Browns Clip Eagles 22-17

    For the third time in a three-game homestand for the Cleveland Browns, the weather was terrible- this time it was the always grungy "wintry mux" by Lake Erie with the ever-present wind along yet again for the Browns.

The wind wasn't as bad as the previous two home games, but the game was yet another less than exciting tilt that didn't pick up until late in the game and wasn't safely in the bag until the recovery of an onside kick with seconds remaining in a 22-17 Cleveland win.

Nick Chubb rushed for 114 yards to lead the Browns and despite only gaining eleven yards on thirteen carries, it was Kareem Hunt that scored the only offensive touchdown of the game by the Browns with a extra effort hurdle over Philadelphia defenders in the fourth quarter.

Olivier Vernon sacked Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz three times and Sione Takitaki grabbed a wobbly Carson Wentz heave and ran fifty yards for the only touchdown in the first half from either team to lead the Browns defense.

The now 7-3 Browns will go on the road for the first time in a month with a visit to Jacksonville against the one win Jaguars next Sunday.

Brownie Bits

1) Third game of a three game homestand with all three having various types and degrees of foul weather. 

Rain, Wind, and Wintry Mix involved in all three games and I wonder just how much effect on the outcome that the weather had.

2) That's because a defense that looked like they would struggle stopping teams in the Sun Belt conference earlier in the season has suddenly looked like a quality unit.

The Browns allowed 48 points in the three home games, which is certainly solid enough, but I wonder how much was the conditions slowing down the visitors and how much was an improved defense?

3) The Eagles offensive line is terrible.

How else can you explain Carson Wentz being sacked five times against a Browns pass rush that was without Myles Garrett?

With a few breaks, the Browns could have perhaps doubled the amount of sacks on the constantly harassed Wentz.

4) Olivier Vernon has been a player that has heard his share of criticism since coming to Cleveland, but his three sacks with one of those sacks giving the Browns two points for a safety dampened that fire for a while.

Vernon has disappointed in his two seasons as a Brown, but while you cannot deny the lack of production by Vernon, I've thought that he could be one of those players that doesn't play well through pain.

Some players are able to play through pain and others aren't able to produce at their usual level when dealing with injuries, Olivier Vernon might be one of those players that struggle.

5) Baker Mayfield didn't throw an interception, but that didn't mean he played well.

Mayfield's fumble to led to the only Philadelphia touchdown other than in garbage time and his continued struggles with accuracy cost the Browns early when wide open tight ends Harrison Bryan and Austin Hooper were underthrown and overthrown on back to back plays that could have produced touchdowns.

6) Mayfield's misfires cost the Browns a touchdown as when Kevin Stefanski decided to go for iton fourth and goal with Kareem Hunt being stopped inches from the line.

Hunt was so close that he was initially declared as having scored before an Eagles challenge allowed a replay to overrule the officials original call.

That play doesn't happen with Mayfield hitting either of two open recievers.

7) Kareem Hunt struggled in averaging less than a yard a carry, but the sheer desire shown by Hunt in scoring a touchdown is one of the more encouraging pieces of the Browns season.

Coaching changes always brings rumblings of "culture changes" and this team is showing signs of doing just that.

Hunt broke a tackle, leaped over another Eagles and tumbled into the end zone for the score when he could have easily been taken to the ground.

Small things that you see are the building blocks of future success.

8) Nick Chubb was bottled up for much of the day, but once again in the fourth quarter it was Chubb breaking a big run against a worndown defense complete with the "Heisman" stiff-arm on Philadelphia's Joe Ostman.

The drumbeat has begun on talk of a Nick Chubb extension and with it the discussion of giving long-term contracts to running backs.

Between a Chubb extension and picking up the option on Baker Mayfield, Andrew Berry has difficult decisions to make.

9) Sione Takitaki hasn't been great as a starting linebacker or even good this season, but you had to feel good for him when he scored a touchdown after intercepting Carson Wentz.

I wouldn't be even mildly surprised to see Takitaki gone from the team next season or at minimum moved to special teams where he is best suited, but he did have one day in the sun.

Hope he kept the football.

10) Give Cody Parkey credit as well for his third quarter 46 yard field goal into the Dawg Pound end of the field, which has proven through the years to be the more difficult end of the stadium to kick toward.

Parkey's previous Browns experience has proven to be handy in a difficult stadium to kick in.

Stadiums in cold weather cities are always a bit tricky and teams that use rookie/young kickers do so at their peril.

11) Much of the chatter before the game was focused on Philadelphia quarterback Carson Wentz, who could have been a Brown but was passed over when the Browns traded the second overall pick to the Eagles in a 2016 trade that netted the Browns lots of draft picks that they naturally botched with busts and failures with the exception of the now-departed Joe Schobert.

Wentz holds onto the ball way too long and takes too many hits, but he's not protected well at all by an offensive line that is bad to be generous.

While Wentz doesn't appear to be anything near a franchise quarterback and the Eagles paid way too much for him, the Browns look arguably (past front offices anyway) worse for blowing the picks.

12) Carson Wentz does remind me of one of the more important things to remember when you are rebuilding a franchise.

If you cannot protect a young quarterback, he better be a special talent as even top of the draft passers can beaten into submission as the Browns failed to do for Tim Couch and the Texans were unable to protect David Carr.

Both of those players had disappointing careers filled with beatings, lost confidence, and ruined mechanics and from what I saw yesterday Carson Wentz may be the next quarterback to join that club.

13) Finally, I may be open to a domed stadium in Cleveland.

I may write about this in the off-season, but I'm suddenly Ok with this after never supporting it before.

14) 7-3.

I'm still not completely convinced this is a good team and they still have only one good win.

However, you play the teams they tell you to and you cannot blame the Browns for that.

Cleveland should be favored in all three of their four road games (Jacksonville, NY Giants and Jets) and underdogs in their visit to Tennessee and home games against Baltimore and Pittsburgh.

Three wins and 10-6 puts them in the playoff hunt, but tiebreakers could come into play.

Four wins should do the trick, let's see if they can get them. 

Ohio State outscores Indiana 42-35

  The Ohio State Buckeyes had little problems moving the football and scoring points against the undefeated upstart Indiana Hoosiers, but they did have problems stopping Indiana from moving the ball through the air as Michael Penix's 491 yards and five touchdowns clearly show.

Still, even as Indiana closed to within seven points late in the game, I never felt overly concerned about the outcome in the Buckeyes 42-35 win.

Justin Fields threw for 300 yards and two touchdowns but threw three interceptions as well in the victory.

Master Teague ran for 169 yards and two touchdowns on the ground to lead a ground game that finished with 307 yards as a team.

Ohio State improves to 4-0 with the win and will travel in their next two games- next week to Illinois and the following week to East Lansing against Michigan State.

Olentangy Offerings

1)  You have to be concerned with a pass defense that allowed almost 500 yards and five touchdowns.

Far too many times, the safeties were caught out of the position and allowed their man to get behind them and even Shaun Wade, who you expect not to be vulnerable, has been victimized as well.

The next two games are softer, but the work is going to have to be done in practice to shore this up.

2) However, put the yardage (at least) in perspective.

The amount is severely inflated because the Hoosiers threw the football fifty-one times because they were behind or even (for a little bit in the first half) for the entire game.

Common sense says that a trailing team throughout will have to put the ball in air, so the yardage is somewhat of a non-factor, but the number of big plays (three players caught four or more passes that averaged between twenty one and thirty one yards) will make you remember this when Ohio State faces a explosive offensive team next time.

3) Another reason for all the passing- Indiana could not run the football.

At all.

Sixteen rushes for negative one yard.

4) While the national narrative is that Ohio State barely survived this furious comeback, it didn't feel that way in real time.

It was more of a grinding comeback and even at the end with Ohio State eating time off the clock with a touchdown lead, I wasn't filled with concern.

Perhaps I should have been, but I didn't.

5) In the end, the difference was a fourth quarter interception returned for a touchdown by Shaun Wade with under a minute to play in the third quarter.

Ohio State led by 21 after that play and in the final period, the Buckeyes played the clock on offense more than the Hoosiers.

That's not an excuse, it's a fact.

6) Ohio State may have slammed the door with five minutes to go but with the kicking game in shambles with the injury to Blake Haubeil, Ryan Day decided to go for the first down on a fourth and one from the Indiana seven.

Justin Fields rolled out under pressure,but launched a pass to Luke Farrell that sailed high.

However, for as much as I dislike the targeting rule, Fields was clearly hit helmet to helmet and yet no flag fluttered to the turf.

Indiana took possession and even thought they would not score on that or their final possession, the close game narrative shouldn't have gotten to that point as OSU would have had a 1st and goal from short yardage with the clock rolling.

7) Justin Fields threw three interceptions and the most concerning portion of that is the sudden appearance of Fields deciding to throw the ball up and try to make a play happen.

The first interception wasn't the case, that was the Hoosier defender watching Fields and knowing where the ball was headed, but the second was a ball that shouldn't have been thrown and was picked off after several tips, and the third was the worrisome play.

Fields should have just kept the ball and instead tossed up one of those goofy looking throws that you just know is going to wind up in the other guys's hands.

8) BUT on that interception, the play was made by freshman wide receiver Julian Fleming, who never stopped running after the ball and as Indiana's Jamar Johnson (who had intercepted Fields first and third picks) moved deep into Buckeye territory, Fleming jumped into the play, punched the football away from Johnson with Thayer Munford falling on the football to regain possession for Ohio State.

9) Master Teague may not have the breakaway speed that results in those 75 yard touchdown runs like Ezekiel Elliott or J.K. Dobbins did for the Buckeyes, but he runs hard, doesn't take plays off and I'll take those six, seven, and eight yards chunks every time.

Teague finished with two scores and 169 yards with the types of runs that accumulate totals and wear down defenses.

10)  Ohio State did start quickly with a two play, seventy-five drive that saw Justin Fields hit Garrett Wilson for a sixty-five yard pass before a ten yard version for the touchdown put six on the board.

Wilson finished the game with seven catches, one hundred sixty-nine yards and two touchdowns and continues to make a smooth transition to an inside receiver role.

Wilson has finished all four games with over one hundred yards and should he repeat that feat next week vs Illinois, he will tie the Buckeye record held by Cris Carter.

11) While I wasn't quite as impressed with Indiana as many were, I still have to give credit to the Hoosiers for not throwing in the towel when it would have been easy to do so.

I really like Tom Allen, who seems to building Indiana into a solid resident of the Big Ten's third tier for now, which means that they would be good for six to eight wins a year and a smaller bowl bid most seasons.

What I like Allen is the positive attitude that doesn't seem like it's a Tony Robbins course like some people in the Big Ten that trademark a phrase and beat you over the head with it.

12) This game might be good for the Buckeyes and could keep them motivated with games at weak sisters Illinois and Michigan State before the meeting with Michigan.

Unless a stunner of an upset happens, Ohio State appears to be headed for a Big Ten title game against Northwestern and they'll need experience handling a test before then.

This game against Indiana should keep them humble.

Myles Garrett positive for Covid-19

    The Cleveland Browns took a hit to their playoff hopes when Myles Garrett tested positive for Covid-19 and will miss this Sunday's game against the Philadelphia Eagles and also is highly likely to miss the following game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Jacksonville.

The 24-year-old Garrett is in the midst of the best season of his career after being chosen by Cleveland with the first selection in the 2017 draft and is currently second in the league in sacks with nine and a half behind only the ten sacks collected by Yannick Ngakoue, who has split his season between Minnesota and Baltimore.

Garrett has upped his game not only in the pass-rushing aspect but has improved his play against the run as well as shown by his stuffing of Houston's DeShaun Watson last Sunday on a fourth-down play inside the Browns five-yard line.

Garrett's absence was glaring in the team's loss to the Raiders when he missed some of the game due to injury and with Oliver Vernon disappointing at the opposite defensive end position, the Browns have to be concerned about their ability to rush the passer without Garrett in the lineup.

Despite the disparity in the teams' records (Cleveland is 6-3 with Philadelphia at 3-5-1, good enough for first place in the putrid NFC East), the Browns are only a tepid favorite over the visiting Eagles and I'm not sure that the Eagles might not be even money now for Sunday's game.

The Browns have beaten only one team with a winning record (Indianapolis) and the Eagles are capable of winning this game.

Cleveland needs to bag as many of these games against the weaker opponents as they can and even though four of the final seven games are against teams with losing records, only this one against the Eagles will be at home by Lake Erie with visits to Jacksonville and back to back trips to Giants Stadium to face the Giants and Jets on the road.

The loss of Myles Garrett will be a big one to the Browns and should the Eagles win in Cleveland and the playoffs are missed by a game, the loss of Garrett to the lineup might be looked back on as a significant reason in the Browns staying home for yet another postseason...

PPM

   Another week of football and another week of wondering what teams will actually step foot on the field, especially in the college game.

Last Week: 8-2

Overall: 62-25

College

Ohio State over Indiana 45-28

Boise State over Hawaii 48-24

Army over Georgia Southern 27-21

LSU over Arkansas 40-31

Troy over Middle Tennessee State 32-17

N.C. State over Liberty 36-35

Game of the Week

Coastal Carolina over Appalachian State 33-31

NFL

Browns over Eagles 24-21

Saints over Falcons 35-28

Game of the Week

Buccaneers over Rams 28-24

Cavaliers select Isaac Okoro

  The Cleveland Cavaliers were linked to several players with the fifth pick in the first round of the NBA draft and were a main part of draft day trade rumors, but in the end, the Cavaliers returned to one of the players that they were connected to from the beginning and addressed their largest need in selecting small forward Isaac Okoro of Auburn.

The 6'6 small forward spent one season at Auburn, averaging just under thirteen points a game with 4.4 rebounds for the Tigers.

Okoro is thought of by many as the best defender in the draft, with the ability to guard any player on the floor at any time, and he has the wingspan that you love to see from defenders off the ball.

Okoro jumps well and shows the potential to be an improved player offensively attacking the rim, but the biggest question mark is an outside jumper that needs a lot of work.

Okoro was lauded by Auburn coach Bruce Pearl as a tremendous team leader and tireless worker, which are words that aren't always heard about players who have left their school after only one season, as Okoro left Auburn.

The key with Okoro will come down to the development of his outside shot.

IF Okoro can improve to an average shooter, eventually, he can be a championship-level player with the type of game that title contenders all crave from the supporting cast around their star.

And if he can't? Okoro will be a defensive stopper that can score some points in the open floor, and he will always have value with those skills alone, if as a rotational player.

I don't hate the pick, I'm not sure any of the handful of players that were rumored to be under consideration would have caused me to be angry, but I do have concerns about a team that struggles to shoot well adding another player that doesn't shoot well.

Although the Cavaliers were the worst defensive team in the league last season, Okoro does address that problem at least.

Isaac Okoro might not be the flashiest selection, but his floor is solid, and I think he'll at least have a solid NBA career, if not a spectacular one. In a draft lacking superstar-level players, Cleveland could have done worse by gambling on a higher-risk player. 

Cavaliers Draft Preview

    The Cleveland Cavaliers enter the 2020 draft much as they walked into the 2019 door- picking fifth in the draft and lacking a standout player at the position that they need the most- a scorer on the wing.

Because of that gap in the draft, the Cavaliers appear to be in either trade down (they have been rumored to have been talking to the Celtics and Knicks) mode, take the best player available or shove a player in the needed area earlier that he should be picked and hope for the best.

The players most mentioned for the Cavaliers that make the most sense position-wise are Israeli swingman Deni Avdija, Auburn's Issac Okoro, Florida State Devin Vassell, and Vassell's Seminole teammate Patrick Williams, who is the name that is rising quickly on draft day.

All of these players have positives, but none are sure to succeed.

Avdija brings praises for his passing skills and his play in the open court and Okoro is loved for his defensive intensity, but both come with big questions with their outside shot.

Vassell has a better outside shot and ranks with Okoro on the defensive end, but as noted by The Athletic's Sam Vecenie is less than strong as a ballhandler and isn't the most creative in the passing game.

Plus, when I hear the best comparison is Danny Green, I'm wondering about that player at the fifth pick in the draft.

Patrick Williams is the player rising right now and in every draft, there is a player that suddenly starts moving up the rankings.

Williams is 6'8, but isn't a pure "four", he looks to be a player that can block shots and defend very well, but at 19 years old and after playing only 22 minutes a night for Florida State, Williams offensive game isn't questioned as much as it is having no information.

Williams could be very teachable on the offensive end, but it's hard to tell what the end result will be in the long-term.

Williams is thought by some teams to be the eventual best player in the draft and by others to be a back end of the lottery selection.

Should the Cavaliers go the best player available route, I really like Iowa State guard Tyrese Haliburton, who at 6'5 can play either the point or the two-guard and has a great feel for the game.

However, does Koby Altman have the stomach for taking another guard in the lottery after taking Collin Sexton and Darius Garland in the last two lotteries?

And if so, what does that mean for either of those two?

I don't see the Cavaliers going for Haliburton on that reason alone.

The Cavaliers also have a glut of players at the four and the five with expensive contracts that could keep them from taking a player that would be a good pick.

In the NBA, a surplus can become a need very quickly and if they really like either of these players, I wouldn't worry about the Kevin Love, Andre Drummond, Larry Nance Jr, Tristan Thompson (if they decide to try to re-sign him) problem.

Good front offices are able to deal with those and improve the roster, oh never mind.

Dayton forward Obi Toppin is a player that would give the Cavaliers a semi-local player that is well-known after winning the player of the year last season in college basketball and would bring an offensive game that would be exciting to watch.

Toppin is the one player in this draft that I feel very comfortable with projecting a certain degree of success.

He's going to score his 20 plus a game and he can play power forward or even center in small lineups, but he is a massive defensive deficiency and might wind up being one of those players that is always the best or second-best player on bad teams that fantasy owners love. 

USC's Onyeka Okongwu has all the things that I like in a player- Always plays hard, hits the boards, great leaping ability, and isn't afraid to play defense.

Okongwu can be a rim protector to a degree and reminds many of Bam Adebayo for his cleaning the trash on the inside offensively.

Okongwu's not an outside threat and struggles in the passing game, so he's raw offensively at best and might be career limited as a scorer at worst.

I wonder if the best aspects of Okongwu's game may be suited for a style of play that has passed by and that's too bad because, without those questions, he might be my guy in this draft.

The Cavaliers do not have a second-round pick in the draft, so unless they make a move with this pick or buy a second-rounder, the fifth selection will be the only new addition to a roster that isn't exactly cohesive at the moment.

I don't presume to have any idea what they are thinking or even a firm grasp myself.

My favorite players are at the positions that they have the most invested in (salary and draft) and although I usually say go the best player available, with a team this awful a case can be made for going for need.

I'm not sure that I'll howl with anger no matter the selection and from what I am reading at this writing, the Cavaliers could be making a deal, which is rumored to be with the Knicks.

Should that deal be completed, Cleveland would drop three spots to the 8th selection and add the 23rd selection and perhaps another asset or two.

I'd be OK with that.

Usually, I'm not a trade down proponent, but many of the players that I like at five will be there at eight, and adding a second player later in the round would be a nice addition as well.

I'll be around as the night progresses with thoughts on the Cleveland draft.

Browns ground Texans 10-7

   Through rain, snow, sleet, and hail.

That was once the motto of the United States Postal Service, but it should be the motto of the ground game of the Cleveland Browns, who used one hundred games from Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt to cut through the wind and defeat the Houston Texans 10-7 in Cleveland.

Chubb finished with 126 yards and the only Browns touchdown and Hunt added 104 to lead an otherwise anemic Cleveland offense in the win in the middle of three Browns' home games.

Cleveland improved to 6-3 with the victory and will host the Eagles in Cleveland next Sunday.

Brownie Bits

1)  The talk around the Browns fan base was the long run at the end of the game by Nick Chubb in which he could have easily scored, but instead stepped out of bounds to essentially give Houston no chance of a comeback.

A touchdown likely would have left Houston with only a crazy prayer of winning, but the step out did allow the Browns to kneel twice to end the game.

2) Chubb's decision allowed those kneeldowns rather than live plays and one never knows when a key injury can occur.

Smart, especially on a team that isn't known for its depth.

3) The Browns haven't played a game that saw two of their backs finish with over 100 yards in a game since 1966 when Leroy Kelly and Ernie Green accomplished the feat.

4) Nick Chubb finished with more yards, the only touchdown, and the backbreaking run at the end of the game, but Kareem Hunt was just as effective.

Chubb may be the better back overall, but Hunt's numbers would be very similar if used in the same manner.

5) Ok, for the second home game in a row the wind was beyond awful and made the passing game very risky at best.

Still, DeShaun Watson managed to complete twenty of thirty and he's used to playing in a dome.

Baker Mayfield completed twelve of twenty, which is nothing special, but he did manage to avoid the big mistake and the Browns did win so I cannot complain too much, but...

6) One of the reasons that I didn't want Baker Mayfield in the 2018 draft was a concern about having the type of arm strength that you need to power the ball through the cold weather that comes with playing in the AFC North, let alone in Cleveland in a stadium that faces one of the Great Lakes.

I've seen nothing in these two games held in punishing winds to change any of those thoughts.

7) Then there was Myles Garrett, who isn't known for his run defense, stoning Watson on a 4th down run play inside the Browns five late in the second quarter.

That play alone might have won the game in a three point game, but Garrett also finished with two other tackles for losses and a half sack as the dominant player on the field.

8) The wind kept the Texans from trying two field goals during the game and blew another aside, but the Browns were able to keep things in line with the wind on their end.

Cody Parkey knocked in one field goal on the strong wind end (the Dawg Pound) and that was enough to win.

9) Romeo Crennel, having coached in Cleveland, should have known about the wind in Cleveland Stadium.

So why on Earth did Crennel choose to have the wind in his kicker's face in the fourth quarter?

10) The game could have been a shutout, but in the fourth quarter DeShaun Watson appeared to be sacked, hung into the pocket and tossed the ball up for a key completion.

The drive continued and ended with the only Houston touchdown.

11) The now 6-3 Browns have two more must win games against weak sisters Philadelphia and Jacksonville.

Win those two games and the playoffs are in sight, but lose one of those and look out.

Win the games that you should and hope for the best...