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| Photo: Cleveland.com |
Chubb finished with 176 yards rushing for the game, while Baker Mayfield completed 17 of his 20 throws on the afternoon with each of his three scoring passes to a different Browns receiver to lead the Browns to the victory.
Cleveland improves to 3-6-1 and broke a four-game losing streak with the victory as they enter their off week before traveling to Cincinnati for their next game.
Brownie Bits
1) The 92 yard run of Nick Chubb not only set a team record that was set by Bobby Mitchell for the longest touchdown run in 1959, but it continued to establish Chubb as a breakaway threat.
When Chubb was drafted, he was thought of to be more of an inside power runner that lacked that type of speed.
Chubb's cantor in this game and the two scores that he ripped off in Oakland have quickly changed that scouting report.
2) As for another highly drafted offensive player, Baker Mayfield was tremendously efficient in this victory as he completed 17 of 20 passes.
Mayfield was active, accurate and did exactly what a quarterback needs to do to pull upset-Avoided mistakes and kept his team in position to win.
3) The one play that showed Mayfield at his best was his 28-yard touchdown dart to Rashard Higgins in the first half.
Mayfield rolled right out of the pocket and while on the rollout, fired hard and straight to Higgins, who made a nice catch in the end zone to outleap Atlanta's Robert Alford for the ball.
That is how to best use the strengths of Mayfield and in the two games under offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens, the Browns have been much improved in allowing Baker to play to what he does best.
4) Freddie Kitchens has been a breath of fresh air so far, but it has occasionally seemed as if he wants to empty the playbook quickly.
Take the one Browns turnover of the day when the Browns were moving the ball and tried a halfback pass with seldom-used Dontrell Hilliard, who badly underthrew intended receiver Baker Mayfield (?) and the ball hung for so long that Atlanta's Damontae Kazee had more than enough time to glide under for the interception and resulting 33 yard return.
About the only good thing that I can say about that pass was this- the ball hung so long that it might have hurt Atlanta as a better-thrown pass might have been returned for a touchdown.
It was irrelevant as the Falcons scored on the resulting drive anyway.
5) I also hated a fourth down try where Baker Mayfield wanders out of the pocket, pretends he isn't getting the signal, the ball is quick-snapped to the running back (Nick Chubb in this case) for a draw play, which hopefully will catch the defense sleeping on the job.
It didn't and stuff like that comes off so Harry High School.
It plays out like the kid in little league baseball that fumbles with the baseball for five minutes to do the "Hidden Ball " trick, which isn't only illegal in little league, everyone in the ballpark sees it coming.
6) Plenty of credit to Gregg Williams defense as well for this win.
I picked Atlanta to win this game, but before the season, I thought that a dome/turf team might struggle in Cleveland.
Still, with the recent play of the Browns and the strong games of late by the Falcons, I thought this could be ugly
The Falcons are a better version of the Buccaneers in which they score a ton and allow a ton, they just manage to win more than Tampa does playing in that manner.
Matt Ryan threw for over 300 yards, but was kept from one of those crazy days that the Falcons are capable of having and Julio Jones did catch seven passes and 107 yards with a score, but his longest play was just thirty yards- A great scheme kept the Browns in the game and didn't let the opposition's best players beat them.
7) Baker Mayfield wasn't sacked at all and the offensive line played well, but the play that I want to write about came from a block that the Browns didn't make.
Brooks Reed came flying off the edge and beat Greg Robinson off the ball and appeared to be on a heat-seeking mission for an unsuspecting Baker Mayfield.
It was looking to be the type of play that games turn on- the quarterback gets crushed on the blind side, coughs up the football and bad things ensue.
However, it didn't and why?
Because Robinson didn't give up on Reed and kept moving his feet, which led to Robinson getting back into the pocket and getting just enough of Reed to send him careening BY Mayfield and just another harmless play.
That's the type of hustling play that winning teams make and the type of play that truly brings more "Culture Change" than any press conference, speech or poster.
8) I've always been critical of so many of these coaches/coordinators from the "Bill Walsh" coaching tree that always seems to think their system and knowledge is so much better than the opponents.
I cannot count the times that I've seen one of these guys outsmart themselves with a play call designed to catch defenses off guard rather than line up the players and go man against man.
This games showcased Steve Sarkisian, the Falcons play-caller and former head coach at Washington and USC, who allowed the Browns to hold on a 4th down and half a football in the fourth quarter by instead of having Ryan lean into the pile for an almost certain score or even a handoff to Tevin Coleman for either a leap over the bunch or maybe a toss play, if you really wanted to get racy, had Ryan throw a pass to backup tight end Eric Saubert that fell incomplete.
9) And yet minutes later. the Falcons and Sarkisian almost did the same thing AGAIN.
Starting with a first and goal from Cleveland's one, Sarkisian called pass plays on first and second down, before the Browns stopped Tevin Coleman on a third down rushing attempt.
Finally, on fourth down and ANOTHER pass play, Ryan had to throw the ball up and hope for the best as Gregg Williams sent Damarious Randall on a blitz that Ryan barely avoided.
Ryan's "alley-oop" was grabbed by Austin Hooper, who finished with ten catches on the day, and Hooper's dive for the goal line had just enough power to push Jabrill Peppers back to break the plane for the score.
Making a game much harder than it has to be- Ladies and Gentlemen- Mr. Steve Sarkisian!
10) Baker Mayfield completed passes to nine different Browns, only one caught as many as four passes (Duke Johnson), only one was targeted five times (Jarvis Landry) and none of the receivers finished with more than 39 yards (Antonio Callaway).
Spreading the ball around when you don't have a dominant receiver, (No, I don't consider Landry a true #1) is a good idea to keep defenses guessing by not being dependent on one guy.
Jarvis Landry will likely be most affected by this over the course of the season, but it's not a bad thing.
11) I wasn't sure the Browns would win another game, so this was pleasant news.
It will be interesting to see if the Browns simply played the best game that they could play at home against a flawed defensive team or if indeed some things have turned around,
After their off week, they travel to Southern Ohio and the meeting with the currently 5-4 Bengals, who allowed over half a hundred to New Orleans yesterday and fired their defensive coordinator.
Cincinnati travels to 4-5 Baltimore this week in a game that both need badly (Baltimore a little more) and one wonders just what the Bengals shape will be for the Browns if Baltimore wins.
The rumors are flying that Hue Jackson could be returning to the Bengals in some capacity, so if that happens before the Browns arrive, things could be very interesting.
This has become a winnable game, but until the Browns show that they can beat anyone on the road (the Browns last won a road game in October 2015, an overtime win over Baltimore), I cannot pick them to win, but this game looks like there is a far better chance of winning than I would have said two days ago.
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