Cleveland Browns: Is Tyrod Taylor too safe?

The Cleveland Browns hailed Tyrod Taylor as a safe quarterback, but after they struggled to score points until the fourth quarter, does he play too safe?

The stat line for Tyrod Taylor in his debut for the Cleveland Browns looks pretty bad. He completed just 15-of-40 passes for 197 yards with a touchdown and a pick.

Both the interception — and the touchdown — came later in the game when Taylor and the Browns started to open things up. Before then, they looked stagnant on offense with just a broken play touchdown run by Taylor keeping them alive at 21-7.

In a game with six turnovers forced by the defense, Cleveland still came away with just a tie. The most frustrating part was their inability to capitalize on the majority of the turnovers — scoring just seven points off those defensive plays.

After the first interception, Cleveland moved it 16 yards. After No. 2, it was 26 yards. The third one, they just let the game go to the half — which was understandable and deserves a pass.

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After that, they had the one-yard drive for a touchdown off the fumble but then moved the ball negative-2 yards with the next turnover and negative-1 on the final fumble before getting their field goal try blocked which led to the tie.

That begs the question of whether or not Taylor was simply playing it too safe — especially early in the game.

Throughout his career, Taylor has been called a game manager. He will make the plays that are there but throw it away when they aren’t. On Sunday, there wasn’t much there and Taylor had no interest in throwing risky passes.

Sometimes, you have to try those — especially when a defense is playing like the Browns were.

That’s not all on Taylor. The quarterback has his tendencies, but the coaching staff needs to be in his ear to take shots downfield more.

Will it result in some turnovers? Yes, just like it did on Sunday when Taylor was picked off in the fourth. But it could lead to more touchdowns too, like the beauty he threw to Josh Gordon that tied things up.

Cleveland is better this season than last and won’t go 0-16. However, if they want to get in the win column, they can’t play afraid of a loss. Taylor has to unleash the ball, and the coaching staff needs to let him do just that.