SEATTLE, Washington (92.3 The Fan) – The last two weeks the ball blew or bounced the Browns way.
Sunday afternoon at Lumen Field, it bounced up in the air and landed right in the Seattle Seahawks lap.
Quarterback P.J. Walker committed three turnovers that Seattle turned into 17 points and former Ohio State star Jaxson Smith-Njigba caught the game-winning TD with less than a minute to play as the Seahawks stole one from the Browns, 24-20.
Here’s our top Brownie Bites from a woulda, coulda, shoulda afternoon in Sunny Seattle.
Turnovers doomed the Browns once again and the third was the dagger. After calling timeout with 2:04 remaining prior to third-and-3 from their own 41, Walker's slant pass intended for receiver Amari Cooper hit Seahawks safety Jamal Adams in the helmet and bounced high in the air and into the arms of safety Julian Love at the Seahawks 43 with 2 minutes left. “Was just trying to put the ball on Coop, let him fall for the first down,” Walker said. “Got tipped in the air. That's just out of our control for that one.” The call to throw the ball by head coach Kevin Stefanski is a second guesser's dream with running backs Jerome Ford, Pierre Strong and Kareem Hunt combining for 133 yards and averaging 4 yards per carry. “Obviously with the interception with the outcome you're always thinking what can you do differently,” Stefanski said. “We had options there. Certainly you can run and certainly you can pass it, but the result, that was tough.” Five plays and 57 yards later Seattle won on Geno Smith’s 9-yard touchdown to Smith-Njigba. Game over. “Definitely a missed opportunity,” defensive end Myles Garrett said. “I mean, 5-2 sounds a lot better than 4-3, and when you're up and even though the offense didn't get to make the play and close it out, that's the opportunity for us to close it out. We're just as excited to get back on the field and make the play ourselves. So we want to be known to make those stops and make those plays and that's the opportunity for us and we didn't capitalize.”
Cleveland dug themselves out of a 17-7 hole. Seattle walked right down the field on their opening drive with running back Kenneth Walker, who finished with 66 yards on eight carries, biting off 45 yards on it with one run. Jake Bobo scored on a 3-yard run on his only carry of the day for a 7-0 advantage. “We definitely got to start faster,” cornerback Denzel Ward said. “We have been starting a little slow. We got to pick it up and find a way to come out the gate hot and keep it rolling the whole game.” Seahawks linebacker Jordyn Brooks, hit P.J. Walker from behind popping the ball free for linebacker Boye Mafe to scoop up and fall on at the Cleveland 41. Smith, who completed 23 of 37 passes for 254 yards with a pair of touchdowns and interceptions in the win, turned the gift onto 7 with a 12-yard touchdown to receiver Tyler Lockett, who beat Browns cornerback Greg Newsome II, for a 14-0 lead after avoiding pressure from Browns defensive end Za’Darius Smith. Seahawks receiver DK Metcalf beat Browns corner M.J. Emerson on a 43-yard completion set up a 32-yard field goal and 17-7 Seattle lead with less than a minute left in the opening quarter. But it was that last drive that haunts Emerson. “We made some plays but, that last drive we got to step up and if we're the best defense in the league, we've got to get off the field and win that game for this team,” Emerson said. The Seahawks would punt five times and throw a pair of interceptions over their next seven possessions. “Well, can't just ignore the first quarter and a half and say we had a good two and a half quarters that didn't just go away as a whole,” Garrett said. “We didn't succeed as much as we should have. We had to start faster. We have to be more aggressive in moving the line of scrimmage, making those [tackles for loss] and getting them on the back foot instead of them jumping on us early.” With Seattle driving late in the second quarter, Emerson jumped the route in front of Metcalf on the near sideline to pick Smith off and turn back the Seahawks, preventing them from double dipping possessions to end and begin the half with points.
Down 14-0, tight end David Njoku began the Browns comeback with an 18-yard TD after Walker stood in with Brooks bearing down off a screen fake to the right and was able to deliver the ball to Njoku, who was wide open in the middle to catch it and get over the goal line to cut the Seahawks lead in half, 14-7 with 3:22 left in the opening quarter. “We work the s*** out of it every day,” Njoku said of the screen game success Sunday afternoon. “We practice it every day. So, kudos to the coaches for putting us in the right situations.” The Browns pulled within 3 on Kareem Hunt’s fourth TD run of the season – a 1-yard walk-in carry thanks to rookie right tackle Dawand Jones’ block with 4:40 left in the first half. Hunt did his best not to secnd gyess Stefanski, but his frustration with not getting a chance to close the game out bothered him. “I just go and play my role,” Hunt said. “I feel like could've helped the win.” Amari Cooper’s 24-yard catch to the 2 and a roughing the passer penalty on that play put the ball at the 1. Seattle was called for pass interference on a fourth-and-2 to keep that drive alive.
Walker’s second turnover came early in the second quarter on an interception by Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen. It looked like Njoku might have taken the ball back, but he already touched Woolen, who was on his back, to give Seattle the ball at their own 16. Cleveland’s defense forced a three-and-out. “We started off real slow and we was able to fight back as a team and battle,” Walker said. “It just shows the grit and the grind that we got in this locker room and as a group we're just going to continue to be resilient, come back next week and just not let this one come back with us.” Walker finished 15 of 31 for 248 yards with two interceptions and a touchdown in the loss. “Obviously some good moments, but ultimately we got to take better care of the football,” Stefanski said. “He knows that. But as a team, as an offense, fought, just didn't make enough plays at the end.” Although an unlucky break at the end on Walker’s second interception, the play ended up being a back breaker. “I got to do a better job for him at the end of that game,” Walker said. “We had a big play available for him. And the safety, I saw the safety fly over there. He scared me off a little bit, made me throw the ball outside and just me just giving 2 the opportunity to go up there and just make a play. I just got to do better. I got to be better at that.”
Cooper continues to make high-wire sideline catches and he had a pair of them in the first half Sunday. “It's a great feeling, obviously for myself but for the team as well. It's a great feeling. It's a great spark,” Cooper said. “I always say, it's like when I'm off the field and I see the defense making a play, it's a spark. So I assume it's the same thing when we're on the field and we're all making plays. It's a spark for the defense and not only that, it's a spark for other guys on the offense to, OK, we have momentum now let, let's start making plays, let's go score.” He had six receptions for 89 yards in the loss. “Week in and week out, 2 just continues to step up and make plays,” Walker said.
With under 7 minutes left, Myles Garrett ended the Seahawks’ most productive drive since the second quarter with a sack that lost seven yards and came within inches of a strip sack as Smith lost and regained the football as he went down. It looked like that was going to be the defining play of the afternoon but fate had other plans. “I thought so. I mean the ball came out as well, thinking that it was going to roll away, but unfortunately just rolled underneath him,” Garrett said. Garrett has 8.5 sacks on the season. Defensive end Ogbo Okoronkwo deserved an assist on the play after his pressure forced Smith to move up in position for Garrett to bring him down from behind.
Kicker Dustin Hopkins’ leg got a rest. He made kicks of 25 and 27 yards. His second make put the Browns in front for the first time 20-17 with 2:50 remaining in the third quarter and followed defensive tackle Maurice Hurst tipping an interception to himself.
All four players that were listed as questionable going into the game – running back Ford, left tackle Jedrick Wills, receiver Marquis Goodwin and linebacker Sione Takitaki – were active and played Sunday afternoon.
Newsome left the game with a groin injury and did not return. Right tackle Dawand Jones left Lumen Field with a wrap on his right shoulder and although he will undergo an MRI Monday indicated he believes he will be fine. Defensive end Alex Wright also suffered a knee injury.
Wyatt Teller was the game captain for the Browns.
Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains handled the National Anthem duties in Seattle and Bill Nye raised the flag for the 12s before kickoff.