CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Sunday’s win over the Chicago Bears pushed the Cleveland Browns on the doorstep of a spot in the playoffs next month.
Here’s our top Brownie Bites from Zoom on the ninth victory Monday of the season.
Gettin’ the run around – Myles Garrett spent much of Sunday’s win against Chicago chasing quarterback Justin Fields around the backfield. That is when he wasn’t being held. “I mean he's frustrated. I'm frustrated when he's getting held and that's something that we'll continue to talk to the officials about and I understand that that's a tough gig, but I do think it's something that we need to make sure that is addressed,” Stefanski said. “With that in mind. The way Miles is playing is unbelievable. I'll get on the soapbox here for a second, but he's the best player on the best defense in the league right now.” Garrett had three tackles, including one for loss but has been held – pun intended – without a sack over the last four games. “I think what happens with our game, we get so wrapped up in sacks,” Stefanski said. “He makes a play on a crack toss late in the game that loses six yards. And if it's a sack, people think it adds to the statistics or whatever. He's dominant as a defensive player, so he's the defensive player of the year. I don't think it's close and he's going to finish strong for this football team, but to get so wrapped up as we do as a football society when it comes to sacks, I mean just talk about the guy that affects the game, that pressures the quarterback, that plays the run, that plays with unbelievable effort. I don't know that there's anybody in the same realm as him.”
Chief TE – David Njoku doesn’t score touchdowns and stuff the box score on the same scale as Travis Kelce, but Njoku has become as valuable to the Browns as Kelce is to the Chiefs. “There can't be many better than him when you talk about complete tight ends,” Stefanski said. whether it's the run, in the pass and I've seen him grow certainly as a player in our time together, but he's a dynamic football player,” Stefanski said. “And then the piece about off the field, I just think he's an incredible teammate. He's a positive force in this building, both on the practice field, in the locker room, on the game field. He brings such great energy to this team and when I say that specifically, he picks his teammates up more than anybody on our team…I just think Dave, the teammate that he's become, and I've got to watch it firsthand here over the last four years, but unbelievably positive force for this football team.” Njoku, who made a spectacular touchdown catch in the back of the endzone to tie the game at 7 in the second quarter, converted a critical third-and-15 with a 34-yard catch and run with less than a minute to play to move the Browns into field goal range. Njoku leads the Browns with 69 receptions and five touchdown catches and is second in yardage with 704 yards.
Sputtering run game – One negative from Sunday’s win – besides the three interceptions – is the run game. The Browns were held to just 29 rushing yards. “We look at it,” Stefanski said. “We're just trying to do whatever we can to win a game. Obviously we want to run the ball better, we want to run it more efficiently. That was a good front that we went up against yesterday, so we will always look at it and find different ways to get the ball in our playmakers hands and that certainly includes our runners.” The departure of left guard Joel Bitonio to a back injury left the Browns with just one starting offensive linemen – Wyatt Teller. “We got new guys coming in, filling in, and they're doing a good job,” running back Jerome Ford said. “I just feel like, yeah, the run game might not be perfect, but we still able to win games. And I feel like the best stat at the end of a game is a W. So whether the run game is good or not, as long as we get the W, I feel like we'll go with that.”
Fabulous Flacco – Joe Flacco has thrown for more yards in his first three starts for the Browns than any other quarterback in franchise history. Through three games, Flacco has 939 yards passing, surpassing Baker Mayfield’s record set in 2018 of 875 yards. Flacco’s seven touchdown passes tie him with Vinnie Testaverde for the most TDs tossed in his first three starts as well.
Paying dividends – Despite the rash of injuries, and deficits, the Browns have faced this season, they continue to find ways to win. As unusual as the results have been considering the circumstances, it appears Stefanski’s decision to take training camp on the road has paid off. “I feel like the time that we spent at Greenbrier and the time we spent on the road during camp in Philly, I feel like those are the things that brought our team together, and we knew back then that it would take all of us,” Ford said. “And I feel like those are the things that are a big help. So we kind of just leaning on each other, whoever's playing and praying for who not playing, and I think our team got a lot of resiliency to it.” The Browns have won five games this season in the last two minutes of games, a team record. “I think our guys understand the realities of this game,” Stefanski said. “We don't spend a lot of time in the woulda, coulda, shoulda world. Just deal with what's in front of us. And I think that's a testament to the leadership from the players.”
No JOK – Linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah was a true monster of the Midway against the Bears Sunday. Owusu-Koramoah led the team with six tackles – two for a loss, a sack, 2 batted passes a QB hit and an interception. “I think that the defensive line is our engine, and the way that they are able to press the ball and reset the line of scrimmage allows us as linebackers and the safeties to really fill those holes and those gaps,” Owusu-Koramoah said. “Not only that, but praise is due to coach [Jim] Schwartz for putting us in the right positions, calling the blitzes when we want to attack, making sure that people are in the right places with the right personnel at the right time. So I don't think it's so much me. I'm not just that type of guy. I would rather give those credits to other people. And it's not just sense of being humble. I think that it really does revolve around those people. If coach Schwartz doesn't call that play, I probably won't be able to be in that position. If the D line doesn't press and reset the line of scrimmage, then I got three guys in front of my face. So, yeah, that's what I'll answer to that.” Owusu-Koramoah, who has a career-high 84 tackles – 18 for a loss – to go with four pass breakups, 3.5 sacks and a forced fumble, attributes his breakout season to one thing. “It's a game of experience. It's a game of knowledge. It's a game of IQ,” Owusu-Koramoah said. “And the more that you get time and the more intensity that you put into it each and every year, I think that each player continues to improve. Whether you see it physically or mentally, whatever that may be, you do see a progression. I don't think it's one thing over another, but I think it's that holistic journey of bringing intensity to the steps that are needed to take each and every year.”
Playoff picture – Sunday’s win over the Bears kept the 9-5 Browns as the No. 5 seed in the AFC and the top Wild Card team. If the playoffs were to begin next weekend, the Browns would travel to take on Jacksonville on Super Wild Card weekend. The 8-6 Jaguars, despite losing to the Ravens, hold the tiebreakers in the AFC South to maintain the divisional lead. Baltimore, now 11-5, clinched a playoff berth Sunday night and are the top-seeded team in the conference. 10-4 Miami is No. 2, Kansas City is 9-5 and No. 3. The 8-6 Bengals and Colts are the sixth and seventh seeds respectively.
Day-to-day – Stefanski did not provide any injury updates from Sunday’s game, including Bitonio, other than to say they were “day-to-day.”