Another Week Browns Can’t Score More Than 17

It was a day where streaks were extended.

The Browns losing streak for this season extended to three with the 23-9 loss to the Steelers on Sunday. It also extended their regular season losing skein in the Steel City. It has now been 22 seasons since Tim Couch led the Browns to a 33-13 win over Pittsburgh as a road team.

And of course, and perhaps most notably, Kevin Stefanski’s crew extended their streak of scoring 17 points or less to 11 games. We would like to note that on Sunday, 16 teams in the NFL scored more than 17 points.

It’s the norm, not the exception.

We get the Browns’ offensive line, particularly the tackles, are terrible. The team has gone through six of them, actually made a couple of trades for the position, and it is still terrible.

On the other hand, we don’t believe there are offensive tackles on other team’s practice squads that would not be an upgrade. And frankly, we would try a new pair every week until you find someone competent.

Another curious question would be where does Teven Jenkins figure into this? The Browns signed him as a free agent last off-season, and he was a second-round pick of the Bears in 2021. He has started 38 games in the NFL, 14 of them at left tackle last season with Chicago.

We know the Browns view him as a guard option, but could he be worse than what the team has put out there?

Jerry Jeudy dropped at least two passes and picked up two personal foul penalties, but still was targeted 13 times, the most for any player on the Browns. Isaiah Bond, who the organization feels they “stole” as a free agent, caught two passes, but also was hit in the head by a Dillon Gabriel pass on the goal line.

Speaking of Gabriel, he threw 52 passes in the loss, completing 29 for a paltry 221 yards. We guess the good news is he didn’t turn it over, but he was sacked six times.

We heard the argument that the defense allowed 23 points, but nearing the end of the third quarter, they were on the field for most of the game to that point, and the last touchdown for the Steelers occurred just after the fourth quarter started.

Pittsburgh gained 335 yards and that is merely league average for NFL offenses, so we aren’t buying the argument they were gashed.

A better argument is that the organization is marginalizing a very good defense by pairing it with an atrocious offense.

Over the weekend, we thought about the Dallas game in Stefanski’s first season, a game in which the Browns led 41-14 heading into the fourth quarter. Cleveland’s first touchdown was a 37-yard pass to Odell Beckham Jr. The man who threw it was WR Jarvis Landry.

Beckham also scored on a 50-yard end around.

Where has that creativity gone?

In the fourth quarter, the Steelers ran a play where they faked an end around and Aaron Rodgers rolled out and found a receiver for a 20-yard gain. Where is that kind of creativity here?

The Browns’ offense isn’t very good, but it’s also very vanilla. No wonder fans are upset.

The next game is at home against the 1-5 Dolphins, a game they should be favored. We also don’t think the fans will be in a festive mood heading into the game, and rightly so.

This is a mess. No sugar coating that.

A Possibility Of 10 Wins For Browns Has Us Feeling Nostalgic

Tomorrow night, the Cleveland Browns have a chance to make a statement. Yes, they’ve made already made a few loud comments throughout the year, perhaps their best season since coming back as an expansion team in 1999.

Think about it. The Browns have had just two winning seasons since then.

In 2002, their fourth year back in the league, they hovered around the .500 mark all season long, the first time they climbed two games over break even was when they beat the Falcons the last game of the season, 24-16, in the famous “Run William Run” game, capped by the 64 yard run by William Green.

They actually trailed going into the 4th quarter of that contest.

However, the signature victory that season was the week prior, when Cleveland went in to Baltimore and knocked off the Ravens 14-13, scoring with 29 seconds left on a 1 yard pass from Tim Couch to Mark Campbell, capping off a 92 yard drive.

It was no doubt Couch’s most clutch moment of his career with the Browns.

The other winning season, 2007, started ignominiously with a 34-7 beatdown at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers. That contest was started by Charlie Frye who was benched at halftime in favor of Derek Anderson, and then traded a couple of days later.

The Browns won the following week in a shootout over the Bengals, 51-45. But they didn’t get two games over .500 until they won three in a row, beating Miami, St. Louis, and Seattle in overtime to raise their record to 5-3.

With a playoff appearance looking likely at 9-5 after shutting out Buffalo in a snowstorm in Cleveland, the Browns and Anderson laid an egg in Cincinnati, losing to the 5-9 Bengals with Anderson throwing four interceptions.

Needing an Indianapolis win over Tennessee to make the playoffs after beating San Francisco, the Colts made the correct decision to rest Peyton Manning, and the Titans won, knocking Romeo Crennel’s squad out of the playoffs.

Neither the 2002 nor 2007 teams ever got anywhere near 9-3 though. This is clearly the best position the Browns have been in to make the playoffs since the Bill Belichick coached 1994 squad, who were also 9-3 after the first 75% of the season, and finished 11-5.

That team lost to the Giants the following week, and the Marty Schottenheimer/Bud Carson teams that went to three AFC title games in a four year period, never got there either. The best of those groups, the 1986 Browns were 8-4 after the first dozen games in route to a 12-4 finish.

We may have forgotten, but the other two teams that played for the right to go to the Super Bowl finished 10-5 and 9-6-1.

A win over the Ravens Monday night would put the Browns at 10-3 for the first time since 1969!, when they were near the end of their halcyon days as a dominant NFL franchise.

That was Blanton Collier’s last great Cleveland team, and they were actually 10-2-1 after 13 games. The next season, the Browns went 7-7 and Collier retired.

That 1969 team also got to the precipice of the Super Bowl, routing Dallas in the divisional playoff only to lose to Minnesota in the then NFL Championship Game. The Vikings lost to Hank Stram’s Chiefs in Super Bowl IV.

So, avenging the opening game loss to the Ravens would put Kevin Stefanski’s team in rarified air, at least in terms of Browns’ history. It would also have two perhaps more important outcomes.

First, it would virtually clinch a playoff spot for the Browns. Yes, they would still have to win another game, but they would be up by three games in the division standings over Baltimore with three to play.

It would also seriously damage the Ravens’ playoff hopes.

That’s way we have no doubt John Harbaugh’s team will be more than ready to play. It’s another good test for this Browns’ roster.

Having Taylor Means Browns Can Take It Slow With Baker.

By nature, Cleveland sports fans are a nervous lot.

Do the Indians have enough pitching, particularly in the bullpen. Will LeBron James leave the Cavaliers in the off-season?

For Browns’ fans, the worry is always the quarterback position. That comes from not having a franchise QB since Bernie Kosar was given his release by Bill Belichick in 1993.

When the Browns draft a rookie at the position, the front office and the fans invariably want to get him on the field, sometimes at the detriment to the player.

Tim Couch was supposed to be the foundation for the Browns when they returned to the NFL in 1999. He came into the first game he suited up for, and started the second game. Behind a makeshift offensive line, it was an expansion team after all, Couch took a beating and lasted just five seasons.

He did guide the Browns to a playoff spot in 2002, however.

Last season, DeShone Kizer was thrown into the fray before he was ready, and the result was an 0-16 season that everyone would like to forget.

So, now the attention falls upon first overall pick Baker Mayfield, and already some fans and media alike are wondering when he will start for the Browns.

Here are the arguments they use, and our response:

The Carson Wentz/Deshaun Watson Factor: Both of those QBs were picked in the first round and started right away, and if they could, why can’t Mayfield?

In Wentz’ case, the Eagles traded away Sam Bradford for a first round pick, and the alternative was Chase Daniel, who had (and still has) started just two NFL regular season games, and had thrown 77 passes total.

And for Houston, it took just one half of football for Bill O’Brien to decide Tom Savage shouldn’t be his starting passer, a job given to him with two NFL starts.

Even Russell Wilson beat out Matt Flynn, signed to a big contract as a free agent after, you guessed it, two NFL starts.

By contrast, the QB the Browns plan to open the season with, Tyrod Taylor, has started 42 NFL games, has a winning record in those starts, and guided the Buffalo Bills to a playoff spot last season.

This isn’t to say Taylor is an All Pro. But he is a professional quarterback with a proven track record. And for a team that has won one game in the past two seasons, that’s very appealing.

His Age. Mayfield is 23 years old, hardly an advanced age. Aaron Rodgers was 25 years old when he started his first NFL game. Brett Favre was also 23. Russell Wilson was 24 years old.

The point is this–if Mayfield sits this season, he could still wind up as the Browns’ starting QB for 12-15 years, based on how long players like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Favre have started.

The Bust Factor. If Mayfield doesn’t start right away, clearly he is a bust. Last year, the Kansas City Chiefs picked Patrick Mahomes in the first round and he started one game, the last game of the year after KC clinched a playoff spot.

Is anyone saying he’s a bust?

Look, if the best veteran QB the Browns had was Brian Hoyer or Brock Osweiler, we could understand being upset if Mayfield couldn’t beat them out.

That’s not the case here.

If Mayfield overwhelms Todd Haley and wins the job by being better than Taylor, then so be it. Otherwise, why not let the future franchise quarterback, learn how to be a professional by observing both Taylor and Drew Stanton, two guys who are pros.

Relax, Browns’ fans. There’s no rush here.

If the Browns are 4-8 with four games left, then they can let Mayfield get a chance to show what he has learned.

But, here’s a novel approach. Why not try to win some football games? It doesn’t mean you are stunting Mayfield’s growth, nor does it mean the Browns blew the first overall pick.