Baker Mayfield threw two touchdown passes and finished with 247 yards passing, while Nick Chubb continued to dominate the league on the ground with 127 yards on 17 carries and a rushing touchdown.
The now 6-8 Browns return home to face the Baltimore Ravens, who have not lost since what in hindsight seems like such a mirage in their first meeting.
Brownie Bits
1) I know all the talk about Freddie Kitchens and his future grows old, but it is games like yesterday's loss that make me think that yet another change is needed at the end of the year.
Cleveland's most recent three road games have been against two rookie quarterbacks ( Kyler Murray and Duck Hodges) and one that might as well have been a rookie as Brandon Allen was starting his first NFL game with all three being defeats.
In two of those three (Denver and Arizona), the team seemed listless and unprepared and that falls on the coaching staff.
Preparation always falls on the coaching staff.
2) Baker Mayfield's numbers look better than he actually played with a first-period interception in the end zone that terminated a drive and cost the Browns red zone points.
Most of Mayfield's yardage occurred in garbage time in the fourth quarter and didn't have an impact on the final result.
It is clear to this observer that Baker Mayfield has more questions to answer than previously thought when the season began and the Cleveland Browns will enter the 2020 season still pondering their future under center.
3) The sideline confrontation between Freddie Kitchens and wide receiver Jarvis Landry can be looked at in one of two ways.
This is the type of disagreement that happens every game on every team, but to be so out in the open that the television camera cannot miss it, shows the dysfunction that is eroding the faith in the head coach for both leadership and play calling.
Arguing with the head coach is far different than disagreeing with the standard position coach away from the field. It shows a disrespect that a head coach cannot tolerate from almost any player period let alone a star player that should be setting an example as a team leader.
4) Nick Chubb was the offensive star as usual and he carried the football only seventeen times to earn those one hundred and twenty-seven yards.
The Cardinals had no answer for Chubb and yet the Freddie Kitchens led offense continued to sputter other than when Chubb or...
5) Kareem Hunt touched the ball.
Hunt caught eight of nine passes thrown his way for sixty-two yards and Hunt is making an impact as a receiver even if as a runner, the rust isn't completely removed from his time away from the game.
Hunt might be the player that improves most next season and with the right play-caller could be sitting on a big season.
6) I know Joe Schobert has played well this season, but he was not up to that level against the Cardinals.
Schobert seemed a step slow and missed tackles that brought to mind his problems from the 2018 season and at a time that John Dorsey and the Browns will be considering how much they are willing to pay to retain Schobert, it was not a good time to throw a bad game into the mix by Schobert.
7) Why was Jarvis Landry so upset at Freddie Kitchens?
Landry was targeted eight times, catching five, but those five catches totaled twenty-three yards with the longest catch going for a mere ten-yard gain.
Landry had become the star of the passing game in recent weeks and with Odell Beckham being thrown to thirteen times, Landry was being used as the "Checkdown Charlie" in this game against the Cardinals.
I don't blame Landry for wanting to be more than that in the offense, but those outbursts clearly give the visual of a team out of control.
8) The Browns defense was awful in allowing 38 points to a team that had lost their last six games in a row.
Kyler Murray wasn't sacked at all and Kenyan Drake ran for 137 yards and four touchdowns on the ground as the Cardinals offense did whatever it wanted against the Browns defense that was on its heels throughout the contest.
Arizona finished the day with 226 yards rushing and 219 through the air.
9) The loss of Myles Garrett has been larger than I could have imagined as the Browns pass rush has been diluted to the point of non-existence.
The injury to Olivier Vernon has not helped either and despite Sheldon Richardson playing well up the middle, the Browns have been unable to develop any type of pass rush off the edge.
I will admit many of the defensive ends are marginal to even be roster players and only Chad Thomas started the year as part of the rotation, so the lack of talent is a factor.
10) Mack Wilson is a player that I loved going into the 2019 draft and he is still learning on the job, but he continues to improve by the week and he might have a chance to be the type of linebacker that the Browns haven't possessed in years- a linebacker that can not only play three downs but rush the passer and drop back into coverage.
11) To all those people that still think Sashi Brown did a good job that was unappreciated, one more note- tight end David Njoku, who Brown thought was worthy of trading picks to grab at the end of the first round, was a healthy scratch.
Ricky Seals-Jones did catch two touchdowns from the tight end position, but how high can the Browns be on Njoku and his disappointing tenure appears to be close to over.
12) This was a day that the Browns could have made a major gain for a wild card shot- all the teams that played yesterday (Colts play on Monday Night Football) lost as the Steelers, Raiders, and Titans all lost.
Had the Browns defeated an Arizona team that had lost six in a row, they would have pulled within one game of the Steelers and Titans and would have been in the race.
Instead, they couldn't be bothered enough to show up and the season is one big disappointment.
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