In the defeat, Jameis Winston threw two touchdowns, one each to Jerry Jeudy and David Njoku, along with two interceptions.
Njoku led the Browns in catches with seven while Jeudy led in receiving with sixty-four yards.
Cleveland fell to 3-10 after the loss and will host the powerful Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
Brownie Bits
1) I didn't see the game live as I was on my final road trip in 2024 (I'll be writing about it eventually) and I scanned it quickly last night, so this is less detailed than a normal recap.
The biggest downer of this game?
George Pickens sitting out with an injury, two weeks after his fight with Greg Newsome and after both had built a bit of interest in a showdown between two talented but immature players, nothing happened.
2) The struggles of Dustin Hopkins continued as he missed two more field goals and is making the decision of Andrew Berry to give him a contract extension look extremely questionable.
Hopkins was a solid kicker for Washington and Los Angeles (Chargers) but Browns followers are seeing both the ceiling and the floor for Hopkins, who was never better than he was in 2023 and has never been worse than he has been this season.
3) The mantra of Kevin Stefanski has always been 'Smart, tough, and accountable', and rarely has it been taken seriously.
The Browns moved to the Steelers sixteen yard line for the first play of the final quarter for a third and one.
Jack Conklin moves too soon for a five-yard penalty, Jameis Winston is sacked to lose three more, and Germain Ifedi gets nailed with a roughness call to lose fifteen more to force the ball back to the thirty-nine and a punt.
4) The Browns used former first-rounder Kadarius Toney as the punt returner and Toney was hit with a taunting penalty and muffed a punt, so Kevin Stefanski didn't seem likely to try Toney again next week against his former team in Kansas City.
It's too bad those two mistakes happened because Toney was doing well before those errors, finishing the day averaging eleven yards on his four returns with a long of nineteen.
5) I hated mentioning Jack Conklin's penalty because the veteran has been playing so well of late.
Conklin again held T.J. Watt without a sack and Watt was motivated to do well after the media narrative from the Browns win in Cleveland.
6) After the defeat, the Browns were officially eliminated from playoff contention.
As the late Peter Tomarken used to utter on the game show "Press Your Luck"- Whammy.
No comments:
Post a Comment