Battered Browns fend off Jacksonville 27-25

   The battered Cleveland Browns became more battered during their game with the Jacksonville Jaguars, but the Browns managed to stagger out of Florida with a 27-25 victory and improved to a stunning 8-3 on the season.

Baker Mayfield threw two touchdowns, despite some misfires and connected with Jarvis Landry eight times for 143 yards and one of the touchdowns.

Nick Chubb rushed for another touchdown and 143 yards to lead the Browns in the ground game.

The now 8-3 Browns will see the competition increase next Sunday against the also 8-3 Tennessee Titans in Nashville in what should be the latest test in seeing whether the Browns are a legitimate playoff team or a pretender knocking off low-hanging fruit.

Brownie Bits

1) Both times were understandable, but the difference in the game came down to the two failed two-point conversions in the second half by Jacksonville.

Had Jacksonville kicked both extra points ( and it made sense for Doug Marrone to go for two both times), this game would have been going to overtime.

2) And the final stop was the much-maligned Andrew Sendejo catching a desperate lob by Mike Glennon on the final two-point try to save the victory.
Sendejo made an earlier play on a pass in the end zone, and while I'd disagree with Kevin Stefanski's postgame comments on Sendejo "he does a really nice job back there", you cannot deny he made two plays today when the Browns needed them most.

The Athletic's Zach Jackson noted that an earlier pass breakup in the first quarter by Sendejo was the first of the year by Sendejo on his 675th snap of the season.

That's incredible for a starting safety and it's not "a really nice job back there".

3) Baker Mayfield had an OK day with his two scoring passes, but he also missed a wide-open Rashard Higgins in the end zone, threw behind Kareem Hunt on a key late-game third down, and overthrew receivers on other occasions.

Did Mayfield play poorly? Not at all, but he certainly didn't shine brightly and when your opponent is 1-9 entering the game, I'd expect more.

Still, take the win and run.

4) Jarvis Landry arrived as the key part of the passing game.

After being thrown only two passes against the Eagles, catching both for 23 yards, it was Landry early and often in this one with eight catches for 143 yards.

Landry made a nice catch for his score and found a way to get open consistently under the Jacksonville secondary for Baker Mayfield.

The Browns may lack a deep threat without Odell Beckham, but Landry finds a way to get open no matter his surrounding cast.

5) The Browns defense didn't sack veteran quarterback Mike Glannon without Myles Garrett and other than Olivier Vernon hitting Glennon twice, Glennon didn't have any problems with the Browns pass rush- Unless you consider Vernon's helmet to helmet on Glennon on the final Jaguar scoring drive a problem that is.

While this would ordinarily be concerning, if Myles Garrett returns next week as is currently expected the problem in rushing the passer will go away.

6) I've thought that Kevin Stefanski has done a good job most of the season, but he did make a questionable decision in this one.

I wondered now and at the time, why the Browns went for it on fourth and one on the Jacksonville 22 with the Browns holding an eight point lead?

A Cody Parkey field goal attempt from 39 yards, assuming it was good, would have made the lead eleven with under six minutes to go and I don't care how good the line and running game is playing- that decision led to the Jaguars almost tying the game as Kareem Hunt was unable to get the yard and turned the ball over.

7) Ronnie Harrison was questionable all week and managed to be in the starting lineup, only to be injured on the first play making a tackle.

Harrison injured his shoulder on the play and was forced to leave the game and did not return.

Harrison will undergo an MRI today on the shoulder and a loss of Harrison at a time that Denzel Ward is missing time in the secondary could be devastating to an already weak secondary in the next two games when the opponents improve against Tennessee and Baltimore.

8) Back to the fourth and one call.

Let's say that you do decide to make the attempt to get the yard, wouldn't the bigger, stronger and better between the tackles Nick Chubb be the better choice than Kareem Hunt?

Hunt's not a small back by any means, but Chubb would have been the better bet to get that yard.

9) And it was Nick Chubb that finished the game as well.

With the Browns facing a third and thirteen and the Jaguars trying to get the ball back, Baker Mayfield 

made a safe pass intended to gain some yardage and keep the clock moving.

Chubb did more that wth the swing pass, cutting back to make one man miss, broke a tackle of another and dove for the first down that allowed the Browns to run the clock out.

10) If you want to worry about next week's game against the Titans and their workhorse Derrick Henry, worry about the Browns ability to stop the run.

Jacksonville's rookie James Robinson is having an excellent rookie year, but he's not the force that Henry is, and Robinson hit the Browns for 128 yards on twenty-two carries, which is just under six yards a carry.

11) The Browns are currently in the fifth position of seven in the AFC, but there is still a cluster of teams that could bump the Browns out.

With five games to go, the Browns have the Titans on the road and the Ravens and Steelers at home.

The Browns might be underdogs in all three games, although Baltimore is beginning to fade a bit from the team that started the season.

Cleveland should also take care of the winless Jets on the road, but the game that might be tougher than was thought earlier in the season is the game before the Jets, but in the same stadium- a road game against the Giants.

12) The Giants are a terrible 4-7 team, but in the even worse NFC East, the Giants are tied for first with Washington for the automatic playoff berth.

That means a bad football team is going to have more on the line in that game than anyone would have imagined weeks ago.

That game may determine (in the big picture) whether or not the Browns make the postseason.

13) Still, for all the questions about the 8-3 record and the lack of good wins (only the win over Indianapolis is over a team with a winning record), which are justified, lets enjoy the eight wins.

That means that Cleveland cannot have a losing record,which would be for the first time since 2007 to accomplish that and one more win would lock up the first winning record since the same season.

It's not unfair to have questions, but try to enjoy it as well.