BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Browns quarterback Jacoby Brissett’s deep ball was off last week against New England.
His first one got picked off on the second play of the game while looking for tight end Pharoah Brown and the offense never fully recovered the rest of the afternoon.
“A combination of decision making and just playing smarter that early in the game, not trying to make a high level of difficulty in the throw,” offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt explained. “Yes, if he had thrown it farther, it may have gotten there. Really just want to make sure that we take care of the football moving forward. That is what I know he wasn’t happy with his decision to try that so early in the game.”
Brissett threw another interception, fumbled and also underthrew a ball to David Njoku that saw the tight end adjust and come back for, but a quality throw would’ve allowed him to cruise up the far sideline into the end zone.
Brissett passed up multiple opportunities to throw underneath in favor of downfield throws.
“I think sometimes that is what you see, that is what you do,” Van Pelt said. “You see somebody open, and you pull the trigger. We will get back into the completion mindset moving forward. I think that is when we played the best offensively is when we are just taking what is there.”
Brissett ended up attempting 45 passes in the 38-15 loss while running back Nick Chubb got just 12 carries leaving many wondering why.
“I think that game dictated us to get away from the run game by the score at certain points,” Van Pelt said. “Obviously, we want to run it more, get the ball in those guys’ hands, and use that offensive line and our tight ends up front. Sometimes the game doesn’t allow that to happen. I know we are very confident in the run game. We feel great about where we are. We just had a step back last week and continue moving forward to think we will have success in the run.”
More than a route runner – When people think of or talk about receiver Amari Cooper, it’s often about his precision route running.
Cooper, a four-time Pro Bowler, remains one of the best at it in the game but doesn’t feel he gets enough credit for his ability to catch in traffic or when tightly covered.
“I don’t think a lot of people understand that I’m a good player when it comes to like catching the ball while being covered,” Cooper said. “I think people only emphasize that I’m a good route runner and I get open and that’s what they see. That’s what they emphasize. But even when I’m not open, I can make those plays.
“I think people kind of look at like either or. Like okay he creates separation a lot, so that’s what he’s good at. He may not be good at when he’s not so open, but that’s not really the case with me. But I can see why somebody would look at it that way.”
Last week Cooper, who leads the Browns with 31 catches and 348 yards this season, caught his team-leading fourth touchdown and in tight coverage. Unfortunately he had just four catches on 12 targets – some of those were throwaways by Brissett – against the Patriots.
“That's definitely not a good percentage in terms of balls being caught versus balls being thrown your way,” Cooper said. “Definitely something that we have to work on and that's why we practice. I would love to catch 12 out of 12, you know what I mean? Just always room for improvement and that's why we're here.”
Bitonio backs Froholdt – With right guard Wyatt Teller likely out this week after suffering a strained calf against the Patriots last week, it appears Hjalte Froholdt is in line to hold the spot down until he returns.
Froholdt took over for Teller last week.
“I think he stepped in and did an admirable job,” Bitonio said. “Everybody has things they want to clean up, but overall, I think it was a real positive.”
Bitonio and Teller have become one of the NFL’s best guard combos, and their perfection of the run block scheme which includes pulling has helped the Browns build the league’s best rushing attack.
“He has a lot of potential and a lot of talent,” Bitonio said. “You saw him pull a couple times and he got around the edge. I think they try and look for the same characteristics in guys. But no, he's a really strong guy and he plays really well.
“It's just getting to know who you're playing next to and to understand the games they're running at you and different stunts and blitzes and things of that nature.”
Bookends back – Defensive ends Jadeveon Clowney and Myles Garrett were both back on the practice field after being idle Wednesday.
Clowney continues to be bothered by a sprained ankle while Garrett continues to deal with a sprained shoulder and their availability this week is up in the air.
“It is one of those things we have to see how they feel,” defensive coordinator Joe Woods said.
Glass half full – Special teams coordinator Mike Priefer acknowledges things haven’t gone well in many areas for his unit this season but he’s not allowing failure to get him down.
“Are we anywhere where we should be or need to be to help our team win games? Not enough, no,” Priefer said. “It is frustrating, but I am a glass half-full guy. I am always positive. I am always going to be positive with our guys. I am going to keep coaching them with energy and intensity. We are always going to have a good gameplan.
“Our players, who work extremely hard, we have a lot of good young players that this means a lot to them. I think we are going forward only going to see improvement. That is what I expect from our guys because we do set the bar extremely high. You look around the league, there are a lot of teams that aren’t playing well on special teams. There are teams like the Baltimore Ravens who are playing extremely well on special teams. We need to be in that upper echelon…we are not quite there yet.”
Out of options – With receiver Chester Rogers having been elevated the maximum of three times from the practice squad, the Browns would have to sign him to the 53 to allow him to keep returning punts.
“That remains to be seen,” Priefer said. “We are going to work some guys today. Donovan [Peoples-Jones], Demetric [Felton Jr.] and obviously Chester still in the mix because he does bring a little bit of a spark.”
Last week’s muffed punt, which the Patriots recovered, makes that a tougher decision and Priefer’s job harder figuring out who to prepare to field punts this week.
“He is a surehanded guy. I was shocked. I was shocked,” Priefer said of the fumble. “He was trying to make a play. I felt bad for the kid because obviously it is extremely important to him.”
Bite the bullet – Bitonio told one of the greatest Joe Thomas Thanksgiving dinner stories you’ll ever hear Thursday.
“I think it was my rookie year, my second year, so it was a long time [ago],” Bitonio said. “We had a chef cook us duck one time that he hunted. It was really good, except I did find a bullet in mine, which kind of scared me a little bit. But it was really good.”
That is not a typo. Bitonio bit a bullet – literally.
“Just a little schrapnel or whatever,” Bitonio said. “I was good. I was good.”
Injury report – DNP: OT Joe Haeg (concussion), RG Wyatt Teller (calf), CB Denzel Ward (concussion); LIMITED: DE Myles Garrett (shoulder, biceps), DE Jadeveon Clowney (ankle, knee,), RT Jack Conklin (ankle); FULL: DE Alex Wright (quad, glute), LG Joel Bitonio (rest), WR Amari Cooper (rest), LB Tony Fields (illness), TE David Njoku (rest)
Up next – Practice Friday.