CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Browns played a complete game of failure Sunday afternoon.
They did nothing well in any phase or facet of the game and the New England Patriots turned a competitive game for three quarters into a laugher over the final 15 minutes.
With the crowd juiced up to watch the opening act of a fun sports day in Cleveland, the Browns emptied the place out in the fourth quarter, just like the good old days.
Here are our Top Takeaways from Sunday’s 38-15 loss to New England that dropped the Browns to 2-4.
1. Football season was fun while it lasted. This one is circling the drain quickly. Someone please tell the Browns.
2. There are 11 more of these to watch this defense blow assignments, coverages, techniques and tackles. Great. Nobody is pointing fingers, but maybe they should. Some honest accountability and problem solving would be helpful.
3. The Houston Texans might be getting themselves a great draft pick next April.
4. Offense, defense, special teams – the Browns completed the trifecta of ineptitude. All around, an embarrassing effort. Head Kevin Stefanski and the organization are reluctant to make changes but they need to take a hard look at defense and special teams because it doesn’t get any worse or ineffective than what those two units are showing week in and week out.
5. When players talk during the week about having plenty of vocal leaders and needing them to make plays or things coming down to will and want-to, there’s probably no getting that train back on the tracks. That’s where Joe Woods defense lives right now – a complete derailment.
6. Myles Garrett went into the official record books in style. Garrett was credited with a strip sack of Zappe late in the first quarter giving him 62.5 career sacks, surpassing Clay Matthews Jr.’s official club record of 62.0, although Pro Football Focus credits Matthews with 75.0 career sacks. The NFL doesn’t recognize sacks prior to 1982. Unfortunately, the Browns came away with no points following the turnover. That was the only good news. Garrett left late in the fourth quarter after aggravating his sprained left shoulder while collecting his second sack of the day.
7. Leave it to the Browns to make an unknown like Bailey Zappe look like a seasoned veteran. Zappe threw for 309 yards and a pair of touchdowns while completing 24 of 34 passes for a 118.4 rating.
8. Jacoby Brissett did not have a good day. Brissett underthrew multiple deep balls because he was late reading the field. He threw his fourth and fifth interceptions of the season, got stopped on a fourth down QB sneak (which never happens), and fumbled too. On the opening drive Brissett took too long rolling to his right, Pharaoh Brown was wide open but Patriots safety Kyle Dugger closed the gap quickly and by the time the ball got there Dugger was able to intercept it at the New England 36. The turnover only cost them a 19-yard field goal. Brissett was late on another deep ball to tight end David Njoku up the far sideline but Njoku adjusted and came back for the ball. The 33-yard completion ultimately set up a 39-yard field goal to tie the game at 3. In the third quarter came the final nail – a second interception while looking again for Njoku but Patriots corner Jalen Mills picked it off and returned it 15 yards. That cost them a touchdown and essentially put the game out of reach at 24-6.
9. One of the Browns many problems is they have very smart guys spending way too much time outsmarting themselves. See Stefanski and Joe Woods. Maybe throw Mike Priefer into that mix too.
10. Stefanski had Nick Chubb in witness protection Sunday. I mean, why get the guy who leads the league in every meaningful rushing category imaginable the ball a ton to control the flow of the game? Stefanski held Chubb to just 56 yards on 12 carries and 1 catch for 14 yards snapping his streak of 100-yard scrimmage games. Well done, coach.
11. So the Browns spent all week working on tackling. Until they refine their techniques and stop thinking that throwing shoulders at people is sufficient enough to stop big plays from popping, what we’ve seen through six games in that department is going to continue.
12. Rhamondre Stevenson was held to 76 yards on 19 carries a week after he ripped off 161 yards in a win over the Lions but he scored twice – from 31 and six yards out. The run defense still stinks.
13. Cade York is back. York hit from 39, 48 and 51. Kickers being a lone highlight is never a good thing, but we are used to that sort of thing in Cleveland.
14. Priefer’s special teams unit continues to be ineffective. Just catching punts is essentially reason to be thrilled but Chester Rogers muffed one late in the fourth quarter to allow the Patriots to put the game away. They also got a delay of game penalty because apparently lining up to punt is difficult and takes a lot of time. Following Amari Cooper’s touchdown catch, the Browns appeared to recover an onside kick. Ronnie Harrison bobbled the recovery and AJ Green, who was out of bounds, touched the ball while trying to help Harrison with the recovery. Replay overturned the initial ruling to give the Patriots the ball plus five yards for an illegal touching. How Priefer continues to keep his job remains a mystery considering the amount of time special teams gets in practice and how awful that unit is.
15. There were no diminishing skills on the pregame guitar smash by Bernie Kosar. Beautiful subtle troll job by the Browns but once again, Bill Belichick got the last laugh.
16. We have officially reached it is time to start thinking about firing people part of the season. There just is no excuse for a team with this much talent to be this bad and the coaching staff is as much to blame as the players are. Woods and Priefer should be on the hot seat and Stefanski will be too if things do not change, and soon.
17. A trip to Baltimore awaits next week before a Halloween night date with the Bengals. This season could quickly turn into a nightmare, assuming we’re not already there.