CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – the final possession of Saturday’s 24-22 loss at Green Bay was a second-guessers paradise.
Monday afternoon, head coach Kevin Stefanski explained his thinking in having Baker Mayfield throw five straight passes after Nick Chubb had churned out 18 yards on three carries to begin the possession.
“We felt pretty good about the calls,” Stefanski said. “Specifically, we had potential for an explosive on first down. We had a screen on second when the screen game had been good to us. Then third down, obviously, we turn the ball over, but we are always considering many different ways to go there.”
Stefanski had three timeouts and the Browns had already churned out 200 yards rushing, but he decided to put the game in Mayfield’s hands with less than two minutes to play trailing by 2.
“We did have those three timeouts,” Stefanski said. “We felt like we were in control there, but ultimately, when you do not come through, you second-guess everything – you second guess the first play of the game, the second play of the game or whatever it is. When it does not work, we are definitely second-guessing ourselves.”
Mayfield completed just one pass on that fatal drive – 7 yards to Chubb – after missing two throws to tight end David Njoku and another to D’Ernest Johnson before his fourth interception of the day ended all hope.
“I think Baker told you the other night, he did not play up to his standard, and we expect him to play at a high level,” Stefanski said. “I think confidence-wise with the quarterback position, you get too much credit, and you get too much blame. That is just how it is. He will bounce back, and I think he will be better for it.”
Replays showed the officials missed not one, but two holding calls on Packers cornerback Rasul Douglas, who grabbed Donovan Peoples-Jones by the arm, then jersey on that play.
Douglas also got away with a hold of Peoples-Jones on Mayfield’s first pick – a deep ball over the middle into double coverage in the first quarter.
“I know it gets magnified when it is the last play of the game,” Stefanski said. “It was unfortunate that the ball got intercepted there. I think we certainly feel like there was potentially a flag on that play, but we did not get it, so we are not ever going to hope for a flag to help us in those situations. It just did not happen.”
Pick party – Mayfield’s four interceptions against the Packers were a career-high and he’s up to 11 on the season.
The film session with Mayfield Tuesday won't be easy for Stefanski when he sits down with his quarterback.
“With any of our players, you have to learn from each one of these. With the quarterbacks, it is no fun to watch the interception reel, talk through them and learn from them” Stefanski said. “It is again not fun because you do not want to turn the ball over, but we do have to learn from them because we have to take care of the ball. It is important to how we win. We did not do a great job there, but we will have to look at the tape together, watch it and then make sure we get better moving forward.”
Back on guard – Joel Bitonio has played well the last two games at left tackle but there are no plans to keep him there, even when Jedrick Wills Jr. returns.
“We will obviously talk through all of our lineup changes as guys come back, but if Jed is ready and healthy to go, then he will play left tackle for us,” Stefanski said.
Kick me – Stefanski did not want to put Saturday’s game in the hands, or on the foot, of kicker Chris Naggar, who missed his first PAT, but knocked home a 37-yard field goal and hit another PAT.
“I would not characterize it as ‘lack of confidence,’” Stefanski said. “I think to be fair to Chris in that type of game, did not want to attempt a long field goal with the game in the balance. We wanted to go score a touchdown – something that we had done throughout that game moving the ball.
“Certainly, if it came down to a field goal, he is our kicker, and we have confidence in him, but our mentality was not just to get the ball to the 35 or the 40 and attempt a long field goal.”
Stefanski wouldn’t say if the Browns will add a kicker this week with Chase McLaughlin on the COVID list.
“I will leave all of those type of roster decisions to AB,” Stefanski said, referring to executive vice president of football operations and general manager Andrew Berry.
Close calls – The Browns have played 10 games this season decided by 7 or fewer points, and they’ve lost six of those games.
The inability to hold leads late or rally in the final minutes has painted them into a corner.
“I think that is frustrating,” Stefanski said. “Obviously, this is the NFL, and the games are going to be close. We have to find a way to come through, and I have to find a way to come through for the team when we are in those moments. That is really the frustration because you get into this part of the season, and I am sure it is easy to say the ‘would have, could have, should have’ type of things. For us, again, all of our focus has to just go right back into this week this game versus this opponent.”
Injury report – Stefanski had no injury updates following Saturday’s game but is hopeful more players will return this week from the COVID lists.
