Instead, those two parts of the team were major factors in an implosion that saw Cleveland on the downside of a devastating 45-14 defeat to the Texans and their young quarterback C.J. Stroud.
Joe Flacco finished with 307 passing yards with a touchdown pass along with two interceptions.
Kareem Hunt scored both the Browns touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving in the defeat.
Brownie Bits
1) This one goes on the supposedly "best of all-time" defense and not because they allowed forty-five points as fourteen of the Houston total is on the Browns offense.
2) Why? Look at the vaunted pass rush, which not only didn't sack C.J. Stroud, they seldom pressured him.
Some of that is because of the quick release of Stroud but the Texans' offensive line more than did their job in keeping Stroud from any harassment from the Browns.
3) Myles Garrett is a possible defensive player of the year but was outplayed by tackle Laremy Tunsil in the game that mattered most as Tunsil handled Garrett's pass rush.
Garrett finished with two solo tackles and an assist and more importantly, never hit C.J. Stroud.
4) Perhaps Tunsil has success against Garrett because he is familiar with him (both players played in the SEC), and because Tunsil has that experience blocking Garrett along with being a fine tackle himself, Garrett lacks the intimidation factor that he has against so many blockers.
5) The only Cleveland defender who made any impact in the game was Jeremiah Owosu-Koramoah, who finished with eight solo tackles, four of those for a loss of yardage.
Owosu-Koramoah was the best player on the defense in the latter part of this season and I'm looking forward to his development next season.
6) As bad as the loss could have been, Houston could have put the game away by halftime had they made two plays.
Tight end Dalton Schultz dropped a pass that would have been a huge gain, and C.J. Stroud overthrew Nico Collins on a pattern that he would have easily scored, so this could have been even more lopsided.
7) The Browns pass defense was battered all day with the Texans targeting Greg Newsome all game long.
Houston took advantage of Newsome and almost seemed to look to throw to the player that he (or Ronnie Hickman) was near and threw to that receiver.
8) The Browns had success hitting David Njoku, who was the one player that the Texans didn't have an answer for.
Njoku caught seven passes for ninety-three yards, including a forty-five-yard throw, and when you consider Harrison Bryant's forty-seven-yard reception, the Browns might have been smart to throw to the tight ends even more often.
Njoku and Bryant combined for eleven catches and one hundred fifty-eight yards.
9) The back breakers for Cleveland were the two interceptions of Joe Flacco that the Texans returned for touchdowns.
On the first throw, I can't blame Flacco too much as he was trying to throw the ball away and he was hit as he threw but on the other throw, Flacco was at full fault.
Flacco's numbers look fine but his statistics belie the interceptions that gave the Browns no chance to recover.
10) Kevin Stefanski is getting some criticism and I don't feel much of it is justified.
Other than the decision to allow the final forty-five seconds to roll off the first half and not even try to move downfield for a field goal attempt, I didn't see much to blame Stefanski for in the loss.
11) Houston had been broiled by Amari Cooper in their first meeting with Cleveland and they weren't about to allow that to happen again.
Cooper caught four of five passes but the longest was for only nineteen yards.
12) This game showed that the Browns got away with turnovers all season (Cleveland turned the ball over more than anyone in the NFL) and when you play good teams, they will make you pay for turning the ball over.
13) I'm not sure that the Browns are guaranteed to improve next season.
Cleveland won a lot of games this season that in past seasons didn't go their way and when you have a team that receives break after break during one season, they often will regress during the next season.
14) Should the Browns expect to contend, they will have to add one, if not two receivers for next season.
I like Cedric Tillman and David Bell but neither is ready to be a second wide receiver, Elijah Moore can be helpful but he's not quite as he was advertised and that's assuming the cap space can be provided to pay Amari Cooper for 2024 over twenty million dollars.
The Browns would have done well to pay DeAndre Hopkins, who finished with over 1,000 yards for a mediocre Tennessee team when they had the opportunity before the season and hopefully, Andrew Berry will realize that keeping Amari Cooper along with a solid second wideout isn't a luxury- it is a must.
15) This season has been a fun one for the fans of the Browns.
The Joe Flacco story was an amazing ride and the dodging of losses gave the team a shine that they haven't had in years.
Despite the loss, as disappointed as I am, it was still a good season.
I think this was a winnable game and that bothers me far more than a round two loss would have.
Now it's on the offseason and how a team can possibly improve themselves with the salary issues in place, it will be a very interesting one.
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