DeShaun Watson ran one yard for the only Cleveland touchdown and the Browns defense sacked Trevor Lawrence four times in the victory.
Cleveland improved to 1-1 with the victory and will host the 0-2 New York Giants next week in Cleveland.
Brownie Bits
1) Kevin Stefanski made a great call in this game and a call that I'd say was very questionable.
The great call came on the final drive of the first half on a fourth and one.
Earlier in the game, Stefanski had sent in Jameis Winston on a fourth and one to perform a sneak, which makes plenty of sense to me as he is bigger and bulkier than DeShaun Watson, and using Winston in that situation saves hits on Watson, who is coming off shoulder surgery,
Winston made that first down and when he entered the game for a second time, established that Winston would push forward with the snap, the Jaguars had to respect the sneak and a sweep with Jerome Ford gaining thirty-six yards for the Browns largest offensive play of the game and would end in a Dustin Hopkins field goal.
2) Late in the game, Cleveland faced a third and six with 1:37 on the Jacksonville thirty-eight.
Jacksonville is out of timeouts, so a first down essentially ends the game.
If the Browns don't gain a yard, the choices are Dustin Hopkins for a field goal from fifty-five yards or a punt from Corey Bojorquez but a run gives Jacksonville the ball with between forty and forty-five seconds in the game and no timeouts.
Stefanski calls a pass play with DeShaun Watson rolling out and the Jacksonville rush hits Watson as he throws incomplete, so when Jacksonville gets the ball back, they have 1:33 rather than around forty seconds.
Not a good call and it's the main criticism that I have of Kevin Stefanski- the constant need to win the mental battle rather than make the smart and often safe call.
3) But Jack Gorman, a Browns beat writer tweeted this and offered that Stefanski and Watson may have been victims of a miscommunication where Stefanski may have thought Watson knew to eat the ball to shave clock and Watson may have thought the higher priority was to throw the ball away to not lose yardage for the possible field goal attempt.
That's possible and makes sense but causes another concern such as why Stefanski and Watson weren't clear on what to do and why someone didn't make sure Watson knew the priority before the play started.
4) The big play was of course the safety when Alex Wright dropped Trevor Lawrence in the end zone to lift the lead to five points.
It's tough to blame Lawrence here as Wright blew by his blocker and gave Lawrence no chance to dump the ball off even in a desperate attempt to risk intentional grounding, the play occurred that quickly.
5) The sack and safety never have happened if not for the previous play when Corey Bojorquez punted the ball and watched it bounce straight into the air to be downed at the two-yard line.
Normally the ball would bounce into the end zone but the Browns caught a break on that bounce of the football.
6) DeShaun Watson showed some flashes, completing twenty-two of thirty-four passes for one hundred and eighty-six yards but only two completions of over twenty yards.
Watson ran for the only Browns touchdown and managed to avoid the big mistakes, only being sacked twice and didn't throw an interception.
7) Still, one thing that I've noticed from Watson in the first two games is the throwing motion.
Watson appears to have changed his motion a bit and watching him throw made me think of how one throws a dart at a dartboard.
Little follow-through and all arm without putting his body behind the throw.
The motion reminded me more of former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Juan Guzman than an NFL quarterback.
It's not as pronounced as Guzman's motion but it did remind me of the pitcher.
8) To follow up from last season, it's comforting to know the Browns have a reliable kicker in Dustin Hopkins, who nailed all three of his field goal attempts (38, 44, and 53).
Hopkins continues to be somewhat of a surprise as he arrived in Cleveland with the reputation of being consistent but wasn't noted for an especially strong leg.
Hopkins has connected on fifty-plus-yard field goals in each of the first two games.
9) The wide receivers are still dropping too many passes with Amari Cooper and Elijah Moore the main culprits.
Cooper is the surprise as he has always had excellent hands and this comes a week after dropping a sure score in the loss to Dallas.
10) The Browns activated David Bell for the game and Bell caught all three passes thrown to him but left the field on a cart after an injury in the second quarter.
Kevin Stefanski said Bell had suffered a dislocated hip and the severity was still unknown.
Bell had made the squad at 53, was later released, and re-signed to the practice squad before being activated for the Jacksonville game.
11) The Browns committed thirteen penalties on the day combined with eleven in the loss to Dallas, giving Cleveland an awful twenty-four in the first games.
For a team that constantly talks about discipline and playing smart football, these are huge breakdowns.
12) The new kickoff rule bit the Browns hard in the second quarter when Jacksonville's Tank Bigsby was wiped out and fumbled the ball with Cleveland recovering at the Jacksonville twenty-four-yard line.
However, the recovery was nullified when Dustin Hopkin wandered across the fifty-yard line before Bigsby caught the football, which isn't allowed under the new rule.
13) The win may not seem like a huge deal but it is when you consider the Steelers beating their second weak sister in a row (Denver) to improve to 2-0 and both Cincinnati (Kansas City) and Baltimore (Las Vegas) dropped to 0-2.
These games all count the same and the two divisional favorites falling to 0-2 may not mean anything eventually but it does give each a minor hole to dig out of.
