Tag Archives: Jacoby Brissett

Just what are the Browns at the bye?

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What exactly are the Cleveland Browns?

There are times such as Monday night that the Cleveland Browns look like they are a complete unit and play competitively against any team in the league. There are other games which they appear to be outmatched and outcoached with no business being on the field. This high level of variance makes evaluating this team particularly difficult.

Offense

Offensively they have shown to be an efficient unit that can put up points. Cleveland’s 25 points per game is tied for sixth in the league as their rushing attack ranks third (164.6 YPG) and passing game is 19th (221.1 YPG).

The Browns offense was the side of the ball that most were concerned with coming into the season. This was due to having Deshaun Watson suspended for 11 games and having to roll with Jacoby Brissett as their quarterback. Brissett has performed admirably and given Cleveland plenty of opportunities to win games, even with his tendency to have the occasional cringeworthy play.

Luckily this side of the ball features the NFL’s best running back in Nick Chubb. Chubb leads the league in rushing (841 yards), rushing touchdowns (10), and rushes for 20 or more yards (9). If Cleveland is going to somehow remain relevant this season it will have to be on the back of Chubb.

Also helping their cause is the performance of Amari Cooper. Cooper has been better than anyone could have imagined with 39 receptions for 553 yards and five touchdowns. Currently Cooper is on pace to have one on his better seasons. If he is able to continue at his current pace Cooper would finish with 83 receptions for 1,174.7 yards, and 11 touchdowns, a new high for touchdowns by three.

Cleveland’s offensive performance week in and week out is far from the biggest issue here. While game plan can be questionable at times, it has largely been successful.

Defense

This is where things turn sour. The Browns defense is allowing 24.9 points per game which is the sixth-most in the league. While it is just under Cleveland’s offensive output average, that is due to a couple lopsided games (both ways) and four of their five losses coming by just nine points. The yards per game departments do not appear to be all that bad, 331.4 total (12th-fewest), 208.3 passing (12th-fewest), and 123.1 rushing (13th-most), this is a case of yards per game numbers not telling the whole story.

There are plenty of marquee names on this defense and on paper they look to be one of the better teams in the league there are clear issues. The names on the Browns defense suggest it should be a better unit, but they have usually been a disappointment this season. Blame falls on multiple fronts here. From Andrew Berry to Joe Woods to the players themselves. Berry did not address the defensive interior in an adequate manner. Woods’ scheme and coaching has been a disaster. The players have blown coverages and appear lost on a near weekly basis. This is a problem and will continue to be until it is addressed in an adequate manner.

The only saving grace for this side of the ball is Myles Garrett. Garrett’s 7.5 sacks is fifth in the league, and eight tackles for loss ranks fourth. The performance of Garrett each and every week keeps this Cleveland defense from being completely useless.

Special teams

The Brown special teams continue to be less than special. Penalties at crucial times, blocked/tipped kicks, and bad decisions in the return game have been Mike Preifer’s calling card. To be blunt Priefer is bad at his job and should no longer be employed.

Coaching

This is where things get tricky. Kevin Stefanski is an excellent play and scheme designer. Play-calling is certainly above average. This may not be the most popular statement, but in game decision making and overall management of the game is incredibly average. There are times when it appears that Stefanski just lacks a feel for the game. With the way the Browns go about their business feel is not something that will be taken into account very often. The result is a lot of advanced metrics that absolutely love their decision making even though it can be questionable at times. Overall Stefanski appears to be a solid coach with areas he is strong in and others that need improvement.

Outlook

Cleveland is 3-5 and have three tough games on their schedule following their bye. The Browns will take on Miami and Buffalo on the road before coming home to face Tampa Bay. These are not games that Cleveland should be favored in and for good reason. These are clearly superior opponents who will likely give the Browns more than they can handle. Should Cleveland somehow win one or even two of these games things will get interesting. Watson returns in Week 13 as they embark on a slightly less difficult stretch against Houston, Cincinnati, Baltimore, New Orleans, Washington, and Pittsburgh, four of which are on the road.

The win over Cincinnati certainly gives Cleveland some life, but the early inexcusable losses may have put them too far behind the eight ball to go on a meaningful six-game run with Watson.

Browns get needed win over Bengals

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The Cleveland Browns were able to defeat the visiting Cincinnati Bengals 32-13.

It was a house of horrors Monday night, but not for the Browns. Cleveland came away with a decisive Halloween night victory over the Bengals, at one point leading 25-0 over their division rival. In fact the defense was able to keep Cincinnati off the scoreboard until early in the 4th quarter. This was the all around performance that the Browns have been looking for all season and it came at a very crucial time.

The Browns outgained Cincinnati 440-229 and dominated time of possession 36:45 to 23:15. Both teams committed two turnovers with all coming before the half. Neither team was able to capitalize off their forced turnovers as the results were a missed field goal, punt, another fumble, and a second missed field goal. The game was less sloppy in the second half, but it was the Browns who got a head start with their 11-0 halftime lead, being able to build upon it with three second half touchdowns.

A big factor for Cleveland was the play of their defense as they played like a cohesive unit for one of just a few times this season. While the defense started off on the wrong foot, being called for 12 men on the field for the first play of the game, they rebounded quite nicely. The Browns kept Cincinnati’s rushing attack in check, limiting the Bengals to 36 yards on 10 carries. This surprising performance combined with the Browns sacking Joe Burrow five times added up to a great outing for the defensive unit.

Offensive highlights

Nick Chubb led the rushing attack with 101 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries. This was the third 20+ carry outing for Chubb this season and just like the other two it was a Browns win.

It was a highly involved night for Kareem Hunt, finishing with 11 rushes for 42 yards and four receptions for 30 yards. After the last two games saw Hunt carry the ball nine times, it was a return to an increased workload for the 27-year old ballcarrier.

Cleveland’s leading receiver was Amari Cooper reeling in five passes for 132 yards and a touchdown. Cooper’s touchdown came late in the 3rd quarter as the Browns took a four-score lead.

Donovan Peoples-Jones also had a productive night with four receptions for 81 yards. The former Michigan wideout has at least 71 yards in four of his last five games and has become a very productive complimentary receiver in the Browns passing attack.

Aside from a gross lost fumble it was an efficient outing from Jacoby Brissett. Brissett was 17-22 for 278 yards and one touchdown while being sacked twice. This was the highest yardage output of the season for Brissett and his 133.7 rating was the best in his eight starts.

Defensive dominance

Making his front yard Halloween decorations come to life was Myles Garrett. Garrett totaled 1.5 sacks and hit Burrow four times in the contest. It was a very impactful night for the former first overall pick.

Leading the Browns in tackles was Sione Takitaki. It was the best game of Takitaki’s career up to this point, totaling 13 tackles (six solo) and sacking Burrow once. The sack forced a fumble which was recovered by Tommy Togiai late in the 2nd quarter. With how poorly the Browns linebacker corps have performed this year hopefully this is a sign of things to come from Takitaki as this Cleveland defense desperately needs it.

Also registering sacks in the contest were Deion Jones, Isaiah Thomas, and Taven Bryan. It was the first sack of Thomas’ career, the first in Cleveland for Jones, and Taven’s half was the second straight game getting to the quarterback.

A.J. Green was able to continue an impressive streak for the Browns defense and an unfortunate one for Burrow. Burrow has now thrown an interception on the opening drive in three consecutive games.

Looking ahead

Cleveland sits at 3-5 as they head into a much needed bye week. The Browns have plenty of injuries and need to get healthy. They also need to tighten a lot of things up on both sides of the ball. There have been plenty of times that an underwhelming Browns team has dominated a good opponent with nothing to show for it at year’s end. The tough stretch ahead post-bye is very intimidating and will dictate the success or failure for the rest of the season. If the Browns can somehow keep things afloat until Deshaun Watson comes back things will get interesting down the stretch.

Browns dominated by Patriots

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The Cleveland Browns were no match for the New England Patriots in their 38-15 loss.

Different week, same story. The Cleveland Browns lost their third consecutive game, this time a 23-point drubbing courtesy of the visiting New England Patriots. For those who wanted the game to feel different that wish was granted. Cleveland was clearly outmatched from the start as the best coach of all time, Bill Belichick, was more than prepared for what the Browns had to offer.

Kevin Stefanski was forced into having to ease into the run game rather than lead with it, resulting in a lopsided pass-run play call ratio early on which did not correct itself. Jacoby Brissett was called upon to attempt 45 passes while Nick Chubb only rushed 12 times for 56 yards. Brissett’s 21 completions for 266 yards, an inconsequential touchdown, two interceptions, and four sacks led to an unspectacular 18.6 QBR. Meanwhile it was Bailey Zappe looking like an All-Pro against Cleveland’s terrible defense, finishing 24-34 for 309 yards with two touchdowns and being sacked just twice. Both sacks came from the one and only Myles Garrett, Cleveland’s new franchise leader in sacks.

Late in the game the Browns were faced with what should have been an easy decision, kicking an extra-point. Overthinking the situation resulted in a botched two-point attempt and Cleveland being down nine instead of eight. While the defense would later make this decision moot, Kevin Stefanski did not put his team in position to win. Whatever the advanced metric is used to make this decision should be thrown in the garbage. It is about playing the game situation and at the time going for two with time left in the game was unnecessary. The missed attempt forced Cleveland into attempting an onside kick which a penalty overturned their recovery.

Looking ahead

The Browns are now 2-4 on the season after playing what was considered to be the easy part of their schedule. Multiple blown leads have resulted in three losses which should not be. Cleveland is now about to embark on the more difficult stretch of their season. More complete debacles like this loss to New England could become the norm rather than the outlier.

Browns disappoint in Atlanta

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The Cleveland Browns came up short in Atlanta, losing to the Falcons 23-20.

If there was a way that the Cleveland Browns were going to lose games early in the season it was going to be in a certain fashion. The way that things played out in Atlanta Sunday was not said fashion. Much like their loss to the Jets earlier this season and their slim win in Carolina, it was giving up points in the 4th quarter to sub-par offensive units. Much like those teams, Atlanta was able to put up points late against a bad Browns defense.

Before getting into what happened in Sunday’s loss it is important to note that the Browns were without Myles Garrett, Jadeveon Clowney, Taven Bryan, and Anthony Walker in the contest, with Walker being the only player who will not return this season. Overall Cleveland has struggled in the 4th quarter giving up 50 points total, 13 to Atlanta on Sunday while Carolina and New York each scored 17 in the final quarter.

This is a disturbing and unacceptable trend early on in the season when the defense was supposed to at least be average. This would afford the offense quarterbacked by Jacoby Brissett a larger margin for error that they currently have. The team is now in a position where they have to play perfect for 60 minutes. Not only is that not realistic, it is a major reason why they moved on from their former quarterback who is currently struggling in Carolina.

The Browns totaled over 400 yards, controlled the clock (35:44-24:16), and still managed to lose. Cleveland’s offense should have scored more than 20 points, this much is true. Not being able to capitalize with opportunities in front of them is concerning. However, watching the defense fail to slow down an opponent late for the third time in four games is the larger concern. Deshaun Watson will be returning later this season and will be able to help boost the offense. The defense does not have a Deshaun Watson coming in to bolster their unit. This combined with the fact they have played the easy portion of their schedule with tougher opponents on the horizon should be setting off alarms everywhere.

Supreme Cleveland Sports Show 9/28

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The Cleveland Browns bounced back in a big way with a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, but were met with bad news as Myles Garrett was involved in a single car crash on his way home from practice. We’ll recap the game and update you on Myles’ injury situation, then preview this weekends matchup with the Atlanta Falcons

Browns rebound to beat Steelers 29-17

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The Cleveland Browns were able to rebound after last week’s disastrous loss and defeat their division rival.

There was a sense of deja vu in the final minutes of this game. Cleveland holding a six point lead and their opponent, Pittsburgh, preparing to attempt an onside kick. Luck this time was on the side of the Browns. The Steelers made two errors on their attempt, George Pickens lined up offside in addition to Chris Boswell kicking it out of bounds. Cleveland was able to drain the clock down and the Steelers were only able to run a hook and ladder with the ball ending up in their own end zone and Denzel Ward recovering for a last second Browns touchdown sealing the win.

This win is not only important for the win-loss column, but the team showed that they are to hold on to a late lead and not give it up, unlike their contests against Carolina and New York. This game was a big mental test and passing is big step forward. While their opponents have not been particularly good, there is something to be said about taking care of business late. Being able to close out games has been a long time issue for Cleveland and Thursday’s win is something to build on.

Let’s talk about defense

It was a Jekyll and Hyde night for the Browns defense, allowing 14 points in the second quarter to a forgettable Steelers offensive unit. There was that feeling that Cleveland could be letting the game get away from them as they gave up touchdowns to Pittsburgh on back-to-back drive just before the half and were poised to control the middle eight. The Browns defense tightened up in the second half forcing punts on the next four drives allowing their offense to regain the lead and build it thanks to two scoring drives.

Overall this unit is still a work in progress. The player’s only meeting appears to have tightened some things up, but some credit belongs to the fact they were facing an unimpressive passing game quarterbacked by Mitch Trubisky. There is a point later in the season when Cleveland will face much better quarterbacks and if their secondary plays like they have the first three weeks it will be a big problem. The good news is that there is an extended week to prepare for Marcus Mariota and the Atlanta Falcons which should allow for some further tightening defensively.

Game Notes

Amari Cooper finished with seven receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown. This is the second consecutive game for Cooper eclipsing the 100-yard barrier, becoming the first Browns receiver to do so since Josh Gordon in 2013. An impressive stat for Cooper and a disappointing one for Cleveland receivers.

Cooper was not the only Browns pass catcher to have a good game. David Njoku finished with a career-high nine receptions for 89 yards (second highest total of his career) and a touchdown. This was a nice bump in production from the usually pedestrian Njoku. Up to this point the former first round pick had just four catches for 39 yards. While there is a very good chance Thursday’s performance is one of his usual outlier performances, perhaps this is finally the breakout that everyone has been talking about for years.

Unfazed by all the talk of his late touchdown against the Jets, Nick Chubb was able to do Nick Chubb things rushing 23 times for 113 yards and a touchdown, continuing to show he is a force to be reckoned with. Chubb was not the only Browns running back to be productive, Kareem Hunt ran 12 times for 47 yards in addition to three receptions for 14 yards. Jacoby Brissett also added 11 yards bringing Cleveland’s rushing total to 171 on the night. The 572 total rushing yards from the Browns is the most through three games since 1958.

Epilogue

This was not necessarily a must win game for the Browns, but a loss would torpedo their chances of being frisky late in the season. Cleveland should be able to hang around in the standings with Brissett as their quarterback until Deshaun Watson makes his official team debut. If they can be around .500 later in the season when Watson is inserted into the lineup this team will have more than a chance to make a run at postseason play.

Browns collapse, lose to Jets 31-30

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The Cleveland Browns were up two scores with less than two minutes to go and still found a way to lose.

Nick Chubb crossed the goal line for his third score of the game with just 1:55 remaining and a 30-17 lead it appeared that the Cleveland Browns secured a 2-0 start to the season. That is when everything unraveled and Cleveland failed to execute in two of three phases of the game of football, defense and special teams. Reliable rookie Cade York missed his first kick of the season, an extra-point which would have given the Browns a 14-point lead. Even with the miss, being up 13 points should be more than enough to hold off a Joe Flacco led Jets offense. Unfortunately it was not.

The unraveling begins

It was a very quick two play scoring drive for the Jets as a coverage bust allowed former first round disappointment Corey Davis to score a 66-yard touchdown. This was the second consecutive week that the Browns defense surrendered a long touchdown to an opponent.

It appears that the Browns defense was not on the same page. Denzel Ward appears to stop short in coverage passing Davis off to the next defender. The problem is that the back end of the defense was expecting Ward to stay with the receiver, thus allowing a free runner down the field.

Hands team blunder

Still leading by six this was still a very winnable game for Cleveland, but it was not meant to be. The Browns had the chance to recover the onside kick and failed to do so. It was a situation that Cleveland’s special teams unit knew was coming and should have been adequately prepared for but it is very clear that they were not ready.

Defense folds again

For the second time in less than a minute it was the Browns defense presented with the opportunity to win the game. Cleveland’s defense folded as Flacco and the Jets drove down the field with little resistance. The Cleveland defense forced one third down on this drive, not exactly an acceptable performance. On the lone third down of the drive Flacco connected with Garrett Wilson for the go ahead touchdown.

Last chance comes up short

Even with the collapse there was still a chance. There was still a slim chance that Jacoby Brissett could conjure up another victory out of nothing as he did the week before. At first it appeared that maybe it could happen as the Browns quarterback scrambled for 21 yards up to the Cleveland 46. Unfortunately the comeback and redemption for York was not meant to be as Brissett would throw an interception on the very next play ending the Browns chances.

Epilogue

There was a very common and wrong sentiment about the final minutes of the game. That being that Chubb should not have entered the end zone and scored the Browns final touchdown of the game. There are times when this line of thinking makes sense, but this was not one of them. Chubb’s touchdown gave the Browns a 13-point advantage, what should be an insurmountable lead. The blame for the Browns loss belongs squarely on the shoulders of the defense and special teams units. Simply performing at an adequate level in one of those two phases would have resulted in a victory and a 2-0 start to the season for Cleveland.

At 1-1 the Browns have a lot of work to do on a quick turnaround as they take on Pittsburgh Thursday night. The margin for error was slim to begin with and losing to the Jets made it even slimmer. Not that playoffs were necessarily a realistic expectation for this team, but a loss to the Steelers would end all of those hopes on the spot.

Browns rattle Baker, defeat Panthers

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The Cleveland Browns defeated the Carolina Panthers 26-24 as they won for the first time in Week 1 since 2004.

It was an all too familiar situation, the Browns just gave up a slim lead with just over a minute left after controlling the entire game. For a brief moment it appeared that Baker Mayfield would have his revenge against his former team, even though he played incredibly poorly. Jacoby Brissett was able to move the ball into field goal position thanks to a couple of completions and a roughing the passer penalty to kickstart the game-winning drive. With just eight seconds remaining it was rookie Cade York who was able to exorcise the Browns Week 1 demons when in previous years this kick would miss in a comical fashion (doink) or be simply blocked.

Carolina had just enough time to do nothing as their last ditch effort resulted in nothing more than an explosion of energy. For the first time in a long time it was Cleveland on the winning end of this type of scenario. Many times before it would be the Browns giving up a game-winning drive with a near 60-yard field goal from a rookie kicker.

Browns dominance

The final score indicates a much closer game than it actually was. Cleveland led in first downs (23-15), total plays (74-50), yards (355-261), and time of possession (38:26-21:34). The Browns rushed the ball 39 times for 217 yards, Nick Chubb leading the way with 141 yards on 22 carries. Cleveland was able to bottle up the usually dynamic Christian McCaffrey to just 33 yards on 10 carries.

The dominance carried over to the defensive side of the ball as well, tipped seven of Mayfield’s passes and hitting him six times. Cleveland sacked Mayfield four times including back-to-back sacks by Myles Garrett in the 3rd quarter, the second of which resulted in one of his four fumbles on the day.

While their former signal caller did complete 16 of 27 passes for 235 yards and one touchdown, that stat line looks a lot less impressive when removing the blown coverage touchdown to Robbie Anderson in the 4th quarter. Even though it did happen and it does count, removing that 75 yard touchdown from the mix it is just a very pedestrian 15-26 for 160 yards for Mayfield, a much more accurate representation of his performance Sunday.

Areas of concern

The passing game never got going, but that was to be expected. Jacoby Brissett is a perfectly capable backup/fill-in starter and that was very evident for the duration of the game. Brissett went 18-34 for just 147 yards and one touchdown, a short toss to a wide-open Kareem Hunt on the goal line. The Browns passing attack is not going to be dynamic with Brissett at any point, but it should improve as time goes on. Brissett played in a portion of just one preseason game and some missed throws to wide-open targets showed some rust was still evident.

As mentioned above it was a blown coverage that allowed Carolina to have some hope in the 4th quarter. There were two instances in the game that the Browns defense blew coverage allowing for big plays downfield to an offense quarterbacked by a player who has zero business making those type of completions. Fixing these issues on the backend of the defense will be a focus of the team this week in practice.

Another area that needs a ton of work is the return game. Demetric Felton did not look comfortable at all returning kicks and that needs to be addressed. Felton did calm down after his fumble early on, but this is not a risk that the Browns can afford to take week in and week out.

Final Takeaways

The big picture is that the Browns are 1-0 for the first time in nearly 20 years. Cleveland was able to manufacture a game-winning (penalty assisted) drive in order to do so. It was also quite fitting that this happened moments after Mayfield was able to do seemingly accomplish this after constant reminders during his tenure in Cleveland of not being able to do so himself. Now it is time to put the Baker Wars in the rearview mirror and turn focus to the New York Jets, Cleveland’s Week 2 opponent.

What to expect from Browns in 2022

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The Cleveland Browns enter the 2022 NFL season with uncertainty due to changes made across the board.

Expecting a lot from the Cleveland Browns this upcoming season seems to be a big ask as they are primed for a middle of the road and perhaps disappointing finish for those with lofty expectations. The offense has seen wholesale changes with multiple starters no longer on the team from this time last year. Defensively the team has continued their puzzling practice of flat out ignoring certain positions. The only group that seems to be a lock for certain improvement is the special teams unit. Let’s examine all three phases of the game and what should be expected from them.

Offense

Referring the state of the Cleveland Browns offense as transitional seems to be incredibly fitting. Thinking big picture it is all about Deshaun Watson starting every game beginning next season, but for now it is Jacoby Brissett holding down the fort for the first 11 games. With that comes lowered expectations offensively, specifically the passing game.

Brissett is not the caliber of quarterback that Watson is and with that will come difficulties when manufacturing a passing attack. This can be attributed to the underwhelming group of pass catchers. Amari Cooper is by far the best pass catcher on the roster, but is not a true/traditional number one receiver. After Cooper it is an average (at best) group featuring David Njoku, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Harrison Bryant, David Bell, and Anthony Schwartz. These options really do not move the needle with most being third/fourth options on teams with complete receiving corps.

Due to the state of the passing game it will again be the Browns rushing which leads their offense. Luckily for Cleveland they have the best two-headed attack in the game with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. Even with their ability to be game-changing type players, a familiar issue will resurface. Teams will again stack the box and dare the Browns to beat them through the air. The good news is that this time Brissett is more than capable of playing in a non-turnover prone manner and should be able to at least give the team a legitimate chance to win. But again, any sort of high-scoring/shootout type of game will be difficult with Brissett at the helm.

Defense

Last season the Browns defense was an overall impressive unit as they were near the top in multiple statistical categories. This comes with not being able to generate turnovers at the same rate as 2020 (19 in 17 games compared to 21 in 16 games). Combined with the uptick in giveaways (16 to 22), Cleveland was fighting an uphill battle they were not going to win quite often.

Most of the defense looks the same from 2021 with the defensive tackle position continuing to be ignored. Moving on from the Malik’s last season was a wise decision. Unfortunately banking on Taven Bryan and Jordan Elliott to anchor the center of their defense seems like an unwise decision. There has not been anything in either player’s career that says they are capable of being more than rotational players.

The good news is that the Browns still have the combo of Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney on their line. Garrett is going to continue providing elite level production and disrupt offenses on a regular basis. An area of concern is the repeatability of what Clowney was able to accomplish last season (nine sacks, 11 tackles for loss, and 19 quarterback hits in 14 games). The previous two seasons saw the former first overall pick total just three sacks with the same number of TFL and QB hits in 21 games. Will Clowney be able to avoid the injury bug and be a productive player again or was 2021 an outlier? The answer to that question will dictate quite a lot in regards to Cleveland’s defensive success or failure this season.

Special Teams

Chase McLaughlin and Dustin Colquitt out, Cade York and Corey Bojorquez in. As of now York appears to be the long awaited rightful heir to the legendary Phil Dawson. While York is yet to appear in a regular season game, the uneasiness that came with the likes of McLaughlin, Cody Parkey, and the endless list of others is not present.

It was believed that the Browns solved their returner problem by signing Jakeem Grant this offseason, but a season-ending injury has thrust Demetric Felton into this role. Felton will more than likely be one of several players to return kicks this season.

Verdict

A world where the Browns are able to have a winning record without Watson and be primed for a playoff run upon his return. There is also a world in which the team wins just six games. Expectation wise, the best foot forward is the safe route. The quarterback situation paired with the roster turnover could be too difficult to overcome. Hoping for middle of the road/around .500 type season is a more than fair ask for this team. This season is not about contending, it is about continuing to establish building blocks for the future. As long as that continues Cleveland should be in position to contend in 2023 and beyond.