No matter how great the Browns may look at any point in the season, if you’re a grizzled, veteran fan like myself, you always expect the bottom to fall out and the wheels to fall off at some point in the year.
It might happen in the first game before we have anything to cheer for. Or it might happen to derail a rare Playoff run when God feels like He needs to send a loud and clear message to remind us of our place in the universe. But no matter what, the Browns always eventually fall back to Earth. Always. Like clockwork. It certainly happened today.
Baltimore showed Cleveland they have a long way to go before they can take the first step toward being a true contender. Yes, the Browns had a rookie quarterback under center in DTR. Yes, the defense probably was tired since the offense couldn’t do anything. But that’s still no excuse. Baltimore took the Browns to school. Or if they went to school, the Ravens were the bullies that gave the Browns atomic wedgies and stuffed them into their own lockers.
At no point today did I see any semblance of a football team that had any clue what they were doing. The Browns we saw last week didn’t even bother leaving the team facility in Berea. I’ve suffered many excruciating losses as a Browns fan, as I’m sure many of you have. But these are the worst. I can stomach close losses where the team fights tooth and nail to get a win and just comes up short. I can be proud of them when they give their best effort.
But what I will never accept will be days like today, when the team lets their rookie quarterback down and packs it in early. Paul Brown is spinning in his grave from this one. His ghost needs to haunt everyone tonight!
So many things went wrong, but I saw a few things that just infuriated me to no end. First off…
The Browns didn’t follow Rule #1 when starting a rookie quarterback: RUN THE FOOTBALL!
The Browns did run the football 25 times for 93 yards on the day. But most of those carries seemed to come in garbage time. They didn’t even bother to test Baltimore with the run early on. Yes, I know the Ravens are a great run defense. But it was almost like Kevin Stefanski didn’t even try to set the tone on the ground. After Jerome Ford’s big run was called back due to an idiotic holding penalty by Amari Cooper, it was like that took the wind out of everybody’s sails. The running game never got off the ground.
A week after putting together a decent effort running the ball with Ford, Kareem Hunt, and sometimes Elijah Moore, the Browns seemed content to just let their rookie quarterback chuck the ball 36 times. Kevin Stefanski committed a cardinal sin, which is this: He left his rookie quarterback out there all alone with no support from the ground game.
You don’t leave your rookie quarterback to fend for himself, no matter how much you might trust him. You get your running game involved as much as you can when you have a rookie quarterback under center. At all costs. Running games help a quarterback in general by keeping the pressure off. But this is especially true when it’s somebody’s first career start. You never let your untested rookie let it rip against a defense like the Ravens.
Poor play calling
Does anybody remember when Baker Mayfield would often toss a shovel pass straight to defenders for no apparent reason? I certainly do. And it made me say so many choice words that I’d make Bob Knight blush. But the jet sweep has become that kind of play for this Browns team.
After jumping on a rare mistake by Lamar Jackson and the Ravens and securing a fumble, the Browns were in prime position to tie the game up at 7 early on. If I were the coach, I would have immediately gone to the ground game and tried pounding out that last 20-25 yards. No, we don’t have Nick Chubb. But Jerome Ford and Kareem Hunt would have been good enough to get the job done in that situation.
I either would have called off-tackle runs, or found a way to get Ford or Hunt out into the flat as pass catchers in space off a screen pass, But I NEVER would have even remotely thought about a jet sweep. It’s a gadget play. It’s not reliable. And as it develops, your primary ballcarrier already starts several yards behind the line of scrimmage. Running it against one of the best run defenses in the league is just asking for trouble. And Baltimore made the Browns pay, tackling Elijah Moore as he ran around like a chicken with his head cut off for a 20-yard loss. After seeing that fiasco, I knew that was a truly bad omen for the day.
The team let DTR down
The Browns did lose this one as a team. Every unit performed like garbage. But perhaps the only person on this team who I won’t criticize as heavily, is Browns rookie quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson. Yes, he made a lot of mistakes today. But the team set him up to fail.
There was no real running game to speak of. Kevin Stefanski put him in bad positions with his atrocious play calling, and the offensive line didn’t block worth anything, as they surrendered four sacks.
If I had been Stefanski, I would have reminded DTR to not do too much. I look at rookie quarterbacks in DTR’s situation as game managers. Their only jobs are to protect the football, get rid of it quickly when needed, and make the sure throws that are typically short to medium range.
When Baker Mayfield first arrived in Cleveland, he looked good because he didn’t try to do too much. He played in a simple system, used his running game, the offensive line blocked well for him, and his receivers came down with the simple catches most of the time. It eased him into being a starting quarterback when he first got here in 2018. I didn’t see any of that for DTR today. The entire team failed him. From the coaching staff to his linemen, to his receivers. The poor kid was set up to fail. He had no chance. I feel bad for him. But I certainly don’t feel bad for this next group…
APB: Cleveland Browns defense
I know Halloween is 30 days away. But I didn’t know Joe Woods was wearing his best Jim Schwartz costume today. But I only have one word to describe the Browns defense today: Pathetic. There’s no other way to put it.
Jim Schwartz had one week to plan how to contain or shut down Lamar Jackson. But based on how the defense played, I’m wondering if he even planned anything at all, or if he went out and partied for a week after we beat Tennessee? Goodness!
There were tons of missed tackles, a few stupid penalties, and Lamar Jackson seemed to have all day in the pocket to throw. Jackson has been in the league now for five seasons, and no one has yet figured out how to consistently solve him or shut him down. At least not in Cleveland. And it frustrates me like you would not believe. He drives me crazy!
Baltimore carved up the Browns defense for nearly 300 yards, including 131 on the ground. They got gashed. It was just flat out bad. And I’m not buying that the defense was tired while it was still in the first half. If they were tired that quickly, the conditioning department sucks. They just flat out played like garbage. They were unprepared and it showed. They deserved to get their butts handed to them today.
What’s next?
I was originally scared of the bye week being this early in the season. But after today? Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise. The Browns need to regroup, heal up as much as they can on the week off, and get back to work. If they play like they did today, San Francisco is liable to hang 50 on them. They need to do some major soul searching after a loss like today.
In the meantime, cool off, relax, enjoy next Sunday knowing the Browns can’t lose, and decompress. We’ve been through these losses before, but we’re still here, aren’t we? It’s what true fans do! We still love this team even when they’re infuriating to watch, or they break our hearts. Hang in there, Dawg Pound!
Statistical Leaders
Dorian Thompson-Robinson: 19-36, 121 yards, 3 INTs.
Pierre Strong Jr., 5 carries, 49 yards
David Njoku, 6 catches, 46 yards
Source: ESPN
Picture Credit: lineups.com
