Cleveland Browns struggling in practice with Ravens game looming

Olivier Vernon seemed to admit that the Cleveland Browns weren’t playing well in practice earlier this week with the Ravens game just around the corner

The Cleveland Browns have no chance at finishing 2019 with a winning season, which makes them the only NFL team to not record a winning campaign at all during the 2010-2019 decade. This is a frustrating stat but it doesn’t mean they have nothing to play for in the final two games.

Not only can they move from 6-8 to 8-8 if they win both games, but head coach Freddie Kitchens could use these final weeks to prove he should be retained. He also needs to try and win over the players because it sure looks as though they have given up on the rookie head coach.

Unfortunately, some recent comments from veteran defensive end Olivier Vernon makes it sound as though Kitchens and his team aren’t on the same page still.

Vernon was asked about the team’s practice and according to Keith Britton of 92.3 The Fan, he admitted they weren’t communicating well and that is was a concern with the game against Baltimore right around the corner.

Normally a comment such as this would be easy to shrug off. Teams have bad practices all the time. However, when a team has struggled as much as Cleveland has this year, it looks like a big red flag.

After they laid an egg against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 15, the Browns had their effort called out by one of their running backs.

Kareem Hunt said players weren’t giving their full effort and took plays off. Surely he hoped doing so would light a fire under his teammates but if Vernon’s words give us any indication, that hasn’t happened.

Hopefully, Cleveland can come out in Week 16 and get the ball moving. That would mean that in the end, this will all be a moot point.

But if they do come out flat, the poor communication in practice could be a reason for that — which is just one more bad mark on Freddie’s report card.