Losing Streak Snapped! Browns beat Bills 19-16

On a day that you continued to have the feeling of another lost game and yet another "they should have", the Cleveland Browns kept alive any thread of hope for a miracle run down the stretch with a 19-16 win over the Buffalo Bills in Cleveland.
Baker Mayfield hit Rashard Higgins with a seven-yard strike with 1;42 remaining to take the lead and the Browns then had to hold off the final Bill drive and were then helped by Lake Erie as the wind blew Steven Hauschka's field goal attempt of 53 yards that looked to be centered coming off his foot and steadily blew the ball to left of the goalposts.
Baker Mayfield threw for two touchdowns and 238 yards in his first multiple touchdown game of the season and Jarvis Landry finished with nine catches for ninety-seven yards and a score.
Nick Chubb punished the Buffalo defense for 116 yards on the ground on twenty carries to provide the offense balance.
The now 3-6 Browns have very little time to prepare for the suddenly surging 5-4 Pittsburgh Steelers for a Thursday night game in Cleveland.

Brownie Bits

1) Allow me a little bit of joy here as Rashard Higgins caught the game-winning score.
Higgins has been neglected for weeks, despite being the one receiver that has natural chemistry with Baker Mayfield ( And think about the absence of Higgins from the lineup and correlate that with the decline in Mayfield's play) and yet after rarely playing this season, only hitting the field after what seems to be another issue with Antonio Callaway, it was Higgins that Mayfield was looking for at the end of the game!
Rashard Higgins is my favorite Brown on the offensive side of the football and he'll be a free agent at the end of the season (if any player deserves to walk away from a team, it's Higgins), so if this could be his last stand as a Brown- I feel pretty good for him.

2) Jarvis Landry played well for the second week in a row as the Browns have begun (hopefully) to realize that even attempting to use Odell Beckham downfield (it's even better if the QB can complete these attempts) can be quite effective in giving Landry room to operate in those medium routes that he can thrive in.
Funny how that works out.

3) I do have one issue with Landry, who was flagged for taunting a Bills defensive back after catching a first-quarter touchdown pass.
The penalty would haunt the Browns throughout the game as Buffalo coach Sean McDermott did what I think more coaches should do in that situation, McDermott put the penalty on the extra point, not on the kickoff as most coaches do, and forced Austin Seibert to attempt a 48-yard extra point.
The extra point predictably was missed and the Browns scrambled all during the game from the issues from the missed conversion.
All of which traced back to Jarvis Landry, who couldn't celebrate with his teammates and preferred to stick it to a Buffalo Bill.

4) I did really like the way that the offense used Kareem Hunt in his first game since his suspension.
Hunt didn't have the carries that Nick Chubb did (20 to 4), but he did run for thirty yards on those carries and caught seven passes for forty-four yards along with being a better blocker than I anticipated when he lined up in the backfield with Nick Chubb.
Hopefully, Freddie Kitchens can continue to keep Hunt involved with the offense.

5) Antonio Callaway didn't play due to what Freddie Kitchens termed as a disciplinary issue that he did not elaborate on and had Callaway been active, I'd bet that Rashard Higgins would have never been in the game for his game-winning touchdown.
Honestly, I've had about what I'm going to tolerate from Callaway, who flashes talent on occasional times and even more often shows a lack of discipline, both on and off the field.
I would have no problems with the Browns moving on from Callaway, he's been given more than his share of chances, but I'm not sure that John Dorsey will do that.
Should he make that decision, it would mean that yet another player from his once-prized 2018 draft class would be stamped as a disappointment.

6) The Browns only finished with one sack of Josh Allen on the day (by the oft-criticized by TRS Chad Thomas), but they were in the face of Allen all day and I loved the effort by Sheldon Richardson, who finished with three tackles, but was beaten up by the end of the game and yet Richardson didn't come out of the game and never stopped moving.
Some of the season thus far has been tough to take for fans and the organization, so it's nice to see veterans continuing to bust their rear no matter the record.

7) I was concerned with the eight first-quarter plays inside the two-yard line that the Browns wound up with zero points.
Passes to Odell Beckham drew two pass interferences calls, but all of the eight plays were all either passes to Beckham or runs with Nick Chubb.
I know that I've advocated running short-yardage plays with Chubb rather than Dontrell Hilliard and trying to throw the ball more to Beckham in the end zone, but there can be too much of a good thing.

8) I thought Baker Mayfield was OK in the victory.
Not outstanding, but not terrible either.
Mayfield threw for two touchdowns for the first time all season, didn't throw an interception, and led the final game-winning drive, so there were plenty of positives.
However, Mayfield is still hanging his receivers out trying to catch high passes, is still showing problems with accuracy and when Tremaine Edwards blitzed in the third quarter to sack Mayfield for a safety that tied the game at nine, Mayfield has to get the ball away there.
HAS to get the ball away and even though Mayfield didn't have very much time, he has to try.
The worst thing that happens is the officials call intentional grounding and give up the safety.

9) Maybe the Browns need to scrap the shovel pass from the game plan.
Baker Mayfield floated one that was intercepted for a touchdown against New England and in the fourth quarter, Mayfield fluttered one that was so far behind intended receiver Kareem Hunt that it was ruled a fumble and another touchdown on a scoop and score by Buffalo's Jerry Hughes.
Fortunately, the replay showed that it was actually an awful pass and took what would have been a game-clinching touchdown for the Bills off the board.
Baker either needs to practice this more or scrap the play call because he's not very good at it.

10) I love the way Nick Chubb plays this game.
Chubb never gives up on a run, carries tacklers and doesn't take plays off whether he has the football or not.
If this team voted on an MVP after nine games, It is Nick Chubb and by a large margin.

11) The 3-6 Browns keep those razor-thin playoff hopes alive, but we'll know more after Thursday's game against Pittsburgh.
It sounds cliche', but every game is a must-win game from here on out.
The division title is out, Baltimore is playing too well and the Browns would have to make up four games with seven games remaining.
For the wild-card, the Browns will have to pass seven teams to grab the second wild-card ( Bills, Steelers, Colts, Titans, Chargers, Jaguars, and Broncos) with two of those teams (Titans and Broncos) already holding tie-breaker advantages due to their earlier wins over Cleveland.
It's going to take a lot of good fortune and I think that they will have to win them all to have a chance.
One slip and it is time for draft talk...

Browns trade for Wyatt Teller

The Cleveland Browns may be finishing up with the preseason in the game that usually is the battle for the final few spots on the team tonight against the Detroit Lions, but John Dorsey clearly is not happy with the situation at right guard.

Dorsey attempted to either add a potential eventual starter or at least add depth to the offensive line as he traded the Browns' fifth and sixth-round selections in the 2020 draft to the Buffalo Bills for guard Wyatt Teller and Buffalo's 2021 seventh-round pick.

Teller started seven games for the Bills as a rookie last season after being drafted in the fifth round out of Virginia Tech.
Teller was listed as the second-stringer by the Bills at guard but had reportedly played well in the Bills exhibition games, although Buffalo added several players for their line in the offseason.
Teller is reported to be better in the run game than in the passing game and is more of a mauling pressuring type guard than an athletic guard.

While I applaud John Dorsey for not waiting until this became a major problem, it does go back to what seems to be his two biggest mistakes in his tenure in Cleveland- Day two of the 2018 draft.
I'll talk about Chad Thomas over Sam Hubbard in the third round on another day, perhaps, but Dorsey's selection of Austin Corbett with the first round of the second round is looking very suspect.
Dorsey felt that Corbett could handle a starting guard position and felt that so strongly that Corbett could do so, that he traded Kevin Zeitler to the Giants as part of the biggest swap of the winter and virtually handed the position to Corbett.
Corbett was taken over several other linemen in that spot, including Teller, who was a fifth-rounder as mentioned above.
As of now, the investment is a two, five, and six in the guard position that they hoped has been filled for a while

Corbett couldn't hold that position and likely only his draft status and ability to be the backup center will save him on cutdown day and even that isn't a guarantee.
Veteran Eric Kush, who was signed as a free agent and the Browns hoped he would be a depth player, but instead won the starting job over the ineffective Corbett, rookie Drew Forbes, who was injured tonight against Detroit, and Kyle Kalis, who also spent time with the first team before his injury earlier in camp.

The Browns had some extra day three picks that Dorsey could play with a bit (holding Houston's either three or four for Duke Johnson, Arizona's six for Jamar Taylor, and Buffalo's seven for Corey Coleman), so the loss of the fifth and sixth aren't going to hurt very much.
Still, what seems to be a second-round miss on Corbett hurts (although the pick of Nick Chubb later in the round soothes the pain more than a little) and the loss of Kevin Zeitler (although Oliver Vernon is going to be a huge addition opposite Myles Garrett on the pass rush) is already proving to be a far larger loss than expected.
In addition, with Wyatt Teller only in his second season, if Teller turns out to be a starter for a few seasons, which is hopefully the case, the cost of obtaining a young starter is very reasonable.

What I am encouraged about is that John Dorsey isn't going to sit back and watch things spiral out of control before trying to do something to fix the problem.
We will have to see if Wyatt Teller can fix that problem, but it's nice to have someone in charge that will be proactive in Cleveland.

Bob Kalsu and division

Memorial Day brings thoughts of the Americans that died in battle and the Forgotten Superstars series looks at the only active professional athlete to be killed in the Vietnam War.

Bob Kalsu played just one season for the Buffalo Bills before going to Vietnam and losing his life.
Kalsu had been an All-America guard at Oklahoma and in the waning days of the American Football League, Kalsu was the backup to future Hall of Famer Billy Shaw and was thought to be moving into Shaw's position upon his retirement (Shaw's final season was Kalsu's rookie year and it's easy to assume that would have happened without Kalsu's military commitment)

I'm not going to get into Kalsu's story too much here.
Sports Illustrated and the defunct Grantland did that in the linked articles and very well at that.
However, what it does make me think of is patriotism in the country then and now and how our country is as divided now as it was then, but for differing reasons.
Back then, the dividing line was the Vietnam War and I could respect someone's view on the issue, no matter the opinion.
War is a moral decision and one person's justified encounter can be another's invasion without cause and it is one that can be seen either way.

The Vietnam War divided a nation and yet here we are again with another divided country and the divisive party this time is not as much about a political party as much as it is about one man and his party relentless rolling over to his behavior.
Not that the opposition has done anything to make themselves a viable option other than say "we dislike....." and I think that's the problem in opposition.
Stand for something.
One side stands for keeping power no matter the cost, the other simply in taking that person away without plans for doing so and there is your divide over nothing.
Stand for something.

Bob Kalsu stood for something and left a potentially lucrative career to serve, much as Pat Tillman would do later, but I wonder what Kalsu would say today about the division in our nation.
Would he be as fast to serve again if needed today?
Would he be OK with a country grinding its gears against each other?
I wonder how far we have come in the interim since the Vietnam War and how as a country we haven't seemed to learn about unifying as a nation.
We can have differences in policy, opinions and how we see things, but as a nation, we have never seemed to recover from the cleaving of the nation over the Vietnam War,

That being the case, There are few people alive (and those numbers dwindle every day) that lived during a time that truly was Country first.
Not partisan ideas, Not political parties and certainly not over the political leaders that have been chosen to represent their parties over the last decades.
No matter your side, I'm not sure I'll ever see the days of a united country again unless it's a short term coming together after tragedy.
It's too bad and after a day of remembering lost lives for a country and way of life that the world used to envy, that my thoughts went to division, not unification.
Bob Kalsu and so many others like him., deserve better.

End of an Era-Corey Coleman shuffled off to Buffalo

One more linchpin of the Sashi Brown era was taken off of its moorings late last night as the Cleveland Browns traded 2016 first round wide receiver Corey Coleman to the Buffalo Bills for the massive return of a seventh rounder in the 2020 draft.

Honestly, I would have rather seen Coleman more in camp and preseason than take a 7th rounder in 2020 now, but apparently the Browns either had enough of Coleman already, liked rookie Antonio Callaway and/or third-year holdover Rashard Higgins far more  or all of the above and decided to take whatever they could receive even a lowly seventh rounder two years down the road.

Coleman was selected with the 15th pick in the 2016 draft out of Baylor, but struggled with broken hands (twice) and dropped passes even when his hands were not broken, most notably the fourth-down pass thrown to him against Pittsburgh as the Browns attempted to avoid the 0-16 record on the final week of the season.
Coleman did catch 56 passes for 718 yards with five touchdowns in his two years in Cleveland and occasionally flashed big-play ability but between issues staying on the field and the occasional off the field miscue, there are likely few in Cleveland disappointed in Coleman's departure.

Put me in the middle of the road.
Yes, Coleman drops passes and has been an immense disappointment, but he has had some terrible quarterbacks around him and maybe he isn't a number one receiver (although you'd like to think a 1st round pick can be that), but there have been plenty of players that aren't true number one receivers that flourish as a 2nd or 3rd pass catcher with more talent in the offense.
All things considered, I lean toward Coleman being a bust, but his speed is still there and provided the Browns run Josh Gordon, Jarvis Landry etc out on opening afternoon, I would have liked to have seen how productive Coleman might have been in running deep routes against the other team's nickel or dime coverage defensive backs and getting a seventh rounder doesn't change that.

However, if the Browns have already made a decision on Coleman and if they didn't think that he had a chance to stave off Higgins, Callaway or a new arrival to the roster, then it was best for the team and Coleman to move him to another opportunity and take the proverbial something instead of nothing.

Browns trade for Tyrod Taylor

The wild Friday for the Cleveland Browns and John Dorsey continued even as I was writing my earlier post about the team's trade for Jarvis Landry as the Browns brought in their "Bridge" quarterback from across Lake Erie as veteran Tyrod Taylor was acquired from the Buffalo Bills for the Browns third-round pick (65) in April's draft.

Taylor led Buffalo to their first playoff berth after 17 years of missing the postseason but threw an interception for his only significant passing stat in the Bills 10-3 loss in Jacksonville.
Taylor turns 29 in August and will become a free agent at the end of the 2018 season, so this is essentially a one year showcase for Taylor to play while whoever the Browns draft at quarterback learns the professional game.
Taylor could then re-sign with the Browns as the backup or with a good year in Cleveland, might be able to sign a contract elsewhere and perhaps start for that team.

Here is what the Browns will get from Tyrod Taylor- he's a mobile quarterback (Over 400 yards rushing), he takes care of the football (only four interceptions), he is an accurate passer on short and intermediate passes, but doesn't throw the ball as well deep and the price that is often paid in order to avoid interceptions is holding onto the football and taking the sack which Taylor did 45 times last season with the Bills.

Tyrod Taylor will be what the Browns were unfairly asking of DeShone Kizer (more on him in the next post)- he'll be a smart quarterback that knows his limitations and rarely makes silly mistakes.
In other words, he's a veteran professional that isn't going to win games with spectacular plays but rarely will hand them to the opposition on the flip side of the coin.
Taylor's never been noted as a locker room problem and despite the cost of the first pick of the third round, which I might have thought was a mild overpay normally (If you choose to include this deal with the Jarvis Landry bargain, it seems more palatable), I can understand why John Dorsey acted now.
Perhaps someone had tipped the team off that A.J. McCarron wasn't interested in being a bridge to the drafted QB or the Browns didn't want to gamble on the injury issues with Sam Bradford or Teddy Bridgewater, didn't want to pay a pile of money for the limitations of one-year wonder Case Keenum or settle for career backups like Chase Daniel, so the Browns felt the need to strike now.

All of those things make sense to me and Tyrod Taylor should be able to do for the Browns exactly what he is being brought to Cleveland to do- win a few games, don't make mistakes and keep the team competitive until the drafted player is ready.
If he is able to do that then the third rounder might not be that much of a loss for a team that needs credibility badly.

Back later with the final trade of the day that involved players, flipped picks and the end of the one year reign of DeShone Kizer.

Buffalo wins Battle of Lake Erie 33-13

The Cleveland Browns fell to 0-14 with yet another loss-this one in Buffalo to the Bills 33-13.
Robert Griffin had an 18 yard touchdown run in the third quarter with two Cody Parkey field goals to account for the Browns scoring.
The 0-14 Browns host San Diego on Saturday (Yes,Saturday).

Brownie Bits

1) Robert Griffin is cooked as an NFL quarterback.
This is not revolutionary thinking,but all the excuses by Hue Jackson and Pep Hamilton for Griffin after the Bengals game were basically for naught.
Griffin's run for a score was impressive enough,but even that came more from a push by Preston Brown across the line than Griffin's nose for the line.

2) The play that summed Griffin up was a reckless scramble,rolled out near the sidelines,stepped out of bounds and then threw the ball away.
Yes.that is the correct order in how that happened..

3) 280 yards rushing allowed.

4) Terrelle Pryor finished with just 19 yards on four catches.
Clearly there is little to no chemistry between Pryor and Robert Griffin after two games together...

5) Running back Pro-I did like the Browns getting Duke Johnson into the game plan more this week.
Johnson had 20 touches for over 90 yards,so that's good news.

6) Running back Con-One week after a strong game,Isaiah Crowell had just eight carries.
Every week,the Browns say that they are going to run the football and then don't.

7) Forgotten big play of the game-The Bills lead 10-3 late in the first half and face a third and 22.
Stop Buffalo and the Browns likely are in this thing going into the break.
Cleveland then allows Tyrod Taylor to hit Marquise Goodwin for a 23 yard gain,the drive continues and Buffalo scores for a 17-3 lead at the half...

8) Emanuel Ogbah had the team's only sack as he continues to thrive in his return to defensive end.
This team doesn't have many building blocks,but imagining Ogbah on one side with Myles Garrett of Texas A&M on the other is a pleasant thought.

9) The Browns did activate former Bengals WR Mario Alford to return kicks and Alford did the best job that the Browns have seen all season with a kick return long of 24 yds and a punt of 12.
On most teams,that would be nothing special,but on this one....

10) You know what's most dreadful about this?
All of these draft picks and other than Ogbah and maybe Corey Coleman (Handicapped by bad quarterbacking),I just don't see how the draft picks are contributing.
The Buffalo News held up the Browns as how to do a total rebuild,but looking at how their picks have performed,it makes you wonder about the people making these selections.
On an 0-14 team,you have 3rd round picks (Shon Coleman) and 4th rounders (Joe Schobert,Ricardo Louis) that cannot even get onto the field.
That says a lot.

11) The Chargers game is one of the few that I circled at the beginning of the season that was winnable.
Looking at the Chargers record (5-9),off the field turmoil (move to LA?), warm weather team coming to Cleveland and Christmas Eve for a meaningless game,this could be a winnable game,if all falls right....