Stop Thinking Losing Is Okay For The Browns

We should all get the pass the Cleveland Browns do from the people who cover them and from some fans as well. After last year’s 3-14 debacle, and it was a debacle from the moment they decided to fire coaches after a playoff season, there are a lot of people who are using the “T” word.

Yes, we are talking about tanking. Wouldn’t you love the expectation of anything you do be to just suck at it? Why do the Browns get that break?

First, it’s because the football fans in northeast Ohio have been brainwashed to think the only way an NFL team can win is to have a “franchise” quarterback.

While it is true that Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs have kind of a monopoly on the league in recent years, teams can win other ways. Now, you do need to have a solid player behind center, but you also do not have to have the first pick in the draft to get an excellent QB.

We just mentioned Mahomes, who was not the first overall pick. He was selected 10th overall.

Let’s examine our personal top five QB list, which would consist of Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, and since he quarterbacked last year’s Super Bowl winners, Jalen Hurts.

Only Burrow was taken with the first overall pick.

Oh, and didn’t the Browns just take a QB with the first overall pick in 2018? Perhaps it would have worked out for Cleveland if they didn’t mangle the situation so badly, including giving Baker Mayfield a ton of clout too early in his career.

But we digress.

We said a few times in the last couple of months that the only way Cleveland better have the first overall pick in the ’26 draft is if the Jaguars are really bad.

It’s time for the Browns to get rid of their “free beer tomorrow” mentality and be all about winning football games. We know Kevin Stefanski, the coaching staff, and the players are not going into contests being okay with losing, and for the front office, just because they made a monumental mistake with the Deshaun Watson trade, shouldn’t mean they get a pass either.

We should start demanding this football team starts winning games. That’s why we dismiss talk of starting Kenny Pickett in week one vs. Cincinnati and/or getting Shedeur Sanders or Dillon Gabriel in there quickly.

Unless Joe Flacco aged so much in the last couple of years and is now not capable of winning games in the NFL, he should be the starting QB in the first game of the season. He gives you the best chance to win.

And for the front office, they should be thinking of the same, not looking at the veteran as a possible end of camp trade piece.

There could be a time for that. Let’s say Flacco is putting up numbers and the Browns are sitting at 2-6 at the trade deadline. Then, if you can get something for him, why not make the move and see what you have in the other three passers.

You don’t build a winning culture by thinking losing is acceptable for any reason. If the Browns want to have that, it starts with not accepting defeat. Play the best players. No other agendas as long as you have a chance.

Browns Should Make Note. Running The Ball Is Getting Back In Vogue

Today’s NFL is a quarterback driven league. The stars of football are the guys who throw the football…Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, C.J. Stroud, Brock Purdy, etc.

They are in commercials and are recognized on a first name basis.

However, we saw over the weekend in the playoff’s divisional round that the running game is still important too. The Eagles beat the Rams behind 285 yards on the ground, led by Saquon Barkley, who gained 205 yards, while the Bills and Ravens played another “old school” game.

Buffalo ran for 147 yards (Josh Allen had just 127 yards through the air), while the Ravens ground it out for 176 running the ball.

As we all know, the Cleveland Browns need a quarterback, but perhaps they can lessen the reliance for getting their guy if they can develop an elite running game.

It is interesting to note of the top ten teams in running the football this past season, many made the playoffs: Baltimore was 1st, the Eagles and Commanders, who play in the NFC Championship game this Sunday, rank 2nd and 3rd.

Out of the balance of the top ten, all but three teams (Cardinals, Colts, and Falcons) made the post season, and even those teams all finished at 8-9. Running the ball keeps you competitive.

The year before, the Ravens (13-4) led the NFL in rushing, and five of the top ten teams in running the ball made the playoffs.

Makes it even more curious the Browns got away from running the football in 2024.

We still agree the Browns should use the second overall pick in this spring’s draft on a quarterback. Why? Primarily because the rest of the Cleveland roster is talented enough that the likelihood of the franchise picking this high again isn’t probably great. You have a chance to take one of the two best QBs coming into the league, so do it.

But there is no question Kevin Stefanski and the front office can lessen the burden on the rookie or preferably the veteran they will bring in as a stop gap until the rookie is ready but getting back to his offensive roots and running the football.

Besides, and we have said this before, running the ball is in the franchise’s DNA, the legacy of the franchise starts with Marion Motley, Jim Brown, Leroy Kelly and leads all the way to Nick Chubb.

Use the Eagles as the model. They ranked 29th in passing yards this season and are playing Sunday with a chance to go to the Super Bowl. Is that model sustainable? Probably not, but it does buy time for whoever Cleveland drafts to get used to the NFL game and become a productive NFL QB.

While the Browns’ defense may not be at the level of the 2023 season, that side of the football is still pretty good. Rebuilding the offensive line and drafting a solid running back so you move the football and protect the quarterback isn’t the worst idea.

And it might just speed up the clock to getting back to being a playoff team. We would all love to have Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Jackson, etc. at the helm for the Browns. That doesn’t mean the organization should just give up if they don’t have one of those guys.

Browns Don’t Need To Tank Again

The Cleveland Browns are having a dreadful season at 2-7, and it’s probably worse because of the expectation coming into the season after a 11-6 record a year ago.

But Browns’ fans being Browns’ fans and some of the Browns’ media being people who have covered a terrible franchise over the last 20 years, the knee jerk reaction is the team should lose every game the rest of the season, because that’s the only way to win in the future. Get the highest draft position possible.

We feel differently and one of the reasons is this team isn’t that bad from a talent standpoint. Yes, they need to get younger as the Browns are one of oldest rosters in the NFL this season.

Besides, the whole “tanking” thing was done in 2015-17 when the Browns went 4-44 over three seasons. Unless we fell asleep like Rip Van Winkle, we don’t remember a Super Bowl parade after the organization did that.

Cleveland has the worst offense in the league and that was after they replaced pretty much the entire coaching staff on that side of the football. But you have to think that with competent quarterback play, the Browns would be 4-5 right now and still in the playoff hunt, rather than being among the worst teams in the league.

That said, we do believe in Bill Parcells’ adage that your record is what it says it is.

First, getting a high draft pick is no guarantee in getting a top-notch quarterback. A look at the best QBs in the sport shows that. Patrick Mahomes was the 10th overall pick. Josh Allen? 7th overall. Lamar Jackson was the 32nd pick.

Joe Burrow and Jared Goff were both selected first overall. On the other hand, another highly regarded young passer, Justin Herbert was picked sixth.

The Browns are going to have a high choice in next year’s draft, but we don’t need them to pick in the top three or five, which would mean they have to finish 3-14 or 4-13. We feel you don’t want that type of losing mentality to seep back in the locker room.

We thought the franchise was past that a year ago when they went through four quarterbacks and seemed to have the mentality that they would win anyway.

Try to get a QB next spring, but also use the rest of the picks on players who can add speed to the current roster. The Browns have 14 players currently on the team who are 30 years old or older, although two of them are specialists in K Dustin Hopkins and LS Charley Hughlett.

Of those players, the only ones who will likely be back in 2025 are Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller. There are nine more players will be reach 30 next season, including Nick Chubb, Myles Garrett, Ethan Pocic.

Deshaun Watson will also turn 30, but it’s difficult to see him on the roster a year from now.

The best solution might be to turn back time and rehire all of the coaches on the offensive side of the ball to give the team a functional offense again. Since that’s not possible, perhaps what’s needed is to get back to fundamentals, meaning being able to run the football.

That suits Kevin Stefanski’s offense, based on a play-action passing game. Cleveland has only allowed more than 21 points in four games this season. Designing an offense that can get to 21 points shouldn’t require a demolition of the current roster.

Two In A Row And A Huge Game Vs. Bengals

When the Browns defeated Tampa Bay last week, we thought it was kind of like the “double dip”, scoring right before halftime and then getting the second half kickoff and scoring as well, because the dreadful Houston Texans (sorry, Nick Caserio) were next on the schedule.

Even though Cleveland didn’t score an offensive touchdown, the maligned units of the team, defense and special teams, contributed three of them and Kevin Stefanski’s crew went to 5-7 with the victory.

This sets up a huge matchup in southern Ohio against the 8-4 Bengals this Sunday, a contest that could be a big turning point for the brown and orange.

Winning in Cincinnati would put the Browns at 6-7 with two games at home against the Ravens and Saints, and Baltimore could be without Lamar Jackson in that one, although they will have Justin Tucker.

Stefanski’s squad is in a tough spot because of the tie breaker situation in the AFC, where they lose most of the head-to-head comparisons. Here is a list of the non-division leaders sitting at 7-5 or below:

Jets 7-5 – beat the Browns in week two
Patriots 6-6 – beat the Browns in week six
Chargers 6-6 – beat the Browns in week five
Steelers 5-7 – Browns won the first matchup
Raiders 5-7 – no game between the two teams.

Could the Browns lose one more game and still make the post-season as a wild card? Sure, but a lot of things would have to bounce their way. And a loss next Sunday in the Queen City surely means Cleveland would have to run the table to have any chance at playing beyond January 8th at Pittsburgh.

To us, a victory against the Bengals would improve the post-season chances from slim to decent, and not just because the Browns would get closer to .500, but it would be their third consecutive win, signaling perhaps they have turned the corner.

There is no doubt Deshaun Watson was very rusty Sunday, completing just 12 of 22 passes for 131 yards, spiking a number of them into the ground. We would expect a better performance next week, but the Cleveland game plan still should go through, or should we say run through Nick Chubb.

The Browns ran for 174 yards against the Texans, the seventh time in 12 games they have gone over 170. The last three times they’ve done that have resulted in wins, including the 32-13 win on Halloween against Cincy. And the Bengals are just middle of the pack in terms of stopping the run.

Stefanski also needs his defense to continue to hold up their end of the bargain. The Browns allowed their fewest yards of the season in the first game against the Bengals, but they will have Ja’Marr Chase this weekend, and he’s one of the best in the league.

We don’t buy into Cleveland’s recent success against Joe Burrow and the Bengals. They are the defending AFC Champions and are coming off a big win against the Chiefs in a rematch of the AFC Championship game last season.

It will take the Browns playing at their best, which is what every team should be striving for, to get better each week.

We say a win next Sunday puts Cleveland seriously back in the playoff chase. They can’t slip up for sure, but it feels like their positions will be much stronger.

Things With Baker Will Work Their Way Out.

We have written about this before but it bares repeating. The Cleveland Browns improved their record to 7-3 with a win over the Eagles on Sunday, but people want to keep talking about Baker Mayfield.

For the third consecutive week, Mayfield completed just 12 passes, which seems pedestrian in today’s pass happy NFL. In fact, the former Heisman Trophy winner ranks 26th in the league in passing attempts and completions.

Heck, he’s behind Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson in both categories, and Jackson’s primary function in the Ravens offense is his running ability.

Yes, the weather has been a factor in the last three games. Severe winds caused both teams to avoid the pass in the contests versus Las Vegas and Houston, while Sunday’s game was played in a driving rain.

Kevin Stefanski understands what the strength of his football team is, and that is the running game, in particular, the running back position.

Cleveland ranks third in the NFL in running the ball, and first among teams without a quarterback who greatly adds to the running game (Baltimore with Jackson is first, Arizona with Kyler Murray is second). Why emphasize something that isn’t your strength?

The Baker-centric focus on this team is remarkable. The Browns have won seven games this season, tied for the most in any season since 2007 (2004 and 2018). Mayfield has been the starting QB in two of those seasons.

Is he a top ten signal caller in the NFL right now? No, but obviously he doesn’t have to be for the Browns to win football games.

Should the Browns pay Mayfield big money as the franchise quarterback? Right now, they don’t have to. Our guess is they will pick up the fifth year option on the former first overall pick, meaning they will have two full years with Mayfield in Stefanski’s offense before making that decision.

The more Mayfield plays, the more comfortable in the offense he should be. He hasn’t thrown an interception in the last three games, and since throwing two in back-to-back games against Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, he has thrown just one in the four games succeeding.

In Sunday’s game, he had his best non-Cincinnati game in terms of yards per attempt at 9.27, throwing for 204 yards in the wet conditions.

Is the weight of the offense entirely on his shoulders? No. But in Russell Wilson’s early career, he wasn’t the focus of the offense, LaGarrett Blount was. The same was true in Dallas, where Dak Prescott’s chief job was handing the ball to Zeke Elliott.

There is nothing wrong with that. You do what you have to do to win.

There should be no rush in determining Mayfield’s fate. Barring injury, Stefanski, GM Andrew Berry, and Paul DePodesta will have 22 games to do just that. Besides, it’s not as though that trio has much of a choice.

Is there a better option available to the Browns? With the help Cleveland needs on the defensive side of the ball, you would think early draft picks will be used on that side of the football. And to get one of the best QB prospects, you will have to use draft capital to move up.

There won’t be a top ten pick in the 2021 draft.

Browns fans, be happy with a 7-3 record. Only three teams in the NFL have a better mark at this point. As Stefanski said a couple of weeks ago, these things have a way of working themselves out.

And stop looking for Baker Mayfield to throw for 350 yards on a weekly basis. That’s not who the Browns are right now.

Hard To Ask A Browns’ Fan For Patience, But…

If you are a fan of the Cleveland Browns, it is hard to be patient. One playoff berth since 1999 isn’t anything to brag about, but patience is exactly what is needed with the new coaching staff.

The NFL schedule makers didn’t do new coach Kevin Stefanski any favors pitting the Browns against the Baltimore Ravens in the lidlifter for both teams. Yes, the Kansas City Chiefs are the defending Super Bowl champs, but it wouldn’t be a stretch to say the Ravens are the next best team in the league.

So, the first argument for patience is the first week opponent. This goes for any team because we don’t know how good the other team is. For example, the Steelers looked good on Monday night, but maybe, the Giants are the worst team in the NFL.

To put it simply, no one knows yet who is good and who is terrible, although based on last year’s 14-2 record, we assume Baltimore is pretty good.

Now, for other things that were obvious to us in watch the blowout loss to the Ravens.

Odell Beckham Jr. continues to be a polarizing figure in Cleveland. His dropped pass late in the second quarter was glaring because not only cost the Browns’ offense a touchdown (the now departed Austin Siebert missed a field goal), it allowed the Ravens to tack on another TD before the end of the half.

We hear the national media telling us what an athletic freak Beckham is, but is he still that? We’ve really seen no evidence since he arrived in town a year and a half ago.

And we have written this before, we don’t think the former Giant is a bad teammate and he isn’t causing problems in the locker room, but for whatever reason, he doesn’t fit here. When he is on the field, both head coaches (to date) and the quarterback seem to make a conscious effort to get him the ball, at the expense of the game plan.

If everyone can’t come to a happy medium, Andrew Berry may have to say this is a situation of addition by subtraction, and get what he can for the wide receiver. And it won’t be anything close to what his predecessor paid to get him.

The other thing that stood out was the defense. Again, Baltimore QB Lamar Jackson was the league MVP in 2019, but the Cleveland defense was disappointing. Yes, we know there are a lot of injuries on that side of the ball, but you can’t let a team go 99 yards on one drive, and then convert a touchdown after getting the ball past midfield with less than a minute to go before the half.

Cleveland was 20th in takeaways a year ago, and had just one last Sunday, which occurred in the red zone, otherwise they would have given up 45 points.

The good news is the run defense improved, but again, bringing up the fallacy of the one game sample, it could be because the Ravens found it so easy to pass the ball, they really didn’t spend a lot of time trying the ground game.

We would anticipate seeing plenty of improvement tonight, but part of that could be feeling it couldn’t be any worse. Anyhow, the Cincinnati Bengals also lost their opener, and the odds are they aren’t as good as Baltimore.

However, an 0-2 start and more than a week to talk about doesn’t bode well for the Cleveland Browns. The angry mob could start forming earlier than anyone thought.

Evaluating Baker So Far.

A certain media member in town consistently refers to Baker Mayfield as “statistically the worst quarterback in the NFL”. While that is true, you have to remember that the statistic he refers to is really called “passer rating”.

The stat measures basically three things: Completion percentage, average yards per attempt, and how many touchdowns and interceptions you throw. You can pile up incredible numbers in those categories while you are losing a game 28-7.

The point is it is not a true measurement of how great a quarterback is, it does measure how efficient you are as a passer.

The current NFL passing leader is Ryan Tannehill, followed by Kirk Cousins, Drew Brees, Lamar Jackson, and Russell Wilson.

Brees is a future Hall of Famer, while Jackson and Wilson are the favorites for league MVP. The other two?

Cousins was also in the top five a year ago, and the QB who was 6th was Case Keenum, who is no longer a starter in the NFL.

As a frame of reference, the others in the top five last season were Ben Roethlisberger, Andrew Luck, Matt Ryan, and Aaron Rodgers. Four excellent signal callers.

Looking at Mayfield, if his interceptions were cut in half, his passer rating would increase from his current 77.6 to 85.3, moving him from 33rd to 24th in the NFL.

So, we were thinking, rating aside, where would the Browns’ quarterback rank in the league based on just our opinion, devoid of any statistics.

AFC East: Tom Brady, Josh Allen, Sam Darnold, Ryan Fitzpatrick. It would be presumptuous to put Mayfield ahead of Brady, but we’d take him over anyone else, including Allen, who is still more dangerous with his legs than his arm.

AFC North: Jackson, Andy Dalton, Duck Hodges. As we said, Jackson is the co-MVP favorite, and until Roethlisberger retires, we would take him as well.

AFC South: Tannehill, DeShaun Watson, Jacoby Brissett, Gardner Minshew. Watson is spectacular, still wish the Browns had taken him in 2017. Otherwise, we’ll take Mayfield over the rest.

AFC West: Patrick Mahomes, Derek Carr, Philip Rivers, Drew Lock? Rivers is a borderline Canton enshrinee, but has been bad this year, Mahomes is last year’s MVP and a top two or three QB in the game today. We would prefer Mayfield to Carr, Rivers, and Lock right now.

NFC East: Dak Prescott, Carson Wentz, Daniel Jones, Dwayne Haskins Jr. Although Wentz has struggled this year, and we aren’t huge fans of Prescott, we acknowledge they should both rank ahead of the Cleveland QB.

NFC North: Rodgers, Cousins, Mitch Trubisky, Matthew Stafford. The first two have to be ahead, white Trubisky is clearly behind. Stafford puts up a lot of stats, but doesn’t win. For the sake of argument, we’ll take him over Baker.

NFC South: Brees, Ryan, Jameis Winston, Kyle Allen. No question here, Brees and Ryan are ahead of Mayfield.

NFC West: Jimmy Garoppolo, Wilson, Jared Goff, Kyler Murray. We would say only Murray would be behind his former teammate at Oklahoma.

That would rank Mayfield 16th among the quarterbacks in the league, and you can make a case he could be a little higher.

That’s why talk of being a draft bust is ridiculous. Some players start off great, then have a learning curve, and then wind up being great players.

If at this time next year, Mayfield has shown more signs of regression, then perhaps his leash will be shorter. But let’s wait until that is seen.

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.