Cleveland Browns Week 11 studs and duds following second-straight win

Dud: Penalties, again

Penalties continue to be an Achille’s heel for the 2019 Cleveland Browns — and Baker Mayfield even touched on that after the game. He was talking about Myles Garrett’s ejection but basically said they need to stop killing themselves with penalties.

One frustrating penalty from the undisciplined team came when Tavierre Thomas was flagged for illegally touching the ball on a great punt by the Scottish Hammer. Jamie Gillan had pinned the Steelers inside the five-yard line but Thomas had gone out of bounds and then was the first guy to touch the ball. That counted as a touchback and moved it to the 20.

Later, the penalties really started pouring in. Safety Damarious Randall was called for a hit to the head on Diontae Johnson and he was ejected. That opened the floodgates as Larry Ogunjobi was called for illegal use of the hands the very next play which was denied due to James Washington catching a 22-yard pass.

Two plays later, Juston Burris was called for illegal contact which gave their opponent five free yards and a first down. The flags weren’t done there as Greedy Williams gave away 38 yards when he was flagged for pass interference on Johnny Holt.

Cleveland ended up giving up a three-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Samuels to end that drive, putting the Steelers on the board.

Cleveland was fortunate to still win the game but they can’t keep hurting themselves like this and expect to become contenders.