Still, one would think that the Browns would find a way to squeeze this one out and celebrate- even with backup receivers, but what they didn't count on was the player that they relied on most to develop butterfingers as Baker Mayfield fumbled three times, including on the final drive on a fourth and one from the Jets 16-yard line and left the Browns still awaiting a clinching for the postseason after a 23-16 Jets win.
Baker Mayfield threw a career-high 53 passes, completing 28 for 253 yards, but turned the ball over on those awful three fumbles.
Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt each rushed for a touchdown, but rushed a combined total of a mere 39 yards on the afternoon.
Austin Hooper led the receivers with seven catches for seventy-one yards, while recent practice squad promotee JaMarcus Bradley caught six passes for sixty yards in the defeat.
The now 10-5 Browns still can make the playoffs with a win over Pittsburgh next Sunday at home in Cleveland or an Indianapolis loss at home against the one-win Jacksonville Jaguars (Yeah, right).
Brownie Bits
1) Look, there are plenty of factors that contributed to this loss and it is cliche' to use the term a "team loss", but this one truly was.
There were very few players that had good games and when you have to dig deep to find them, it has been a bad day.
2) I know the Jets were putting eight or nine men in the box and daring the Browns to try to pass, but the Browns didn't try enough to bust through with the running game-especially in the first half.
The Jets were running the modern version of the Ampipe Bulldogs "6-2 Stack Monster" (All the Right Moves reference) and shutting down the run game, but the Browns only tried eighteen runs against the Jets for the game.
3) And since you only ran the ball eighteen times, not only did you not use your best offensive weapons nearly enough, you also allowed Baker Mayfield to throw 53 times!
The Cleveland Browns are not set up to be the type of team that throws 53 times and wins with their top pass catchers in the lineup, let alone without them!
4) Even more, what has been the number one factor in Baker Mayfield's improved play over the last month?
The ability to run play-action passing plays.
The ability to run play-action passing plays.
By not running the football, the Jets didn't respect the run, could sell out on the pass rush, and not bite on play-action fakes.
That means that Baker Mayfield became just another undersized quarterback.
5) So who to blame?
Baker Mayfield gets plenty of blame for losing the ball three times and his receivers that he thought that he could count on such as Austin Hooper and Kareem Hunt, dropped the football far too often.
Baker deserves plenty of blame, but he deserves an honorable mention for this loss.
6) Give it up for Kevin Stefanski, who may have lost the coach of the year award on the same field that he won over the Giants one week before.
To be fair, Stefanski would have had significant problems changing an entire gameplan in less than 24 hours for a 1 PM game, but coming a week after watching Ryan Day spend three-quarters of a game against an inferior team refusing to do what it takes to give the best chance for his team to win, Stefanski's stubborn refusal to try to wear down the Jets defense especially in the first half didn't do that.
7) How many times over the last three seasons have I complained about Baker Mayfield's throws hanging his receivers out to dry with passes that are needlessly high?
It bit the Browns on the final drive when on a second and ten Mayfield had a lane to hit JaMarcus Bradley along the sideline inside the Jets five.
If the ball is on the money, the Browns would have had first and goal inside the five with four shots at the tying touchdown, but Mayfield forced Bradley to lay out to catch the ball, and just as Bradley began to haul the ball in, Bradley was hit by Arthur Maulet and couldn't hold on.
8) Kevin Stefanski was so desperate for the running game to do anything in short-yardage that he was running Baker Mayfield on QB sneaks rather than his stud running backs.
Three times on 3rd or 4th down and short, including the final fumble, it was quarterback sneaks and when Mayfield coughed the ball up for the last time, Kareem Hunt recovered the ball but due to the "Holy Roller" rule, could not advance it and the Jets took over on downs.
9) The Browns pass defense let them down on three occasions as the much-maligned Sam Darnold threw two touchdown passes and another on a trick play when Jameson Crowder threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Braxton Berrios, which was very similar to what the Browns ran earlier in the season with Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry.
10 ) On Sam Darnold's pass to Chris Herndon for a touchdown, Herndon was wide open to the point that anyone could have caught the toss.
Yet another breakdown by the safeties and Andrew Sendejo per usual was multiple steps behind the play.
Just take a look at Sam Darnold, where the Jets seemed desperate to replace him in three seasons filled with a bad offensive line (other than this year's top pick Mekhi Becton, who looks like a keeper), aging running backs, and not a lot of targets until the end of this season when his starters began to get healthy.
12) Sam Darnold is barely two years older than Trevor Lawrence and has been given no chance to succeed.
The Jets had been connected to Lawrence with the first pick in the draft before their back to back wins, and they are still connected to a QB in the very early mock drafts with the Jets being mentioned with Justin Fields of Ohio State, Zach Wilson of BYU, and Trey Lance of North Dakota State.
13) Should the Jets decide to not pick up the option of Darnold and/or trade him before next season, he is a prime candidate to buy low and rehabilitate him with a team that knows how to build around a QB
Teams to consider?
Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers seem a good fit with the constantly injured Jimmy Garoppolo with two high-priced seasons on his contract, yet cannot be depended on stay healthy.
New England would be an interesting spot, but no way do the Jets trade Darnold inside the division.
Indianapolis makes sense with their need with an aging Phillip Rivers and depending on who the Falcons hire as their head coach, Darnold might make sense to backup Matt Ryan for a year or two of development similar to what New Orleans is doing with Jameis Winston.
Carolina might be a team to watch especially if they still have Joe Brady as their offensive coordinator and the final team?
Watch out for Pittsburgh with a lack of a young quarterback and an increasingly battered Ben Rothlisberger getting more infirm by the hit.
14) The Browns offensive line misses Wyatt Teller, but they expected not to have Jedrick Wills and then thought they would have him back and then on game day lost him again.
The Jets seemed to be in the backfield constantly with Tarel Basham with a sack and a half and a forced fumble, the big star for New York.
Without both of those two players, a top-notch line becomes a merely average one.
15) Physically whipped on the line- the Browns were pushed around on both sides of the ball and perhaps that's why Stefanski decided to run the ball less and Jets runners finished 131 yards rushing, although the absence of B.J. Goodson and Jacob Phillips may have had something to do with that.
When you build your team around a physical line and you get whipped by a 1 win team, you are always going to have a rough day.
16) Sheldon Richardson is the exception to that rule.
Richardson finished with three solo tackles, seven assisted tackles and blocked a Jets field goal attempt and an extra point.
The effort that Richardson gives every week makes him well worth his expensive salary and I don't say that lightly.
17) More Cody Parkey struggles as he missed an extra point off the upright that would have cut the lead to three points rather than four in the fourth quarter.
It didn't matter as much when the Jets turned a Baker Mayfield fumble into a field goal on the next Browns possession, but the struggles are concerning despite Parkey connecting on his only field goal try from 44 yards away.
18) The Browns playoff scenario is very simple- Beat Pittsburgh and you are in.
Lose that game and you have to hope that 1-14 Jacksonville can beat the Colts in Indianapolis.
Good luck there, but they had a little wiggle room going into the games against the Jets- that is now gone.
19) Is it possible that this game will be looked back at in the same fashion that the 2007 Browns are remembered for an awful loss in Cincinnati in the next to last game of the season when they could have locked up a playoff spot in a win?
Baker Mayfield surely doesn't want to be remembered as Derek Anderson is by Cleveland fans.
20) And finally, a big raspberry to the NFL for making the Browns play this game on Sunday.
They have postponed games for other teams this season, most notably Baltimore, and all of the Browns receivers were not Covid-19 positive, they were caught up in tracing.
It would not have been against precedent to push this game back a day or two considering the importance of the game in the playoff race.
I wrote so many notes on this, I've run out of time to write about the Cavaliers' win over Philadelphia.
I'll try to get back later for a few Cavalier thoughts.
No comments:
Post a Comment