Who gets the blame?

Sung to the tune of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Who'll Stop the Rain?", I'll ask the question of who is to blame for the woes of the Cleveland Browns and with Freddie Kitchens and John Dorsey taking the fall, are there others to blame as well?

It wasn't all the fault of Freddie Kitchens, although, for the on-field failures, it was his decisions in play-calling and personnel that contributed most to the 6-10 record.
I want to make this clear before we start- this isn't a clear the decks' defense for Freddie Kitchens, as I believe that he did a poor job of running the team and I've written so all season, but blame, much like a good Goober Grape sandwich, can be easily spread around.
That said, let's pull the knife out and start spreading.

I've been hitting Freddie Kitchens during game recaps all season, but to briefly recap- mismanaging clock, ridiculous decisions such as committing intentional penalties, coddling Baker Mayfield to the point of a parent giving in to a petulant child, and being unable to gain the respect of many of his players.
All of those are true, but what you wonder is this- With hindsight, how did Freddie Kitchens get this job to begin with?
Yes, the limited experience with play calling in 2018 was exciting, but his only coordinator experience was during those games and his insistence on continuing to call plays even as the head coach strained a rope that was tenuous in doing his job as the head coach, let alone adding the burden of calling plays.
Why did the Browns, whether the decision-maker was Jimmy Haslam or John Dorsey, allow an inexperienced coach to carry that weight?
That alone considering the players involved might have set Kitchens up to fail before he started out of the blocks.

For this exercise, John Dorsey, who was already gambling on Kitchens to start with, gets his share of the blame for the 2019 woes when he didn't address the tackle positions and thought the Browns could get through the season with Greg Robinson and Chris Hubbard at tackle and Justin McCray as a swingman backup.
McCray is a decent enough guard, but he is way undersized at tackle and he's not an emergency tackle, he's the top backup!
I haven't seen a tackle as bad as Chris Hubbard as a regular starter going back to the revolving door that was John St.Clair in the Eric Mangini years and Robinson isn't a ton better.
I realize that you cannot get every issue fixed right away, but combining those two with the trade of the very solid Kevin Zeitler meant the Browns were going to have real issues protecting Baker Mayfield.
I didn't have a problem getting Olivier Vernon for Zeitler and few people count on trading for a player and having him injured most of the season, but above almost anything, the inability to shore up the offensive line (which seemed to basically be- wait to the trading deadline and overwhelm the Redskins for tackle Trent Williams) affected almost all of the problems on the offensive side.
Losing Vernon for most of the year and the suspension of Myles Garrett turned a top-five level pass rush into one better suited for "Five Mississippi" and struggled even getting near the passer, wasn't Dorsey's fault, but his trade with the Giants affected both lines.

Dorsey also can be blamed for not giving Kitchens an experienced staff member that could have helped him with the head coaching items that all first-timers need to learn to do well.
Steve Wilks was the Cardinals head coach in 2018, but the Cardinals look at his year as disastrously as the Browns do this year, so he wasn't going to be much help.
Dorsey also made a major mistake with Baker Mayfield when he didn't add a veteran quarterback when Drew Stanton was placed on IR in September and only carried AAF standout and Baker buddy Garrett Gilbert at quarterback.
Mayfield didn't have anyone to lean on, to learn from when he acted poorly, other than Gilbert, which only continued the feeling that the locker room was filled with members of Baker's frat house rather than contributors or at least people that kept him grounded.

And there's Baker.
While Mayfield played very well at times as a rookie, he rarely approached that form in year two and for the "Pied Piper" and "Hee Hee" stories that John Dorsey liked to tell, he didn't seem to be loved in the locker room either.
Mayfield jabbed at Duke Johnson before he was traded to Houston, which he was chastised for from teammates, would blame the Browns medical staff in a press conference for not doing the right thing for Odell Beckham's sports hernia injury (to be fair, Mayfield didn't express it well, but I think he was trying to give Beckham cover for playing through injury), and would blame the "entire organization" for the 6-10 season after the Bengals defeat.
Combined with a propensity for interceptions and an inability to hit his receivers in stride due to a large number of his passes being high with a lower than expected completion rate, you have to at least consider that Baker Mayfield may not be the "guy" at quarterback.
Depending on the coach that is hired, Mayfield may be able to clean up mechanical issues and get better chemistry with Odell Beckham, but that will take far more dedication than he apparently put in over the last off-season.
It's not all on Baker Mayfield for the Browns lousy season, but he deserves a solid share as well.

Don't forget about Jimmy Haslam either.
Haslem, who changes coaches, front office personnel, and advisors as most people change television channels, didn't give John Dorsey a chance to recover from his poor choice of Freddie Kitchens, has decided to return power in the organization to Paul DePodesta, who was a part of the Sashi Brown disaster, doesn't even live in Cleveland, and his only selling point is not wanting Freddie Kitchens, and his choice of committee to select the new head coach and general manager is limited at best and ridiculous at worst.
The replacements for Kitchens and Dorsey will be decided by a committee of Jimmy Haslam, his wife Dee (Known best for her announcement that the awful uniforms were going to be great and popular), Haslam's son-in-law JW Johnson, DePodesta, and Chris Cooper who runs the salary cap department for the team- not a football person in the bunch.
Haslam, who listens to whoever he has talked to most recently, has created a culture that "needs to be changed" with every firing and never seems to get it right, flips back and forth between the numbers guys and the football guys and builds foundations with neither.

I'm not totally an "analytics" guy, but part of being a fan of any sport is embracing the statistics that are part of that experience and teams should be willing to look at any data that can prove to help evaluate talent, gain enlightenment in play-calling, when to go for two, when to try the long field goal and when to punt, etc.
All of those things can be helpful and putting your head underwater and pretending that they aren't a part of building a team, is way "old school" even for a guy like me!

However, using numbers as the be-all and end-all for your organizational in evaluating talent is a method doomed to fail.
Helpful?
Absolutely.
Should it be most of your consideration when you are deciding who to draft and who to sign through free agency?
Not at all.

Nothing, Allow me to repeat NOTHING should be more valued than your personnel department's evaluations of players from attending games, to breaking down film and in the case of college scouting, traveling to schools for workouts, but even more important is talking to the persons at the prospect's university.
And not only coaches, talk to the guys in the building, talk to teammates, talk to the support people that work with and see the prospect every day as well.
Talking to people that aren't always spoken to can mine huge information and give you data beyond numbers about a prospect's work habits, background, is he motivated for an outside reason, etc.

Allow me to offer an example of this from my personal perspective.
In the 2014 draft that saw Ray Farmer botch two number one picks, one of those picks was Justin Gilbert a cornerback from Oklahoma State, who the Browns traded up to obtain (after initially trading down from the 4th spot in a trade with Buffalo).
Going into that draft, Gilbert was my favorite cornerback in the draft and I watched that draft with my oldest friend, Greg, who always asks me for my evaluations before the draft.
I put a lot of work into my draft analysis (although not nearly as much as the guys that write books)
and Greg's always respected that through the years.
When the Browns picked Gilbert, I was ecstatic because I loved what I watched on video and I liked his size and speed.
Gilbert seemed to have everything that it would take to be a top-notch cornerback for a long time, but Gilbert was a flop and after two bad seasons with the Browns, Cleveland shuffled him off to the Steelers (Imagine trading with the Steelers, if they thought he had a chance to turn his career around) for a sixth-rounder.
Gilbert would play that season in Pittsburgh and then was out of football.

Greg always likes to remind me about Justin Gilbert and he's right that I liked his tape, but what doomed Gilbert were things that I couldn't have known and the Browns should have,
What did the Browns know that I didn't or what should they have known that I did not?
They should have done their diligence and asked those questions with the access that they have and most draft writers do not.
I didn't know Justin Gilbert didn't like to get out of bed or show up on time for meetings and had difficulties learning systems that depended on more than athletic ability- but the Browns should have and yet when Gilbert was drafted, he stated that he never even talked to the Browns.

And that is what worries me most about the numbers crunchers- that they are so reliant on their portion of evaluating and building a winning roster that other departments that are equally important will be either ignored or taken with less value than they deserve.
When you look at the two drafts that Sashi Brown and Paul DePodesta were in charge of the draft board, it appears to be clearly numbers-driven and lacks results.

The 2016 draft was filled with busts like wide receiver Corey Coleman in the first round (Taken over Ohio State's Michael Thomas, who ranks with the best receivers in the league), a few unspectacular seasons from Emmanuel Ogbah, before Ogbah was traded to Kansas City in 2019, three third-rounders, two of which are out of football (Cody Kessler and Shon Coleman) and the other was cut and has played well for Tampa (Carl Nassib).
Only two players from that draft are with the Browns- 4th rounder Joe Schobert and 5th rounder Rashard Higgins, neither of whom is a guarantee to remain with the Browns next season with both becoming free agents.

The 2017 draft hit with Myles Garrett at the top of the draft, but their other two first-rounders were disappointing in safety Jabrill Peppers, who was included in the Odell Beckham trade with the Giants, and tight end David Njoku, who by the season's end wasn't even being activated for games.
Of the other seven draftees from the 17 draft, only third-rounder Larry Ogunjobi remains with the Browns and is a solid starter.

I started this by saying the blame could be spread around to many people and all of that rings true.
However, it starts at the top and the Haslam family has not listened to the right people, has not hired many of the right people, and they haven't listened to them when they have hired good employees.
There is blame to be assigned to John Dorsey, Freddie Kitchens, Paul DePodesta, Sashi Brown, Baker Mayfield, and others.
However, no one deserves more blame than James Arthur Haslam III and his wife Dee.
Their questionable decisions, a lack of a solid organizational chart, their impatience, and a desire to listen to too many people has led to this.
The Haslams deserve most of the blame.

Browns hit rock bottom-lose to Bengals 33-23

The Cleveland Browns officially hit rock bottom in Cincinnati in the final game of the season as the Browns visit to the Queen City ended in a 33-23 loss to a Bengals team that had won only one game previously all season.

Baker Mayfield was harassed all day by the Cincinnati pass rush as he was sacked six times to go with three touchdowns and three interceptions.
Mayfield completed only 12 passes on the afternoon but finished with 279 yards and all three touchdowns were longer throws of 20, 46, and 56 yards.
The Browns finish at an extremely disappointing 6-10 and finish third in the AFC North.

Brownie Bits

1)  As I was writing the entry blurb, the Browns announced that they have fired Freddie Kitchens.
Kitchens was a risky pick and even though I wasn't entirely sold, I wasn't totally against it either.
The only proven head coach that was available last season was Bruce Arians, who I think wanted the Browns job, but the Browns/Haslam's weren't interested, so if you didn't want Arians anyone was going to be a risk.
I'll be writing more on this tomorrow, but this had to be done.

2) The Bengals pass rush was the difference in this game as they just didn't allow Baker Mayfield to have time to throw.
On the rare occasions that Mayfield had time, he was successful but those attempts were few and far between and even when he got the ball away it rarely was without being hurried.

3) My "favorite" rush from the Bengals came when Carl Lawson moved around Chris Hubbard without even being touched.
Do you realize how few times in the NFL that a front seven rusher ( a blitzing DB can do this on occasion) does this to a tackle?
Not beating him with a speed rush, or being deflected, just plain moving around the tackle for the sack without the tackle even touching him.
Pathetic.

4) The Browns run defense was pretty crummy as well as Joe Mixon ran for 162 yards and two touchdowns for an average of 6.2 yards a carry.
Mixon is a very good back but in no way should he be averaging six yards a carry and he ran for well over 100 yards in their first meeting in Cleveland.

5) Baker Mayfield was erratic again, but his scoring throw to Jarvis Landry was an excellent pass and the longball to Damion Ratley was on the money as well.
Mayfield has wasted a season, but I'm not ready to give up on him completely.
It could be as simple as an excellent quarterback coach working on some flaws to turn things around, but I'm just not sure what they still have with Mayfield.

6) But oh, those interceptions.
None of the three were excusable other than the pass rush from the Bengals made Mayfield hurry his throws a bit.
The fallacy of Baker Mayfield entering the league was as an accurate passer, one that didn't throw interceptions, and as a locker room leader.
From what has occurred in the 2019 season, I would think that questions exist in all three of those areas.

7) Odell Beckham's fourth-quarter touchdown catch in the corner of the end zone while being
covered by two defenders and still getting his feet down inbounds was the type of play that the Browns expected to see far more often after trading for him.
Beckham's score was the fourth of the year and about a third of what was hoped for and even though Beckham crossed 1,000 yards for the season in the loss, it was a disappointing year all around.
Give Beckham credit for playing all season with a sports hernia, but fingers crossed that he gets into town for all the off-season camps, workouts, etc. and starts to develop some chemistry with Baker Mayfield because that was severely lacking this season.

8) Nick Chubb only received thirteen carries for forty-one yards and when Derrick Henry exploded for Tennessee as the Titans played against several of the Houston Texans second-stringers, Henry passed Chubb and won the league rushing championship.
Chubb missed the 1.500-yard mark by six yards and when you consider how Chubb was used (not always well) by Freddie Kitchens it would not be unfair to blame Kitchens for the main reason that Chubb missed winning that title.

9) Austin Siebert missed an extra point for the second week in a row and the rookie kicker from Oklahoma finished the season with more missed extra points (five) than missed field goals (four).
A good rookie season, but the missed extra points need to be cut substantially next season.

10) Jarvis Landry's touchdown catch has to go on the Browns season in review film as he grabbed the ball in between two Bengals defensive backs and then almost strolled into the end zone as the Bengals wiped each other out trying to take down Landry.

11) The Browns gained three spots in the draft after the loss to the Bengals.
Three teams that entered the day at 6-9 with the same record as the Browns (Atlanta, Denver, and New York Jets) all won their final game and moved the Browns up into the draft.
Jacksonville won their final game to finish 6-10, the same as the Browns, but Jacksonville will pick ahead of Cleveland.
The Browns will select tenth in the first round.

12) So now what?
The Browns start with another coach amid rumors that Paul DePodesta is attempting to gain more power in the organization and may have some capital with the Haslams as he was against Freddie Kitchens getting the job, preferring Vikings assistant Kevin Stefanski and was overruled when Hue Jackson was hired over current Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott.
How does that affect John Dorsey's pull in the organization?
Would it only affect Dorsey as far as picking a coach goes? Or does DePodesta want to return to personnel with his vaunted "analytics" after that was essentially a failure for Sashi Brown and DePodesta in their first time around?
I'm hearing a lot of names, some that I prefer to others and I'll be writing about those along with the failings of Freddie Kitchens over the next few days, but I cannot imagine a top candidate coming to work for the Haslam family considering their history.
The Browns are always going to land a lesser candidate than everyone else because coaches are hesitant for work for the Haslams.
Someone is going to have to take a huge leap of faith before that changes...

Send it in Jerome- Browns downed by Duck

The Cleveland Browns seemed to be on the cusp of changing things as they entered Pittsburgh for their rematch with the Steelers.
A three-game winning streak,  a victory over the Steelers and a third-string quarterback named Duck Hodges and playoff implications all tilted the field into the Browns favor and after they took a 10-0 lead, the tide seemed to have turned.

Seemed is the keyword as the Steelers would score the next twenty points, control the line of scrimmage and take advantage of two vital Baker Mayfield turnovers to drown the Browns playoff hopes at the confluence in Pittsburgh 20-13.
Kareem Hunt caught a second-quarter pass from Mayfield and ran it in from fifteen yards out for the only Cleveland touchdown in the defeat.
The defeat may not have mathematically eliminated the Browns from the final wild card at now 5-7, but it virtually did so at two games out with four games remaining.
Cleveland will host Cincinnati, who won their first game of the season yesterday, in the first of two games against the Bengals in the final quarter of the season.

Brownie Bits

1) The Browns actually did their job for about a quarter and a half as they scored their only touchdown, ran the ball with authority, and had their receivers involved in the game for the only period of the game. And then, And then?

2) Along came the Steelers who, severely undermanned, began to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football.
Backup running backs like Kentucky rookie Benny Snell started to move the chains with unspectacular runs, but his gains were large enough to keep Pittsburgh's rookie QB Duck Hodges in positions where he wasn't stuck in third and long.
Running games can be successful even when you aren't ripping off fifty-yard runs and Pittsburgh proved it again against the Browns.

3) And then there was the offensive line, which saw backup Justin McCray, who is an underrated player when he is positioned at guard, but in typical Browns fashion, has been forced to play tackle most of the year due to lack of other depth.
Greg Robinson missed the game due to concussion protocol placement, so McCray was again shoehorned in a position where he is overmatched.
At least McCray has something to excuse his play, Chris Hubbard is a natural tackle and he is an absolute disaster.
If John Dorsey doesn't draft a tackle in the first two rounds, sign a decent veteran tackle and probably add a third lineman as well in the offseason, I'll be greatly disappointed.
I have been critical of Baker Mayfield, who suffered five more sacks in this loss, but I'm a little understanding of your argument is that his regression has occurred because of his lack of time to throw the football.

4) Bud Dupree is in a contract year and with 8.5 sacks is going to earn himself a nice contract either from Pittsburgh or someone else, but throughout his career with the Steelers- Bud Dupree just seems to kill the Browns.
Dupree finished with a sack and a half yesterday, six tackles, a forced fumble on a hit on Baker Mayfield and spent almost as much time in the Cleveland backfield as Nick Chubb.
I'm generally not in the business of liking Steelers (unless they are a proud former Buckeye such as Cameron Heyward), but I really like Bud Dupree.
I'm not sure Dupree would be a fit in the Browns 4-3 (Pittsburgh runs mostly a 3-4 scheme), but if Dupree hits the market, I would at least kick the tires

5) Baker Mayfield was awful following the initial few drives.
Several overthrows, including one that was closer to the second deck than a leaping Demetrius Harris, cost the Browns throughout the game.
The Harris overthrow was particularly painful in the fourth quarter as Harris was wide open (and nearly made a tremendous catch) for a touchdown and the Browns instead settled for an Austin Seibert field goal.
The difference didn't cost the Browns the game, but needing a field goal to tie on the final drive (which ended in a Mayfield interception) rather than a touchdown will always change the play calling.

6) I know that Mayfield caught his hand on a Steeler helmet late in the second quarter and played the rest of the game with a glove on his hand, but that didn't bring on his inaccuracy- that's been going on all season.
I know I write it every week and the offense has many flaws this season, but the largest one in the passing game isn't Freddie Kitchens playcalling as questionable as it can be.
It's Baker Mayfield either not hitting his receivers at all or at a minimum making them leap, reach or look behind them for the football.

7) I've been critical of Mike Tomlin, but full credit for their win this time.
Tomlin had his team ready to play, didn't give Duck Hodges too much on his plate and at halftime, drew on the chalkboard just what the Steelers needed to do to stop the Browns.
You can be a detractor, but fans change the facts- observers do not.

8) The Browns are just befuddling on offense.
The Browns averaged just under four and a half yards a carry on the ground, yet in a game that was close throughout, Cleveland threw eight more passes than they attempted rushing plays.
The Browns play best when Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt set up the pass, yet far too often the gameplan relies on Baker Mayfield.

9) The Browns suspended starting safety Damarious Randall for the game for undisclosed reasons and it showed on the field.
Pittsburgh began to throw downfield and attack the Browns corners where the missing Randall would
have been able to help in coverage.
Instead of Randall, the Browns were playing rookie Sheldrick Redwine and when you are playing rookies, their experience is gained at a price.

10) I did like the call with roughly five minutes left and down seven points, Austin Seibert lined up for a 55-yard field goal try, but instead dropped a pooch punt at the one-yard line.
The Browns couldn't stop the Steelers from advancing the ball for a few first downs, but an excellent play by Seibert.

11) I mentioned the safeties, but Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams had issues at the corners.
Williams would leave with a shoulder injury but wasn't tackling well before the injury and Ward was having problems covering James Washington, who finished with 111 yards and a touchdown against Ward.

12) Baker Mayfield's interception to end the game to former Brown Joe Haden wasn't bad enough as Jarvis Landry, the intended receiver on the pass, participated in a very heated argument with quarterback coach Ryan Lindley that saw the two have to be separated.
These things happen on sidelines, but they can also be seen as a sign of a lost coaching staff and a team out of control.

13) Wrapping up, this season is gone.
The Browns will need to win three of four to claim improvement (8-8 from 7-8-1) and need to sweep all four to finish with a winning record at 9-7.
I'm not sure those are important milestones, although you would rather win than lose, of course, I still think Freddie Kitchens needs to go.
Not now, nothing changes this season and a replacement isn't going to save this season.
I know the Browns track record with coaches under the Haslam's is bad and their hook would be questioned with justification for being quick with chimes of "Here we go again", but this time I think almost all would understand.
Freddie Kitchens has the most talented team (for all its flaws) that the Browns have had since their return and he has created a dysfunctional team filled with ridiculous behavior.
Dunzo.

Bucked in Denver, Browns lose to Broncos 24-19

Bad tackling, mediocre play-calling, and the quarterback's inability to throw a ball that isn't high above his intended receiver's head all added up to the worse loss in a disappointing season for the Cleveland Browns as they lost to a Denver Broncos team that started a quarterback that had never taken a snap in professional football before in a 24-19 shocker.

Baker Mayfield threw for 273 yards and the Browns only touchdown to Jarvis Landry and Austin Siebert kicked four field goals in the defeat.
The Browns slip to 2-6 on the season and will host 6-2 Buffalo next week.

Brownie Bits

1) The first note deals with off the field as safety Jermaine Whitehead blasted off several tweets towards Cleveland radio host Dustin Fox and several fans that challenged them to fights at the team's practice facility in Berea.
Whitehead did have a bad game, missed several tackles, including one that saw Noah Fant run down the field in the above picture for a 75-yard score.
To be fair to Whitehead, he is playing with a broken hand, which can make wrapping up tackles difficult so I could give him a break for that, but his Twitter behavior is inexcusable.
Considering Whitehead's past ( The Packers cut him for slapping New England's David Andrews in a game last season), it wouldn't stun me to see the Browns cut him on Monday.

2) I said before this game that I had a feeling that if the Browns lost to a third-string quarterback that had never taken an NFL snap before this game that Freddie Kitchens could be fired.
Now we'll see because I just cannot make excuses after this,
No matter the excuse, the Browns are 2-6 and now will have to 8-0 to have a playoff chance and 7-1 to salvage a winning record.
Far more was expected from this team, now will Freddie Kitchens take the fall today or is he given the chance to save his job in the second half?

3) Three times in this game, the Browns had key third (and fourth ) downs to be picked up and on all three occasions, it was not Nick Chubb getting the football.
Twice, it was backup Dontrell Hilliard, the other was a sneak by Baker Mayfield and on all three occasions, the Browns came up short of the first down.
If you want to look at why Freddie Kitchens is in trouble, one of the reasons are these play-calling decisions that put the football in the hands of everyone but the best playmakers.

4) To be fair, I thought Baker Mayfield made the first down in the fourth quarter on a fourth and one from the Denver five.
I don't blame Kitchens for going for it there as the Browns were down five points at the time and a field goal still would have left the Browns needing a second field goal to win, 6but as written above- I do question not giving the ball to Chubb.
I thought Mayfield made it on forward progress and still do, but when you watch the replay, Mayfield is turned to the side as he's brought to the turf and that is what the side judge saw when he spotted the football.
Kitchens then made things worse by listening to Mayfield's advice to challenge the call.
These plays that involve short-yardage spots of the football are rarely overturned because there usually just isn't enough visual evidence with so many bodies around the ball.
Predictably, the Browns lost the challenge and a timeout was wasted.

5) Give the Broncos credit, they kept things very simple for first-time starter Brandon Allen.
Denver kept his reads simple, didn't task him with too many decisions to make, and allowed him to play the exact type of game that you would hope to see from a young quarterback in his first game action- keep your team in the game and don't make huge mistakes by turning the football over.
Allen finished 12 of 20 with two touchdowns and most importantly, zero turnovers.

6) Baker Mayfield didn't throw an interception either and his play didn't cost the Browns the game, but he still is throwing so many balls high and for a passer that was regarded as such an accurate passer coming out of Oklahoma, he is not consistent at all with his accuracy.
The two passes that I remember most?
The first was in the first half to a wide-open Demetrius Harris in the back of the Denver end zone.
Being fair, Harris made the catch, but was very sloppy in trying to keep his feet inbounds and was rightfully ruled out of bounds with the Browns settling for yet another Austin Seibert field goal.
I blame Harris far more than Mayfield there, but if that pass is on the money Harris doesn't have to leap and his feet stay in bounds.
The other pass was a pass that meant little in the game, but the little things add up in these losses.
The Browns are running a set screen pass to Nick Chubb and the Browns have the linemen out in front of Chubb in both Greg Robinson and Joel Bitonio, so this looks like at least a first down gained and the potential for more.
Chubb's all alone, so all Mayfield has to do is get the ball to him.
He doesn't, the pass is nowhere near Chubb and incomplete.

7) Odell Beckham caught five passes for 87 yards and hit two for chunks of yardage (39 and 27) with one of those two scraping the ball off a Bronco defenders helmet and the other showcasing a high-step to earn more yardage than the play looked like it would make.
It's easy to see what Beckham can bring to an offense when he is used to his best, but the Browns still aren't using him in the offense at his optimum.
Beckham rarely is running deep patterns and I wish I knew why that was.
Is it Baker Mayfield's arm? Mayfield's health? Freddie Kitchens playcalling? Or the chemistry between the two isn't where it should be after the lack of training camp work?
No matter the reason, the Browns aren't using Odell Beckham to maximum efficiency and if that's the case, why did they trade for him to begin with?

8) The Browns haven't hit on many things this season other than one Sunday in Baltimore, but it appears that Austin Siebert as the kicker has been one of those that have worked out.
Siebert's four field goals kept the Browns in the game and improved to 14 of 14 on the season.

9) One more Mayfield-Beckham note.
On the final Browns drive, Cleveland has taken the ball to the Denver 28 and it's fourth down and four.
Beckham lines up and he has man coverage in which Beckham is always going to have an advantage.
I know that taking a deep shot with the game in the balance is a gamble, but one in that situation that a confident coach and quarterback take.
Mayfield forces the ball into coverage to Jarvis Landry, the ball falls to the grass and the game is over as the Browns are without their timeouts.

10) Mack Wilson has had his struggles as rookie linebackers often will but in the second half, Wilson played his best stretch as a Brown.
Wilson finished with five solo tackles, two of those for losses, a sack, and a deflected pass.
We might look back at this draft as the Mack Wilson draft in a few seasons in stealing a star in the fifth round.

11) I could live with the Broncos touchdown scored by Courtland Sutton, who leaped over Denzel Ward and used a four-inch height advantage to make the play.
Ward did a good job in coverage and a bigger man caught the ball- it happens.
But the lousy tackling on the score by Noah Fant ( Jermaine Whitehead, Greedy Williams, and Adarius Taylor all missed tackles) and the no one even touching Phillip Lindsay on his 30-yard touchdown run might have been worse.
Defensively, the Browns just lack so many fundamentals that other teams always seem to have.

12) Finally, we waited for the schedule to soften and the Browns lost anyway.
When you consider the entire picture and the competition's issues- you HAVE to win this game and they kicked field goals instead.
Please save the "8-0 run vs this schedule" patter, It's not happening.
This team is poorly coached, poor in the fundamentals of the game, immature, and worries about the things that don't matter rather than what should matter.
They will win some games, but not as many as we all thought- now it's a matter of hopefully seeing some growth and maturity and build for next year.
If you are looking for more than that, save those prayers for something else.

Browns season slipping away in New England

On some occasions, there can be issues when you select a picture for a game recap, not just for the Browns but for any of the teams that we cover here in finding an image that is "just right" in reflecting what you are covering.
And then there are times that you find an image that just clicks and you don't have to look any further for what you need.

The image of a distraught Nick Chubb just walking up the sideline as the Browns and Patriots scramble for the football that Chubb had lost control of is the image of the Cleveland Browns 2019 season for now and it could be the image that describes the entire season when we look back.
The score for the Browns 27-13 loss in New England wasn't descriptive of the actual game as the Browns weren't that close to victory, yet the Patriots never showed complete domination of Cleveland as they have been able to do all season except for a 16-10 win over Buffalo.
I'll explain more shortly, but this game showed what the Browns could be and how far away they actually are from being a solid football team.

Nick Chubb rushed for 131 yards with two fumbles and Baker Mayfield hit Demetrius Harris with a 21-yard pass for the Browns only touchdown.
The now 2-5 Browns will travel to Denver next Sunday for a late afternoon tilt with the 2-6 Broncos.

Brownie Bits

1) I know the two first-half Nick Chubb fumbles put the Browns in a hole that they could never dig out of, but the fact still is that Nick Chubb rushed for over 100 yards against possibly the best defense in the league.
When you look at that alone and as hard as it is to do so, you have to feel good about the quality of running back that Nick Chubb is.

2)  The second fumble after a forty-four yard run isn't really excusable, it is simply a nice play made by a hustling Jonathan Jones and those plays happen more than you would suspect mainly because the runner doesn't have the "feel" of a defender around him and when he is caught the element of surprise comes into play.
It is not excusable, but it does happen,

3) Now, the first fumble by Chubb was excusable, as he was falling to the ground, the foot of Joel Bitonio kicked the ball out of his hand and Donta Hightower grabbed the tumbling football to take on for the touchdown.
You never wish to have these things happen, but they do and they are flukish.
I'm not worried about fumbling as a major issue with Nick Chubb.

4) Onto things that I am worried about and start at the top with the head coach Freddie Kitchens, who starting to look more and more like someone that could be best described by the "Peter Principle".
The Peter Principle is based on a management principle that people get promoted via success at their previous job until they reach a point of incompetence because the skills that enable success at one job do not always carry over to another.
Kitchens' use of  his challenges were poor because you rarely win the challenges that he questioned (the camera is never going to catch who really had the football at the bottom of a pile of players) and they could have used one on a Julian Edelman catch that might have been a fumble later in the game.
And a well-coached team doesn't commit thirteen more penalties either!

5) However, those pale in comparison to what dribbled out late in the game via two different sideline reporters.
The Browns have a fourth down and eleven deep in their own territory, Kitchens cannot decide whether he wants to go for it or not and finally the punting team is on the field.
Kitchens changes his mind and tells a lineman to go out and deliberately commit a false start and lose five yards but enables him to put the offense back into the game to try for the first down without losing a timeout.
Now with a fourth and sixteen play on deck, Mayfield gets sacked and New England takes over the football.
Once that cat left the bag and word of that decision spread, thoughts of the competence level of Freddie Kitchens were going to plummet and immediately rumors of his job security began to float.
I cannot imagine Kitchens getting fired now because of the message that would send (again) about the Browns organization, but I wouldn't rule anything out.

5) The Browns are 2-5 and I suspected all along when you looked at the schedule that could be a possibility, still, the Browns five losses are to two undefeated teams, both on the road (New England and San Francisco) one team at 6-2 (Seattle), a team that reached the Super Bowl last year and is 5-3 (Los Angeles Rams) and a 4-4 team (Tennessee).
Only the lopsided home loss to the Titans stands out as a game that you could argue was a bad defeat and that was more to due to the size of the loss with losing a home game, so 2-5 might have been a worst-case scenario, but they lost a game that you would think they would have won (Tennessee) and won one that was a likely loss (at Baltimore) so that's a wash.

6) Things are what they are and the long-awaited schedule weakening begins. but the Browns are backed into a corner and it looks to me that anything less than winning eight of their final nine games isn't going to get the job done.
The Browns travel to Denver (2-6) and even though the Broncos have their own chaos going on, Denver is still a tough place to play, Buffalo (5-2) may have been the anti-Browns having a light early schedule before a tough late slate, then playing Pittsburgh (2-4, but should be 3-4 after Miami tonight) twice in three weeks with winless Miami in between, two games with the winless Bengals in the final month,the 3-4-1 Cardinals in Arizona and the Baltimore rematch with the 5-2 division leaders.
Nine games, five home, four road, none of the road games with a team with a winning record, five games in the division- this can get done.

7) Now why it can't.
Baltimore is a full three games ahead for the division lead.
The second wild card right now belongs to Houston- two and a half games ahead of the Browns. and there are five more teams (Jaguars, Texans, Raiders, Chargers and assuming that they beat winless Miami- Steelers.) that the Browns would need to pass to get to Houston.
A difficult road to travel.

8) This team doesn't get the ball in the hands of their most explosive player.
Odell Beckham has one touchdown in seven games and really only two big plays.
Whether that is Baker Mayfield's seeming inability to hit receivers over twenty yards, Freddie Kitchens playcalling or an offensive line that doesn't give Beckham a chance to get downfield, the stats don't lie.
The Browns brought him in to help create an exciting wide-open offense and they aren't allowing Beckham to do what he does best.

9) Baker Mayfield still isn't very good.
By the numbers, he looked OK against the Patriots 20 of 31 for 193, but while five sacks certainly aren't all his fault, he still has his cut of the blame for them and his body language looks more like the Mayfield that showed up for the month just before Hue Jackson and Todd Haley were fired than the guy that played well enough to have enough stroke to get his guy hired as head coach.
Mayfield has been inaccurate downfield with passes often high that hang his receivers in the air as open season for defensive backs and the passes that are so inaccurate in passing downfield are more reminiscent of Seneca Wallace than a top overall draft selection.
Mayfield's shovel pass or softball flip to the gut of New England's Lawrence Guy was just awful and I'm not sure whether Mayfield is just lousy with that type of pass ( Don't laugh, some players really struggle with that.) or he didn't switch off a play that New England looked to have read, or his heart wasn't in the pass, but no matter what the result was terrible.
The fact that Mayfield's play is getting such a pass from many Browns fans shows just how badly Browns are hungering for anything resembling good play.
Perhaps Mayfield picks things up against the lesser competition coming up and we forget about this, but we are nearing a half-season that has seen him play well one time.

10) The Browns defense played well and I can't blame very much of the loss at their feet.
The Patriots scored only two touchdowns against them as their defense scored one on the Donta' Hightower ramble to run.
Olivier Vernon finished with six solo tackles and a sack and looked like the guy that John Dorsey thought he had acquired from the Giants and Sheldon Richardson had his best game as a Brown.
Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams allowed their share against the Patriots, but both, especially Williams, were targeted and all things considered weren't burned consistently.

11) Special teams were solid with Denzel Ward blocking a Mike Nugent field goal try and Austin Seibert connecting on both of his field goals on such a dreary evening.
Seibert still has plenty to prove, but seven games in, Seibert and Jamie Gillan are giving a positive return on the investment that the Browns put into them as their kicking tandem as rookies.
 
12) Wrapping up, I'm just not sure if the schedules softening turns the season around.
I can see that happening and I can also see the wheels going off and losing some of these games to teams that the Browns should defeat.
They lost to the Titans badly and that could happen against others that aren't Miami or Cincinnati.
Hoping for the best, but I wouldn't be surprised if this expected run of victories doesn't happen either.

Wasted: Browns miss upset opportunity in Rams loss

All Pictures: Cleveland Plain Dealer

The Cleveland Browns were given a phenomenal effort by an injury savaged defense against the powerful offense of the defending NFC champion Los Angeles Rams and could have pulled a franchise defining upset on Sunday Night Football.

Instead, play-calling that was so awful that it's almost beyond description and when you add a quarterback that is inaccurate more than he is on the money and a severe lack of time for said quarterback to get rid of the football led to a 20-13 defeat that has many members of the media and many non-media observers wondering if Jimmy Haslam has made yet another mistake among the hundreds that he has made as owner of the franchise.

Baker Mayfield threw for the Browns only touchdown to Demetrius Harris, Nick Chubb ran for 96 yards on the ground and Austin Siebert was two for two on field goals in connecting from 23 and 35 yards.
The now 1-2 Browns travel to Baltimore next week in what could make or break the AFC division race against the 2-1 Ravens.

Brownie Bits

1) The playcalling in this game was so terrible that there are some chants that Freddie Kitchens is over his head in this job and some are already beginning to question his future employment as head coach.
I'm not there yet or even close to that.
I remember the early struggles of Joe Gibbs in Washington as a first-time head coach trying to call plays and it can be a process.
Still, you can't excuse awful and last night was just that.

2) The call that has so many Browns watchers howling was a 4th and nine on the Rams 40 with nine minutes remaining and the Browns down 17-13 still makes me just sadly tap my fingers in puzzlement.
The draw play to Nick Chubb gained nowhere near that and the Rams took over with excellent field position and the resulting drive ended in a Greg Zuerlein field goal to boost the Rams lead to seven.
Other than the "element of surprise", I just cannot imagine any other reason for that call.

3) But almost as bad on a scale that meant the game, Four shots from inside the Rams five yards line and holding all three timeouts, the Browns didn't attempt one time to run Nick Chubb and see what happened with the Rams perhaps expecting a run.
I know that sounds a lot like what I criticized above, but there is a difference.
Four plays to try something unexpected and the ability to stop the clock, if it is not effective and yet
the Browns threw four passes with a quarterback that has been less than dependable with his accuracy this season.

4) Let's talk about young Mr.Mayfield.
Some of the offensive issues are not his fault, but some do belong to him and he has managed to avoid many criticisms better than he has avoided opposing pass rushers.
The biggest has been when Mayfield faces the rush and in the first three games, the problems have been different ones.
At times, Mayfield tries to do too much and holds the ball too long and yet at others he seems cognizant of avoiding the rush and in the process, rushes through his reads too quickly and throws the ball inaccurately.
At the same time, Mayfield still shows why he was so highly regarded by some before the 2018 draft with some throws that shows what he can do.
His 3rd and 15 throw on the game's final drive to Jarvis Landry for 27 yards was as good as you'll see from a young quarterback.
You have to hope that these are the struggles that young passers face and that Baker Mayfield will work his way through them, but after three games that haven't been anything special, you would have to be very happy wearing crimson and cream glasses to see that he'll need to improve for the Browns to live up to expectations.

5) There are things to be critical of Baker Mayfield for as far as poise in the pocket, but one can easily understand why he cannot feel comfortable- the offensive line isn't giving him enough time.
The Browns tackle situation wasn't great entering the season, but the injury to the generally mediocre Chris Hubbard forces a natural guard in Justin McCray to play tackle and even though McCray has been better than expected, the line still has been subpar.
When you can't protect a young quarterback, they can take a beating and Baker Mayfield isn't the biggest passer to start with and what can often follow is developing a lot of bad habits.

6) Joel Bitonio is the best and most reliable member of the Browns offensive line, but he was badly bullied by Aaron Donald last night.
Now, there is a reason that Donald is the best defensive lineman in football and arguably the best defender in the game period, so Bitonio won't be the first or last interior lineman that will be savaged by Aaron Donald, but the Browns can only hope and I think it's very likely that Myles Garrett can have a similar effect on the game, but wow, what a disruptive player Aaron Donald is.
Just so you can groan- The Browns had two shots at selecting Aaron Donald in 2014, passing at 4 (traded the pick to Buffalo) and then at 8 with the disastrous pick of Justin Gilbert.

7) The news wasn't all negative as Nick Chubb had his best game of the season with 96 yards against the Rams.
Chubb can run inside or around the corner and simply never takes a carry off.
Love Nick Chubb and this team needs to see more of Chubb in the offense, which hopefully would relieve some pressure on Baker Mayfield.

8) Give the defense so much credit and they deserved to earn the win.
The Los Angeles Rams have one of the better offenses in the game and they were held to twenty points and only two touchdowns.
That's a phenomenal effort and if you would have asked me before the game, would you take your chances with the Rams scoring only twenty points, I'd take it.

9) Remember earlier when we mentioned that we hoped that Myles Garrett could develop into the type of force that Aaron Donald currently is?
Garrett showed on one play just what havoc he can bring to an opposing passer when he reached around a block and just with his hand knocked the ball from the grasp of Jared Goff.
The play would result in an eventual Austin Seibert field goal and Garrett can be such a special pass rusher that can impact a game even when double-teamed.

10) The Browns have to be very pleased with a secondary that played an entire game missing their entire starting secondary.
Denzell Ward and Greedy Williams both were injured in practice on Thursday, Damarious Randall missed his second game in a row and Morgan Burnett injured a quad muscle against the Jets.
T.J. Carrie and Juston Burris each intercepted Jared Goff and other than a problem knowing where Cooper Kupp was on a few occasions (Kupp caught both Rams touchdowns and caught eleven passes for 102 yards), it's tough to be too critical against an excellent passing game with all backups (The Browns usually play five DB's so technically all the starters were not out of the lineup).

11) Wrapping up, the Ravens game is big, but could have been bigger had Baltimore not lost close to Kansas City to fall to 2-1.
Win this game in Baltimore and the Browns finish a rough first month 2-2, which I think I would have taken before the season and move into a tie for the first spot in the division.
Lose it and the division is Baltimore's to lose after just one month as the Ravens would be 3-1, the Browns would be 1-3 tied with the winner of next Monday's battle between the 0-3 Steelers and 0-3 Bengals.
As big as it could be in the divisional race, the Browns knew that a 1-3 start wasn't out of the question.
What they didn't expect was how bad the offense was going to play in the first three games and I'm betting that Freddie Kitchens knows this has to be largely on him.
I think the Browns are going to be a much different team offensively in Baltimore and time will see how effective those differences will be.

Browns hire Freddie Kitchens

The Cleveland Browns pondered, gave several interviews to candidates both inside and outside the organization, thought even more and then decided that their man might not have been the interim head coach, but was on the staff currently as the Browns hired offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens to take over for the 2019 season.

The 44-year-old Kitchens coached the second half of the season as the offensive coordinator and seems to have impressed enough people in Berea to retain the job in his audition, even over the actual head coach of those games in Gregg Williams.
Kitchens spent the previous eleven years with Bruce Arians with the Arizona Cardinals as at various times he coached tight ends, running backs and quarterbacks with his time with veteran Carson Palmer coinciding with the three year run of the Cardinals as a title contender (as I wrote yesterday about in our post on Kliff Kingsbury and the Cardinals).
Kitchens will become only the second current head coach in the league to be promoted to their job without a full season as a coordinator (Kansas City's Andy Reid was hired in his first job in Philadelphia from being Brett Favre's quarterback coach in Green Bay).

It appears the main major selling points for Kitchens were the emergence of Baker Mayfield, who threw 19 of his 27 touchdown passes with Kitchens calling the plays after appearing to begin to fall into a funk under Hue Jackson after his initial success and therefore his relationship with Mayfield, who seems to have made a connection with Kitchens, both on the field and off- most recently when Kitchens defended Mayfield over a sideline "celebration" which cost him a fine and Mayfield's actions towards Jackson in the final home game.
The former Alabama quarterback showed promise as a play-caller and the Browns will hopefully retain him in calling the plays, although a veteran coordinator is almost an imperative on both sides of the ball, especially with the defense.

The Browns will be looking for an almost entirely new defensive staff after Gregg Williams and many assistants including thankfully special teams coach Amos Jones were released yesterday.
It appears that only two of the 2018 Browns defensive assistants will be with the team next season as defensive backs coach Dwayne Walker was mentioned as being retained and defensive line coach Clyde Simmons was not mentioned as staying but was not on the list of the coaches that were relieved of their duties either.

Gregg Williams was a pleasant surprise as a head coach and I wouldn't have been upset to see him given the full-time position, but much like Freddie Kitchens and frankly many candidates in this year's coaching silly season, I'm not jumping for joy or throwing items around the room either.
This was not a great year to hire a proven coach as the only one available ( Bruce Arians counts, but the Browns clearly weren't interested) was Mike McCarthy and I was definitely not excited about hiring McCarthy.

I can also understand and agree with the decision to allow Williams to pursue other opportunities.
Williams defense was second in forced turnovers last season, but finished 24 against the run and 29th against the pass and combined with the only natural issues that would come up with Williams suddenly being the subordinate to Kitchens, it was best for everyone that the parting of the ways took place.

On the overall, I'm fine with the hiring of Freddie Kitchens.
Is it risky? Sure, but as noted only Mike McCarthy and maybe Adam Gase were candidates with an experienced background that would be considered more than a retread, so it's not like they passed up a terrific proven winner.
The Browns are like several other teams that are trying something different and not all of these coaches are going to hit it big.
Some will succeed, others won't and that's part of the business.
Now, we move to hiring coordinators and then the really fun part- improving this roster and seeing if the seemingly open window in the AFC North can be leaped through...