The Browns are not special, accept it
The Cleveland Browns are 5-5 on the year and showing that they are incredibly ordinary.
Following the 45-7 loss to the New England Patriots Sunday, one thing has become abundantly clear about the Cleveland Browns, they are not special. Building off an 11-5 season last year and adding talent to the defense raised expectations, but the team has failed to meet them time and time again this season. When facing bad teams the Browns manage to win. On the opposite side of the spectrum when they face good teams they lose. These are both signs of a team that is middle of the road, exactly what Cleveland is.
A reason why this Browns team has not performed well is that Kevin Stefanski has not been perfect like last year. This sounds preposterous right? Well, it is. Last season Stefanski was perfect, or at least close to it when coaching the team last season. These are ridiculous standards that coaches really should not be held to. Unfortunately that is the only way that this team can win with Baker Mayfield at quarterback. Stefanski has to be absolutely perfect to have this team in position to win.
Mayfield has been inconsistent all year long. There have been games where his numbers paint a much better picture than his actual performance. The last four weeks opposing defenses have adopted a similar strategy, crowd the line of scrimmage and force Mayfield to beat them through the air. Only the Bengals were not properly equipped this strategy while the Cardinals, Steelers, and Patriots all succeeded. When teams are using essentially the same defensive strategy that New England used in their Super Bowl victory over the Rams it should be setting off alarms in Berea. Los Angeles (eventually) identified that they needed to upgrade from Goff to realistically compete. Cleveland now finds themselves in a similar situation, luckily they have not handed out a ridiculous contract extension that is not a clear overpay (yet).
As long as the Browns have Mayfield and Stefanski has to be perfect this team has a clear ceiling. Sure, the defense has been a disappointment as well, but if the offense is not able to score it does not matter. Joe Woods should not be employed beyond this season and some of their defensive free agent signings have been massive disappointments. But again, if teams are daring the quarterback to beat them and he is not able to consistently, none of this matters.
The reality is that this Browns team is not special. They are incredibly ordinary and nothing more.
