CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – There’s no other way to describe Sunday’s 15-10 loss to the Steelers.
It was a nightmare.
The Browns dropped the ball. Literally. Multiple times all afternoon long, and barring a miraculous turnaround, their season is about to circle the drain.
“Really, it is just a frustrating day, a disappointing day,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said.
The loss dropped the Browns to 4-4 and into last place in the AFC North.
“It is not fun,” defensive end Myles Garrett said. “It was definitely a winnable game for us, but we did not do it. We did not execute like we needed to. We had a good game on defense, but not well enough. Nobody is happy with what we did on any of the phases, and so, we need to go back to the drawing board and keep on working.
“We have nine more games. At the end of the day, the crown of the AFC is still up in the air - at least in the AFC North.”
Garrett’s right. It was a winnable game they no showed for, and there’s no excuse for the penalties, dropped passes and lack of execution.
Garrett did his part. He finished with a sack, a pair of QB hits and tackles for loss as well as multiple pressures, but Garrett doesn’t throw, catch, or run the ball.
The offense mustered just 10 points and three plays of 20 or more yards.
“It is on all of us,” quarterback Baker Mayfield, who completed 20 of 31 passes for 225 yards, said. “Everybody is going to point fingers at a few plays, but the fact is we just did not get into a rhythm today. We stubbed our toe a few times – penalties and just did not make the plays we needed to win.”
Sunday’s loss was a brutal pill to swallow and a devastating blow to a season that was filled with hope, hype and expectation at the outset.
“Not good enough,” linebacker Anthony Walker, who took the blame for multiple missed tackles, said. “Top to bottom. I own that. It starts with me. I feel like on that defensive side. We are not good enough defensively right now.
“We have to be a lot better to be a championship team. The defense has to be a lot better, and it starts with my play.”
While Walker's accountability was admirable, the browns didn't lose because the defense allowed a whopping 15 points.
The Browns offense was an embarrassing 3-10 on third down and they failed to convert on fourth down twice making them just 8-17 on the season.
There were at least seven dropped passes – Jarvis Landry had two of them as did running back D’Ernest Johnson. Austin Hooper dropped a should’ve been catch and run for a touchdown in the first quarter. Rashard Higgins had a third down drop and Odell Beckham Jr. was unable to haul in a throw down the middle in the fourth quarter.
“We have some things that we need to fix,” Landry said. “Honestly, in thinking back to the game, I think of two or three plays in this game, including myself, where we had the opportunity to make plays and we did not. I owe it to my teammates and to all of the guys who fought to get back to play – Baker, Odell, Jack [Conklin] – that is part of holding up my end of the bargain and making those plays to make sure we can win this game.”
As easy as it would be to blame Landry, Sunday’s loss was a collective failure that brought back ghosts of Browns teams fans suffered through for 20 years before Stefanski’s arrival.
For whatever reason, Beckham continues to be a non-factor in the offensive production end of things. One catch, six yards. That’s a career worst for someone who is thought to be one of the NFL’s most prolific receivers.
“We have to find ways to format it and get the ball in his hands,” Mayfield said. “We are not trying to force it to anybody. We have a talented skill group, so I just have to continue to go through my reads and do that. We can do a better job of getting the ball in his hands, getting him going early and fixing that.”
Injuries continue to be a problem.
Conklin appears to be lost for an extended period, if not the rest of the season, after dislocating his left elbow. He had just returned from a knee injury that kept him out for two weeks.
“It sucks,” Mayfield said. “A pretty nasty injury. Never want to see that type of stuff. Jack is a tough dude. He was up walking around and asking how everybody was. He is still going to be a leader, be in that room and be a veteran for those guys – we know that. It is just very unfortunate when things like that happen.”
For as pathetic and hopeless as Sunday felt, the good news is there is a lot of football to be played – nine games to be exact.
The bad news, outside of the 0-8 Lions, the schedule is brutal.
Six of the remaining opponents have at least five wins and their combined record, again, setting aside Detroit, is 40-20 so expecting some magical turnaround and late season run appears to be fantasy.
“We need to be worried about us,” Mayfield said. “We know our division is extremely talented. It is a very tough, physical division. We know that. Obviously, with the Bengals coming along, you can feel that. We have to take it one week at a time. We have to do our job. It is not about anybody else but us right now. That is just a fact. We have to handle it that way. We can’t be worried about the big picture. We have to take it one week at a time and just chip away at this.”
