Jacoby Brissett threw one touchdown (and turned the ball over three times) to Amari Cooper, Donovan Peoples-Jones caught four passes for seventy-four yards and Cade York made all three field attempts.
Cleveland drops to 2-4 and will travel to Baltimore next Sunday in a game that believe it or not could put the Browns in first place with a victory (Baltimore and Cincinnati are 3-3 at the top of the AFC North).
Brownie Bits
1) Here is the only encouraging bit of the day- Cade York was successful on all three field goal tries from 39,48, and 51 yards away.
That's about all I have.
2) No kidding comment of the day: Bill Belichick dared Jacoby Brissett to win the game for the Browns by making the Patriots' entire commitment to stopping Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt and they did so as the Browns' star backfield rushed for only sixty-eight on a combined sixteen carries.
3) Still, that's a solid average of over four yards a carry but the Browns preferred to have Jacoby Brissett throw forty-five times instead and while the Browns trailed most of the game, it wasn't until the fourth quarter that the Browns were forced to throw.
Kevin Stefanski's press conference saw him say that he needs to do a better job of getting the ball into the hands of his best player more often (Nick Chubb).
Sure seems like that is said often by the person who calls the plays- which would also be Kevin Stefanski.
4) Jacoby Brissett continues to show why he is a career backup and why his track record shows that after he plays a month or so his performance declines drastically.
Two interceptions and a lost fumble have added up to another bad game from Brissett, which is what Bill Belichek (who drafted Brissett and kept him for his rookie year before trading him) was expecting with his defensive strategy.
5) I'm not among those calling for Joshua Dobbs to replace Brissett yet though.
Let's see how Brissett plays in Baltimore on Sunday and should he play poorly again, I'd consider Dobbs for the following game against the Bengals for two reasons.
The Bengals game is at home rather than the road and with the game taking place on Monday, Dobbs would have an extra day to prepare.
6) Another disappointing day for the defense, who allowed rookie quarterback Bailey Zappe to throw two touchdowns and over three hundred yards passing without an interception.
Zappe was selected by New England in the fourth round in the draft from Western Kentucky, where he played for only one season after spending his previous college career at Houston Baptist, which isn't known as a garden that grows NFL quarterbacks.
7) Denzel Ward hasn't had a great season but the Browns missed him against New England as Bailey Zappe seemed to be going out of his way to target whoever Martin Emerson was covering.
8) Grant Delpit made two huge errors, one in watching Hunter Henry cruise by him for a long score.
Delpit did appear to slip a bit but Henry might have beaten him to the ball anyway, although he may have kept Henry from scoring.
Delpit also made a big hit on Jonnu Smith rather than wrap up and tackle him and watched him bounce off and run for thirty more yards.
9) Then there was the onside kick after the Browns had cut the lead to nine that Ronnie Harrison recovered but was overruled on replay as A.J. Green was ruled to have had his feet out of bounds as he touched the ball even though the ball was possessed by Harrison.
Green was almost celebrating the recovery more than fighting for the ball but by the letter of the law, the right call was made.
10) Why was the onside kick needed with 6:17 to go?
Due to a decision that many of the "analytics" based coaches make all the time and it drives me crazy every time that Kevin Stefanski ( and Brandon Staley since I see so many Charger games) gamble on this and on this one I don't care what the numbers say.
After Jacoby Brissett hit Amari Cooper from fifteen yards for Cleveland's only touchdown of the day, Cleveland had narrowed the lead to nine to 24-15.
Rather than have Cade York kick the extra point to cut the lead to eight points and one possession to tie the game, Stefanski chose to go for the two-point conversion and failed to convert.
I don't care what the numbers say about down seven compared to down eight, I understand seven is more likely than eight but not as bad as one possession compared to two.
11) Myles Garrett sacked Bailey Zappe twice but appeared to have aggravated his shoulder injury from his car crash on the second sack.
Garrett will be hampered for a while by the injury as the obvious physical demands of football will likely continue to see the shoulder pounded and heal far slower than one would hope.
12) With the second sack, Myles Garrett broke Clay Matthews's team record for career sacks.
13) The Browns lost guard Wyatt Teller in the first half due to a calf injury.
No word on Teller's status at this writing but calf injuries are often multiple-week injuries.
14) Just an all-around awful performance from the top to the bottom.
Accountability is preached and plenty of cliches' are offered "We are going get this fixed" but the results don't match up.
At this rate, someone will take the fall at the end of the season but the question is who besides Joe Woods will that person or persons be?
