5 Studs and duds from Cleveland Browns Monday Night Football defeat

Dud: M.J. Stewart, Nickelback

With Denzel Ward missing another game, the Browns secondary was once again short-handed.  While Kevin Johnson has filled in nicely at cornerback, the real weakness this week was at the nickel position played by M.J. Stewart. Not only was Stewart the game captain, but he had also worked so hard to take the spot away from Tavierre Thomas who was originally the fourth defensive back.

Truthfully, it just wasn’t Stewart’s night, and that is going to happen from time to time. It’s just unfortunate it happened in such a big game and had such a big impact. Twice in the first half Stewart was penalized on third down, and one was for pass interference on a horribly thrown ball that should have had the punt team on next for the Ravens. Instead, the Ravens ended up scoring a touchdown and the pain just wouldn’t stop.

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is famous for throwing the ball over the middle substantially more than any quarterback in the NFL, and Stewart was certainly exposed in that scheme. The fact that Thomas wasn’t thrown in the game shows that the coaches have faith in Stewart, but the weakness in the secondary was tough for the Browns on Monday Night.

I know I know I know, the Ravens running game is what killed the Browns defense, but think about three or four game-changing plays that happened. They were all passes and usually involved Stewart getting beat.