Joe Flacco finished with 254 passing yards and two touchdowns but his fourth-quarter interception led to the Rams pocketing the win.
Jerome Ford and Harrison Bryant caught touchdown passes with Bryant's five receptions leading the receivers.
Cleveland falls to 7-5 with the loss and while the Browns are still in the playoffs as of this writing, the Browns return to Cleveland and the waiting 8-3 Jacksonville Jaguars.
Brownie Bits
1) Joe Flacco's first start at quarterback was as good as one could expect except for his late-game interception and the Browns looked like an NFL offense that was interested in taking chances downfield rather than the offenses piloted by Dorian Thompson-Robinson and P.J.Walker.
2) That said, the weaknesses of Flacco make it imperative that the Browns not fall behind, which allowed the Rams to tee off on the immobile Flacco.
Both of the Rams sacks in the game occurred on the Browns final drive, including Flacco being dumped in the end zone for a safety in a final indignity.
3) The offensive line did keep the Rams from beating Flacco up during most of the game but the Browns running game continues to be a concern.
While Kareem Hunt carried twelve times for forty-eight yards for a solid four yards a crack and Pierre Strong carried twice for twenty, Jerome Ford's struggles continued with a meager nineteen yards on nine attempts.
4) Amari Cooper had caught three of five targets from Joe Flacco including a twenty-two-yard shot which was a refreshing change, and looked very comfortable catching the ball from the veteran passer.
That all changed when he was forced from the game with a concussion and will be considered unlikely to play against Jacksonville unless he passes the league's concussion protocol.
That's unlikely, as only a few players have been able to enter that program and then play the following week this season.
5) Cooper's loss would further weaken a pass-catching group that is already in question as the season has progressed.
Flacco did hit former Jets teammate Elijah Moore for a forty-two-yard gain but Moore caught only four of twelve passes, so Moore didn't do very much with the increased workload other than the long catch.
6) Harrison Bryant caught five passes, one for a touchdown, and even more important, caught all five passes thrown to him.
Bryant was drafted by the Browns as a pass-catching threat but have used him only sporadically in that role, and with Bryant eligible for free agency, I wonder how much that is playing into the Browns' thoughts about their willingness to pay Bryant.
7) I know the defense is battered and Myles Garrett is playing through a painful shoulder injury but this is the third time in a road game that the defense needed a stop late in the game and couldn't get it accomplished.
There are reasons for that but great defenses nail those situations and this one hasn't always been able to do that.
8) Denzel Ward missed his second game with a shoulder injury and he's clearly missed as most Pro Bowl-level players would be but Ward's absence takes away so much from the defense in both the passing game and the trickle-down from what he brings even down to the run support game.
If Ward misses the Jacksonville game next week against Calvin Ridley, I'd be very concerned about the teams' chances in attempting to avoid a three-game losing streak.
9) Anthony Walker is often touted as the Browns solid veteran leader at linebacker that doesn't make mistakes.
Walker made a blunder with a ridiculous hit out of bounds, and that's not the kind of play that "veteran leaders" make.
10) A word about the Rams young receiver Puka Nacua, who ripped off a thirty-one-yard run and caught a seventy-yard touchdown pass but even more impressive was a second-quarter catch that was key in keeping a drive alive.
Nacua took a hit that sent him to the locker room with announcers Kevin Kugler and Mark Sanchez speculating about Nacua's status for the season, not the game!
Yet, Nacua returned to play in the second half and caught two more passes.
Nacua was picked by the Rams in the fifth round and is the type of under-the-radar late-round draftee that other teams seem to find and the Browns never come up with in their drafts.
11) I included coaching in the introduction mainly for a silly challenge by Kevin Stefanski on a late-game Rams reception that cost the Browns a timeout that didn't matter in the end anyway but shows that Stefanski can be rattled in late-game situations.
DeMarcus Robinson caught the ball and took three (and almost four) steps before moving out of bounds and yet Stefanski challenged, costing a valuable late-game timeout.
This play was so clear, that the referee was annoyed by the time spent replaying it when he announced the replay result, he stated "The receiver CLEARLY was in the field of play while making the catch".
12) The Browns hoped to earn a split of the West Coast games and they didn't so despite holding a playoff spot at 7-5 Cleveland isn't able to relax.
At 7-5, the Browns are one of four teams for three spots (the Houston Texans are the odd team out at this time) and even though the Browns are at home against Jacksonville, the Jaguars are 8-3 although they will be traveling on a short week after a Monday night game against Cincinnati.
This game is important for several reasons in the playoff race but the biggest reason might be for the state of mind.
The schedule is lighter for the final four games after Jacksonville (Chicago and the Jets at home, Houston and Cincinnati on the road) but a loss would mean three losses in a row and a dread that the Browns are rolling downhill without any brakes.
A loss wouldn't end the season but it would put the Browns in a position of perhaps (over the final month) not having as much control over their own destiny.
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