Cleveland Browns offensive line over matched against 49ers
By Joel W. Cade
The Cleveland Browns came into Monday Night Football knowing the game rested on the offensive line’s performance. How did they do? Find out here.
The Cleveland Browns needed a strong performance from their offensive line if they were going to defeat the San Francisco 49ers. Instead, they looked completely overmatched in a lopsided loss on Monday Night football.
A key to Monday’s game was how well the Browns offensive line could handle the 49ers defensive line. As it turns out, the offensive line did not handle them well at all. Consequently, the Browns lost big on Monday night.
Third downs caused the offensive line fits. The 49ers consistently brought pressure. But that pressure did not come in the form of blitzes. Instead, it was the 4 man rush of the 49ers the Browns could not stop. Everyone has been talking about how the offensive line has struggled. Tonight it really showed.
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Nick Bosa owned Greg Robinson. But the Browns made Bosa’s night easy by continually having tight ends block him. Bosa made easy work of every tight end sent his way. However, I dare say the tight ends had better luck against Bosa than Greg Robinson.
In a moment that will be replayed ad nauseam much to Browns fans dismay, Nick Bosa motioned like he was planting a flag after he sacked Baker Mayfield. It seems like fans in Ohio were on the wrong end of both flag plantings.
The offensive play calling did the line no favors. Instead of running constraint plays like screens and draws, they continued to run plays that relied on the offensive line stopping their defensive line. The overmatched offensive line had no chance to execute these plays.
Not helping the situation was head coach Freddie Kitchens looking completely outcoached yet again this season. It literally looked like the 49ers were playing chess to Kitchens’ checkers. Kitchens has been outcoached in 4-of-5 games this season.
Monday’s game made the game against the Baltimore Ravens look like a fluke. Who are the real Cleveland Browns? Will the real Freddie Kitchens’ please stand up?
dark. Next. Reaction to disaster by the bay
Had the 49ers not decided to grind out the clock starting in the middle of the 3rd quarter, this game would have gotten seriously ugly. That is right, this game could have been a lot worse than the final score.