CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – With Joe Thomas and dozens of Browns Legends looking on, Nick Chubb put on a show.
Unfortunately, the Browns melted down in the final two minutes in legendary fashion for one of the most epic collapses you’ll ever see.
The Jets, trailing 30-17, scored 14 points in the final 1:55 to stun the Browns and leave town with a 31-30 victory.
“It is really frustrating – frustrating to me, to our players in the locker room and I am sure to our fans,” Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “It is not how we play. It is we have to finish and do the things that allow you to win games, and we didn’t do that. Everybody is going to want to point fingers and say, ‘Whose fault was this?’ Put it on everybody. It is all of us, me, coaches and players. It is everybody.”
To quote the late, great Les Levine: of all the what the hell just happened Browns losses, that was the most recent.
Here are our Top Takeaways from Sunday’s catastrophe.
1. Of all the Browns losses, that was one of the worst snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in the expansion era that you’ll ever see. Dwayne Rudd will forever be No. 1. This one is right behind it. The 2001 loss to the Bears up 14 with two minutes to play is third. It will be referenced again, below.
2. There’s just no excuse – defense and special teams for that collapse. Lack of focus, communication and execution came back to bite them in a big way.
3. According to ESPN stats and information, teams leading by 13 in the final two minutes had won 2,229 consecutive games. The last team to lose under such circumstances? You guessed it. The Browns. A Week 9 loss at Chicago to the Bears after leading by 14 with less than two minutes to play and the Bears went on to win overtime. So, congratulations?
4. Credit the defense for another nap at an inopportune time. They fell asleep for the third time in two weeks and allowed Joe Flacco to find Corey Davis wide open for a 66-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 30-24 with 1:22 remaining. Then they gave up a quick 9-play, 53 yard drive capped by Flacco’s 15-yard touchdown to Garrett Wilson to win it with 22 ticks remaining. “Obviously, guys not on the same page,” Stefanski said. “It was very, very clear what we were doing. We talked about it on the sideline before everybody went out and talked to the entire defense about what they were about to do, which was try and throw it over our head. We can’t let that happen. We have a young football team, and unfortunately, that youth at times has shown up here, and we have to grow up real fast.”
5. So why all the miscommunication in the secondary? Safety John Johnson didn’t know. “Unexplainable. We’ve just got to talk,” Johnson said. “Communication is sending and receiving. So there are guys sending, but some guys aren’t receiving, and that’s the issue.” But he posed a solution. “We have to find a way to rep it at practice. Literally put it on tape,” Johnson said. “That’s what we gotta do. We should all be…if it’s a hand signal, we should all be making the signal. We should see all seven guys on the back end making the signal so there’s no way that you could say ‘Oh I didn’t get the call.’ It’s sending and receiving.”
6. After pulling within 30-24, New York recovered the onside kick to give themselves life. In a world where onside kick recoveries are as rare as Browns playoff appearances these days, that’s a play Mike Priefer’s unit has to make. As has been customary under Priefer, special teams fails to deliver, again.
7. Last week Cade York was the hero. Sunday, he takes it on the chin. His missed PAT after Chubb’s third touchdown was the difference on the scoreboard and prevented overtime. “I was upset that I missed, but again, I thought I hit it well off the foot,” York said. “I really don’t know why it took off right on me. It definitely wasn’t a thought, but you just can’t get ahead of yourself in the NFL. The games are so close, you’ve got to make everything you can.”
8. Do not blame York or even Chubb scoring that third touchdown for the Browns losing. This one lies squarely at the feet of defensive coordinator Joe Woods, pass game coordinator/DBs coach Jeff Howard and special teams coordinator Mike Priefer. Stability is great when you are good but when the same mistakes keep happening over and over for now three seasons, maybe Stefanski needs to get tougher on his assistant coaches and put some jobs on the line.
9. Chubb will be a Browns Legend someday and like Joe Thomas’ career, another brilliant performance was wasted Sunday. Final numbers: 17 carries, 87 yards, three touchdowns plus three catches for 26 yards. Chubb carried seven times for 34 yards and caught a pass for 7 more and capped it with a 4-yard touchdown run on their opening drive for a 7-0 lead. In the fourth quarter Chubb accounted for 56 of the Browns 75 yards on the go-ahead TD drive. He cut back, lowered his shoulders and pounded it in from seven yards out to put Cleveland in front 24-17 before adding a 12-yard run with just under two minutes to play to almost put the game away.
10. The opening drive was a downright offensive clinic by the Browns to go up 7-0. They executed the screen game well, used a variety of personnel groupings and tackle eligible formations. Brissett was an efficient 5-5 for 39 yards and he ran twice for 17. In all: 14 plays, 90 yards and a 7-0 lead with Chubb’s assistance.
11. Cleveland’s second offensive series was the Amari Cooper drive. Cooper capped it with a six-yard touchdown catch, his fourth on the drive totaling 48 yards. It was a 10-play, 61-yard march. Cooper finished with a team-high nine catches for 101 yards and the score.
12. Rookie running back Jerome Ford showed why he was active over D’Ernest Johnson. Ford ripped off a 44-yard kickoff return out to the 39 to set up the Browns’ second possession. It was a rare positive special teams play in the return game for the Browns.
13. The Jets, desperate for a spark early, faked a punt to keep their second possession alive. Punter Braden Mann found Jeff Smith for a 17-yard gain and a first down to the Cleveland 37 in another sleep at the wheel moment for the Browns. New York cashed it in and tied the game at 7 on Flacco’s two-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson, who shook Martin Emerson out of his shoes on his break at the goal line.
14. Jets kicker Greg Zuerlein became the first player to kick a field goal from Brownie - his 57-yarder tied the game at 17 with 14:19 remaining in the fourth quarter.
15. Jadeveon Clowney suffered an ankle injury that sent him to the medical tent, then the locker room in the third quarter. He did not return and his status will bear monitoring with a short week and the Steelers in town Thursday night.
16. It is hard to criticize Myles Garrett, but his take on the fans booing following that collapse was off the mark by a mile. “I mean the more disappointing thing was the booing at the end. It was not the most optimal ending that we’d want,” Garrett said. “Of course we’d want to win. Of course we wanted to play out the game and it end 30-16 or 30-17 or whatever it was, we get a pick or a strip sack and end the game. But that's not always how it goes. These guys are still putting their asses on the line and playing as hard as they can, and they should be respected as such.” Jonson provided the correct response to fans booing. “I mean, we’ve got some of the most loyal fans. I don’t blame ‘em,” Johnson said. “It’s unacceptable. I didn’t feel that way about it. It’s unacceptable. We go out there, they pay their hard-earned money to at least see us at least put up a decent show. Come on, we’ve got to win that one.” Browns fans have had to endure losing at historical, ridiculous and can’t make this stuff up if we wanted to levels since 1999 so yeah, fans are going to be fans. Win and you get cheered. Lose like that and you deserve to be booed off the field.
17. The Browns promised a different stadium atmosphere and they delivered for 58.5 minutes. The team built a dog pen for player introductions, complete with a gate and two dogs standing attention and blowing smoke above the fence. Joe Thomas smashed a guitar on an oversized amplifier that blew smoke to ‘Sweet Child of Mine’ leading up to kickoff. They played scoreboard karaoke with a fan. Selfie cam on the scoreboard, great idea, when the Wi-Fi works. The best part, Brownie the Elf was finally painted on the 50. But the Browns gave fans exactly what they’ve been used to seeing on the field since 1999 with that crash landing.
18. It really is a game of inches. The Browns are a 58-yard kick from being 0-2 and one less blown coverage in the secondary or onside kick recovery from 2-0.