The Browns had four receivers finish with more than fifty yards receiving and three different players with both tight ends, catching Mayfield touchdown passes.
The Browns even their record at .500 with the win at 7-7-1 and despite having their longshot playoff hopes finished off on Saturday night when Baltimore defeated the Los Angeles (we could be San Diego) Chargers, the Browns will have a major role in who makes the playoffs next Sunday in Baltimore against the Ravens.
A Baltimore victory puts the Ravens into the playoffs, should the Browns defeat the Ravens, Pittsburgh would slide into the postseason assuming that the Steelers defeat the lowly Bengals in Pittsburgh- only one will make into the field.
The Browns will have plenty to play for- a winning record and increasing the chances of Gregg Williams retaining the full-time head coaching position for 2019.
Brownie Bits
1) I admit it.
I was wrong about Baker Mayfield.
I think there still is plenty to prove, but he's won me over.
I can do without some of the antics and he'll be a guy you love if you have him and hate if you don't, but the Browns haven't had a "Screw You" type player like Pittsburgh's various defensive villains or Baltimore's favorite white-suited magician, so I think I can live with it for a while.
2) Jarvis Landry threw a long pass (63 yards) to the emerging deep threat from the waiver wire Breshad Perriman and showed a pretty nice gun.
One never knows when a play like that will come up again, but it's nice knowing that Landry can make it happen.
3) This game wasn't as close as the eight-point final margin indicated.
The Browns were up 26-3 with a few minutes remaining when the defense playing soft coverage allowed the Bengals to make their only sustained drive of the day and score a touchdown.
The Browns were trying to run the clock out and were forced to punt and Cincinnati blocked Dustin Colquitt's punt to set up a short TD drive and two-point conversion for the final margin.
4) I'm open to the concept of keeping or moving on from coaches.
I think both points of view have validity, but one coach that I would be moving on from in any event is special teams coach Amos Jones, who's special teams units had improved in recent weeks, but the punt block and penalties in the loss showed a return to "Normalcy" as former President Warren G. Harding once uttered.
No matter the head coach for next season, there will some tweaks to the assistant staff roster- I'd start with Jones.
5) What's changed since Hue Jackson's exit stage left?
Too many things to write, but one is the change in this team's attitude.
One example is when the Bengals Carlos Dunlap collapsed onto Baker Mayfield after Mayfield stepped out of bounds and seemed like half the lineup came charging at Dunlap in defense of their leader.
Contrast that to when Mayfield was cracked on a helmet to helmet hit in Tampa and it seemed like the team was disinterested and you can see the change in attitude.
6) Remember during Hard Knocks and even at Ohio State when Denzel Ward's tackling style was criticized
A late-game completion and a broken tackle saw Ward come up to make the play and even though he made the tackle, it was easy to see that Ward, who had already missed two games with a concussion
was headed to the sidelines.
Sure enough, Ward suffered a concussion and I'd wager that he will miss the last game against Baltimore.
Ward's concussions/missed games could very possibly cost him the defensive rookie of the year award to the late charge of Denver defensive end Bradley Chubb.
Anyone can be susceptible to concussions, but Ward seems to have issues and he will have to change some of his tackling/contact fundamentals to lessen his risk.
7) I know the Bengals have become one dimensional since the injuries to Andy Dalton and A.J. Green and have been carried by running back Joe Mixon and the Browns had to be prepared to stop Mixon as the Bengals only current weapon.
Still, Mixon had rushed for over one hundred yards in the last two weeks and no fewer than 82 in his last four and Cleveland slammed the door on Mixon, who finished with only 68 yards on twenty carries with twenty of those on one late-game carry in garbage time.
8) The win improved the Browns home record to 5-2-1 on the season, which is their best home mark since 2007.
Defending the home turf is the first step in turning programs around.
9) Even in missing the first two games (and half of the third), Baker Mayfield enters the final game against Baltimore with 24 touchdown passes.
The NFL rookie record is 26 held by Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson, so the company isn't bad.
One would think playing in those games would have broken the record.
10) The Browns are playing for a winning record next week against the Ravens, but the game means more than that in the playoff picture.
If the Browns win over Baltimore and the Steelers win at home against the Bengals-Pittsburgh goes to the playoffs and Baltimore stays home.
If Baltimore wins, the Ravens are in and Pittsburgh is out.
Either way, one is in and one is out and I'm saved from another postseason meeting between these two.
No comments:
Post a Comment