Cleveland Browns: What’s up with the second half?

The Browns have had some second-half issues this year

The Cleveland Browns demolished the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, ending the first half with a commanding 38-7 lead. Baker Mayfield played out of his mind, and the defense shut Derrick Henry down.

The problem is, the game ended with a final score of 41-35. In a similar fashion, the team got out to a 41-14 lead over the Dallas Cowboys back in Week 4, but ended the game with a 49-38 victory thanks to a clutch (and potentially game-saving the way the Cowboys offense was playing) play from Odell Beckham Jr.

The personnel didn’t change in either game. The only difference was how aggressive head coach Kevin Stefanski and defensive coordinator Joe Woods were. At the end of the day, Cleveland won both games, but allowing teams back into games where they were getting blown out through two quarters is not a great habit to form. So what’s the deal, and can (and will) the Browns tighten things up?

It all comes down to the coaching staff going too conservative in the second half. Obviously, when you’re up by 31 points, you don’t want to be taking end zone shots every play. But the Browns went away from what was working (letting Baker Mayfield torch the Titans secondary) and continued to pound the ball, primarily with Kareem Hunt. Coming into the game, Tennessee had one of the league’s poorer run defenses, and the Browns the NFL’s premier rushing attack. However, Cleveland was unable to get much going on the ground, which led to three punts on the team’s first four possessions of the second half, two of which were three-and-outs.

With the defense giving up quick scores and chunk yardage, the Browns should have been trying to put together some longer drives to milk the clock. A completed pass keeps the clock running the same way that a run does. Should Mayfield have dropped back to throw on every snap? Of course not, but the way the Titans were stopping the run, he probably should have had more than eight second-half attempts. The Browns have invested a lot of capital into their tight ends. This was the situation to use them.

No lead is safe

Defensively, Joe Woods came out with five down lineman, replacing a linebacker with rookie defensive tackle Jordan Elliott, and that plan worked wonderfully. A forced fumble certainly helped, but the Titans had two three-and-outs and a turnover on downs in the first half. In the second half, they had one three-and-out and four touchdown drives. The other drive ended in an interception thanks to a dropped pass. The five-DL front disappeared in favor of a nickel-heavy prevent defense, which Ryan Tannehill was able to card to shreds. The Browns are thin at all spots on defense, but with Ronnie Harrison and Denzel Ward out, the secondary is not their strength. The decision to play nickel in the second half wasn’t necessarily wrong; it was the constant use of off coverage.

The fact that Tennessee was scoring so often should set off an alarm that something isn’t working. With so much space between defenders and receivers, the Browns were protecting themselves against huge plays, but were also neutering their pass-rush, as Tannehill was able to find open receivers quickly, before Myles Garrett and company could get to him.

The Titans finished with 431 yards of total offense to Cleveland’s 458. What Woods and the defense did in the first half was excellent. But the game should never have gone from 38-7 to 41-35. Three points in a half is also unacceptable, even as good as the first half was.

A win is a win, but the Browns have to be better about keeping their foot on the accelerator and not letting up. There is a time and place for conservative play, but Cleveland has gone too far in that direction twice now. Hopefully, it doesn’t cost them at some point.