Baker Mayfield was harassed all day by the Cincinnati pass rush as he was sacked six times to go with three touchdowns and three interceptions.
Mayfield completed only 12 passes on the afternoon but finished with 279 yards and all three touchdowns were longer throws of 20, 46, and 56 yards.
The Browns finish at an extremely disappointing 6-10 and finish third in the AFC North.
Brownie Bits
1) As I was writing the entry blurb, the Browns announced that they have fired Freddie Kitchens.
Kitchens was a risky pick and even though I wasn't entirely sold, I wasn't totally against it either.
The only proven head coach that was available last season was Bruce Arians, who I think wanted the Browns job, but the Browns/Haslam's weren't interested, so if you didn't want Arians anyone was going to be a risk.
I'll be writing more on this tomorrow, but this had to be done.
2) The Bengals pass rush was the difference in this game as they just didn't allow Baker Mayfield to have time to throw.
On the rare occasions that Mayfield had time, he was successful but those attempts were few and far between and even when he got the ball away it rarely was without being hurried.
3) My "favorite" rush from the Bengals came when Carl Lawson moved around Chris Hubbard without even being touched.
Do you realize how few times in the NFL that a front seven rusher ( a blitzing DB can do this on occasion) does this to a tackle?
Not beating him with a speed rush, or being deflected, just plain moving around the tackle for the sack without the tackle even touching him.
Pathetic.
4) The Browns run defense was pretty crummy as well as Joe Mixon ran for 162 yards and two touchdowns for an average of 6.2 yards a carry.
Mixon is a very good back but in no way should he be averaging six yards a carry and he ran for well over 100 yards in their first meeting in Cleveland.
5) Baker Mayfield was erratic again, but his scoring throw to Jarvis Landry was an excellent pass and the longball to Damion Ratley was on the money as well.
Mayfield has wasted a season, but I'm not ready to give up on him completely.
It could be as simple as an excellent quarterback coach working on some flaws to turn things around, but I'm just not sure what they still have with Mayfield.
6) But oh, those interceptions.
None of the three were excusable other than the pass rush from the Bengals made Mayfield hurry his throws a bit.
The fallacy of Baker Mayfield entering the league was as an accurate passer, one that didn't throw interceptions, and as a locker room leader.
From what has occurred in the 2019 season, I would think that questions exist in all three of those areas.
7) Odell Beckham's fourth-quarter touchdown catch in the corner of the end zone while being covered by two defenders and still getting his feet down inbounds was the type of play that the Browns expected to see far more often after trading for him.
Beckham's score was the fourth of the year and about a third of what was hoped for and even though Beckham crossed 1,000 yards for the season in the loss, it was a disappointing year all around.
Give Beckham credit for playing all season with a sports hernia, but fingers crossed that he gets into town for all the off-season camps, workouts, etc. and starts to develop some chemistry with Baker Mayfield because that was severely lacking this season.
8) Nick Chubb only received thirteen carries for forty-one yards and when Derrick Henry exploded for Tennessee as the Titans played against several of the Houston Texans second-stringers, Henry passed Chubb and won the league rushing championship.
Chubb missed the 1.500-yard mark by six yards and when you consider how Chubb was used (not always well) by Freddie Kitchens it would not be unfair to blame Kitchens for the main reason that Chubb missed winning that title.
9) Austin Siebert missed an extra point for the second week in a row and the rookie kicker from Oklahoma finished the season with more missed extra points (five) than missed field goals (four).
A good rookie season, but the missed extra points need to be cut substantially next season.
10) Jarvis Landry's touchdown catch has to go on the Browns season in review film as he grabbed the ball in between two Bengals defensive backs and then almost strolled into the end zone as the Bengals wiped each other out trying to take down Landry.
11) The Browns gained three spots in the draft after the loss to the Bengals.
Three teams that entered the day at 6-9 with the same record as the Browns (Atlanta, Denver, and New York Jets) all won their final game and moved the Browns up into the draft.
Jacksonville won their final game to finish 6-10, the same as the Browns, but Jacksonville will pick ahead of Cleveland.
The Browns will select tenth in the first round.
12) So now what?
The Browns start with another coach amid rumors that Paul DePodesta is attempting to gain more power in the organization and may have some capital with the Haslams as he was against Freddie Kitchens getting the job, preferring Vikings assistant Kevin Stefanski and was overruled when Hue Jackson was hired over current Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott.
How does that affect John Dorsey's pull in the organization?
Would it only affect Dorsey as far as picking a coach goes? Or does DePodesta want to return to personnel with his vaunted "analytics" after that was essentially a failure for Sashi Brown and DePodesta in their first time around?
I'm hearing a lot of names, some that I prefer to others and I'll be writing about those along with the failings of Freddie Kitchens over the next few days, but I cannot imagine a top candidate coming to work for the Haslam family considering their history.
The Browns are always going to land a lesser candidate than everyone else because coaches are hesitant for work for the Haslams.
Someone is going to have to take a huge leap of faith before that changes...
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