CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – ‘There’s always next year’ should be the new Browns theme song.
The Browns were unable to capitalize on beating a dome team in arctic conditions Saturday afternoon and their fans got a lump of coal for Christmas to burn in the furnace following a 17-10 loss to the Saints.
The six-degree kickoff temperature made it the second-coldest home game in franchise history, trailing only the January 4, 1981 playoff game with the Raiders when it was one degree at kickoff.
Here are our Top Takeaways from the Christmas Eve loss that allows guys to begin making offseason vacation plans for January 10.
1. God bless you fans that showed up and sat through that in those conditions. You deserve so much better than what this franchise gives you year in and year out. Salute to the Browns for encouraging fans who had tickets in the upper deck to move down to the lower deck for a better view.
2. The conditions were brutal for both teams, but it was the visitors, who play in a dome, that found a way to succeed.
3. The loss kicked the Browns off the playoff bubble and clinched the 20th losing season for the franchise since 1999.
4. It’s getting harder and harder to defend Kevin Stefanski when he continues the smart coach does dumb things bit. But he isn’t going anywhere, so you’ll get one more year to complain about it.
5. With winds swirling, temperatures in the single digits and wind chills well below zero, when you can still find a way to throw it at least 30 times, you just have to do it.
6. Deshaun Watson passes: 31. Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt carries: 31. Simply brilliant. And the guys running the Browns all have Ivy league degrees.
7. The Saints threw it just 15 times Saturday, so tell me which sideline the smart people were standing on?
8. On the subject of smart people, the smart people that are running the Browns aren’t winning enough football games. Period. Week in and week out the Browns fail to show or utilize with proficiency any strategic advantage whatsoever. Their record with Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta is 39-72-1. In fairness, setting aside the 1-31 rebuild years, the franchise remains under .500 with DePodesta in charge of strategy at 38-41-1. Maybe it’s time to let him go back to running baseball teams. This is a results business, and we remind you that the Browns are not in any type of a roster rebuild. This team was built to win now. From the Chief Strategy Officer to the EVP of Football Operations/GM to the Head Coach, the coordinators, and coaching staff, they all continue to fail to deliver a winning product. There must be accountability for that this offseason, somewhere.
9. Cade York made both of his kicks with ease – a PAT and 30-yard field goal. So that was positive.
10. Maybe Jake Paul should’ve been on the field instead of holding a cell phone for the Browns Saturday. He could fill a gap and make a tackle, right?
11. Cool your jets on the Joe Woods should keep his job as defensive coordinator talk. Another week, more problems on his side of the football with personnel. Additional confusion cost another first half timeout.
12. Watson played well in the cold and certainly answered questions about his ability to be successful. Stefanski did him few favors and failed multiple times to put the quarterback in position to succeed, but Watson made multiple nice throws and he was responsible for Cleveland’s only touchdown of the game – a 12-yard run on the first play of the second quarter to give the Browns a 7-0 lead.
13. The Browns won most of the statistical battle. Cleveland had 15 first downs compared to 14 for New Orleans, out-gained the Saints 249-244, ran 67 offensive plays – 13 more than the visitors, and also barely won the time of possession.
14. The Saints beat the Browns at their own game – on the ground. Alvin Kamara finished with 76 yards and a score. Taysom Hill 56 yards and a TD. Their 152 yards rushing marked the eighth time Woods’ defense surrendered at least 130 rushing yards this season.
15. The fact that Stefanski threw it consecutively in the fourth quarter on third-and-2 and again on fourth-and-2 right after Nick Chubb began tearing up the Saints defense was a microcosm of the mind-numbing arrogance we’ve seen at times this season. Both passes fell incomplete.
16. Where was the creativity with the Browns run game? The Saints brought it with Kamara and Hill. Four Saints ran it at least twice. Why did Stefanski fail to utilize the playmakers he had, including receivers capable of running with the ball?
17. Three would-be touchdowns from Watson saw footballs fall harmlessly to the ground. First, Amari Cooper had his feet go from out under him in the back of the end zone when he was wide open in the third quarter. Then on the final series Donovan Peoples-Jones was unable to haul in a pass in the corner and David Njoku saw a pass over the middle at the goal line bounce off him.
18. Safety Grant Delpit has taken a lot of heat this season, but he played a solid game Saturday. His 40-yard interception return off Andy Dalton’s pass that bounced off Saints receiver David Johnson set up Watson’s TD run. Delpit also had a stuff on a third-and-short to force a punt and finished with seven tackles.
19. Opportunity knocked multiple times Saturday, and like most of this season, the Browns simply failed to answer the door.
20. Most importantly, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!