Turnovers fueling Cleveland Browns early success

Led by Myles Garrett, the Cleveland Browns are killing it in turnovers

Turnovers have been a major factor in the Cleveland Browns early success. A key turning point versus Dallas was Myles Garrett executing a kung fu grab and pin move to strip the ball from superstar quarterback Dak Prescott.

That is not easy, because Prescott is big, strong, agile, and is usually savvy enough to be able to evade the strip-sack in the first place. Garrett makes it look simple, but it is incredible that he pulled that off.

That play was a disaster for the Cowboys because the Browns converted it into points with a four-play drive topped off by a one-yard touchdown pass to tight end Austin Hooper.

https://twitter.com/Browns/status/1312814253154369536?s=20

Perhaps that rattled the Cowpokes, because on the first play of the next Cowboy possession,  Andrew Sendejo, was able to induce Ezekiel Elliott to cough up another fumble. That led to a six-play, 51-yard drive and a two-yard touchdown for Kareem Hunt.

But the Garrett strip-sack was the most impressive play because it came against a veteran who is usually very capable of avoiding those disasters.

The previous week, against Washington, the Browns had a field day against Dwayne Haskins, the youngster from Ohio State. Garrett was also able to strip-sack Haskins, who threw three interceptions on the day. That game was actually close until the fourth quarter, when the Browns rang up 17 unanswered points and the Washingtonians were just unable to hang onto the ball.  The Browns were not necessarily a juggernaut, but they did not turn the ball over, and that is why they won.

Haskins is technically a second-year player, but only had one year at Ohio State as a starter, so in effect, he really is as inexperienced as a rookie. Speaking of rookies, against Cincinnati, Garrett also strip-sacked Joe Burrow in the third quarter of that game.

Had that not happened, the Bengals could have won that game, because the talented  Burrow has established himself as a dangerous quarterback despite his rookie status. If the Bengals had been thoughtful enough to provide pass production, he might be a star already. But, being the Bengals, they kind of forgot about it, it seems. At any rate, he has had to run for his life, and a very good running back like Joe Mixon has not been able to make significant yardage.

Even in the disastrous Baltimore game, Garrett was able to recover a fumble by fullback Patrick Ricard. Face it, the guy is a fumble machine.