Browns On The Clock, But Showed Some Good Things

If you were one of the fans who wanted the Cleveland Browns to have the first overall pick in next spring’s NFL Draft, you couldn’t have written a better script than today’s 27-24 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Include us in that group. We are a fan of the team, but since they are building from the ground up, and have suffered through a painful 1-15 season, why not be all in about having the first selection in the draft.

We understood the Steelers were rested their three most important offensive weapons in QB Ben Roethlisburger, RB Le’Veon Bell, and WR Antonio Brown, so we certainly didn’t want Hue Jackson’s crew to get buried.

But the four turnovers cost Cleveland, who really played better today, that is, outside of giving the ball away.

The Browns took a 14-0 lead in the first half, moving the ball with ease, and defensively applying pressure to Steelers’ back up QB Landry Jones.

Pittsburgh crept to within a touchdown by halftime, and it the second half, the Browns treated the ball like it was a greased pigskin.

We wanted the Browns to show they haven’t quit on Jackson, and that some of the young players have made progress, and they did just that, but still managed to lose, thereby securing the first pick in the draft.

Cleveland outgained the black and gold, 437 yards to 312, and several players had good performances, outside, of course, of turning the ball over.

Isaiah Crowell had his fourth 100 yard rushing game of the year, gaining 152 yards on 19 attempts, but his critical fourth quarter fumble, with the Browns staring a chip shot go ahead field goal in the face, allowed the game to go into overtime.

Briean Boddy-Calhoun, returned an intercepted pass 67 yards, but fumbled on the two yard line, so instead of a point blank touchdown, the Steelers regained the ball on a touchback.

The rookie was also the victim on the game winning TD throw to Cobi Hamilton.

Robert Griffin III showed flashes, completing 29 of 40 throws for 232 yards and his first two TD throws as a Brown, but he threw a critical interception at the end of the first half, and fumbled in the second half.

Griffin led the Browns to eight third down conversions in 15 tries, one of their better marks of the season.

Terrelle Pryor caught seven passes for 94 yards, getting 1,000 yards receiving in his first full season as a wide receiver.

Rookie TE Seth DeValve scored on a 12 yard pass from Griffin, and his play over the last four or five weeks, should have the organization wanting to see more.

LB Christian Kirksey had 11 tackles, including a sack, closing out a very good season.

Another rookie Carl Nassib had a sack (when Jones tripped over a lineman’s foot), and yet another first year player, Emmanuel Ogbah sniffed out a reverse and dropped the ball carrier for a 12 yard loss.

The Browns looked like an NFL team every where except on the right end of the scoreboard, and for the good of the franchise going forward, that’s probably the best thing, right?

In overtime, Cleveland had a first and goal at the Steelers’ 2, but couldn’t get in the end zone. The curious thing was they didn’t try to run, despite averaging seven yards a carry.

With the Steelers playing a lot of substitutes, there wasn’t really anything to be gained by a win today. So, although we mentioned all these good things, how do we know what would have happened had Pittsburgh been playing their regulars.

The downside is having to hear four months of who should/will the Browns take with the first overall pick. To be sure, the players will appear and disappear as the flavor of the month.

The consensus best player is Texas A& M pass rusher Myles Garrett. Hopefully, the Browns do their homework, don’t trade down, and don’t out think themselves.

Speeding up the building process depends on getting impact players, which the first overall pick should be.

Defense Lets Down Browns Most In Latest Loss.

We have written and said this for several years, and many others who know pro football have said it too–if you can’t run the ball and stop the run, you aren’t going to be successful in the NFL.

And we say that, knowing full well that the league has put a major emphasis on throwing the pigskin.

The Browns came into the game knowing the Bills were going to run LeSean McCoy, and run him a lot, but they were powerless to stop it, as Buffalo gained 280 yards rushing, more than Cleveland gained in total, in a convincing 33-13 thumping in upstate New York.

The first two times McCoy carried he picked up more than 20 yards each time, a prelude to what kind of day it was going to be.

The other problem that has plagued the defense all season, covering the tight end, was also on display today, as Charles Clay caught 7 balls for 72 yards, including a 19 yard touchdown pass from Tyrod Taylor. Only one wide receiver caught more than one pass in the game for the Bills.

Still, after Robert Griffin III’s 18 yard touchdown run in the third quarter, Cleveland trailed 17-10 with plenty of time remaining in the game.

Unfortunately, the defense couldn’t sustain the momentum, allowing Buffalo to march 75 yards in six plays, and slightly over three minutes later, the Bills were back up by 14 points, and the game was essentially over.

You might think we are picking on Ray Horton’s unit, but it is only disappointment because the defense looked to be making strides the past few weeks, but today, they were dominated.

It was also disappointing that in situations where Taylor was in a passing situation, the Browns brought little pressure. Most notably on a 3rd and 22, when Cleveland brought just four, and allowing a 23 yard completion.

The Browns had just one sack, by rookie Emmanuel Ogbah, who continues to impress.

Why not blitz more in obvious passing situations? After all, it’s not as though a playoff spot is on the line. The team is now 0-14, why not be aggressive.

It has now been four games since the Cleveland defense has caused a turnover. It’s tough to win games that way, not giving your offense a short field to work with.

Speaking of offense, it has now been six weeks since the Browns’ offense has mustered 20 points. Again, there is a good reason Hue Jackson’s team is 0-14.

Griffin put up decent numbers, nothing to show he should be the frontrunner as the starter going into next season. He completed 17 of 28 throws for 196 yards, and did not turn the ball over.

It also baffling why Jackson doesn’t get the ball to his playmakers more often. Terrelle Pryor caught four passes for 19 yards, although he did drop a pass near the goal line before Griffin’s touchdown.

Duke Johnson touched the ball just 10 times, five rushes, five catches, for a total of 93 yards.

It doesn’t seem the Browns use the same plays other teams do, like slant patterns.

This isn’t a question on the competency of the coaching staff. We know the Browns don’t have a lot of experienced talent, but it seems like the staff is hesitant on featuring players.

For example, Isaiah Crowell gained 25 yards on a sweep in the first quarter. That play wasn’t tried again, as far as we could see.

So, now there are only two opportunities for victory this season, the next game coming on Christmas Eve at home against the San Diego Chargers.

It will be interesting to see if Jackson will make changes at certain positions before that game.

Browns Can’t Play Complimentary Football

It’s funny to hear fans and the media every week talking about how this is going to be the week the Cleveland Browns win their first game.

They come up with all kinds of reason for the win too. Heck, the Browns were coming off the bye week and Hue Jackson is so familiar with the Bengals, so this will surely be the week.

And Robert Griffin III will be ready to go, and maybe he can recapture some of the magic from his rookie year.

Then, the opening kickoff comes, and all those theories can be flushed down the metaphorical toilet.

Griffin was wildly inaccurate in his first start since the opening weekend, hitting just 12 of 28 passes for 102 yards in the 23-10 defeat. Only two Browns’ receivers averaged more than 10 yards per catch, Duke Johnson, who made a nice run after a short pass to gain 21 yards, and rookie TE Seth DeValve, who had one catch for 11 yards.

That’s it.

However, it didn’t help Griffin that as he came out for his second chance to move the ball in the game, his team was down 13-0.

It also didn’t help that the Browns had horrible field position throughout the first half. It is his fault that the Cleveland offense didn’t cross midfield until after halftime.

The defense struggled early, allowing the Bengals to march right down the field on their opening drive and take advantage of a short field to put it in the end zone the second time they got the football.

All that said, there were good things to see defensively today.

LB Jamie Collins was in on 15 tackles and had a sack, and rookie Emmanuel Ogbah continues to shine with 1.5 sacks and pressured Cincinnati QB Andy Dalton on several other occasions.

The next step for the defense has to be creating turnovers. Over the past few games, they haven’t done that, and that means for the most part, the Browns’ offense has to play a long field to score a touchdown.

Isaiah Crowell had a third 100 yard rushing game on the season, gaining 113 on 10 carries, with a long of 42 yards. All in all, Cleveland gained 169 yards on the ground, a very good total.

Unfortunately, they allowed Cincy to rush for 213, including 111 by Jeremy Hill, who gashed the Cleveland defense for almost 300 in the two games between the teams this season.

Going back to field position, the Browns had horrible position all day, particularly in the first half. Griffin’s only interception came on a flea-flicker from his own 1 yard line.

And no, we aren’t absolving him for throwing into triple coverage.

We would like to tell Ricardo Louis that if he can’t get the ball back to the 25, heck, even the 20 would be acceptable, then let the ball bounce into the end zone. Starting around the 15 doesn’t help the offense.

We would also like to tell Ray Horton that covering the tight end is an option. Tyler Eifert hurt the Browns again, with two touchdowns (one we was covered by Tramon Williams) and overall he had five catches on the afternoon.

So, now at 0-13, Hue Jackson’s squad travels to Buffalo to play the Bills, who may have a new head coach.

It will be interesting to see what reasons we will hear about why this week is the week for the first Browns’ victory.

The Media & The Browns’ QB

It is fun to observe the media, both print and broadcast, cover the Cleveland Browns. After every game, a segment of them, usually the same guys, seem outraged by the loss that occurred.

We don’t know what they were expecting. Most people figured a two or three win season at best for the brown and orange, so losses shouldn’t be a surprise.

It is particularly funny to watch how the people who cover and comment on the Browns treat the quarterback situation, particularly this season.

Throughout training camp, it was clear that Hue Jackson was going to start Robert Griffin III unless he was awful. He wasn’t, although he didn’t play too much in the pre-season, so we got the nod in the opener against the Eagles.

Griffin went 12 of 26 for 190 yards and an interception in a game the Browns trailed 13-10 in the third quarter before a bad snap which turned into a safety changed the momentum.

The former Heisman Trophy winner suffered a broken shoulder late in the 4th quarter, and based on that the media turned on him, saying it is clear that he shouldn’t be the starter and it was tough to find a scenario where RGIII would be back on the Browns’ roster in 2017.

Next came many in the media’s choice, good guy, good teammate Josh McCown, who started in week two vs. the Ravens.

The Browns had a 20-0 first quarter lead, but scored no more points after and McCown threw a late interception (after a terrible unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Terrelle Pryor).

And he broke his collarbone in the game. In a nutshell, he was what we’ve come to expect about Josh McCown.

But he was now out and rookie Cody Kessler took the helm. The people covering the team were sounding a death knell on the fate of the Browns.

Their fears were unwarranted. After a shaky first series, Kessler played well (21 of 33 for 244 yards) and the Browns had a chance to win in regulation, but new kicker Cody Parkey missed a field goal.

Kessler was good again the following week (28 of 40, 223 yards, a TD and a pick) and Cleveland was in the game until some 4th quarter turnovers caused a 31-20 defeat.

Now, everyone wanted to see Kessler the rest of the season. Since the team was 0-4, he was the future. Why not put him out there?

Except he got hurt against the Patriots after leading the Browns to a touchdown.

He returned to start the following week vs. Tennessee throwing for over 300 yards and two touchdowns, and was 9 of 11 against Cincinnati before suffering a concussion.

However, Kessler was reluctant to throw deep and his lack of arm strength had the scribes starting to turn against him.

When Hue Jackson benched him in the second half of the Thursday night game vs. Baltimore, many in the media started to sour on Kessler.

Unfortunately, McCown was dreadful in that game, and Kessler got another concussion in the next game against the Steelers.

That left McCown to play last Sunday and the media started thinking the best thing for the Browns might be to trot out Robert Griffin III for the rest of the year since he’s now recovered from his injury.

Their thinking is why not find out what you have in the former Redskin QB, who by the way, took his team to the playoffs as a rookie.

That’s what they should’ve been thinking from day one. Griffin is still just 26 years old, so why not let him show if he can still play in the NFL, and can he make plays.

It shouldn’t have any effect on whether or not Cleveland should draft a quarterback next spring.

The point is maybe we shouldn’t pay any attention to what the people who follow the Browns think about the QB position. They don’t seem to know anymore than anyone else about the position.

Browns’ Tumult? Should Be A Little…They Are 0-10.

If Cleveland Browns’ owner Jimmy Haslam and his wife decide to blow up the current front office and coaching staff after this season, then Browns’ fans have no hope whatsoever.

We would say if that happens, the only way this team would ever have success is by pure luck, everything falling into place for one season.

So, is there tension within the walls in the offices in Berea? There should be at least a little. The Browns are 0-10. They shouldn’t be throwing daily parties.

The front office and coaching staff should be self-auditing every day to see what they can be doing better. However, that doesn’t mean a bunch of people will be losing their jobs when the season ends.

This football team isn’t making the playoffs, and that’s why the organization should be even more committed to finding out who can play and who can’t for the final six games of the season.

Many people talk about the process in Dallas when Tom Landry was fired, and Jerry Jones bought the team and brought in Jimmy Johnson as head coach.

The Cowboys went 1-15 that year, losing games by the following scores: 28-0, 30-7, 30-13, 31-13, 31-14, 27-0, 15-0. That’s seven losses by 15 points or more.

To date, the Browns have lost four games by that margin, although the way the team has played as of late, it wouldn’t be surprising if they weren’t more big losses in Cleveland’s future.

This isn’t to suggest that Hue Jackson is Johnson, and the Browns are on their way to three Super Bowl wins in four years soon, but it does give perspective that starting from kind of ground zero does mean fans are in for a long season.

It also does provide a glimmer of hope.

We understand that Jackson, his coaching staff, and even the players are feeling the pressure to win at least one game this season. No one wants the specter of going 0-16. But they can’t give in to that. They have to do what is best for the future of the Cleveland Browns.

And this may not be a popular opinion, but it means they should take another look at Robert Griffin III. He only played one game this season, and although the Browns lost that game 29-10, it wasn’t as though Griffin was horrific.

The former Heisman Trophy winner is still only 26 years old, so why not take a look at him before the season ends?

Rookie Cody Kessler has done a solid job. He’s protected the football and been accurate. Could he be the starter at the beginning of next season? Why not. But we doubt he’s going to turn into a gunslinger.

So, why not see what Griffin has left, if anything? It’s certainly a better alternative to seeing mediocre Josh McCown take another snap.

It also means looking at more young players. We’d cut back on Andrew Hawkins playing time. No more Alvin Bailey. Instead, let’s look at the rookie wide outs and third round pick Shon Coleman.

We understand there is nothing in the Browns’ past that would make anyone confident that Haslam will not fire everybody this off-season. And as we said before, if he does, there truly is no hope.

When the Browns changed their approach at the beginning of the year, we believe they realized you have to stay the course for a few years.

However, that doesn’t mean they should be satisfied with how the season has progressed to this point.

Browns Lose, But What Will They Learn?

We have been saying all along not to expect too much from the Cleveland Browns in 2016. They shed most of the veterans from a squad that went 3-13 a year ago, so this is a year to lay a foundation for future success.

Therefore, we are not going to judge today’s 29-10 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles that harshly. The best chance Cleveland had for a win today was poor play by the home team’s rookie quarterback, but Carson Wentz made enough plays to bring home a winner.

That doesn’t mean the Browns blew it by passing on Wentz either. A year ago, the Titan’s Marcus Mariota was fantastic in the season opener, and in week two, the Browns, yes the team that won only three games, handed the rookie his lunch.

Our point is that it is way too early to judge Wentz.

Here are some of our observations for Game 1:

Positives. Many of the rookies looked good, particularly Emmanuel Ogbah and Carl Nassib. The latter seemed to be in the Eagles’ backfield a lot, batted down two passes and had a sack.

Derrick Kindred was another rookie who stood out, with five tackles.

Corey Coleman caught two passes for 69 yards, including a 58-yard play. Coleman was also open on Robert Griffin III’s interception, but the ball was way behind him. If the throw was on target, it would have been a big game.

The run defense was solid, allowing the Eagles just 3.9 yards per carry. Not great, but much better than we saw in the pre-season.

Last year’s first round picks, Cam Erving and Danny Shelton, looked better than a year ago, except for…

Negatives. …the Browns ran 50 offensive plays today and Erving had 49 good snaps. However, the one bad snap kind of changed the momentum of the game, as it resulted in a safety.

Griffin missed a lot of plays with inaccuracy, one that resulted in his only interception. He also missed an open Andrew Hawkins for a touchdown, and an open Terrelle Pryor on a sideline pass. You can’t leave plays on the field consistently.

Joe Haden showed a lot of rust after missing a lot of time last season, giving up a long TD pass to Nelson Agholor, and Jordan Matthews had over 100 yards receiving.

The third down woes reared its ugly head again, as the Browns were just 2 for 10. The inability to stay on the field led to the Eagles having the ball twice as much as the Browns.

Also, the running game struggled early. Running the ball helps keep the defense on the sideline and also will help the passing game. Cleveland simply has to get better running the football. Perhaps Duke Johnson should carry the ball more.

We know Hue Jackson is trying to set a tone with his football team, but it seemed like he gambled a lot today and none of his gambles paid off. Going for it on 4th and 5 in your own territory in the first half is a tad reckless, and the last Eagles’ touchdown was because he went for it with less than three minutes to go.

None of the negatives should be picked apart until they see them raise up on a weekly basis. If the Browns learn from what they did wrong, that’s great. That’s really the purpose of this season.

Same with the things that went well, unless you can do these things every week, it’s can’t be considered a building block.

Those critical of today’s performance are missing the point. This isn’t a good football team. If they are a lot better by the end of the season, then Jackson and his staff are doing a good job. That’s what they should be judged on.

Good And Bad So Far From Browns

Thank goodness that half of the NFL’s preseason schedule is over for the Cleveland Browns.

After the first exhibition game against Green Bay, where the Packers stopped just short of bringing fans out of Lambeau Field to play against the Browns, last night we got to see the brown and orange play against legitimate players, at least for the first half.

Yes, Cleveland lost to Atlanta at First Energy Stadium last night, but at least now we can make some judgments on this football team, as they head into a week of practices against Tampa Bay next week, followed by the “dress rehearsal” a week from today in Florida.

Robert Griffin III has shown flashes of why he was the 2nd overall pick in the draft a few years ago. He has a big arm, has been accurate for the most part, and has learned how to slide when he runs with the football.

We said in the off-season that signing the former Heisman Trophy winner was the ultimate low risk, high reward gamble. After all, it’s not like Griffin is replacing Tom Brady, the alternative is veteran journeyman (and media favorite) Josh McCown.

The right move is finding out if Griffin can play, and so far, so good.

A year ago, Mike Pettine and his staff cut Terrelle Pryor right before the regular season started, then brought him back later in the season and virtually ignored him.

We realize that Pryor has greatly improved his wide receiver skills in the off-season, but you still have to wonder why the previous regime didn’t feel the need to work with him more. After all, the guy is a special athlete.

The running game looked good last night as well. Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson have been effective and Terrell Watson has looked good against second team defenders. We’d like to see him with the first unit next weekend. If the Browns are going move the ball effectively and try to shorten games, they must run the football.

And we would also like to see rookie Carl Nassib with the first team defense at times. You can’t help but notice the 6’7″ kid from Penn State, and not just because of his size. He’s all over the field when he’s in.

The problems on defense continue to be the inability to stop the running game and not being able to get off the field on third down. Those two issues have plagued this franchise since they returned to the NFL in 1999.

If you can’t run the ball and you can’t stop the run, you can’t win in the NFL despite it becoming a passing league. The Cleveland defense seems to be consistently in second and short situations, and if they do get to third down, it’s usually at a make able distance.

We would also like to see more of the young wide receivers. We still believe that Andrew Hawkins will not make the opening roster, but so far, we haven’t seen a lot of the rookie wide outs taken this spring. We know injuries play into that, but it’s still a problem.

We understand this is still pre-season and much of the game plans are very vanilla. However, it is easy to spot these trends.

On the other hand, we are halfway done in regards to the exhibition games. Based on the quality of these game, be very thankful for that.

Hue’s Decision At QB Was A Logical, Simple One

Imagine you are an NFL head coach and you are taking over a team that went 3-13 a year ago, and hasn’t had a winning season since 2007.

Your bosses have tried several way to build a successful franchise, and in the off-season, they traded away or cut several veterans, and let a few more leave via free agency.

So, there isn’t a lot of pressure on you to win immediately, but the owner, the front office, and the fan base would like to see some progress as the season goes on.

You have several candidates for the starting quarterback position–

One is the former second overall pick in the draft after winning the Heisman Trophy, and in his rookie year took his team to the NFL playoffs. He blew out his knee in that game, and hasn’t been the same since.

The second candidate is a 37-year-old journeyman with a career record as a starter of 18-39, and over the last two years, seasons in which he started 19 of 32 games, his record is 2-17.

He has started just 57 games in a 13 year career.

You also have on the roster a third year QB who started five games in his second year in the league and was pressed into service to start two more games with your team a season ago, both of which were losses.

And you have a rookie third round draft pick from one of the elite college programs in the country. He’s a guy you really like and you went out on a limb to take him where you did. Still, he’s a rookie and you don’t want to expose him to the NFL before he’s ready to play.

The team in question of course are the Cleveland Browns and the quarterbacks at Hue Jackson’s disposal are Robert Griffin III, Josh McCown, Austin Davis, and Cody Kessler.

Jackson picked Griffin, and really, didn’t have much of a decision. That’s the logical move.

The Browns’ players and coaching staff will no doubt try to win every game, but there is little expectation going into the regular season of the playoffs.

Let’s face it, the only QBs currently on the roster who have a chance to be a quality NFL signal caller are Griffin and Kessler, and once again, the latter is a rookie.

The organization knows what McCown is. He’s a terrific teammate, a hard worker, and a guy you can put into a game without your franchise being embarrassed.

They also know what he isn’t, and that’s a quality NFL starter, and a guy with a history of winning football games. McCown is good enough to give you a decent performance and he will keep you in a game, but likely you won’t win.

Heck, the guy who started two of the three victories by the Browns a year ago, isn’t even in the NFL right now.

We have no idea if Griffin can become a successful passer from the pocket, because his success in Washington was with a hybrid offense. But in a rebuilding season? Why not find out.

If Griffin can make the transformation, the Browns have caught lightning in a bottle. If he doesn’t, you still have Kessler and a likely a high draft pick in next year’s draft.

But this is a year to experiment. That’s why Jackson’s decision was just the logical move.

Why Not Take A Look At RGIII?

First, it was Colin Kaepernick, but it appears that has fallen through, and now the big rumor is the Cleveland Browns are close to signing former Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III as a free agent.

We have no idea if Griffin can regain the magic of his rookie season, when he completed 65.6% of his passes and had 20 touchdowns and just five interceptions as Washington went 10-6 and made the playoffs.

The former second overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft hurt his knee at the end of that campaign and never really has regained the magic.

Since he is only 26 years old, perhaps Hue Jackson wants to find out if he can rebuild Griffin’s career. It wouldn’t be unheard of.

Even with all of the injuries, the former Baylor standout has completed 63.9% of his throws.

For all of the people who think Josh McCown had a solid season for the Browns last season, he completed 63.7% of his passes last year.

What is pretty apparent to us is that Jackson simply doesn’t want to have McCown as his starting quarterback. That’s why he pursued both Kaepernick, whose price was way too high.

The combination of the San Francisco QB’s bloated salary and that the Niners wanted the Browns third round pick was too rich for Sashi Brown and the rest of the front office.

Look, McCown is a lot of things. He’s a great teammate, he has a huge heart, and did a good job being a steadying influence for Johnny Manziel. He took a great deal of punishment last season, even to the point of taking a couple of snaps with a broken collarbone.

However, there is one thing McCown isn’t, and that is a competent NFL starting quarterback. His lifetime record as a starter is 18-39 and is 8-27 since 2007.

He’s also going to be 37 years old, and that is a huge consideration for the Browns, who want to get younger.

We get that the local media likes McCown. He’s a stand up guy, a hard worker, and talks to reporters no matter the situation.

We are sure Jackson’s thought is if we are going to go with a question mark behind center, it would be better if that guy is 26 years old, not 37.

Quite simply, who has the better chance to improve?

We also aren’t saying that RGIII solves the Browns’ quarterbacking issues. We would still take a QB with the 2nd or 32nd overall picks (or if they trade for a late first round pick), and having Griffin would allow Jackson to have the rookie play when he’s ready and not a minute before.

If Griffin plays well, and the rookie develops, the Browns can move either one of the players, and since they are quarterbacks, they can get a king’s ransom.

And if Griffin’s career doesn’t bounce back to his rookie year level, all Cleveland lost was money, and they certainly have plenty of salary cap space.

RGIII has to have been humbled by what has happened to a promising career, and because of that, he should be a willing student for what Jackson is teaching.

That’s why it’s a no risk move for the Browns.

But don’t read the possible signing as Cleveland finding an answer at QB, but rather it’s they feel McCown has no upside and Jackson has no interest in the veteran being his signal caller this season.