Week 3 Reactions: Cleveland Browns are broken on offense

The Cleveland Browns fell to 1-2 with a Week 3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams and in this game, their offense looked completely broken

The Cleveland Browns had their second primetime game in as many weeks as they hosted the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football. Despite being shorthanded on defense, Steve Wilks and his unit kept them in the game as they gave up just 20 points to the defending NFC Champions.

Unfortunately, the offense didn’t hold up their end of the bargain as they mustered only 13 points and failed with a chance to tie the game late.

It was a tough game to watch as the Browns managed just 270 yards on the night and were unable to get it into the end zone at the end of the game following a terrific pick by Justin Burris who gave them a shot when he recorded the second interception of Jared Goff on the night.

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They were also unable to capitalize when T.J. Carrie made a great interception in the third quarter when Cleveland was up 13-10. After that play, the offense moved it just two yards, which brings us to one of the biggest takeaways from the game — and the first three weeks of the season.

The Offense is broken

Freddie Kitchens was given the job due in large part to the way he ran the offense during the second half of the 2018 season. However, he hasn’t shown that same creativity this year and Sunday Night was easily his worst performance.

Not only did they manage only 13 points, but there was never an offensive rhythm established. While Kitchens takes a lot of the blame for that, Baker Mayfield was also responsible. He was guilty of holding the ball too long and continues to refuse to look for the check down.

Mayfield also seemed to sense pressure when it wasn’t there and far too often rolled to the right as soon as he took the snap, which took half the field of play away for him.

As bad as all that is, the worst part was their final drive where they left their timeouts on the board as they moved downfield to try and tie the game. They also inexplicably refused to go to Odell Beckham, Jr. at all once they got into the red zone.

That terrible drive overshadowed a couple of late bad calls that also showed how bad Kitchens’ night was. On a 3rd-and-10 before the Burris pick, Kitchens dialed up a deep pass where all the receivers ran a go route. That led to a sack and it was an eerily similar play to the one where Mayfield was sacked for a safety against Tennessee.

The other bad call was actually the drive before that where Kitchens decided to go for it on 4th-and-9 as the L.A. 40. Instead of running a passing route there, he dialed up a draw play that went for just two yards.

Discipline still an issue

Once again, penalties were an issue as Cleveland had eight accepted penalties which gave the Rams 60 yards for free. Even worse was the timing of the majority of these as they were constantly happening when the offense would finally get the chains moving a little.

This has been a problem since the first game of the season and continues to be. Kitchens seems to struggle to gain control throughout the game and while he keeps saying they will get it fixed, it just keeps happening at the most inopportune time.

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Looking ahead to next week, the Browns will play the Baltimore Ravens on the road. There’s a lot to be fixed before that game. They can still get into the AFC North race, but they have to find a way to correct their offense, which was supposed to be the strength of this team.

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