Cleveland Browns Special Teams are a disaster, folks!

The Cleveland Browns special teams have been declared a disaster area. This has become a major area of concern for them in the 2018 season

The Cleveland Browns special teams have been declared a disaster area. Browns fans can only hope that Governor Kasich will request federal assistance because the team is unable to play special teams without assistance.

The difference between special teams was never more evident in the Browns’ ignominious defeat at the hands of the Oakland Raiders. In the fourth quarter, the Raiders’ Dwayne Harris uncorked a nice punt return of 49 yards and ran right past Britton Colquitt, who did not interfere with Harris in any significant way. Perhaps he thought he was in the way of another Browns defender and wanted to get out of the way. Who knows?

Later rookie kicker Matthew McCrane dove into the pile and came away with the football after the Browns fumbled the kickoff. It turns out that the play was negated by a penalty, but the point was made.

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Matthew McCrane was ten times tougher than Colquitt on that day. Harris had a great day, getting 98 yards on punt returns to the Browns’ 10. Kickoff returns weren’t much better as the Browns averaged only 17.6 yards per return.

This pattern of Special Team weakness started in the Game 1 tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers. T.J. Watt blocked the Browns’ attempt for a game winning field goal in overtime. In addition, The Browns returned three kicks for an average of only 15.3 yards per return.

Out of seven Steelers punts, the Browns returned only one for a total of 15 yards, while the Steelers returned five punts for 56 yards. In short, the Steelers put up better numbers in all special teams categories.

The game against the New Orleans Saints in Week 2 was an epic disaster, as kicker Zane Gonzales missed four kicks including a potential game-tying field goal.

This earned him a pink slip the next day as the Browns auditioned new kickers. Gonzales had great stats in college, where the goal posts are wider. Sashi Brown was probably smart to use a seventh round pick on a kicker, going slightly against the grain as NFL teams for whatever reason typically don’t do that.

The problem was that Cody Parkey performed better in the exhibition games, but Gonzales was kept, possibly because he was a pedigreed draft pick. Gonzales definitely has the strength to reach NFL distances, but the accuracy just wasn’t there during the game.

Maybe if he accepts a gig in Canada or even Minor League football, he can improve and give it another go. But if you miss four kicks in an NFL game after a poor year the previous season, it was inevitable that a new kicker would be brought in.

The Browns managed to beat the Jets in Week 3, with help from new kicker Greg Joseph, who didn’t look great but managed to go 2-of-2 in field goals, although some of his kicks might remind Cleveland fans of Phil Neikro’s elusive knuckleball at times. But Britton Colquitt managed only 34.1 yards per punt over eight attempts.

This compares to 49.1 yards per kick from Lachian Edwards on the same field. One Colquitt punt was blocked by the Jets. Overall, the Browns are 30^th in the NFL in net punting yards after Week 4, and are giving up 12.8 yards per punt return. Conversely the Browns are averaging only five yards per punt return of their own, and in addition show poor judgment about which punts are returnable and which are not. In

It may be that the Browns miss former Special Teams Coach Chris Tabor, who was fired after last year’s 0-16 season. The previous year, special teams made the big play for the Browns in the lone victory, as Jamie Meder blocked a short field goal against San Diego to seal the win.

Well, Tabor and Meder are gone now, as well as other special teams contributors from the past few years such as Ricardo Louis (IR), Marlon Moore, Barkevious Mingo, Johnson Bademosi, Tank Carder, Jordan Poyer and others. These guys may not have been the greatest players, but they were very good contributors on special teams.

The 2018 team so far hasn’t found the Special Teams specialists that the Browns had in the past. It goes without saying that the returners haven’t been there since Travis Benjamin was sent packing, and even earlier when Josh Cribbs was a perennial All Pro on special teams. Cribbs was a sensational return man, but also an exceptional gunner on coverage.

One of the current Browns that has emerged as a force on special teams is rookie tailback Nick Chubb. Surprisingly, the rookie from Georgia leads special teams in tackles with five.

Also, veteran fullback/TE Orson Charles, cornerback Brien Boddy Calhoun, safety Derrick Kindred, and CB Denzel Rice have three special teams tackles apiece. The current Special Teams Coach is Amos Jones, who held a similar position in Arizona, and prior to that was on the staff of the Steelers as a special teams assistant.

So there is no reason to doubt the Coach’s qualifications (and in case you are wondering the Arizona Cardinals special teams this year are even worse than the Browns, so whatever problems might exist in Arizona were not solved by axing the Special Teams Coach.

No more than likely, the Browns just need help on special teams.  Jeff Janis was a minor free agent acquisition from Green Bay who was cut partly because of dropped passes in the exhibition season.  But he is known as a special teams ace and is available.  Somewhere, somehow the Browns need to add guys to help out in this area.