Browns bully Titans 27-3

     The Cleveland Browns had to wonder how they would respond in a short week after a heartbreaking loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The response was more than sufficient as the Browns pummelled the Tennessee Titans 27-3 by Lake Erie to improve to 2-1 on the season.

DeShaun Watson finished with 289 yards passing with two touchdowns with Amari Cooper catching seven passes for one hundred sixteen yards and one of the Watson touchdown passes.

Cleveland finished with five sacks with three and a half of those sacks from Myles Garrett alone.

Cleveland will host 2-1 Baltimore next Sunday before their off-week.

Brownie Bits

1)  The game could have been even more lopsided after one of the worst calls that you will see made against the Browns in the first half.

DeShaun Watson hit Amari Cooper down the sideline for what would be a twenty-five-yard gain and Cooper avoided the tackle try of Kristian Fulton and raced to the end zone uncontested.

But the whistle had blown as Cooper was ruled out of bounds after the catch.

Replays showed Cooper not only didn't step out of bounds, he wasn't even close to stepping out of bounds.

2) While the terrible call didn't cost the Browns the game in a 27-3 win, Cleveland would not score a touchdown on the drive, settling for a Dustin Hopkins field goal but it did cost DeShaun Watson a third touchdown pass and a three hundred yard passing day.

Watson showed a few signs out of the pocket from his days in Houston and he avoided the mistakes that cost the Browns so badly in Pittsburgh.

3) Much of that was due to an improved performance from the offensive line, who did allow three sacks of Watson but was much better than in their defeat in Pittsburgh.

Dawand Jones virtually eliminated the Titans' best pass rusher, Harold Landry, from the game, not allowing Landry a sack and only one solo tackle.

They may not have been perfect but their effort allowed DeShaun Watson to relax and perhaps for the first time as a Brown, allow the game to come to him rather than act out of impatience.

4) Kareem Hunt did play after being signed earlier in the week, carrying five times for thirteen yards, and while Hunt's numbers were far from outstanding, simply having the faith of Kevin Stefanski to see the field after only a few days of practice is a good thing and shows that Hunt is entering the season in good shape despite missing training camp.

5) It didn't hurt the Browns but the reviews on the first game for a Nick Chubbless running back group were very mixed.

Jerome Ford did catch a touchdown pass and ran for another score but his rushing numbers were a tiny nineteen yards on ten carries, the most for any Brown.

Pierre Strong's twenty-seven yards on six carries led the Cleveland ground game.

6) And then there was the Cleveland defense, which notched its third dominant game in as many outings.

Cleveland held the Titans to 94 yards of total offense, sacked Ryan Tannehill five times, and Derrick Henry to only twenty rushing yards on eleven carries.

Dominance in the numbers and on the field.

7) The key play of the game was late in the first half, with the Browns leading 13-3 but Tennessee was in the Cleveland red zone without a timeout.

Ryan Tannehill has a shot at the end zone and knows he has to go to the end zone because anything in-bounds will end the half with Tennessee getting zero points for the drive.

Myles Garrett runs over his man, Tannehill doesn't have the slightest chance of getting rid of the ball and Mike Vrabel starts walking to the locker room, not even trying to get his field goal team on the field.

The game was only 13-3 but you could sense Tennessee had the life taken from them.

8) Tennessee's second-half possession is as follows; punt, punt, punt, punt, end of game.

Tennessee didn't gain more than nineteen yards on any possession in the second half and didn't run more than six plays on any of those possessions.

9) Myles Garrett must have heard the talk after the Steeler loss comparing him to T.J. Watt and not favorably so.

While Watt is a more consistent player, Garrett's peak games might be better than those of Watt but those don't appear every week.

Garrett had one of those games this week and he just wrecked every Titan in his wake.

At his best, Myles Garrett can be the best pass rusher in the league, he just needs to play that way more often.

10)  Now the Browns will host Baltimore, who were upset in overtime at home by the Colts, who were playing Gardner Minshew at quarterback.

That's a really ugly loss and Baltimore will come to town ready for redemption.
Cleveland needs the win going into their bye week as they will be hosting San Francisco, who looks as strong as any team in the league through the three weeks following the off week.

Cleveland is the only team in the league with four home games in their first five games and at minimum need to be 3-2, so in order to have no pressure against San Francisco, a win against the Ravens is a must.

Baltimore hasn't dazzled in their wins over Houston and Cincinnati and today's loss to Indianapolis is a bad one but they will be ready as they always are for the Browns.

It should be a good one.

Browns win, Shawn loses

  Sorry, no analysis on the Cleveland Browns 41-35 win in Tennessee over the Titans for one huge and ridiculous reason.

Despite having Sunday Ticket, a pissing match between the owners of WUSA, our local CBS affiliate, and Directv ensued, the Browns game having been their selected game with Baltimore playing on Tuesday, and the NFL's blackout rule, everything came together for me to miss the game.

While these things should never happen to a customer, this was one of those crazy things that can happen when big business collides with the need of the customer.

Baker Mayfield threw four touchdowns and 334 yards to lead the Browns to a 38-7 lead at halftime before a furious second-half Tennessee comeback allowed the final score to be in reach for the Titans.

NFL Network replays games, so if I can, I'll try to catch it during the week and maybe offer a few mid-week thoughts on the Browns win.

The win moves Cleveland to 9-3, clinched a winning season for the first time since 2007, and pulled away in the race for the top wild card in the playoffs.

Until next time- for WUSA, the NFL, and to a lesser extent Directv.

Cleaning out the inbox

We clean out another inbox with an all football edition, so if the pigskin is not your plate of choice, hang in there there are some fun reads in here anyway!

We start with an excellent piece from ESPN as the "Worldwide Leader" looks back at one of those sports stories that not only is a fascinating "What If" tale but one of the rare stories that the story has not been told from the participant or one of their confidants.
Twenty years ago, Bill Belichick resigned as head coach of the New York Jets after holding the position for all of one day after Bill Parcells "retired" for the third time ( there would still be one more for Parcells and Belichick was promoted to head coach via a contractual obligation that was signed when Belichick joined the Jets as defensive coordinator under Parcells.
Various people commented that were with the Jets at the time and quotes are taken from a book that was written by Parcells about the 1999 Jets season, but not Belichick or anyone close to him.
It's an interesting read and you'll wonder what could have occurred had Belichick stayed as "the HC of the NYJ" rather than leave for the Patriots, but the true reasons and story might have to wait until Belichick's retirement.

Another 20th anniversary was recently marked and ESPN was there again as the Music City Miracle was remembered.
The Miracle talks to the players and coaches involved with "Home Run Throwback", which saw two laterals for the Tennessee Titans result in a touchdown with only seconds remaining to eliminate the Buffalo Bills in the AFC playoffs.
The article talks about the play, how it was drawn up, and why certain players were selected to be involved with the play.
It also talks with the players about the play, how it affected them thereafter and what they are doing currently.


One final ESPN story writes about the effect that the 2019 season had on the LSU Tigers with the National Championship won last Monday with a win over Clemson.
The article writes about the historic offense and Joe Burrow's SIXTY touchdowns passes, but it also looks back at Tiger history, which was interesting to me with the portion that I did not know about the influence of  Huey P. Long on the importance of building LSU as a football power.
Long's antics included telling coaches to run particular plays, giving halftime speeches in the locker room, promising players jobs if LSU rallied to win a particular game, and moved players into the locker room!
Imagine the NCAA fun with that happening today!
I enjoyed reading about the Tigers tradition but considering that LSU had won national titles in 2003 and 2007 (that one over Ohio State), I'm not sure I'll buy that their fan base has suffered that much in the last twenty years.

The Athletic takes over with an article on the Cleveland Browns and the people that they referred to as the "Sons of 1-31".
The Browns have only five players remaining from the 2016 and 17 Browns that combined for one win in thirty-two games and of those five players, most could be former Browns by next season.
Joel Bitonio is locked up under a long-term contract and long snapper Charley Hughlett will likely remain, but Christian Kirksey has missed a lot of time for an expensive player, Joe Schobert could sign elsewhere if the analytics group decides that his value isn't what their numbers say that it is and I would have thought that Rashard Higgins would have been on his way out after being buried by Freddie Kitchens, but it is possible that Higgins may stay, especially if Andrew Berry is the choice as general manager that I think he will be as Berry was part of the team that drafted Higgins.
The article talks to each of the five about 1-31, the disappointment of the 2019 campaign, and what and where their future could go.

The Athletic is again with a Browns draft pick, but it's the story of a Browns player that never played a game in Cleveland.
Ifo Ekpre-Olomu was the top-ranked cornerback for the 2015 NFL Draft, but a devastating knee injury in a practice for Oregon's Rose Bowl saw Ekpre-Olomu fall to the bottom of the seventh round to be drafted by Cleveland.
Ekpre-Olomu would spend the 2015 season rehabilitating the knee but was released before the 2016 season by the incoming regime (this one was the Sashi Brown version).
The Dolphins claimed him off waivers, but another knee injury in Miami ended his career without playing in even an exhibition game.
The article also discusses his background from Nigeria and what he's up to today as he is about to start a job with Nike as an athletic trainer.

We wrap with a football goodbye as George Perles passed away at the age of 85.
Perles was an assistant coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers for all four Super Bowl championships that the "Steel Curtain" won in the 70s, serving as the defensive line coach for all four teams and the defensive coordinator for the final two champions in 1978 and 79.
Perles would later become the head coach at Michigan State for twelve seasons and his 1987 team that won the Rose Bowl is the final Michigan State team to win an outright regular-season Big Ten title before the conference championship game era.
Perles left the Steelers to become the head coach of the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL in 1983, but before training camp opened for the Stars, Michigan State fired their head coach, Muddy Waters, and with Michigan State as the alma mater of Perles, Perles asked to be relieved of his obligation to the Stars, who reluctantly allowed Perles to leave and hired the then-unknown head coach Jim Mora.

SOB? Browns tossed aside 43-13

For a few short minutes, the Cleveland Browns appeared to be exactly what the hopes for them said they were.
After that, it was an evenly fought game and then after that, the wheels didn't only wobble or need to be changed, they flew off into the lake as the Tennessee Titans scored four unanswered touchdowns in the final twenty minutes of the game to hand a stunned Browns team a 43-13 defeat in Cleveland and memories of the acronym in the title-SOB, Same Old Browns.

Baker Mayfield threw for 285 yards and a touchdown but was intercepted three times, all during that final stretch that allowed the Titans to deliver the final thrashing.
The Browns will travel to New York next Monday night to meet the 0-1 Jets, who blew a sixteen point lead at home to lose to Buffalo 17-16.

Brownie Bits

1) Where do I start?
Let's start with Baker Mayfield and his three late-game picks.
Although Mayfield was rushed all day and I'll address that shortly, all three picks were bad throws and were on Mayfield.
There were other problems as well, but the quarterback has to make the throws and in all three spots, it's on him.

2) Baker Mayfield did look very impressive on that first drive, where it seemed like all the hype was justified as the Browns marched down the field for their only first-half touchdown.
Mayfield's 35-yard dart to Rashard Higgins on a second and twenty-three set up the short-yardage score by Dontrell Hilliard.
Mayfield's day looks worse on the stat sheet than it actually was, but not a stellar effort either.

3) The offensive line had excuses for its inability to protect Baker Mayfield, but it wasn't playing that well before the ejection of Greg Robinson or ensuing injury to Kendall Lamm.
Chris Hubbard was bad at right tackle and left tackle, where Lamm's injury forced him to move and Justin McCray, while better than expected at right tackle, is still a natural guard forced to play tackle due to the emergency.
This line looks pretty sour after the first game and they could jell as the season goes on, but the tackles look to be a major problem.

4) Greg Robinson's ejection caused much of this chaos and even though his kick to Titans safety Kenny Vaccaro's face looked worse than it actually was (Vaccaro stated afterward that he didn't even feel the kick), you simply cannot do such ridiculous things in the game today.
Combine Robinson's kick with Myles Garrett getting a fifteen-yard penalty for slapping a Titan offensive lineman and you see a team that either entered the game out of control or lost it in adversity.
Garrett could have been ejected as well, had he simply balled his fist instead of delivering his slap open-handed.
Plus-Who in the hell punches helmets? Great way to break a hand and miss plenty of time!

5) The Browns did manage to get Odell Beckham into the gameplan early, but the lack of the work with the timing with Baker Mayfield was apparent.
One of Mayfield's interceptions, while a bad throw on Mayfield's part, might have been part of this issue as it was intended for Beckham.

6) You can see the potential though, simply by watching the first drive.
Nick Chubb running plays to keep defenses honest, precision passes to Beckham and all of his ability after the catch and then the big play to Rashard Higgins-you can see what could be for the Browns when everything is right.
Potential will eventually get you fired.

7) For all of the accolades that Freddie Kitchens received for his playcalling, I found it lacking a bit in this one.
Outside of the initial plays that are pre-planned before the game, I thought they were generally bland.
Too many X and long followed by a run up the middle for 2 yards.
It's a process for Kitchens too and hopefully, it's part of getting his bearings.

8) 18 penalities for 182 yards.
And none of them for pass interference, which can inflate penalty yardage.
Count two that were declined and you have twenty!
You have to think that won't be happening again, but that number screams Undisciplined.

9) Chris Hubbard is looking like a disaster after a rough first season.
Hubbard allowed the sack for a safety on Baker Mayfield, was called for holding twice and a false start.
For all of the John Dorsey hype for what he has done and I've liked most of his dealings, his offensive line work has left much to be desired, both in signings (Chris Hubbard) in the draft (Austin Corbett, who likely wouldn't even be on the team, had he not been the first pick of the second round) and in doing next to nothing to improve the offensive line in the off-season.

10) Just a thought, Could the Browns could have had Mike Vrabel as their head coach?
Vrabel, who grew up as a Browns fan, might have been the choice-IF Jimmy Haslam didn't force Dorsey to keep Hue Jackson in a decision that everyone outside of Haslam and maybe Jackson could see was going to be a disaster.

11) Finally, it's one game.
It's a big loss to the fans and I'd be lying to say I'm not very disappointed.
BUT it is one game.
BUT it makes the Jets on Monday night a very important game.
Lose that and you are 0-2 with the Rams at home and then at Baltimore, so a loss means that 0-4 is not improbable.
This one is just one game, the next one seems even bigger.

Browns cut to 53, Trade with Titans and Packers

The NFL deadline for cutting to 53 might have come and gone, but the Cleveland Browns weren't finished at only cutting players as they swung trades to acquire two players from other teams and may make another claim or two from today's cuts as those players go through the waiver process.

Cleveland traded for wide receiver Taywon Taylor from Tennessee for an undisclosed and likely conditional 2020 draft choice and guard Justin McCray from the Packers with a 2020 conditional pick for another 2020 conditional choice.

Taywon Taylor was the Titans third-rounder in 2017 from Western Kentucky and caught 37 passes for 466 yards last season with one touchdown, usually as a slot receiver.
Taylor's acquisition would then mean that two wide receivers would have to go to make space, which turned out to be second-year man Derrick Willes and the recently signed Braxton Miller.
Nothing against Taylor, but with a small bias, I would have liked to have seen Braxton Miller make the team.
Not only because of the Buckeye background, but he could have been a plus in the return game while Antonio Callaway is away and maybe even when Callaway returns.

Justin McCray played in thirteen games last season for Green Bay after spending the previous three seasons in Tennessee.
McCray made five starts for the Packers last season and will likely be used as a backup/depth player
.
The other surprises saw the team go with rookies at kicker and punter.
Fifth-round pick Austin Seibert defeat the incumbent Greg Joseph out for the kicking job.
Neither particularly impressed for most of the camp, but Seibert was four of four in the final pre-season game against Detroit and being a draft pick, Seibert was going to be the choice if the duel was close.
Rookie punter Jamie Gillan from Arkansas-Little Rock pulled the upset of the camp by taking the job away from steady veteran Britton Colquitt.
Gillan has the much bigger leg and has an extensive rugby background that was shown with several impressive tackles in the pre-season.
Gillan seemed to have some struggles holding for kicks which is what Colquitt did in his Browns tenure, but in camp, the team gave Gillan lots of work and apparently they have become comfortable with his holding for Austin Seibert.
Colquitt doesn't have nearly the distance as Gillan's kicks, but his ability to drop the ball inside the 20 could very well be missed.

The Browns also sent their rookie quarterback in camp to the Lions as David Blough of Purdue was shipped to Detroit for a swap of 2020 seventh rounders.

I'll try to post the Ohio State win over Florida Atlantic later and I've watched some of the boxing challenge fights, but still need to finish up others.

Browns booted by Titans,12-9 in Overtime

Photo Courtesy:Joshua Gunter Cleveland Plain Dealer

Zane Gonzalez nailed three field goals including a 54 yarder to tie the game with less than a minute in the fourth quarter and Gregg Williams defense finally showed what it could be against the Tennessee Titans.

The problem was the Browns did little under two quarterbacks when a touchdown would have won the game before Ryan Succop won the game 12-9 for Tennessee in overtime.
The now 0-7 Browns travel to London next Sunday to face the Vikings in a game that I'm sure the fans in the United Kingdom cannot wait for.

Brownie Bits

1) Just an awful football game, but there were a few good things to take away from the game, but first
what a battle of two awful uniforms.
The Browns, who looked like a bag of Reese's Pieces with too many brown's and not enough orange's and the Titans with their two-toned light blue and white featuring the worst of the 90's-bleech.

2) The one thing that the Browns have improved in another bad campaign is stopping the run.
The Titans are a run-based team with strong backs like DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry and Cleveland shut the pair down to 72 yards on 31 carries, particularly Henry, who finished with 13 yards on 13 handoffs.
Want one bright spot to hang your hat on for this season? Stopping the run.

3) This was the best we've seen from Gregg Williams this year and they did it without two starters in the secondary as Jason McCourty and Jabrill Peppers each missed the game with injuries.
Granted, Tennessee's passing game is almost as bad as the Browns and aren't often confused with a powerhouse with the football, but it was a quality outing that honestly deserved a victory.

4) And they held Tennessee on four shots at the goal from the one yard line in the third quarter.
It's the occasional plays such as those that give me fleeting glimmers of hope.
I've really seen Danny Shelton mature as the type of run stopper that the Browns drafted him for and perhaps become the Haloti Ngata type player that teams place for years as bulwarks of their line.

5) One final piece of good news was the three field goal outing for rookie Zane Gonzalez, who had his struggles earlier this year.
The game-tying boot from 54 yards out fluttered more than a Phil Niekro knuckler at the same location (remember Niekro's 11 wins for the 86 Indians at 47 years of age?), but accuracy in situations such as that one is huge for a bad team that needs every point they can get.

6) The worst news comes from the triceps injury to Joe Thomas that will likely end the season of the All-Pro left tackle.
Thomas has been the best in the game for so long and an injury like this at 33 could end a career.
Biceps and triceps injuries inhibit the ability to extend your arms and has ended the career of many pro wrestlers and offensive linemen, which need this range of motion to play their positions.
I don't always feel bad for athletes, but I do for Joe Thomas to play at such a high level for so long with such awful teams...

7) Hue Jackson just head-shakingly dumb in benching DeShone Kizer.
Look. I know Kizer threw two bad interceptions (one in each half) and has shown that he is prone to the big error, but in the last three games, Kizer has been pulled twice and benched once.
If Hue Jackson didn't want to play DeShone Kizer, he should have never returned him to the starting lineup.
I don't see how Jackson can start Kizer again, he might have ruined any chance Kizer has of having success in Cleveland as Kizer will now be looking over his shoulder to the sideline for Jackson.

8) DeShone Kizer hasn't made it hard for Jackson to pull him though as these interceptions were hardly excusable.
Add to that the fact that Kizer's attitude doesn't seem to be the most mature in handling adversity and even though I disagree with Jackson's decision, Kizer has not shown many signs of being "The Guy" that Browns fans had hoped for.

9) One more quarterback note as the move to replace Kizer with Cody Kessler smacks of a panic move by Hue Jackson.
Jackson has to know that his job is in trouble and he's desperate for wins no matter who takes the snaps- Kizer, Kessler, Kevin Hogan or the guy with the Pumpkinhead in the stands (I really like him best of all the Browns SuperFans) and he wants to do what it takes to win.
Which I am fine with, but what changed in seven weeks to think Cody Kessler is suddenly the best choice?
Didn't we go through weeks of training camp to help sift out who the starter was going to be?
What changed other than the desperate grasping for victories from Hue Jackson?

10) Hue Jackson has other problems with players apparently not following his rules as injured Kenny Britt and Corey Coleman were sent home early from the Houston game for missing curfew.
Britt continued his Dwayne Bowe impersonation with two catches for seven yards and dropping a long Cody Kessler pass in overtime that would have put the Browns into field goal range for a potential win-Woof.

11) The lack of a running game still kills this team.
The lack of any type of consistency under center (and Hue Jackson's comment at his press conference where he said he could move QB's in and out all season didn't anyone any good at all) means the Browns, if they truly wanted to try to win, should move into time control and running the ball.
35 yards from Isaiah Crowell isn't going to win games in that capacity.

12) I'm not usually tossing around compliments towards Michigan Wolverines-past or present, but Taylor Lewan's coming onto the field to offer condolences towards Joe Thomas was very classy.
Nice touch from a talented player.

Hope to hear from any of you tonight on FightHeads!

Cleaning out the inbox-Sports Edition

The usual cleaning out the inbox begins with whatever this is to the right.
I've written before about my go-to site for Buckeye news and analysis being Eleven Warriors (located in the links section) and they did a great look back at the history of our favorite mascot-Brutus Buckeye.
Well,rather how we got to the current lovable Brutus from the beginning in 1965 with what looks like a lump of crap,to a friendly apple to a frowning apple,back to the friendly apple until 1975 when someone thought whatever the hell this hybrid of Popeye the Sailor and the Maryland Terrapin was a good idea.
Thank the lord that this was a one year experiment before the apple returned for a year and was followed by the eventual Brutus that we know and love today with gradual refinements.
Just looking at that thing makes me shake my head!

The New York Times writes about Jim Bouton,who disclosed at a recent SABR convention that he has cerebral amyloid angiopathy,a brain disease that has been connected to people that have dementia.
Bouton did the convention to discuss Ball Four,but the article talks about the book,his post baseball career,what he battles with the disease and much of the article is done through Bouton's wife,Paula.
I bet Jim Bouton has made more appearances in the inbox than any other person or topic...

We've been a booster of the Hall of Fame chances of Dick Allen-particularly with the continuing use of advanced stats that show Allen is a better choice than many already in Cooperstown's claim to fame.
Baseball Prospectus,one of the more progressive statistical groups,writes about their take on the career of Allen and his case for the Hall in an excerpt for the new book by Jay Jaffe-Cooperstown Casebook.
The book looks really interesting and one I might be buying soon!

FanRagSports (which this is my first time reading) gives a lot of facts that I wasn't aware of on why there isn't a hockey presence in Houston (NHL or AHL).
Apparently the Rockets owner,Leslie Alexander,has a massive grudge against the NHL and the article discusses all of these factors that have kept hockey out of Houston.
Since Alexander has placed the Rockets for sale,perhaps the door has been cracked for a return to the largest city in Texas..

The Big 10 network is giving Lisa Byington,a long time sideline reporter on the network,a shot on play by play this season with the Bowling Green-Northwestern game.
Byington will be the first woman to do the play by play on the network and follows in the steps of ESPN,who has used Pam Ward in the past and currently uses Beth Mowins for college games.
I'm fine with giving Byington a chance as I've never minded Mowins,although I thought Pam Ward was really bad when she did her games.

We wrap up with a quick look back at the 20 year anniversary of the Tennessee Titans spending a year in Memphis before their move to Nashville.
It's from the Memphis perspective since it's from a Memphis based newspaper,but I understood why Memphis was so bitter at the time.
It was Memphis that sold out NFL exhibition game and was mentioned as an expansion candidate and it was Memphis,not Nashville that supported both the Southmen (WFL) and Showboats (USFL),when Nashville couldn't even rate getting teams in new leagues.
However,Memphis made a huge mistake in not making the best of the temporary arrangement like Oklahoma City did with the NBA in supporting the New Orleans (then) Hornets in their pit stop in Oklahoma after Hurricane Katrina.
Oklahoma City earned massive league goodwill for the help and proved their market value and the NBA returned the favor when the owners of the Seattle Super Sonics wanted to move there.
Memphis may have done the principled thing,but not the prudent thing and the NFL will never forget that-Memphis was one of the first cities mentioned for the NFL for years and now they are highly unlikely to get a team ever....