Cleveland Browns: Grades from loss vs. Dolphins

Coaching: F

Many will argue that Hue Jackson made some good decisions in Sunday’s game. After all, he managed the clock fairly well at the end of the first half, and the loss was all Parkey’s fault, right? In reality, no, since the game really shouldn’t have come down to the toe of a kicker signed this week.

The Browns ran the ball effectively all afternoon. But strangely, even with a rookie quarterback starting his first career game, Jackson dialed up 38 passing plays opposed to 32 rushing plays. The circumstances of the game would have called for much different play selection. There were many instances in which Jackson appeared to be trying to overthink the game, when in fact the Browns were on the fast-track to victory if he wouldn’t have interfered.

Much of what Ray Horton did on defense was peculiar as well. For whatever reason, the Browns dropped back into coverage much more than they blitzed on Sunday. However, when they did dial up pressure, three turnovers resulted and Tannehill was flustered. But, seemingly unaware of this, the defense continued to drop more players into coverage than they were using up at the line of scrimmage, yet still got torched in the mid-yardage, over-the-middle passing game.

In the end, losses like this do come down to the coaching staff. Making critical decisions during key points of a game is what coaches are paid to do. While it may seem harsh to give Cleveland’s coaching staff a failing grade for circumstances that did not appear to be wholly in their control, the bottom line is it is their responsibility to come away with wins in games like these.