Can’t Defend Stefanski Anymore

If you are a regular reader of this site, you would know we have been a supporter of Browns’ coach Kevin Stefanski. We felt he has had some success, making two playoff appearances during his tenure, but also because the franchise had to end the madness of changing head coaches after two seasons.

And generally, the coach has done a solid job managing the quarterback mess the front office put on him, and in that we are talking about the Deshaun Watson situation.

However, Sunday’s 21-17 loss to Minnesota has made us change our mind. That was a winnable game, and we think Stefanski managed it into a loss.

After the previous game, Cleveland made a quarterback change, going to rookie Dillon Gabriel. The move was made to revive a moribund offense and also because Joe Flacco was turning the ball over. Some of those turnovers were not his fault, but still, he was the guy under center.

Gabriel did not turn the ball over. In fact, the Browns had no turnovers and had Quinshon Judkins run for 110 yards on 23 carries.

They still only scored 17 points. That’s 10 straight games for Cleveland at 17 points or fewer. In fact, in 2024, the only three games in which the Browns scored more than 20 points were with Jameis Winston at the helm.

Stefanski came to the Browns because of the work he did as the offensive coordinator of the Vikings. That’s right, he was the offensive coordinator. And that’s the area of weakness for this football team.

Still, the biggest problem for the Browns in London was that their coach played not to lose. And you know the old adage that says if you are playing not to lose, what generally happens? You lose.

The Browns had a 17-14 lead and got the ball back with just under four minutes to go and called two running plays into the line on first and second downs that combined to gain a yard and then threw an incomplete pass.

We understand Stefanski is taking heat for the clock management, but that’s not our beef. It’s the play choices. They were unbelievably conservative. We didn’t want Gabriel to be firing long passes down the field, but where were some short tosses to gain five or six yards on first down and put the offense in better position to keep the ball and run more time off the clock?

Stefanski made it easy on the Vikings defense. Think about what Minnesota did, look at all the misdirection and motion. That’s not a part of the Cleveland offense.

We understand the talent level isn’t the same, but…

Much like baseball, you have to score points to win in today’s NFL and usually the teams that score the most points like the playoffs. The Browns can’t put points on the board. They average just 14.6 per game, tied for the worst in the league with Tennessee, who by the way, scored 22 in their first win of the season on Sunday.

New Orleans scored 26 this week. In fact, only six teams (out of 26 because of byes) scored fewer than 21 last weekend. So, Stefanski’s plan was to hold the Vikings to 14?

That’s not a real good plan.

It just seems no matter what, the Browns can’t score points. We get the organization has 101 excuses why they can’t win, and they are consistently pushing things ahead to the following year (FREE BEER TOMORROW!), but it’s time for answers.

We said last week the division is really up for grabs with the injury to Joe Burrow in Cincinnati and the Ravens having a down year. But the Browns refuse to win games they should win, like Sunday and the season opener.

Our guess is next week they will go to Pittsburgh and they will do the same tired things on offense. And they won’t get to 20 points.

Browns Are On To Gabriel

We have said since before training camp started for the Cleveland Browns that the logical guy to start at quarterback was Joe Flacco. He would give the team a “professional” at the position, meaning guys would be lined up correctly and there isn’t anything a defense could do that he hasn’t seen.

However, we also recognize that coach Kevin Stefanski started the veteran to take care of the football and that hasn’t happened. He’s had seven turnovers in the first four games, and although several were not totally his fault, a team like the Browns can’t turn it over and hope to win.

We heard this earlier this week. The Browns haven’t scored more than 17 points in a game not started by Jameis Winston since the Thursday night game against the Jets in 2023 where Cleveland clinched a playoff spot. Wow!

It also makes us wonder as we did last off-season why the Browns didn’t bring Winston back for the 2025 season.

So, now we get to see one of the rookie quarterbacks the team drafted this Sunday when Dillon Gabriel starts for the Browns. Gabriel will give the offense a little more mobility at the position, but if the offensive line play doesn’t improve and the receivers don’t start catching the football, it’s difficult to see what will be different for the offense.

But as we all saw with Deshaun Watson last year, sometimes mobility leads to running yourself into sacks. And even though Gabriel has played a lot of college football, the things he did to escape in college may not translate to the NFL because of the speed.

Here’s another issue with starting the rookie, in our opinion the gap between playing QB in college and in the pros has never been more different.

On the other hand, we subscribe to the “can’t do any worse” theory, and it is hard to see that the rookie can be worse, at least in terms of turnovers.

As we wrote earlier this week, the Browns simply have to score more points, and if they can, and we know this sounds crazy, this division seems to be up for grabs, particularly if the defense keeps playing at this level.

Joe Burrow is out for Cincinnati. The Ravens are all banged up. And yes, the Steelers are 3-1, but their wins are against the Jets (0-4), Patriots (2-2) and Vikings (2-2) who also happen to be this week’s opponent for the Browns.

If you win in London, Cleveland will go into Pittsburgh at 2-3, and most experts feel the Browns’ schedule gets much easier after that contest.

But you have to be able to move the football and put points on the board, and until we see that, there most certainly are doubts. And Stefanski should bear the blame. The only team that has scored less than the Browns are the 0-4 Tennessee Titans.

The proof will be what happens this Sunday across the pond. If the moribund Cleveland offense shows some life, then maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel. If not, it will confirm the Browns have more issues on that side of the ball than the quarterback.

Why Not Go Back To Winston?

The Cleveland Browns are still looking for a veteran starting quarterback. Slowly, the options have been reduced by other teams signing younger, experienced passers in the first round of free agency.

It appears that the Browns miscalculated the market and seemed to be settled on Kirk Cousins, whom they didn’t think Atlanta would pay a roster bonus and thus he would be released. But apparently, Atlanta isn’t going to do that.

So, in waiting for Cousins, Cleveland could’ve traded a third-round pick for Geno Smith, or signed Justin Fields or Daniel Jones in free agency. They didn’t, so if the Browns want a veteran signal caller, it looks like Russell Wilson, Carson Wentz, Joe Flacco, or someone else of that ilk.

We ask this question…why not Jameis Winston?

Yes, we know Winston has a history of throwing interceptions. And he ranked second in the league in interception percentage last season trailing only the Colts’ Anthony Richardson, who appears to be losing his job.

But hear us out. Remember when Winston became the starting quarterback last season after an injury to the starter, and head coach Kevin Stefanski gave up play-calling responsibilities the same week?

Winston never got a chance to run the offense that he came to Cleveland to run. An offense built on running the ball and the play-action pass. Instead, he played in a pass happy attack, one that had him throwing over 40 passes in a game five times, including 58 throws in the loss to Denver.

Then remember the first year Winston started in New Orleans, when the Saints got off to a 5-2 start before he was injured. Running Sean Payton’s offense, the most passes he threw in a game was 35, and he only had more than one interception in one game, when he went 11 for 22 for 111 yards in a 26-7 loss to Carolina.

For that season, the former first overall pick completed 59% of his throws and had 14 touchdowns and just 3 picks.

And we know Winston still has an incredible arm. Instead of signing a guy with diminished arm strength like Wilson, why not go with a passer who still can make all the throws. And in a locker room that seems to need leadership amongst the players, we know the leadership Winston provides.

Also, if Payton can coach the turnovers out of Winston, why can’t Stefanski?

We also think Winston would be a good mentor for whatever quarterback the Browns take in the first round, and we believe they are going to do just that.

Plus, Jerry Jeudy became a Pro Bowl wide receiver when Winston took over as quarterback, and we also are aware the QB wasn’t thrilled at times that wide receivers (Elijah Moore) didn’t try to break up passes that were thrown in harm’s way.

Look, we know it’s not going to happen. It doesn’t seem like Stefanski had a connection with Jameis and no media outlet has reported anything about a reunion between the two parties.

But if the picks were the problem, Flacco would have had the highest interception percentage in the NFL in 2023 had he thrown enough passes to qualify. The league leader was Mac Jones at 3.5%, Flacco’s was 3.9%.

We would like to see how Winston would fare in a run based, throw off play action attack like Stefanski likes to use. Maybe he would still put the ball in precarious situations, but maybe he’d hit on some big plays and give the Browns an air attack that can stretch the field.

For whatever reason, the Browns’ front office and coaching staff isn’t considering Jameis Winston as an option.

Garrett Requests A Trade. Browns Need To Fix It

Only the Cleveland Browns could have a 3-14 season and have the off-season be worse than the actual season. But that’s where it seems we are after the franchise’s best player; Myles Garrett requested a trade.

We guess it is semantics, but Garrett asked to be moved, he didn’t demand it. People who know this stuff better than us feel it would be another huge hit on the salary cap to trade the All-Pro defensive end, which may preclude making the move.

Garrett has two years left on his current contract, so if push comes to shove, the Browns could play hard ball and refuse to trade him, making Garrett decide whether or not he is going to sit out a season.

It would also be stupid for it to come to that.

Our advice to the Browns’ front office? Put together your collaborative process (sarcasm intended) and fix this. And the sooner, the better.

We would even go as far as to say this. In his public statement requesting a deal, the former first overall pick gave a little tweak to GM Andrew Berry using the latter’s “Cleveland to Canton” comment. If Garrett’s issue is with Berry, it’s an easy solution for us, hire a new general manager.

Berry is easily more replaceable than the best defensive player the franchise has had over the last 65 years.

We understand that Garrett’s request got all of the football fans in northeast Ohio who crave and worship draft picks all excited. That’s what they love. But the reality is anyone you draft with one of the picks you get will not be as good as Myles Garrett.

And that’s not a slap at the front office either. Garrett has already won the Defensive Player of the Year last season and is up for the award this season. He’s arguably the best defensive player in the NFL.

The Browns could get 20 first round picks in return and not get anyone as good as Myles Garrett.

As for Garrett’s desire to play important games, let’s be honest about this, how many games would the Browns have won in 2024 with competent quarterback play? They certainly wouldn’t have been 3-14. Cleveland started 10 contests with Deshaun Watson, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, and Bailey Zappe behind center.

They were 2-5 with Jameis Winston, so is it out of the realm of possibility to think they could have gone 6-11 with Winston starting the whole season? If you agree, then that makes to trip back to the playoffs in 2025 shorter.

We understand Browns’ fans and media alike love to play the “woe is us” card. But there is talent on this roster. Denzel Ward and Jerry Jeudy made the Pro Bowl (such that it is), and the offensive line needs some tweaks, but there are solid players there.

David Njoku is a good player too, and Mike Hall and Isaiah McGuire look like they have talent. And don’t forget, the Browns have a first-round pick for the first time in four years and four picks in the top 100 of this year’s draft.

And going back to the offense Kevin Stefanski likes to run should cause an improvement as well.

There is a long time between now and the beginning of training camp, so the front office is on the clock. Fix this issue with Myles Garrett. End of discussion.

Another Loss Brings More Puzzling Questions For Browns

It was another mind-numbing, head scratching performance by the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, capping their home schedule with a 20-3 loss to the Miami Dolphins.

If you thought it couldn’t get worse from the early season offensive struggles with Deshaun Watson at the helm, the Browns have now scored in single digits the last three contests, the last two with overmatched Dorian Thompson-Robinson calling signals.

At least Watson would put up at least 10 points per game. His low was the 13 scored against Washington in week five.

Offensively, Cleveland had a decent day running the football, gaining 114 yards (their 4th best of the season) on 28 attempts. And although we understand the Browns were trailing most of the second half, they still decided to have their inexperienced, ineffective QB put the ball in the air 47 times.

Thompson-Robinson completed 24 of those throws for 170 yards, and had an interception, the 10th of his career vs. just one touchdown pass.

The Browns said they wanted to take a look at the second year QB when he has time to prepare for games, and if true, they can’t like what they’ve seen. Jameis Winston has a reputation for throwing interceptions, and his career percentage is 3.5%.

DTR in his 14 games, including five starts, has a percentage of 4.4%. Add that to a career completion percentage of 52.4% and you can see he’s not ready to be a starter in the league, and really, you have to question whether or not he should be on a roster.

Which leads to another question. Why did the Browns cut Tyler Huntley in order to keep Thompson-Robinson? It leads us to believe there is an agenda, in that case being the GM drafted one and signed the other as a free agent.

We understand general managers have a fondness for players they drafted, but good organizations (note, we said good) make evaluations based on how people play, not where or by whom they were drafted by.

Is Huntley a better quarterback? He’s played 24 games in the NFL with 13 starts and has completed 65% of his throws with 10 TDs and 8 interceptions (1.8%). Yeah, he’s better without a doubt.

Which leads us to this question. Should Andrew Berry be making the draft picks this upcoming spring? It’s hard to make a case for him.

Yes, he’s been without a first-round choice for the last three seasons. However, he’s only selected one player who has made a Pro Bowl, LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. The first round picks he did make; T Jedrick Wills and CB Greg Newsome aren’t cornerstones of the team.

He’s made some good trades, like the ones for Amari Cooper and Jerry Jeudy, but he also dealt a second-round pick for Elijah Moore, whose roster spot is tenuous at best.

Does anyone trust Berry to change the landscape of the Browns in this draft where they likely will have a top five pick? It’s difficult to make that argument.

The Browns’ front office makes too many errors trying to justify bad decisions which is a twofold problem. The best thing to do if you mess up is to admit it, move on and get better.

There was another report this week about Watson competing for the QB job in training camp. If it is not true, then the powers that be should say nothing about him, so apparently someone is putting that out there.

Why? The guy doesn’t want to play in Cleveland.

By next Saturday night, this nightmare season for the Browns will be over. We still think Kevin Stefanski should be the coach next year, but someone needs to be held accountable for Watson and the offensive coaching staff firings.

Running it back with the same group shouldn’t be an option.

This QB Looked A Lot Like The One Who Started The Year For Browns

The ugly season authored by the Cleveland Browns continued on Sunday with another abysmal offensive performance in a 24-6 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the Queen City dropping their record to 3-12.

It was the 10th time this season the Browns failed to gain 300 yards of total offense. Of the five games they exceeded that total, Jameis Winston was at the controls in four of them.

Dorian Thompson-Robinson was the starting quarterback and frankly, the offense looked a lot like it did in the first seven games with Deshaun Watson at the helm. He was skittish in the pocket, looked to escape very early, not giving receivers a chance, and of course, running himself into sacks.

The game started promising for the Browns as Jerome Ford ripped off a 66-yard run on the game’s very first play. But true to the Ken Dorsey offense, Ford carried just nine more times on the day, gaining 92 yards on the ground as Cleveland felt the need to have a very inexperienced QB throw 34 passes.

The Browns rank 28th in rushing attempts and 27th in yardage this season, which is by far the worst ranking for any offense coordinated or guided as a head coach by Kevin Stefanski.

Until last year, his teams were always in the top ten in rushing, and last season finished 12th and that was with Nick Chubb being injured in the second game of the year.

And when you think about it, the identity of the Cleveland Browns is the running game, tough, physical football. The greatest running back in the history of the game, Jim Brown, played here.

So did Marion Motley, Leroy Kelly, Greg Pruitt, Mike Pruitt, Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner both gained 1000 yards in the same season, and of course, Chubb has been one of the best runners of the last 10-15 years of NFL football.

It’s in the DNA to run the ball in Cleveland, and currently the Browns have an offensive coordinator who doesn’t like to run the ball.

Apparently, Stefanski’s success of running the football and using the play action pass didn’t figure into the decision in choosing the offensive coordinator because their ideas on offense seem to be at odds with each other.

To us, the first step to making this football team respectable when it has the football is to go back to the identity of the franchise and what the head coach clearly likes to do, and that is establish a solid running attack.

Back to Sunday’s loss. After that opening run by Ford, the Browns got no points because D’Onta Foreman fumbled on the one-yard line, presumably his last carry as a member of the brown and orange.

Cleveland’s biggest weapon of late, WR Jerry Jeudy was made useless by the switch in quarterbacks from Winston to Thompson-Robinson, who mostly dinked and dunked with short passes to Ford and David Njoku.

The turnover issues didn’t end with Winston’s benching as DTR threw two, and his career ratio now stands at one touchdown and nine picks in 180 attempts. We think we can all see he is not a legitimate starter in the NFL.

Congratulations to Myles Garrett on getting his 100th sack of his illustrious career. The front office has work to do in rebuilding this roster quick so Garrett will want to remain a Brown.

And of course, Dustin Hopkins missed an extra point, his only kick of the day. His confidence is clearly shaken, and he should not be kicking any more this year.

Not that these last two games really matter. It will be interesting to see at what point Stefanski pulls the plug on the DTR experience and goes to Bailey Zappe.

Merry Christmas! The Browns don’t play until Sunday!

Mistakes, Turnovers, And Other Assorted Errors Lead To Yet Another Loss

When you lose the turnover margin 6-0 in an NFL game, we would guess the odds are monumental against winning the game, so perhaps the best thing we can say about the Cleveland Browns is they only lost 21-7 to the defending Super Bowl champs despite that turnover margin.

The game started well with the defense forcing a three and out, but unbelievably, James Proche fumbled the punt and Kansas City recovered and quickly scored a touchdown.

It was the first of several special teams’ errors, mostly penalties, although Proche also caught a punt inside the five-yard line, and fair caught a few more because we assume he was cautious about fumbling another one.

Jameis Winston was benched after throwing three interceptions for the second game in the last three games and has now thrown eight the last three contests. Who starts next week? Our guess would be Dorian Thompson-Robinson, although on a postgame show, both Josh Cribbs (can he come back and return kicks) and Eric Metcalf both thought Winston still is the best option.

Before the game, it was reported that the team could bring back Deshaun Watson next year. We understand Watson is still under contract, but why would anyone in the organization leak that news, especially now? If asked about him, just say “no comment”.

Whether or not the Browns stay with Winston, there is simply no way you can bring Watson into training camp next summer, salary cap hit or not. Seeing his name infuriates most fans, so what is the point of having discussions about him?

Back to the game, another downer was the injury to Nick Chubb, lost for the season with a broken foot. Chubb did lose a rare fumble, but also had 41 yards on nine carries, and seems to be getting some of his explosiveness back. The last two games he has 20 carries for 89 yards, more like traditional Chubb numbers.

The Browns need to bring him back next year.

Also, kudos to Jerry Jeudy who caught 11 passes for 108 yards, his third 100+ game in the last five and we went over the 1000-yard mark on receptions, the first time he accomplished this.

We were concerned about him early in the year, but he has found a rhythm with Winston, so at least there is that.

As happens on losing teams, players seem to play their way off the roster. Last week, we mentioned Kadarious Toney and Dustin Hopkins. This week, we became tired of Germain Ifedi, who can’t seem to get lined up correctly (and picked a dumb unsportsmanlike conduct penalty last week).

Geron Christian started last season for the Browns at left tackle and did a decent job, and he’s with the team. Why not start him for the rest of the year?

We already discussed Proche, but let us add Elijah Moore, who kind of has no role with the team. Moore was supposed to be kind of an all-purpose player who can make big plays, but he’s averaging 8.7 yards per reception on his 55 catches.

Let’s just say, we’d like to see more of Michael Woods II and Jamari Thrash going forward.

Three games left in this dreadful season. Who takes the snaps next week at Cincinnati? The guess would be Thompson-Robinson, but who knows, perhaps it’s Bailey Zappe.

It feels like the season can’t be over soon enough.

Unsportsmanlike Conduct After A Fair Catch. That Sums It Up

Well, you have to hand it to the Cleveland Browns. You never know what you are going to see when you watch them and Sunday’s 27-14 loss to the Steelers in Pittsburgh reminded everyone of that.

Punt returner Kadarius Toney was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after making a fair catch. That’s right, it wasn’t after a long return or after he made a great move to make a would-be tackler miss, he merely caught a punt and for whatever reason, decided to jaw at an opposing player.

Why he had the opportunity to muff a punt later in the 4th quarter is simply beyond us, not more on that later.

Add in two more missed field goals by Dustin Hopkins, the second occurring with a 13-7 Pittsburgh lead (meaning the game would be tied if both were made), and it will lead to more questions for the organization today.

He has now missed five of his last eight field goal attempts. In the NFL, that’s unacceptable.

During Sunday’s loss and the Monday night loss to Denver, the announcers spoke about how hard the Browns played, despite their poor record, a tribute perhaps to Kevin Stefanski.

However, is the front office failing this team right now? There hasn’t been a lot of accountability for players who are not performing from the front office.

There has been no report of kicker tryouts during the week despite Hopkins’ terrible season in which he has missed a career high nine field goals, five of those inside the 50-yard-line.

As for Toney, he should be released immediately.

But Cleveland being Cleveland, most of the conversation revolves around the quarterback.

Because Jameis Winston has a reputation for throwing interceptions (he has a 3.3% pick rate this year), there were many after the game blaming the loss on his turnovers.

His first pick was on a screen pass that the defender read and stepped in front of Nick Chubb. The second was him trying to get the Browns back in the contest. CBS’ Tony Romo criticized the throw (ironic because Romo forced throws), but the Browns were down 13 with just over three minutes to go.

If Winston was dinking and dunking, yes, the Browns might have scored a touchdown, but they likely would have had no time to score another.

We alluded to Winston’s interception rate earlier; did you know Joe Flacco’s rate a year ago was 3.9%? Flacco didn’t have the turnover reputation that Winston has from his days in Tampa Bay, so it wasn’t highlighted.

While we understand people who don’t want to go with Winston to start the 2025 season, we say find a better alternative. Because that won’t be easy, because of availability.

We hear a lot of rumblings about Justin Fields being available again, but frankly, we do not see that as an improvement.

Seeing what Winston could be with a viable running game would be of interest here. The Browns are the worst in the league at running the ball, and we know how important the play-action pass is to Stefanski’s offense.

We get the interceptions are an issue for Winston, but he does move the football, and that gives you a chance to win.

And we will stick to our guns about Dorian Thompson-Robinson. If you want to see him, play him in the last two games. That should cure your curiosity.

A Winston Air Show Gets Grounded Late Monday

The Cleveland Browns put up a lot of points Monday night, but they gave up a lot as well, and yes, they also gave Denver two touchdowns in a 41-32 loss in Colorado to drop their record to a still disappointing 3-9.

Many folks painted the game as the full Jameis Winston experience because he threw two interceptions that resulted in Bronco touchdowns. We get it, his history shows he throws picks.

You know who didn’t throw passes to the other team? Deshaun Watson. He also never threw for 300 yards in a game (heck, not even 200 this year), he couldn’t pick up first downs, he couldn’t keep the offense on the field, and he made the wide receiver positions into glorified blockers.

We would rather have a QB that threatens the defense. Winston does that. Six different Browns’ receivers caught passes that gained 13 yards or more. Jerry Jeudy looked like a terrible deal for Cleveland until Winston was at the helm. Monday night, he caught 9 passes for 235 yards and Elijah Moore had a 100 yard game at well.

Yes, the interceptions are an issue. So is having to put the ball in the air 58 times because the Browns simply don’t have a running game right now. They did run it 23 times but gained just 77 yards.

It’s not just Nick Chubb coming off an injury either. We are 12 games into the season and Cleveland’s leading rusher is Jerome Ford with a paltry 339 yards. Ford has the longest run this year (36 yards) and the second longest run is by backup QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson with a 34-yard scamper.

The third longest? D’Onta Foreman, who can’t even get on the field anymore with a 25-yard carry.

Whether or not the Browns stay with Winston in 2025 or not, what the last five games has shown is that Watson was the problem, something that many people (including us) thought after the first couple of games this season, and some of those folks had their doubts before that.

You have to think if Winston had replaced Watson earlier, the Browns may not be 3-9 right now, and throw in the incredible decision to have Thompson-Robinson be the backup against Cincinnati, the game Watson got hurt, and could the team have a 5-7 record right now?

We don’t think that would be a reach.

And while Winston does throw picks (his interception % is 7th in the league, FYI Jordan Love of Green Bay is 3rd), he also 10th in the NFL in average yards per pass attempt, which is an important statistic.

The leader in this category is Detroit’s Jared Goff, and others in the top ten are Russell Wilson, Lamar Jackson, but Winston ranks ahead of Justin Herbert, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, and C.J. Stroud.

Those guys are pretty good.

Besides the turnovers, the defense was problematic as well, allowing 28 points and 400 yards of offense to a team led by a rookie quarterback. It was the third time Jim Schwartz’ group has allowed at least 400 yards, all of them in the last eight games.

In the season’s first four contests, the most yards allowed was 340 by the Giants of all teams.

The loss of Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Za’Darius Smith have hurt, but outside of Denzel Ward, who is having a tremendous season, the secondary has been shaky as well.

What is frustrating is there are periods when they absolutely shut teams down, and other possessions it is just big play after big play.

Oh, and Dustin Hopkins missed another field goal, his seventh miss of the year. He ranks second last in field goal percentage after being 11th a year ago.

The Browns should probably add kicker to the list of needs in 2025.

We would keep Jameis Winston as the starter going forward and if people really want to see Thompson-Robinson, start him in the last two games, at home vs. Miami and on the road against the Ravens.

Our guess is you will see he is nothing more than a backup.

Browns Turned Back The Clock To 2023 Thursday Night

The Cleveland Browns turned back the clock to 2023 for at least one night in their 24-19 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in a winter wonderland on Thursday night.

Kevin Stefanski’s crew seemed to be embarrassed by a real or perceived lack of effort in the loss to the Saints in which Taysom Hill ran, threw, and caught all over the Cleveland defense, leading New Orleans to three fourth quarter touchdowns.

There were no major glitches in the operation, showing the Browns can win football games if they eliminated silly mistakes.

Myles Garrett spoke to the team before the game and then went out and backed it up on the field with his second three sack game in the last three, and one of the sacks caused a fumble which Cleveland recovered.

Jameis Winston gave the Browns solid quarterbacking play completing 18 of 27 passes for 217 yards. It was the kind of performance that Cleveland has received since Stefanski became the head coach, except for when P.J. Walker was at the helm.

Oh, and that other guy. Deshaun Watson.

It was Winston’s fourth straight game with more than 200 yards passing and we mention this because in the seven games Watson started, he never reached that figure.

We wondered after the game, playing the great “what if” game, what would have happened if the Browns replaced Watson at QB after the third game of the season, a loss to the equally woeful Giants, when Cleveland gained just 212 yards in total offense.

Or the following week after a loss to Las Vegas, or the following week after a terrible non-competitive loss to the Commanders.

Would they have two or maybe three more wins right now? Heck, we believe if Winston would have been the back up against Cincinnati instead of the bizarre decision to have it be Dorian Thompson-Robinson, they may have defeated the Bengals.

And despite an analysis of the game which asked why Cleveland threw the ball so much in the snowy conditions, it was about a fifty-fifty split, with 27 running plays, although one of them was a scramble by Winston (which resulted in a TD).

Nick Chubb’s numbers were up to his stats in 2020-2022, but he carried 20 times for 59 yards and two touchdowns, his most carries of the season. He still hasn’t busted one for 25-30 yards, but the flashes are there.

One group of people who probably weren’t happy with the win were the people expecting a coaching change perhaps after a loss to the Steelers, and definitely after the season.

Several national football writers have said that is not imminent, but although we would not fire Kevin Stefanski, who by the way, seems to have the Browns competitive within the division, but we would not run it back with the same group in 2025.

We would definitely consider a new offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. And you have to question why the organization has ignored looking for a replacement/back up for Chubb, and why they can’t find a pass rusher opposite Garrett.

The remaining schedule is tough, without a doubt, but there are winnable games remaining, and the Browns need to continue to show the effort and mistake free football they played with Thursday night.