CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The final score doesn’t do justice to the absolute annihilation the Browns received from the Patriots Sunday afternoon.
Both sides of the ball were a disaster of epic proportions.
The Browns defense was left in Cincinnati, Baker Mayfield added a right knee injury to the foot and left shoulder injuries he’d already been dealing with and by falling to .500 with their fourth loss in six games, Cleveland’s playoff hopes are back on life support at slim to none.
Here are our Top Takeaways from an embarrassing performance and disastrous afternoon in Foxborough, Massachusetts that may have officially sunk the season.
1. What a complete no-show effort all around. That is on Kevin Stefanski, the offense, defense and special teams. It was the worst loss since a 41-0 shellacking by the Steelers on Christmas Eve in 2005 and the fourth-worst loss since the Browns returned in 1999. This isn’t the first time this season that this lack of effort and execution has happened either, which is even more concerning.
2. The Browns are 5-5. Injuries or not, that just is unacceptable with all this talent to the point where “I have to do a better job” said by Stefanski does not cut it anymore.
3. A week after turning in their best performance of the season, the Browns defense turned in one of their worst efforts. Missed tackles, blown coverages, and inability to get off the field on third down made watching them beyond painful. They provided less resistance than a wet paper bag allowing touchdown drives of 99, 92 and 95 yards. It is the fourth time they allowed more than 30 points this season and unsurprisingly they are 0-4 in those games.
4. The Patriots 15-play, 83-yard drive to counter Cleveland’s 11-play, 84-yard touchdown drive to open the game, saw the Browns allow New England to convert a third-and-8, third-and-6 and third-and-20. It was a sign of what was about to come. New England finished 7 of 9 on third down.
5. The 11-play, 99-yard drive was a backbreaker and gave New England a 21-7 lead. It was the first time New England put together such a drive in a decade.
6. According to ESPN stats and information, the Patriots opened a game with three straight touchdown drives for the first time since 2019.
7. D’Ernest Johnson started off hot on the opening drive with 58 yards on four carries, including a 24-yard burst but that’s where the fun ended for him and the Browns. Johnson was held to just 41 yards on 15 carries the rest of the way.
8. Mayfield is the elephant in the room. Once again, he was just not good enough. The final numbers: 11 of 21 for 73 yards with a touchdown, an interception, and a rating of 56.2. Honestly, he was lucky he didn’t throw four picks. He departed with 2:26 remaining in the third quarter when Patriots outside linebacker Matt Judon planted him after a throw. While Mayfield has had his season derailed by injuries, his play is going to result in him getting the Kirk Cousins treatment. There’s just no way Andrew Berry can even offer him a contract extension in the offseason. They’ll probably have to let him play out the fifth year of the rookie deal and franchise tag him for 2023 because he isn’t an elite quarterback worth elite QB money right now.
9. Nobody can question Mayfield’s toughness or willingness to play hurt, but him playing hurt is hurting the Browns. It may be time to sit him for a few weeks and let Case Keenum handle things. If Mayfield is no better off after the bye, shut him down for the year because the season is officially headed down the drain.
10. Mayfield’s fourth interception of the season was the dagger. Looking for David Njoku, who dropped a touchdown on second-and-goal during the opening drive and another pass in the second half, Patriots linebacker Kyle Dugger sniffed out the play and jumped in front of the throw, returning it 37 yards to the 5. On the next play, back up running back Rhamondre Stevenson ran it in from 5 yards out for a 14-7 lead and that was all she wrote.
11. Mac Jones was sensational and looks to be light years ahead of Mayfield, who is playing hurt. Jones looked like a season veteran while Mayfield looked like the rookie. The touch and location on Jones’ throws compared to Mayfield’s was night and day. Jones finished 19 of 23 for 198 yards and a career-high three touchdowns. With the game out of reach, he got most of the fourth quarter off.
12. So much for that third-ranked Browns run defense. Stevenson ran for 100 yards and two touchdowns against them. In all, New England put 184 rushing yards on Cleveland.
13. Brian Hoyer, remember him, completed all three of his passes for 85 yards and orchestrated a 95-yard scoring drive to put the icing on the cake.
14. Watching nickel corner Troy Hill be carted off was sobering and difficult to watch. The good news is that the Browns said he had movement in all of his extremities while being transported to a local hospital for evaluation.
15. The overreaction to Sunday’s loss is someone should be fired for that. The realistic one is that Stefanski needs to get to the root of their problems, which clearly run deeper than just a former wide receiver now residing on the west coast.
16. The bottom line is this: considering the opposition remaining on the schedule after next week’s game against the Lions, the playoffs feel pretty unrealistic at this point. They own very few tiebreakers and as of Sunday afternoon are 12th in the AFC and their only path to playing past January 9 is winning the AFC North, but they trail by 1 1/2 games with seven to play. What an epic failure considering this team was thought to be a Super Bowl contender.