Browns Pasted by Patriots 45-7

 The Cleveland Browns continued their year of erratic performances with a loss that was so bad that I wasn't able to watch the final quarter and a half as the New England Patriots trounced the Browns 45-7 in Foxboro, Massachusetts.

D'Ernest Johnson finished with 99 yards rushing and led the receiving stats for Cleveland with seven catches for 58 yards.

Baker Mayfield threw a two-yard touchdown pass to Austin Hooper to give the Browns their only score on their first possession of the game.

Cleveland drops back to .500 at 5-5 with the loss and will host winless (with a tie ) Detroit next Sunday.

Brownie Bits

1)  Let's give the good news- Love the effort of D'Ernest Johnson, who as the only healthy running back played his guts out in a game that was so poorly played by the Browns that I can't give almost any credit to anyone otherwise.

2) The defense was awful.

45 points to a rookie quarterback not known for lighting it up in Mac Jones and 100 rushing yards to Rhamondre Stevenson and I just can't spin this at all.

3) Myles Garrett answered a question at the post-game press conference that ended with Garrett stating that the Browns made "no adjustments".

That does not look good or bode well for the long-term employment of defensive coordinator Joe Woods.

4) Longest completion of the game? 18 yards.

5) Ok, Baker Mayfield time.

Another one of those games that you watch and wonder how the guy is in the league.

Second of the year to have that type of terrible outing.

6) Yes, Mayfield's one interception was a really bad one and it was the return of the ball sailing through the air like it was intended for the Cavaliers Tacko Fall but I'm not blaming all of this on Mayfield.

7) Because a team that just handed out big long-term extensions to their guards (Wyatt Teller and Joel Bitonio) allowed five sacks, more hurries, and hits on their quarterback than I can count along and considering Mayfield was already in the lineup injured, the offensive line just mailed this one in at the cost of the health of their starter.

8) To be fair, the injuries to Jack Conklin and his backup Chris Hubbard have forced the right tackle position to developmental project Blake Hance and Hance is over his head.

It's not the player's fault that he's out there but Hance isn't of even second-team quality right now and the Browns have no other options.

9) The Browns have struggled all season on third downs.

The offense rarely converts them and the defense rarely stops them and this continued in this game.

Cleveland: One of Eleven, New England: Seven of Nine.

10) Jason Lloyd of the Athletic offers a stat that I didn't know about and is correct on the fault.

The Cleveland Browns lead the league in pre-snap penalties- the cause of this?

Lloyd says discipline and coaching and he's right on both.

Remember the Kevin Stefanski mantra of accountability?

11) New England finished the game with three scoring drives of over NINETY yards!

NINETY! 9-0!

12) The Browns continue to struggle to get the ball to their wideouts and while some of that is on Baker Mayfield, the receivers need to take some blame too and Kevin Stefanski does as well.

Jarvis Landry's four catches netted a massive twenty-six yards and other than a single Donovan Peoples-Jones catch for sixteen yards, there were no other contributions from the wide receivers.

I know Odell Beckham isn't what he once was and I know the drama from the situation but it's numbers like those that made me laugh when Beckham was released to hear the Browns are better without him,

Not with a passing game like this, they aren't.

13) Erratic teams are usually around .500 and this one is but the Browns aren't beating good teams with two wins over teams with .500 or better records over the 5-4 Bengals and the very mediocre 5-5 Broncos.

In the seventeen-game season, my guess is that it will take at least ten wins and more likely eleven to feel comfortable that you are in the playoffs.

With seven games to go, only next week's home game against winless Detroit and a home game against the embattled Las Vegas Raiders seem to be safe bets.

I think the Browns are likely to beat the Bengals at home in the last game of the season mainly because the Bengals are the only team that Baker Mayfield reliably lights up, so let's say that three wins are likely.

That puts you at eight wins with a home game against Baltimore and road games against Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Green Bay remaining and having to win three of the four to reach eleven.

This team has the talent in spots to go 5-2 or more likely 6-1 to get the wins needed but I'm dubious of them pulling this off.

At this point, I am prepared to write this off as yet another disappointing season for the Browns.