Browns Need Draft To Address Defense, Not QB

In our last post, we talked about Baker Mayfield and asked the people who have seen enough of him as the quarterback of the Cleveland Browns what is the alternative.

We know the other QB on the roster, Case Keenum, will be 33 years old soon, and has a 27-35 record as a starter, with just one season, 2017 with the Vikings, with a winning record. His record taking the opening offensive snap that season was 11-3.

This means, even with rudimentary math skills, other than that season, Keenum is 16-32 as a starter, so he is not exactly a QB who raises his team over their shortcomings. He’s a journeyman. He’s a good backup because he’s a former starter in the league, but we don’t think for a minute that Kevin Stefanski and Alex Van Pelt want to explore a scenario where Keenum is getting the majority of snaps for the Browns.

What this also means is if Mayfield will not be the quarterback in 2021, his replacement isn’t on the roster right now.

Where would the Browns find a replacement?

Keep in mind, the Browns still have weaknesses on the defensive side of the football, and we would have expected a great deal of next spring’s NFL Draft (to be held here in Cleveland) will be spent upgrading that unit.

Right now, the defense has Myles Garrett, a candidate for the league’s defensive player of the year, and a very good cornerback in Denzel Ward, although many around northeast Ohio don’t seem to realize how good he is.

Larry Ogunjobi and Sheldon Richardson are solid on the defensive line, but the linebacking corps and the safety positions have to be addressed if the Browns are going to be on the same level as the Ravens and Steelers.

So, trading draft picks to either move up in the draft or to get a veteran starting quarterback from another team looking to rebuild inhibits the team’s ability to address the defense.

And do you really want to go back in the draft to find your next signal caller? The year the Browns drafted Mayfield (2018), here are the other passers taken in the first round: Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, Josh Rosen, and Lamar Jackson.

Jackson won the league MVP last season, but more for his all around skills than as a passer, and Allen is on a team that made the playoffs a year ago, but his numbers aren’t as good as Mayfield’s. He has 20 touchdowns running the ball, three more than the guy picked second that season, Saquon Barkley.

In the 2017 draft, two excellent quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson were taken in the first round. That’s the good news.

The bad news is the first QB taken was Mitchell Trubisky by Chicago. He’s been benched.

So, will the Browns find someone better than Mayfield in the draft next year? We would say it’s 50/50. And any thoughts of another tank job to secure the first pick in any subsequent draft should be squelched by everyone. Been there, done that.

That leaves with the veteran option, and who are you going to get on that market. First, you will have to pay a king’s ransom in terms of draft capital and takes a significant salary cap hit.

Likely, you will also be getting someone past their prime. And if you don’t win a Super Bowl within two or three seasons, you will be setting back the franchise in the long run, because you will need to find a younger QB very soon.

It’s definitely a quandary for Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski, but hopefully Stefanski will coach and guide Mayfield, and we will see better results going forward. Remember, this is Mayfield’s fourth coach since he was drafted.

It hasn’t been fair to his development and hopefully he is strong enough to overcome the obstacles his career has had.

What’s needed most? Patience.

Browns Get Robbed In Oakland.

If you read this site regularly, you know we are not nor ever have been a fan of the way the NFL is officiated.

We have claimed for years that the NFL officials are the worst in professional sports, and today’s Browns-Raiders games demonstrated exactly why we think that.

Did they Browns play great today? No. Did the defense give up a boatload of big plays in the second half and overtime? Yes.

However, late in the game the Browns did enough to salt this game away and denied a victory on the road because of the officiating.

First, a play in the fourth quarter when Myles Garrett and Genard Avery sacked Raiders’ QB Derek Carr, and it was clear that the ball popped out immediately after the Cleveland defenders hit him.

Larry Ogunjobi was picking up the ball to start running toward the end zone as the whistle blew. The call was Carr was in the grasp and the play was blown dead. Blown dead without the ball being in anyone’s control.

Later, with less than two minutes to go, the Browns stopped the Raiders on downs and took control of the ball on the Oakland nine yard line.

Three running plays to force the Raiders to use their timeouts were used, and the third one appeared to give Cleveland a first down, which would have allowed the Browns to run out the clock.

We thought it was a bad spot in the Raiders’ favor to begin with, but the measurement gave Cleveland the first down anyway.

But a review of the play moved the spot back further and forced the Browns to punt.

Our understanding of the rule, is there has to be irrefutable evidence to change the call on the field. We were not shown any evidence on the broadcast.

Even former the former NFL officiating supervisor, Dean Blandino, was on the FOX telecast, couldn’t believe the call was overturned.

Given another chance, the Raiders tied the game and forced overtime.

Just so we don’t come across as sour grapes, there was other calls in favor of the Browns which were terrible.

The crew blew a whistle early on a run by Marshawn Lynch, costing the Raiders a long gain in the first half. And a terrible roughing the passer call gave the Browns a first down, also in the first half.

The problem is the consistency and a need by many crews to affect the game. Check the box scores every week and see how many games have more than 10 penalties called on each team.

One of the things that made the Browns-Jets game so fun to watch (besides the Browns finally winning) was there were only 11 penalties in the entire game.

Were there other things? Of course. The Browns’ receivers dropped a lot of passes, particularly in the first half.

They had a 28-14 lead, and had two critical turnovers which led to 20 unanswered points by Oakland, which gave them a 34-28 advantage.

Still, the Browns fought back and overcame this and should have won the game after turning back the Raiders at the goal line.

They lost the turnover battle for the first time this season, committing four, including a pick six in the first quarter, while forcing just two interceptions. Of course, they forced a fumble late too, but it was taken away.

All in all, the Browns have made football exciting again for fans in northeast Ohio. They are a competitive team.

The next test is at home against the Ravens next Sunday. For the first time in a while, it’s something to look forward to.

Browns Almost Win Again, But Don’t

Former Browns’ Pro Bowl special teams player Josh Cribbs said it famously a few years ago…the Browns almost always almost win.

Those words were never more true than today, as the New Orleans Saints came back to beat the Browns, 21-18, dropping Cleveland to 0-1-1 on the young season.

Today, it was a breakdown in the kicking game, as Zane Gonzalez, who really has been reliable since the middle of last season, missed two extra points and two field goals, including a makeable 51 yarder with :08 remaining in the fourth quarter which would have tied it up.

It’s a short week before Thursday night’s game with the Jets, but our guess is there will be a kicker tryout either tomorrow or Tuesday in Berea.

Midway in the third quarter, it looked like the Browns were going to win this one. They were controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and had a 12-3 lead.

With 14:46 left in the fourth quarter, Cleveland had the ball at the Saints’ 26, and Gonzalez missed a field goal which could have made it 15-3, but he missed, and New Orleans had renewed life.

It took a little over five minutes for the Saints to find the end zone, and make it just a two point lead.

Then it got weird, Todd Haley called a reverse on first down which lost 8 yards, and put the Browns in a tough situation, and that drive ended with a three and out.

The defense held, but on the next possession, Tyrod Taylor did something he normally doesn’t do, throw an interception, and the Saints were set up for a score that took the lead at 18-12.

The rest of the game was surreal.

On a 3rd and 12 from the Saints’ 46, after Taylor basically sacked himself on second down, the quarterback hit rookie Antonio Callaway for a touchdown, when he blew past the Saints’ safety.

That tied the game. Then, Gonzalez missed an extra point which would have given Cleveland a 19-18 lead.

With a little over a minute to go, the Saints moved right down the field, as the Browns allowed a 42 yard crossing pattern to native Clevelander Ted Ginn Jr., to set the Saints up for the go ahead field goal.

However, the Saints allowed the Browns to move 41 yards in two plays totaling 16 seconds, to set up a game tying redemption kick for Gonzalez.

Again, he missed it.

Watching the other results today in the NFL, Gonzalez isn’t the only kicker who might be on the unemployment line come tomorrow.

The Browns didn’t have a lot of success on the ground, but neither did the Saints. But Todd Haley kept trying, probably in an effort to shorten the game and keep Drew Brees off the field.

After not winning the turnover battle in every game a year ago (0-14-2), the Browns won that stat for the second straight week.

Yet, they still haven’t won a game.

The defensive star was Larry Ogunjobi, who had two sacks, while T. J. Carrie had eight tackles and a sack as well.

The offensive line did a much better job pass blocking this week, but it seemed like the offensive design was to get the ball out of Taylor’s hands quicker.

The Browns look like a team that doesn’t know how to win, which is understandable because they are now 1-32-1 since the beginning of the 2016 season.

The next chance will be Thursday night. Still, this one was tough to take.