What Browns Need To Do Tonight. Besides Win

Tonight is another big test for the Cleveland Browns, as they take on Pittsburgh in a nationally televised tilt.

When you start out 2-6, virtually every game is a big test, unless you want your flickering playoff hopes extinguished.

There is no question the Browns’ playoff hopes are slim, but in our opinion, the last team in the post-season in the AFC will likely have a 9-7 record, so if Freddie Kitchens’ squad can go 6-1 here on out, and the schedule is favorable, although it is minimal, Cleveland still has life.

How do they do it?

The simple answer is to continue to play turnover free football, and that depends a lot on Baker Mayfield, who over the past three games has hit on 73 of 111 passes (65.8%) with four TD throws and just one interception.

By the quarterback rating system, two of Mayfield’s three best games have come in the last two weeks. That’s why the growing criticism of the second year pro is puzzling to us.

The Steelers live on turnovers. They rank second in the NFL to New England is causing them, and if you remember when the Browns played the Patriots, the Cleveland turnovers early (three in the first quarter) dug a trench the brown and orange could not get out of.

Pittsburgh ranks 11th in total defense, 10th against the pass and 14th vs. the run. The Browns rank 15th in rushing offense, but second in average yards per attempt, so starting the game showing you can run the ball would be beneficial to Cleveland.

However, what that statistic means is Kitchens and offensive coordinator Todd Monken have been reticent to running the ball, which is another problem altogether, particularly now with both Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt available.

Offensively, the Steelers are challenged without their two time Super Bowl winning quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. They are 6th from the bottom of the NFL in passing yards and 14th in running the ball.

They rank right around the middle in the league in turning the ball over, but the Browns have been woeful in that category ranking fifth worst in the NFL with just nine in the first nine games.

They intercepted just four passes for the season.

Pittsburgh is an opportunistic football team, so not to be redundant, the Browns must limit their opportunities, and that means being careful with the football, which could be difficult on a frigid night.

Unfortunately, these Browns haven’t been the most patient of teams in terms of taking what defenses give them, although they have improved over the past two games.

Mayfield is aggressive by nature, and Kitchens seems to like using exotic motions and plays at seemingly the wrong time. Both tendencies need to be stifled this week, as the conservative approach is needed.

The Steelers are 3rd in the NFL in sacking the QB, and we know the Browns offensive line isn’t the most solid unit on the team. So, a good strategy might be the throw on early downs and set up shorter yardage situations on second and third down.

The good news for the Browns is although the Steelmen have a very good defense, Cleveland has already faced five defense statistically better in New England (1st in total yardage), San Francisco (2nd), Buffalo (3rd), Denver (4th), and the Rams (10th).

That’s right. The Browns have faced the top four defenses in the NFL through the first nine games.

There can be no patting themselves on the back after last Sunday’s win over the Bills. This will be another tough affair for Freddie Kitchens and his football team.

Holding onto the ball and not allowing big plays could be the determining factor tonight.

Browns Need To Return To ’18 Formula

Penalties and turnovers. That’s the mantra of Browns’ coach Freddie Kitchens in terms of what needs to improve if Cleveland wants to start winning football games again.

We certainly feel the number of pre-snap penalties has to be eliminated, you simply cannot have two players in motion, jumping offsides, and we will add the inordinate amount of illegal linemen downfield and expect to win in the NFL.

We spoke a couple of weeks ago about “zero defects”, and that’s what the Browns should be striving for.

The turnovers are quite a contrast to 2018, though. Last year, Cleveland won the turnover battle on the season at +7, causing 31 turnovers, almost two per game.

This year, it’s just the opposite, with the Browns being a minus nine. That’s a 16 turnover swing, and a good reason the team is struggling at 2-5.

Moreover, the offense just looks different, and we would have to question the hiring of Todd Monken as offensive coordinator because in our opinion, his “system” doesn’t fit the skill set of the personnel, particular Baker Mayfield.

When he was the OC at Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers had the most interceptions in the NFL a year ago, and ranked 20th and 27th in his other two seasons.

Perhaps his offense is high risk, high reward?

We found something else interesting about the passing game between 2018 and 2019, and that is the number of receivers being involved.

Last season, the Browns had five receivers that averaged 2.5 catches per game: Jarvis Landry, David Njoku, Rashard Higgins, Duke Johnson, and Antonio Callaway.

This season, that number has dropped to three: Odell Beckham Jr., Landry, and Nick Chubb. Part of what made Mayfield special in his rookie season was his ability to spread the ball around.

That doesn’t seem to be the case in 2019. Perhaps he feels obligated to get the ball to the All Pro Beckham as some have suggested. Or maybe the coaching staff is telling Mayfield to make a concerted effort to get the ball to the playmakers.

Either way, we would just like to see a return to a year ago.

The closest performance to the offense run last season with Kitchens as the coordinator was the Baltimore game, and surprise, surprise, the Browns put up 40 points, 30% of their season total.

That day, Mayfield hit seven different receivers, and completed 20 of 30 passes for 342 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Five different receivers caught two or more throws, led by Landry’s eight for 167 yards.

It is by far Mayfield’s best game of the year, finishing with a 102.4 passer rating (a stat we hate, by the way). His next best game was vs. the Jets (83.6 rating).

Another thing we have noticed in the former Heisman Trophy winner’s game this year is his reluctance to pull the ball down and run. While he’s never going to be Lamar Jackson, last year Mayfield had 39 carries in his 14 games.

This year? Just 9 runs in the 7 games. Sometimes, it’s better to step up in the pocket and gain 2-3 yards than to take a sack or throw the ball away.

Last season, Mayfield looked very decisive, this year, he looks confused. Perhaps it’s a new system, maybe not.

Whatever the reason, it’s time to get back to basics and it starts this Sunday in Denver.

The Browns should treat this as a new beginning.

Good News…Browns Have Improved Each Week

To say the Cleveland Browns have disappointed their fan base would be an understatement.

Of course, after two seasons with a combined 1-31 record, last year’s 7-8-1 finish would compare to another franchise going 14-2 during the regular season.

And after GM John Dorsey traded for Odell Beckham Jr., the supporters of the Browns around northeast Ohio and all across the country had visions of a 12-4 or better record for the 2019 season.

So, the start after three games, with a 1-2 record, has greeted them like a bucket of ice water dumped over their collective heads.

No doubt, it has been a shock.

On the other hand, if you are a fan who didn’t allow visions of a Super Bowl dance in your head, then the performance of Freddie Kitchens and his football team is, although not satisfying, understandable.

In looking at the first three games of the season, the Browns are guilty of playing one horrible quarter, the fourth in the season lidlifter against the Titans.

Other than that, they’ve played okay. Not the above average brand of football many expected (including us), so there is certainly a lot of room for improvement.

Baker Mayfield hasn’t played to the level he showed in the second half of the 2018 season, and he appears to be indecisive, which could be an indication of running a different offense from a year ago.

This was illustrated to us in the fourth quarter of Sunday night’s game vs. the Rams when on a third and long inside the Browns’ own five, Mayfield was sacked by Clay Matthews III.

There was no outlet receiver for the quarterback. All of the targets streaked down the field, 20 yards from the line of scrimmage. There was no option to avoid the sack, outside of heaving the ball downfield and risking an interception.

This leads us to think there is more of the offense Todd Monken used last year in Tampa and less of what was successful for Cleveland when Kitchens was the offensive coordinator.

There is no question Mayfield plays better when he throws quickly, and also Beckham’s strength seems to be getting the ball on the move and his ability to run after the catch. So, why not do more of that?

We hope there was more than a discussion between Kitchens and Monken to do more of what Mayfield does well. After all, isn’t that the definition of coaching? Putting your players in positions where they have the best chance to succeed?

One thing that we think is for real is the Browns’ defense. Yes, the 43 points in the opener doesn’t look great, but 21 of them came in the last quarter with the Titans having a short field due to three interceptions.

Even with a totally new secondary against the Rams, they held the LA offense to just 20 points. And the Browns have a player offenses must account for in Myles Garrett, who has had a sack in all three games, and overall has six for the year.

John Dorsey added experienced depth in the secondary and it has paid off thus far. If that unit keeps improving and gets healthy, by the end of the year, it may very well be the strength of the team.

Because NFL teams play once a week, there is too much emotion involved in each game. If the Browns win this week at Baltimore, they will be tied for first in the division, and the optimism will no doubt be heightened.

Let’s all just take a deep breath.

Only Preseason, But Still Overreaction.

The pre-season in the NFL has become an out and out joke, but that hasn’t stopped fans from overreacting to the Cleveland Browns’ first loss in games that don’t count, last Friday at Tampa Bay.

One of the reasons it shouldn’t be taken too seriously is the intentions of the head coach’s toward these games.

For example, and we have no inside information here, let’s say Freddie Kitchens prepared his team one way and told his friend, Bruce Arians, now the head coach of the Buccaneers, to run some stuff the Browns haven’t seen in order to see how the players would react.

Maybe they agreed to do this to each other’s teams to gauge how the two teams would respond to some adversity.

We just don’t know.

Remember, there were some who were upset in the first game against the Redskins, when the Browns opened the game in the no huddle, hurry up offense.

We speculated then that Kitchens told Washington coach Jay Gruden he was going to do this, and offensive coordinator Todd Monken confirmed it a couple of days later.

This doesn’t mean the Browns don’t have issues on the offensive line or in the kicking game. It does mean the issues aren’t greater than they were before kickoff last Friday night.

It isn’t like it was 10 years ago, when the third pre-season game was the dress rehearsal game. Back then, the starters played pretty much the whole first quarter of the first game, about a half of the second, and three quarters of the third.

That’s not the case anymore.

Baker Mayfield played one series in the opener against Washington. He didn’t play at all in the second contest at Indianapolis. Most of the starters did the same.

Heck, Odell Beckham Jr. nor Jarvis Landry has stepped foot on the field of play through three exhibition (yes, we know the NFL doesn’t like them called that) games.

The preseason has become a series of glorified scrimmages, and many teams, including the Browns, have gone to organized practices against other teams where the action and hitting can be controlled.

Remember 2017 when the Browns went 0-16? They were 4-0 in the preseason. Hue Jackson was trying to win those games.

We heard Kitchens say if they are keeping score then he wants to win, but our guess is he’d be a lot more upset about a loss on September 8th than he is about the Tampa game.

Someone is going to win Thursday night in the game against Detroit, but it is likely no one of any importance to the 2019 Cleveland Browns will play in that game, and the same can be said of most NFL teams.

It’s time for the NFL to cut back to two games, and start playing them off-site, so season ticket holders don’t have to pay full price for them. Or, if you want to play a home game, give season ticket holders an option to buy them at a reduced price, and if they don’t sell them to the public at a lower price.

Maybe someone who can’t afford to go normally can get to see an NFL game in person.

As for the results, don’t get to concerned, because again, we don’t know what the opposing teams are trying to accomplish.

There will be plenty of time for concern when the regular season starts next week.