Another Sunday, Another Browns Loss

Sometimes you watch the Cleveland Browns play, and it seems like the movie “Groundhog Day”, where every game seems to be the same. This one was a 23-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

Last Sunday’s game was kind of a microcosm of the recent tenure of Kevin Stefanski, at least on the offensive side, and to us, it seemed like a difference in coaching results.

The Browns got off to a great start on the first drive, moving the ball 65 yards for a touchdown. Unfortunately, those yards on the opening possession accounted for 22% (they gained 294 yards for the game) of the offensive output.

On the other side, the Bills spent the entire first half shredding the Browns’ defense taking a 20-10 lead at the half. However, Jim Schwartz did some different things and held the visitors to just three points in the second half.

To be fair, Schwartz has more talent at his disposal than Stefanski and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees.

We thought we were going to get a holiday miracle with the special teams, but on the last play of the half, a bad snap thwarted a makable field goal attempt that could have made it a one score game going into the second half.

FYI, the Rams, a playoff team, fired their special teams’ coach after a loss on Thursday night. But Bubba Ventrone…

And by the way, what was Stefanski doing before the field goal. A face mask penalty gave Cleveland the ball on the Bills’ 30 with six seconds left. We thought the right move was just to kick, but they tried to run a play. The result was Shedeur Sanders taking the snap and throwing the ball out of bounds.

So why even do it?

The offense did have more diversity especially in the ground game, mixing in just jet sweeps, double reverses and quarterback scrambles to cobble together 160 yards, the most in a game this season.

With Quinshon Judkins getting hurt during the game, Raheem Sanders got an opportunity and gained 42 yards on 11 attempts, leading us to think why he’s been inactive for most of the season. The Browns could’ve used a better compliment to Judkins all season long, and even after Jerome Ford was put on IR, the team signed Travyeon Williams instead of giving Sanders a shot.

The Browns had a chance to win the game when they got the ball back with 5:02 left, and had a 4th and 2, but a Buffalo pass rusher basically threw T Cam Robinson aside and sacked Sanders.

We bring this up to remind everyone that Andrew Berry traded draft picks for both Robinson and KT Levenson, two of the worst tackles in the league. Oh, and he didn’t draft an offensive lineman in this past draft.

Somehow, Myles Garrett recorded a half sack, leaving him a sack shy of breaking the NFL record for one season. He needs one on Sunday at home against the Steelers, one, to do it at home, and also to eliminate any asterisk of having it done in a 17-game season.

Guess that’s the best reason to interrupt your holiday season to watch the Browns.