as well?

We said early in the 2019 campaign that it did not appear the Browns were running the same offense that was so successful in 2018 after Kitchens became the offensive coordinator.

Cleveland ranked 15th in the NFL in rushing attempts during the 2018 season, they ranked 22nd last year. In ’18, the Browns ranked 11th in yards per attempt at 4.6, and last year, they were even better at 4.8, ranking fifth in the NFL.

When Gregg Williams took over for Hue Jackson, and Kitchens inherited the OC job from the dismissed Todd Haley, the Browns became a running team, and they were successful. Mayfield benefited from this and played off the success of the running game.

But when Kitchens took over, and GM John Dorsey hired Todd Monken as offensive coordinator, the Browns got away from what allowed them to win in the second half of the 2018 season.

It didn’t help that Dorsey traded for Odell Beckham Jr. which influenced both the head coach and the OC to emphasize the passing game even more.

When you talk about the dysfunction of the Browns’ franchise, this should be presented as Exhibit A. Stop doing something that worked because the GM wanted to make a big splash, and the head coach and offensive coordinator felt obligated to the GM.

As stated previously, you could see it early in the season last year. Receivers were running downfield patterns with no outlet for Mayfield, and the offensive line wasn’t strong enough to block for those longer routes.

Mayfield ranked 13th in the NFL last year in intended air yards per pass attempt, while Kirk Cousins, running Kevin Stefanski’s offense in Minnesota, ranked 25th.

Although Mayfield ranked 5th in this category in ’18, his completed pass yards per attempt dropped from the year before, and the number of times he was sacked increased from 25 in 2018 (in 14 games) to 40 last season.

To us, it’s because the offensive line couldn’t hold up for the longer routes without the play action. And the play action worked better because the Browns became a running team when Williams and Kitchens took over.

Last season, teams knew Cleveland was going to try to throw first, and run second.

Enter new head coach Kevin Stefanski, and a front office which right now seems like they want to maximize the things this team can do best.

Under Stefanski, Kirk Cousins had his highest passer rating of his career and the lowest interception rate of his career.

He also threw the least passes per game since he became a starter in 2019.

That’s because the Vikings were 4th in rushing attempts (behind Baltimore, San Francisco, and Seattle) and 6th in rushing yards (adding to those teams Dallas and Tennessee).

Coincidentally, the Browns have the second leading rusher in the league in Nick Chubb, and a former NFL rushing champion in Kareem Hunt.

Guess what the Browns are going to do this year?

If Mayfield can’t be at top efficiency this season, then the Browns may need to be on the lookout for a new QB come next year’s draft. It’s all set up for him to succeed.

Browns Biggest Problem? Lack Of One Vision.

Well, another year and another coaching change for the Cleveland Browns. Actually, the 2019 season had one less replacement than 2018, so if you are looking for a silver lining, we guess that is it.

Freddie Kitchens is out after one year, the second Cleveland coach to have that short of a tenure within the past ten years (Rob Chudzinski) and if you count Gregg Williams, the organization has given three coaches 16 games or less in the recent past.

And, of course, there are rumors that the firings may not be done in Berea, and perhaps GM John Dorsey’s job is in jeopardy.

People wonder why the Browns can’t win? It’s because of the wash, rinse, repeat cycle that is endless for the team, and in particular, Jimmy and Dee Haslam.

The owners apparently can’t stop listening to anyone and everyone, and the organizational structure, which right now has Dorsey and analytics guru Paul DePodesta both reporting to the Haslams, causes problems, time and again.

Those who don’t learn from the past and doomed to repeat it.

Remember that Sashi Brown and Hue Jackson both reported to the owners, and when the losing started after Brown gutted the roster (which Jackson knew was happening), the coach used his influence to get Brown out of town.

Then, Dorsey used the same process to get Jackson fired, even though both reported directly to the Haslams.

Dorsey hired Kitchens and the coach reported to the GM, but it has been reported that DePodesta didn’t want Jackson or Kitchens, instead wanting to hire Sean McDermott (now with Buffalo instead of Jackson) and then Minnesota offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski (not Kitchens).

It appears DePodesta has whispered to the Haslams that he was right on both counts and should have more of a say in the hiring of the new man.

Of course, if the new coach struggles, then Dorsey will be talking to them saying DePodesta doesn’t know anything, and we will start the process again.

The Browns need a director of football operations badly. They need one voice talking to the ownership about the team, so the political “football” (no pun intended) ends. It is obvious the Haslams cannot handle opposing viewpoints from people who talk directly to them.

They are like the kid who is trying to be popular in school, trying to be everyone’s friend.

Our two cents would be that Dorsey stays as the GM, as he’s brought a lot of talent into the organization, with the understanding that he starts taking character of the players into account.

Hopefully, he has learned from the past year, players who have talent but a questionable work ethics will no longer be tolerated.

The next coach should come from a collaborative effort using both men, so they both have a stake in the success or failure in the new head man. That would also mean they would work together to help bring in players.

That’s what the Browns need most, a front office team all pulling in the right direction. Until the ownership realizes that, the football team will be stuck in mediocrity.

If they can’t, then this will all be repeated in 2021, or heaven forbid, at the end of the 2020 season.

Those who don’t learn from the past, are destined to repeat it.

Browns’ Coaching Search Another Trust In Dorsey Thing

Think about this, Browns’ fans. This year’s edition of the Cleveland Browns almost doubled the win total of the last three seasons…combined!

The 2016 and 2017 seasons were such a nightmare that it is easy to forget the team won three games in Mike Pettine’s last season as head coach. That’s how a team goes from four wins in three seasons to seven in 2018.

It also means no top five draft pick, and with last year’s choice of Baker Mayfield with the first overall selection, it also means, nobody is putting the top college quarterbacks entering the draft under scrutiny.

Heck, the Browns won’t even pick until #17 overall, so fans can leisurely tune in to the draft, they won’t have to turn it on right at the beginning if they so choose.

That no longer matters.

Instead, everyone’s obsession has turned to the coaching search. Who will be leading the Cleveland Browns in 2019.

Will it be Gregg Williams, who did an outstanding job (5-3) after taking over for Hue Jackson. How about Freddie Kitchens who made the Mayfield led offense one of the NFL’s best in the second half of the year?

Whoever it is, we will trust John Dorsey, assuming that the GM is making the choice without any outside interference or influence from owner Jimmy Haslam.

We have heard several national writers say the ultimate decision will be made by Haslam, which frightens us, because by now, we would have thought the owner would realize what he doesn’t know.

He’s too impressionable. He seems to hear the “hot” name out there, and want to go with them rather than the right man for the job.

The momentum built in the second half of the season cannot and should not be ignored. We believe John Dorsey understands that.

He don’t think he will be interested in a candidate who will come in and want to put his “system” in place, especially if it would entail have to swap out some of the players the Browns have on the roster.

After all, Dorsey helped accumulate the talent the Browns currently have and we think he believes in them, otherwise he would have went in a different direction.

That’s not to say the roster is where the GM wants it. He knows they need an upgrade in several areas, and with another good draft and using more salary cap space, he can accomplish that.

He wants a partner in the process, not someone who is going to fight him, something that has happened in Berea over the years when the coach and general manager are not on the same page.

Dorsey was disappointed the Browns didn’t make the playoffs this season, coming off two years with one total victory, so we doubt he wants to take a step back while a new coach put his “stamp” on the franchise. We feel he wants someone who can take the talent already on the roster and blend in the players added in the off-season, and hit the ground running next season.

So, whether it’s Mike McCarthy, Josh McDaniels, or even a college coach like Matt Campbell, we feel Dorsey has earned the right to have the trust of the fans.

He has the best intentions for the Cleveland Browns.

Browns Get Playoff Atmosphere This Sunday

When the Tennessee Titans won Saturday afternoon, the slim chance for the Cleveland Browns to make the playoffs went up in smoke.

However, the Browns will get to experience a playoff atmosphere in their season finale against the Baltimore Ravens.

As everyone knows by now, if the Browns beat Baltimore for the second time this season they will likely knock the Ravens out of the post-season, provided the Steelers beat the Bengals.

This experience should be invaluable for next season, when the Browns should be in the playoff hunt for real. And it will be on the road, making it more difficult for the young Browns, as it will be a very hostile atmosphere.

That’s why John Dorsey, Gregg Williams, and the rest of the organization should do everything it can to win the last game of the year.

And we don’t doubt for a second that is exactly what they will do.

The Browns’ front office and players aren’t about rebuilding anymore, they know how good they can be, and the culture has been changed. No more playing for draft picks, no more settling for getting close.

Oh, by the way, a victory over the Ravens would give Cleveland a winning record, 8-7-1, for the first time since 2007.

A victory would also establish the Browns as a force in the AFC North in 2019. With a bunch of draft picks and a ton of cap space, there is no reason to believe Dorsey won’t be able to add more good players to provide the depth the team needs to contend.

For the first time in a long time, there will be expectations around the Cleveland Browns. No doubt many national experts will be picking them to make the playoffs.

How will they respond? Will they have the same chip on their shoulder they did coming off an 0-16 season? Our guess is with Baker Mayfield at quarterback, they will.

We have seen people being critical of the streak of five wins in seven games because the schedule hasn’t exactly been imposing. For a franchise that won just a single game in the past two years, it’s a ridiculous claim.

It shows progress that Cleveland has gotten to the point where they can beat the teams on par with them record wise. Would those people prefer the Browns lose to the Bengals, Broncos, and Panthers?

The Browns have been losing for so long, people have forgotten what it is like to win. That’s why they are still calling for players to sit out the final game of the season to avoid injury, or to have a higher position in next spring’s draft.

Perhaps when the Browns have several playoff appearances under their belt, it might be time to sit players down, or it would be okay if the seeding for the playoffs were set in stone, the rest would do certain players good.

More so, Williams wants to win because it creates a better case for him to keep the head coaching gig. Would Dorsey let Williams go after he finished the season 6-2? It would be very difficult.

As Charles Barkley once said, if it ain’t broke, don’t break it.

Anyway, Sunday’s game it one to look forward to. The Browns can ruin the Ravens’ resurgence behind first round pick Lamar Jackson, and they can put the Steelers in the playoffs.

The fate of the AFC North centers on that game, and CBS’ number one announcing team will be on hand to cover it.

It’s the biggest game the Browns have played in years even though they can’t reach the playoffs.

It should be fun for sure.

Playoff Hopes Slim, But These Browns Have A Lot To Play For.

After defeating the Denver Broncos last Saturday night, nothing went the way the Cleveland Browns wanted them on Sunday.

Most notably, the Steelers defeated the Patriots, meaning the Browns already slim chance to make the playoffs are down to a very convoluted results, which would need Indianapolis and Houston to tie on the last weekend of the season.

That said, there are still plenty of things for the Browns to play for during these last two games, the home finale this week vs. Cincinnati, and at Baltimore the weekend before New Year’s Day.

First is a chance to finish over .500 for the first time since 2007, and only the second time since they returned to the NFL as an expansion team in 1999. The even crazier stat is since 1989, 29 years ago, the Browns have been over the break even mark just three times (1994, 2002, and 2007).

That’s unbelievable.

They also have a chance to win four divisional games in one season. That hasn’t happened since Bill Belichick was in charge here, and that was 1994. Back then, the Houston Oilers were still in existence and were in the AFC Central with the Browns, Steelers, and Bengals.

So, success has been a seldom occurrence for this football team, which we think everyone has realized this season.

It’s been so rare, some fans don’t know how to handle it. We have heard a few people saying since the last two games don’t really make a difference for the Browns, Baker Mayfield and some other key players should sit them out to avoid injuries.

First, athletes (and include leaders and coaches) don’t think that way.

Second, the only reasons to do that is to rest players for a possible playoff game or to sit a veteran player out in order to look at younger guys. In Cleveland’s case, Mayfield and the others are the young players.

Sitting them out is a loser mentality, living in your own fear. Besides, would you want to be the person to tell Mayfield he isn’t playing the last two contests?

Nick Chubb, who didn’t play much in the first quarter of the season, needs to average 70 yards per game in the last two weeks to reach the 1,000 yard plateau. Now, a 1,000 yard season doesn’t have the cache it used to have, but it still would be a great accomplishment for the rookie.

With three more sacks this season, Myles Garrett would rank in the top ten all time for the franchise in career sacks, tying Kennard Lang and Jamir Miller. Reminder, he’s playing in just his second year.

We said this when he was drafted, but we’ve been watching Browns’ football for more than 50 years and they have never had a pass rusher like Garrett.

And then you have the coaching situation. There is no doubt that Gregg Williams has a better case to keep the job if the Browns go 6-2 in the last eight games rather than 5-3 or 4-4.

Also, Freddie Kitchens’ reputation would be more enhanced the more Cleveland racks up victories. If he isn’t the offensive coordinator here next season, we will have that job somewhere in 2019.

While the playoff hopes are minuscule, there is still a lot to play for if you are part of this Browns’ organization. That’s why they will treat these last two games like they have any of the contests since Gregg Williams took over.

Browns In A Meaningful December

It is December, and the Cleveland Browns are still in a playoff race.

That seemed impossible after a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers dropped the Browns record to 2-5-1, and raised the Steelers mark to 4-2-1. When Pittsburgh won the next three to jump to 7-2-1, it made the prospect even more remote.

But Jimmy Haslam and GM John Dorsey let Hue Jackson go after that game, and since, the Browns are 3-2, while the Steelers have dropped three straight, and have games the next two weeks with New England and New Orleans.

It’s still a tremendous long shot, but for the first time since 2014, the Browns are playing meaningful football in December.

Whether or not it will continue beyond this weekend will depend on what the Browns do this weekend against Denver, a very difficult place to play.

The Broncos are just 3-3 at home this season, but their losses are to the Chiefs (11-2), the Rams (11-2), and the Texans (9-4). A win there by Cleveland would be very impressive indeed.

It would also set the team up very nicely for a week 17 game with meaning. There is no doubt the Browns will be favored at home the weekend before Christmas against Cincinnati.

And wins in the next two contests would put Gregg Williams’ team at 7-7-1 heading into the season finale, on the road against Baltimore.

For a team that came into the season with one win in the last two years, that’s very exciting.

Again, it’s a long shot. The Browns could very well lose in Colorado this weekend, and drop the season finale and end up at 6-9-1, which again would be a tremendous accomplishment given the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

The reason for the hope is not just Baker Mayfield, although he is the chief one. But Cleveland has exciting players all over the field.

It’s fun to watch Nick Chubb run the ball, to see Myles Garrett go after the quarterback, and to see the toughness of Jarvis Landry and Demarious Randall.

Sundays are fun again. And that’s a breath of fresh air.

But back to Mayfield. After the Panthers marched right down the field on the game’s opening drive, there were no worries at all. That’s what having a quarterback does for you.

When the Browns have poor down and distance situation now, we don’t dread it, instead we wonder if Mayfield can make a play to keep the drive going.

We have a QB who can throw the long pass, can beat the blitz by hitting the hot receivers, and can put the touch on the ball to get it over a linebacker and into the hands of his teammates.

When was the last time we had a signal caller that gave fans that kind of confidence?

This isn’t to say we are elevating Mayfield to top ten quarterback in the league status, he’s started just ten games in the NFL. We’ve seen other young quarterbacks (Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston for example) come into the league and have people proclaiming them as the league’s next best things.

However, we have to say, that there aren’t many young QBs we would take over Mayfield. Perhaps just Patrick Mahomes and Carson Wentz.

Again, we may think differently next year. But, the future of Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns look very bright. Maybe even pre-expansion team bright.

Browns Youth Shows Up Vs. Texans

Any chance, however how remote, the Cleveland Browns had of making the playoffs went away after Sunday’s 29-13 loss to the Houston Texans.

The Browns dropped to 4-7-1 on the season as the Texans won their ninth straight contest. Cleveland took a step up in class after beating Atlanta and Cincinnati, and failed the test. Houston looked like a team that could have some success in the playoffs against Gregg Williams’ squad.

The Browns have played a number of the top teams in the NFL this season: New Orleans, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles Chargers, and Houston. The Texans rank right up there with Kansas City and the Chargers as the toughest foes for the Browns.

We are sure there will be those complaining about Baker Mayfield’s performance in the game, but to us, it was just a reminder that last year’s Heisman Trophy winner is a rookie. He hasn’t played like it for, really, most of the season, but he still has played only 10 NFL games.

It was a learning experience, and our guess is Mayfield will learn from it, and be better this Sunday at home against the Panthers.

Think about how few games many of the best players on the roster have played in the league. Besides Mayfield, Myles Garrett, Nick Chubb, Denzel Ward, David Njoku, and Larry Ogunjobi have all played less than two complete seasons in the league.

And we would bet at least two of those players will be Pro Bowl selections this season.

As for Garrett, we can’t believe some fans are disappointed in last year’s first overall selection in the draft.

He’s second in the NFL in sacks this season, for cryin’ out loud!

We think there are some fans who think Garrett should sack the opposing quarterback on every certain passing down. It just doesn’t work that way.

Garrett commands double teams and opposing offensive coordinators make sure they know where is at on every down. Believe us, they are aware of him.

Since sacks started being tracked as a statistic in the NFL in 1982, the Browns all time leader is Clay Matthews with 62, followed by Michael Dean Perry with 51-1/2.

If Garrett gets four more before the end of this season, he would join the top ten all time for the Browns, tying Kennard Lang and Jamir Miller.

In two years!

Barring injury, he is going to be one of the cornerstones for this franchise as they move into playoff contention.

With four games left in the season, and none of them against the class of this year’s NFL, the Browns have a very good chance to finish the season 6-9-1 or even 7-8-1.

This week’s opponent, Carolina, is reeling with four straight losses and is 1-4 on the road.

Traveling to Denver is always tough, even if the Broncos are 6-6. They have won three in a row.

Then come divisional games against Cincinnati at home, and the non-passing Ravens in the season finale. Andy Dalton is done for the year, getting hurt last week against the Browns, and although Baltimore is a playoff team right now, it will be interesting to see how the league adjusts to the Lamar Jackson experiment.

Six or seven wins coming off a winless season would be phenomenal improvement, and so would not finishing last, which is also very possible.

On the other hand, it’s tough to gauge how this young football team will handle, what for many, is their first 16 game schedule.

For the first time in a while, the last four games should be interesting to watch, at least from a developmental standpoint.