Oct 26, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine celebrates a 4th quarter touchdown with wide receiver Taylor Gabriel (18), wide receiver Andrew Hawkins (16) and quarterback Brian Hoyer (6) at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Browns beat the Raiders 23-13. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Following a last-second road win in Atlanta last November, the Cleveland Browns were 7-4 and sitting atop the AFC North Division for the first time in seemingly forever.
The club had soundly beaten the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier in the season and embarrassed the Cincinnati Bengals on the road during a primetime Thursday game.
The road to playoffs lay ahead of the Browns; unfortunately they were never able to locate the on-ramp and closed out the year with a five-game losing streak.
Despite the disappointing end to the 2014 season, optimism remains high about Cleveland’s undisputed No. 1 team as the club continues its preparations for the 2015 season.
Sure, the quarterback options on the roster may be less than ideal (we’re being kind here); and the schedule will presumably be more difficult, with the AFC West and NFC West replacing the conferences’ southern divisions; and when you are just 27-69 against Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Cincinnati since 1999, the six division games each year are no picnic.
This is Cleveland, though, where nothing is given and everything is earned. For the Browns to find success in 2015 they will have to earn it every step of the way.
Here are five keys to 2015 — all interconnected — that can help the Browns bring home a better day come the close of the 16-game regular season.
Next: Stop the Run
Oct 5, 2014; Nashville, TN, USA; Tennessee Titans quarterback Charlie Whitehurst (12) is stopped by the Cleveland Browns defense on a fourth down conversion attempt during the second half at LP Field. The Browns beat the Titans 29-28. Mandatory Credit: Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports
The Browns were last in the NFL in rushing yards allowed per game, 27th in yards per carry, and 28th in runs of 20-plus yards. Opposing teams ran the ball 500 times on the Browns last year, and on 87 of those rushes they gained eight yards or more.
“We want to be a bully on defense. To be a bully on defense, you have to stop the run. To win in the AFC North, you have to stop the run.” – Defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil
“Stopping the run is huge for us,” defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil told The News-Herald. “As a coaching staff, we spent most of our offseason studying it. The three things that came up the most for us were missed tackles, being stuck on blocks and we had alignment issues. I do think a lot of that stuff will get corrected just being Year Two of the system.”
The numbers from last year help explain why the Browns used seven of their 12 draft picks on defensive players while also bringing in four defenders in free agency.
The Browns signed defensive lineman Randy Starks in free agency and drafted defenders Danny Shelton, Xavier Cooper and Nate Orchard in the 2015 NFL Draft all in an attempt to stop being every running back’s favorite opponent.
That quartet joins a defensive line rotation with Phil Taylor, John Hughes, Billy Winn and Desmond Bryant that has the potential to start making opposing running backs work for their yards.
But the defensive line is only part of the equation as the Browns will look to the entire defense to help solve the problem.
“I know a lot of people — just like they like to put sacks on an offensive line when a lot of times it’s not necessarily on them — that (think) rush defense goes onto the defensive line,” head coach Mike Pettine told The News-Herald. “Obviously, the fair share of blame is there, but it was part scheme, part the linebackers, the edges, secondary, improper angles, missed tackles. It’s part of it but probably not to the extent that most people would think.”
With an offense that is still a work in progress, if the defense can consistently get off the field and increase the number of times the Browns have the ball, that will lead to more scoring opportunities and, hopefully, more points from the offense.
Next: Protect the Quarterback
Nov 16, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer (6) is sacked by Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt (99) during the first quarter at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
We may as well all agree that Josh McCown is going to be the Browns starting quarterback when the season opens on Sept. 13 against the New York Jets as it will make things a whole lot easier.
If the Browns are getting the McCown that started eight games for Chicago in 2013 and threw for 1,829 yards, 13 touchdowns and just one interception, then the team have something going on offense.
But if it is the Tampa Bay-version of McCown? Well, then, you probably don’t need to keep any weekends open in January for playoff games.
“I think it was pretty clear to us when we looked into the results of what happened for (Josh) a year ago that a lot of those circumstances were outside of his control that made the year as difficult as it was.” – Head coach Mike Pettine
McCown went 1-10 for the Buccaneers last season as a starter, while completing just 56 percent of his passes, throwing 14 interceptions. He also took 36 sacks while playing behind one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. (Pro Football Focus ranked Tampa’s offensive line as the 25th-worst in the NFL, noting that “any time you’re forced to start Oniel Cousins it’s unlikely to go well.”)
No matter who you are, it is extremely hard to play quarterback if you are being sacked more than three times a game and getting hit numerous other times. With the return of Alex Mack from injury, and the addition of first-round draft pick Cameron Erving, the Browns clearly have one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, so if they can keep McCown clean more often than not, he can be, in the words of Pettine, a “functional quarterback.”
While much of the attention this off-season has been focused on Pettine’s comment that it is “fair to say” that McCown is at the top of the quarterback chart, the real focus should be on the steps the team is taking to build a team that can carry McCown, rather than the other way around.
Next: Start Strong, Finish Stronger
Oct 5, 2014; Nashville, TN, USA; Cleveland Browns wide receiver Travis Benjamin (11) catches the winning touchdown pass against Tennessee Titans safety Bernard Pollard (31) during the second half at LP Field. The Browns beat the Titans 29-28. Mandatory Credit: Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports
The Browns had two big comebacks in the first four weeks of the season last year, scoring 24 second-half points in the season opener at Pittsburgh, and 19 second-half points against Tennessee.
The problem was they went into halftime down 27-3 to the Steelers and 28-10 to the Titans.
While posting the largest road comeback victory in NFL history (against Tennessee) was exciting and all, that is not a sustainable model for success at the NFL level.
The Browns outscored their opponents in the first quarter last season by a total of three points (56-53), but still scored three points or less 10 times in 16 games. Those slow starts hurt them when the fourth quarter rolled around, as they were outscored 112-76 in the final quarter, and nine times only put up a field goal or less.
Opening up with a stronger effort in the first quarter would help take some of the pressure off later in the game, but both the offense and the defense need to find a way close things out in the fourth quarter this year.
A little better effort in the game’s final 15 minutes could have been the difference in losses to Baltimore, Indianapolis and Carolina, turning that 7-9 record into a 10-6 playoff appearance.
Next: Run the Ball
Sep 21, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns running back Isaiah Crowell (34) runs through the defense of Baltimore Ravens inside linebacker C.J. Mosley (57) during the first quarter at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Five weeks into the 2014 NFL season, the Browns were fourth in league in rushing with an average of 142.2 yards per game.
That number helped contribute, in a big way, toward quarterback Brian Hoyer having a quarterback rating of 103.8.
But that all changed on a Sunday afternoon against Pittsburgh.
Even though the Browns ran for 158 yards and three touchdowns that day during a beatdown of the Steelers, the season started to come off the rails when Mack went down with a season-ending leg injury.
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Following that game, the Browns turned into one of the worst running teams in the NFL as they struggled to fill a Mack-size hole in the offensive line. While they were better than the franchise-worst rushing attack in 2013, the Browns finished 28th in the league with 3.6 yards per carry and saw their per-game average drop to 108 yards.
Mack’s return will help the Browns refocus on the run, but the work will also fall on second-year running backs Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell and rookie Duke Johnson – who left Miami as the school’s all-time rushing leader.
In addition to running the ball, the Browns will look to return the running backs to the passing game, once again helping to take some of the pressure off the unsettled quarterback position.
“We don’t want to be all just one thing — where if a team takes your fastball away, you have no complement,” Pettine told the team’s website. “But at the same time you still have to have something you go to that’s your core. That’s really what we are finding out now: What are our core plays going to be? We might dress them up, in different personnel groupings, different formations and different shifts … and get to those looks in different ways, but still have those core plays be what they are.”
Make no mistake about it, the Browns core is going to be the running game, and the offense will go as far as the trio of West, Crowell and Johnson carry it.
Next: Win in December
Dec 14, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green (18) stiff arms Cleveland Browns cornerback Buster Skrine (22) during the third quarter at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Bengals beat the Browns 30-0. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
It seems so simple, but it is something the Browns have continually struggled with over the years.
Just win some games in the season’s final month.
The Browns have not won a game played in the month of December in 12 tries, with their last win coming on Dec. 9, 2012, against Kansas City.
On the December schedule this year are home games against Cincinnati and San Francisco, then road games at Seattle and Kansas City. Just for extra fun, the last week of the NFL season falls in January, meaning the Browns will close out the season with a home game against Pittsburgh.
No matter what the Browns have done over the years in September, October and November, any goodwill they built up has been continually washed away during the cruelty of the season’s final month.
To have any hope of being a contender, rather than an after thought, Pettine and the Browns need to find a way to start winning in the season’s final weeks.
What are your keys to the Browns in 2015?