Browns lose to Falcons 23-20

     Questionable coaching decisions and yet another late-game pass defensive breakdown cost the Cleveland Browns as the Browns lost a 23-20 verdict to the Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta.

Jacoby Brissett scored a rushing touchdown and finished with 234 passing yards but didn't throw for a score and threw an interception on the game's final drive.

Nick Chubb ran for a touchdown and ran for 118 yards to lead the Cleveland offense in the disappointing defeat.

Cleveland drops to 2-2 and will host the Los Angeles Chargers in Cleveland next Sunday.

Brownie Bits

1) I've stated before that I am a moderate on the topic of "analytics".

I believe that there is a place for considering trends and data and while I do believe that there is something to be said for the human aspect of decision-making and talent evaluation, I believe that being a slave to one side or the other is narrow-minded thinking.

Kevin Stefanski continues to believe that sticking consistently to his numbers overrides judging by each situation and it often has cost the Browns.

2) And it cost them in this one as the Browns marched down the field on their first possession and had a third down and one that saw them hurry to the line of scrimmage as they tried to catch the Falcons out of sync.

Instead, Nick Chubb lost two yards to set up a fourth down and three from the four-yard line.

3) Analytics says go for the touchdown in this spot while old school thinking says to take the short field goal and the three points for a team that needs to take every point opportunity that they have.

One side states six is more than three and the other says three is more than zero.

Stefanski keeps the offense on the field and Jacoby Brissett's pass is thrown out of the end zone and Cleveland has nothing to show for a dominant drive.

In other words-three points were tossed aside in a game that would be lost by three points.

4) Why did I dedicate so much space to this decision?

Because it is not an anomaly with Kevin Stefanski and it's starting to have adverse effects on his football team.

The Browns under Jimmy Haslam from day one have been an organization that believes that they are smarter than everyone else even when the evidence is to the contrary and it trickles down from Paul DePodesta (and Sashi Brown in his era), Andrew Berry, and ending with Kevin Stefanski, which then appears in situations such as this and that ends with Stefanski answering bizarrely at the post-game press conference that "we had to get points there".

Then why didn't you?

5) And it wouldn't be the Browns without a catastrophic pass defensive breakdown in the fourth quarter as Marcus Mariota hit Olamide Zaccheaus for a 42-yard gain and then Denzel Ward was called for a facemask penalty to place the Falcons into position for the game-winning field goal by Younghoe Kim.

6) That completion was the only pass attempt from Marcus Mariota on the game-winning drive for Atlanta, who possessed the ball three times in the final quarter and scored on all three against the Cleveland defense on drives of 75, 73, and 64 yards.

Add them up and the Cleveland defense gave up 212 yards in the final quarter.

7) Marcus Mariota completed only seven passes and threw just nineteen but what Atlanta did was what Cleveland was supposed to do to teams- pound the rock and wear defenses down late in the game.

Atlanta rushed for 202 yards with non-household names Tyler Allegeier (84) and Caleb Huntley (56) accounting for most of the total.

8) Cleveland, on the other hand, threw 35 passes and ran the ball 35 times.

Jacoby Brissett didn't play badly but this wasn't a good effort either.

9) Some of that may have been Brissett but Kevin Stefanski's playcalling didn't help either as only four passes were thrown to Amari Cooper, completing one for only nine yards.

Cooper is the team's top playmaker and one catch for nine yards isn't going to open up the offense very often.

10) Of course, the Browns were going to miss Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney and for the most part the defensive line was decent enough until the final period.

Cleveland did receive a sack from Jordan Elliott, the Browns were shorthanded on the defensive line, and playing the depth guys will eventually cost you and it did in the fourth quarter.

I'd add more but it's getting late.

I may add more tomorrow, should I have time.

Jets ground Browns 31-30 as heads shake

   The Cleveland Browns seemed to have taken care of business with 1:22 remaining against the New York Jets as Nick Chubb barrelled into the end zone for a touchdown that boosted their lead to thirteen points and with a lead along with the Jets having no timeouts remaining, the Browns could smell a 2-0 record going into a Thursday night showdown with the hated Pittsburgh Steelers.

Little did they know that as Cade York lined up for the extra point that things were as good as they were going to be for a long time and circumstances were about to hand Cleveland arguably the worst loss in the history of a franchise filled with horrible defeats.

The 31-30 defeat to the lowly New York Jets started when the seemingly superfluous extra point was missed by rookie and Carolina hero Cade York to keep the lead at thirteen and not fourteen.

A point that didn't appear to be important at the time spelled the difference between overtime and a regulation defeat.

After the kickoff and a nine-yard completion kept the clock rolling, Joe Flacco hit a wide-open Corey Davis for a sixty-six-yard touchdown without a Brown in the picture, it brought to mind the late game Baker Mayfield strike to Robby Anderson against Carolina only one week ago.

Still, the Browns only have to recover the onside kick and the game ends.

They don't as the Jets wrestle the ball away from Amani Cooper with still 1:22 remaining.

Joe Flacco leads the Jets fifty-three yards in one minute, punctuating the score with a fifteen-yard pass to former Ohio State star Garrett Wilson, Wilson's second of the day for a player that the Browns could have possibly had without the trade for the socially-distanced DeShaun Watson.

The Jets kick the ball out of the end zone with Cleveland needing to get into range to give Cade York a chance at redemption and on the first play, Jacoby Brissett scrambles for twenty-one yards.

Brissett then throws his only interception of the day and the disintegration was complete.

Nick Chubb ran for eighty-seven yards and scored three touchdowns with the last one ending with some controversy.

Amari Cooper caught nine passes for one hundred one yards and the only Cleveland passing touchdown reception.

Cleveland will host Pittsburgh, who is also 1-1, on the Amazon Special Thursday night in what was once a luxury game now has become a must-win in order to even out the loss to the decrepit Jets.

Brownie Bits

1) Nick Chubb should have hit the ground or stepped out of bounds on his final touchdown, which would have led to a few kneeldowns and the clock running out.

Chubb did just that in a 2020 win over Houston, so he should have known- BUT

2) Kevin Stefanski admitted in his press conference that he didn't prepare Chubb for what he wanted to be done in that situation, which is his fault.

Good for accountability at that time but is it really accountability?

The same things happen again and again from the smartest guys in the room and they are always going to be fixed.

3) The coach's job, whether it's Kevin Stefanski or a position coach, is to prepare his players for situations, and after a time-out, it is essential to prepare them properly.

You can argue Chubb should have known better but it is the coaching staff that didn't make sure that Chubb knew in the event that he neared the goal line to get down or out.

4) Coaching any sport at any level, in game situations, it is the coach/manager's job not to assume that the player knows what to do.

The player is in the moment, instruct him what to do, and then if he doesn't follow the instruction-the coach did everything possible.

5) It's too bad that Amari Cooper flubbed the onside kick because it took the shine off an excellent game.

Cooper is exactly what you hope to see from a number one receiver- he runs excellent routes, his hands are dependable and he's willing to lay out to make a play.

6) The offensive line did their job and gave Jacoby Brissett time to throw as the Jets finished with just one sack in the game.

The work by the offensive line gave Brissett good protection and allowed the veteran to play very well.

7) Jacoby Brissett's one interception was unfortunate and not a bad one but look past that and give him credit for a solid game with one touchdown, one interception, and 229 yards.

If Brissett can play like this for nine more games, the Browns aren't going to be hurt by his play.

However, that's a huge if.

8) I was complimentary of Grant Delpit last week and I'm critical this week.

The long touchdown pass to Corey Davis has been either blamed on Delpit for not being in the right place or Delpit for not communicating with Denzel Ward and some have blamed Ward.

In any case, I wonder if the Browns are using Delpit properly to get the best use of the former LSU Tiger as Delpit seems to do best when he is allowed to freelance and run to the ball and in what Joe Woods is doing with him, Delpit seems some times to look lost when used as a centerfielder.

That's not to excuse Delpit but part of coaching and personnel is not slamming a round peg into a square hole and expecting it to fit well.

9) The Browns are paying Denzel Ward over one hundred million dollars to shut down receivers and lead the secondary on the field and even if the Corey Davis score was more the fault of Grant Delpit than Ward and I'm not sure that's completely the case, Ward needs to communicate better because that's what your leaders and stars are supposed to do.

10) Cade York moved from hero to goat in one week and that's part of the high-pressure job of an NFL kicker and he has to make that extra point.

Kickers will have missed kicks, even the best of them but York's miss hurts under the circumstances and it will be very interesting to see how that miss affects his confidence.

11) Special teams screwed up more than York's miss and the failure to recover the onside kick as in the first quarter, the punting unit allowed a fake punt to give the Jets a first down, which continued a drive that the Jets would score a touchdown in the end.

12) Joe Woods as defensive coordinator and Mike Preifer as special teams coach are both on the hot seat right now and I'd be surprised if either lost their job.

Letting Woods go would be merely a message as the season has started, the team would likely promote someone on staff to the coordinator position and the system would almost definitely remain the same, so firing Woods doesn't make sense to me.

13) Mike Priefer though, I wouldn't argue against letting him move on.

The Browns special teams have been bad under each of his seasons with the team, don't seem to be improving any this season, and changing the special teams' coach would be an easier position to fill from outside the organization.

14)  This is a devastating defeat and the type of loss that has the potential to ruin seasons.

Now go out and beat Pittsburgh Thursday night and things even out but if they cannot, the Browns have no chance of being 3-1 at the end of the first month and with the schedule tightening after their visit to Atlanta, the Steeler game is a must-win.

It may be a stretch but Kevin Stefanski might be safe but almost anyone else may not be if the Browns get drilled by the Steelers on Thursday night.

More than a game or even a season could be on the line in the next two weeks- it could be some coaching and maybe even front office careers.