Horrible Hoyer leads Browns to Florida Failure

One week after your idiotic author wrote that the Cleveland Browns may have finally turned a corner,the same old Browns showed up and chunked a clunker in Jacksonville against the formerly winless Jaguars in a 24-6 loss.
I'd like to add some offensive highlights,but other than Andrew Hawkins finishing with five catches for 112 yards-I can't find any.
The now 3-3 Browns will host Oakland next Sunday...

Brownie Bits

1) Addressing the elephant in the room,Brian Hoyer was awful.
Overthrowing receivers,unable to convert key plays,completing just 16 of 41 and generally looking overmatched.Hoyer was horrible.
Consider that and realize that it wasn't all his fault as you'll see below,but now we will see if Brian Hoyer is a building block or a blazing comet as now there is a book on how to stop him and we will see if he can make the adjustments to continue as a viable NFL starter...

2) The Browns had played well using a punishing running game,
Jacksonville put seven and eight men in the box to shut down the run and didn't bite on the Hoyer play action.
Ben Tate led the Browns with 36 yards on 16 carries,
Yuck..

3) More on the run.
Explain to me why in short yardage situations,why the bigger backs (Ben Tate and Isaiah Crowell) seemed to be on the bench for the more dance happy Terrence West?
West attempts in the game ,after a week of being inactive,didn't exactly keep him in the hearts of Browns fans as his tippy tap running style brought more Trent Richardson to mind than Kevin Mack..

4) How many times do you hear about the value getting turnovers and it generally is true,but this game proves that isn't an absolute.
The Browns picked off Blake Bortles three times (two by Tashaun Gipson) and I thought the defense played passably although the tackling problem still exists and needs to be addressed...

5) Two plays that swung this game and can be blamed on the coaching staff and not the offense.
Number one -2nd and two at the Jacksonville 25,Browns up 6-0 near the end of the first half.
Two handoffs to Terrence West (see number three point) gain one yard,so we move to fourth and one.
Field goal makes it a two score game,Browns go for it and end the drive with a Hoyer overthrow of Jordan Cameron.

6) The other? The Browns are early in the fourth quarter down 4,but fourth and five at the Jacksonville 43.
Mike Pettine sends the punt unit out and then sends the offense back out,Jacksonville appears confused,but the Browns were just as befuddled.
Apparently,there was not a called play.Hoyer takes the snap,pitched to Ben Tate for next to nothing.
Either the ball shouldn't have been snapped or call a play.
Outsmarting yourself....

7) More coaching staff-The game is still just 10-6 Jacksonville and the Browns force another punt.
Instead of steady veteran Jim Leonhard to catch the punt,it's Jordan Poyer,who has the ball hit his facemask,Jacksonville recovers inside the ten-TD results and game over.
Fumbles happen,but A) Poyer tried to catch the ball inside the ten,usual rule is let it go from that spot and B) Why Poyer and not Leonhard?

8) You don't lose a Pro Bowl player in Alex Mack and not feel it.
This "next man up" nonsense has always made little sense to me as yes,you hope the "next man up" will play well,but if you expected that,the player usually would not be a backup.
John Greco moving to center and Paul McQuistan to guard turned Jacksonville's Sen'Derrick Marks into the second coming of Bruce Smith.
No one could block this guy and McQuistan in particular was abused by Marks.
This cannot become a trend or this is going to haunt Brian Hoyer,who struggled with time to throw all day,all season...

9) The Browns narrowly missed another momentum turner with Jacksonville leading 7-6 in third quarter play and Josh Scobee attempting a field goal.
Cleveland puts an excellent rush on and Jabaal Sheard bursts through the line for what looms as a huge block.
However,Sheard overruns the ball a bit,it sails under his armpit and wobbles through for three Jaguar points-that is typical Browns,..

10) The receivers didn't help Brian Hoyer other than the 65 yard catch and run that inflated Andrew Hawkins numbers for the day.
Other than one nice sideline catch by Taylor Gabriel,I don't remember any special efforts by the Browns pass catchers..

11) Finally,this-The Browns fan base got pretty excited last week.This game shows why you have to try to take them as close to the same as possible.
I don't want to hear about trap games.
It likely was,but true contenders avoid these traps and fans along with yes,the coaching staff got a bit cocky this week,myself included.
Pittsburgh was a great win,but the team gave back much of the gains with this loss.
Getting caught in the possibility of being 6-2 after three games against bad teams and listening to the hype,this game was a bad effort.
Moving on,time will tell if this was a minor setback or being exposed before they reach  maturity....

So Monday looks like a slow day and maybe a long overdue inbox cleaning!!!