Keeping Schwartz In One Way Or Another Should Be A Goal For Browns

It’s coaching search time for the Cleveland Browns and we have already said the best choice for the team would be to get John Harbaugh, although we have our doubts whether or not the Haslams and Andrew Berry will be able to get it done.

The Browns have already interviewed both of their coordinators, Tommy Rees and Jim Schwartz. Schwartz is an interesting candidate in that he, of course, has previous head coaching experience with the Lions from 2009-2013, going 29-51 in his tenure there with one playoff appearance.

It has been reported that the Browns would like to retain Schwartz as the defensive coordinator, if at all possible, to work with whomever is selected as the new head man.

And that makes total sense.

Look, we know there are a lot of coaches who will want to come in and have “their guys” in place. Many of them also want the same thing in players, so they gut the current roster and sometimes that is merited, but at times they are also getting rid of good players whose only problem is they were picked by the previous regime.

We understand that on the coaching side of things. Coaches obviously have connections with other guys who have done that job, and heck, if you are running any kind of organization, you want to work with people who have a similar philosophy.

But Jim Schwartz should be a different story. He is one of the best at what he does in running a defense. The Browns have ranked in the top five in yards allowed in two of his three seasons as the DC, and if he is willing to stay with the franchise in that capacity, it shouldn’t be a negative for a younger, offensive minded coach if they are offered the job.

If the Browns hired a guy with a defensive background, we could understand there could be a clash in philosophies with Schwartz. That brings us to our next point.

We wouldn’t be opposed to giving Schwartz the head coaching job and bringing aboard a new offensive mind. Yes, that would likely mean a revolving door for the OC job, because if the new coordinator has a lot of success here, meaning the Browns suddenly become an offensive juggernaut, that guy is going to be on the short list during the next coaching cycle.

We mentioned Schwartz’ record with the Lions, but we wouldn’t hold that against him. First, it has been more than 10 years since he was last a head coach, and we believe many coaches learn more about the job the longer they do it. We are sure over this time period he had time to reflect on what we would do differently if he got another opportunity.

Right now, we think it is important for the Browns to choose someone who has done the job before. Hiring a head coach and hoping he will grow into the job and have some growing pains isn’t the best plan. And we’ve all seen the “hire the hot coordinator” theory in action and sometimes, those guys show they are not suited to being the head man.

So, while Harbaugh should be the #1 choice, we don’t have a huge issue with Mike McDaniel getting the gig, with the assumption Schwartz stays as DC, or hiring Schwartz with a young offensive coordinator.

Whether the ownership and Andrew Berry think that way is another matter.

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.

One Thing The Browns Can Hang Their Hat On? Finding Weird Ways To Lose

One thing the Cleveland Browns excel at is inventing new ways to lose football games. The most famous one was losing because Dwayne Rudd threw his helmet in celebration of what appeared to be a victory, which drew a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct, giving Kansas City the 15 yards needed to kick a game winning field goal.

They’ve lost on a potential game winning field goal being blocked and returned for a touchdown.

Add Sunday’s game to the list. Yes, the Browns were behind 27-20 before a couple of boneheaded penalties took away any chance for them to come back and tie the woeful New York Jets, but we can’t forget the two special teams touchdowns for the Jets that were partially responsible for the home team’s lead.

Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees took over play calling for this game, and we did see more downfield throws from Dillon Gabriel, but with those longer throws came more sacks, as Gabriel took six sacks behind the Browns’ horrible pass protection.

The rookie from Oregon did complete 17 of 32 for 167 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, and did get Jerry Jeudy involved as he caught six throws for 78 yards. On the other hand, Jeudy was really the only wide out targeted, as after the dozen targets for Jeudy, Cedric Tillman was next with four.

On the other hand, there were several non-competitive throws and a couple of potentially terrible mistakes at the end of the first half when Gabriel threw behind Tillman and almost threw a pick in the red zone and then took a sack with no timeouts remaining.

The one good special teams’ play was getting the field goal unit on the field quickly and getting off a 45-yard kick by Andre Szmyt to tie the game at the half.

But watching the game, again our thoughts went to roster construction. Why isn’t there a decent veteran QB on the roster? The organization really has provided the coaching staff with no real alternative at the position.

Yes, we know eventually Shedeur Sanders will see the field, but why deal both Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett so there is no experienced NFL quarterback?

Let’s look at running back. Much like QB, the Browns drafted two players at this position, but the second one, Dylan Sampson, clearly isn’t big enough right now to play in the league. A stiff breeze can bring him down.

Jerome Ford is still here, but the real question is why? He doesn’t figure into the future and was supposedly on the trade block last week. So, why not look at Rocket Sanders, who was signed prior to the opening game and actually scored a touchdown in that game?

As for trying to improve the offensive line? According to reports, the Browns haven’t brought in a lineman for a tryout over the last four weeks. Nor have they signed one off another team’s practice squad.

The defense held the Jets to just 169 yards of total offense, but were gashed for two huge plays from Breece Hall, who caught a 42-yard touchdown pass on a screen, and also had a big 30-yard run, both in the fourth quarter.

You can’t blame that on a tired unit, the Jets only possessed the ball for 26 minutes during the game as Jim Schwartz’ defense forced five punts and an interception by Ronnie Hickman.

The special teams put the Browns into a huge hole. Giving up one kick return for a touchdown is bad enough, but two in one game? Three for the season, and there are still eight games left?

It has been said it’s tough for a special teams coach because the bottom of the roster, where most of their players come from, gets turned over a lot. That’s not the case with the Browns; their roster has been pretty stable.

The Ravens visit next week, and it reminds us they were in the same spot as the Browns three weeks ago at 1-5. But winning is first and foremost in that organization and they have turned it around and won three straight.

Here in Cleveland, everything revolves around finding a quarterback. That’s the wrong goal and until it changes, we get what we see every Sunday.