Cleveland Browns: Week 11 takeaways from the offense

One step forward, two steps back

In Week 10, I sat here and discussed how the Browns had finally gotten competent quarterback play. The real question would be whether or not DeShone Kizer’s play would translate from the lighter defense of the Detroit Lions to the hard-nosed, turnover-forcing gauntlet that is the Jacksonville defense.

It didn’t.

Kizer had arguably his worst game of the season posting yet another completion percentage at 50 percent and turning the ball over four times. Two of the turnovers were the aforementioned fumbles, which happened to come in the fourth quarter with the Browns desperately trying to score a go-ahead touchdown. They even had the ball in Jacksonville territory!

The offense never really got going, even though this game had the looks of a trap game for the Browns opponent for the second week in a row. The Browns started off with a 50-yard return to start the game from Matthew Dayes, giving the team primo field position which typically garners some points and an early lead. The Browns quickly went three-and-out with nothing to show for it.

On the second drive the field position was a little worse, but not by much with the Browns starting at their own 45 after a shanked punt by Jacksonville. Kizer was picked off on the first play of the drive while staring down his intended target and throwing it right into the chest of the linebacker dropping into coverage. I’ll touch more on this play in the next section.

I was hesitant to say that Kizer would be able to squeak out a win for the Browns both in a winnable game this week and any winnable game moving forward simply based on the fact that he is so inconsistent. He took one step forward last week, but took two steps back this week.