Cleveland Browns: 3 takeaways from the loss in London
The Cleveland Browns went to London with a record of 0-7 and return home now at 0-8. Here is what stood out from the latest loss.
Being a Cleveland Browns fan with expectations usually doesn’t result in a happy Sunday afternoon. Or in today’s case, a happy Sunday morning.
The Browns went to London to take on the 5-2 Minnesota Vikings and some optimistic fans were hoping this would be the day the team put together a complete game and picked up that first victory in 2017.
The team started off well but fell apart in the second half, leading to the 33-16 defeat to fall to 0-8 this year. The bye week lies ahead, but expect a lot of chatter to come out of Berea this week as fans will be wondering just how patient Jimmy Haslam is after another winless start.
Before we get into that fun stuff, let’s take a look at what stood out from Sunday’s loss in London.
The mistakes continue
The Browns cannot win if they continue to turn the ball over and squander scoring chances. Yet every single game, this has been a recurring theme.
DeShone Kizer protected the ball, which was a good sign, but Bryce Treggs muffed a punt and Isaiah Crowell lost a fumble. Add those to a missed field goal and a missed extra point by Zane Gonzalez and the defense never stood a chance after having to try to bail out the offense so many times.
The Crowell fumble came on the first play of the second half when the Browns actually held a lead at 13-12. That changed quickly after the fumble, as the Vikings made a field goal to go up 15-13.
The Browns followed that up with a missed field goal from Gonzalez, who may be out of a job when the Browns return to the field in Week 10 against the Detroit Lions.
It seems like when one thing goes well, such as Kizer protecting the ball, something else goes horribly wrong. This team can’t piece together a complete game and it is beginning to be hard to watch.
Solid play from Kizer
DeShone Kizer didn’t do anything to make a statement against the Vikings, but he did enough to hold down his starting job for the second half of the season.
The rookie finished 18 of 34 for 179 yards and a rushing touchdown, but the most important part is the fact he didn’t throw an interception.
Fans are searching for any positives at this point, and Kizer not giving away possessions is a positive from the game. It would have been nice if the lack of turnovers was true for the rest of the team.
Kizer was helped by Hue Jackson, who is beginning to focus on short passes, protecting his young quarterback. Unfortunately, this doesn’t last an entire game because the team can’t seem to hold a lead for too long.
Don’t expect any major changes
Some fans may be frustrated to the point to where they want Hue Jackson fired, or even a change in the front office. While it is possible because this is the Browns, don’t expect anything like that to happen at any point during the season.
Jimmy Haslam may have done such things in the past, but he agreed to the rebuilding process and it would be hard to imagine him making any changes after less than two years. It would even be surprising if he fired anyone after the season, but we still have half the season to go before that discussion can happen.
Next: Browns lose to the Vikings
There is nothing wrong with being frustrated, but firing anyone after an 0-8 start won’t change much. In fact, it would do more harm than good.