The Cleveland Browns were blown out by the New England Patriots on Sunday.
Playing against the New England Patriots up in Foxborough, Massachusetts hasn’t been easy for the Cleveland Browns in recent years. The last game the Browns won in New England was in 1992. They’d played them six times since with no luck. Well, that lack of luck continued as they got humiliated by the Patriots 45-7.
Every time this season Cleveland has had an opportunity at relevance, they lay an egg. With the loss, the Browns playoff hopes took a serious blow as well.
The Browns defense, from their player’s lack of effort to their defensive coordinator Joe Woods poor play calling were again exposed badly in this game. Quarterback Baker Mayfield was off all day on his throws that included a devastating first-half interception that led to an easy New England score.
And why does Browns coach Kevin Stefanski continue to play call like he’s confused or forgot what the score is?
Let’s take a look at these issues that again really hurt the team today.
Baker Mayfield was off
Baker Mayfield had a chance to continue his good fortune this weekend after he had played so well a week ago against the Cincinnati Bengals, but he reverted back to that quarterback, that quite honestly looks lost, sped up, and inaccurate.
In the game Sunday, Mayfield was off the mark all afternoon, throwing balls high and inaccurately. On the opening Browns drive that they scored a touchdown, he nearly threw an interception but got bailed out when the defender dropped the pass in the back of the end zone.
On the second series of the game, Mayfield didn’t disappoint as he did throw that interception, and this time the Patriots ran the takeaway back to the Browns five-yard where they scored an easy touchdown. Mayfield was 6-of-14 on completions in the first half for a measly 36 yards. Obviously, it wasn’t Mayfield’s best day.
In a game where the team was without their best offensive threat in running back Nick Chubb, I thought Mayfield would feel the need to perform well, but again when the pressure is more on him to perform for his team, he falters. Let’s hope Chubb is back next weekend against the Detroit Lions when the Browns host them to give Mayfield a break and a chance to manage the offense again.
The long-term contract that Mayfield is hoping for from the Browns may still be there, but games like this one give a great deal of pause to all that want to see the Browns succeed long term. Is he the guy to get the team to the Super Bowl? That jury is still out.
Cleveland Browns defense
The defense was awful. They had a chance to change that outcome early on when the Patriots had their first drive of the game but they couldn’t stop New England on three third-down attempts.
Ultimately, the Patriots went on to score the touchdown. The defense then went into their familiar role of missing tackles and had their defensive coordinator Joe Woods calling very few plays to put pressure on the New England rookie quarterback, Mac Jones. New England was 6-of-7 on third-down conversions in the first half in which they led 24-7.
The effort by the Browns defenders was just pathetic. How many times did you see Patriot offensive players running after the catch or plowing through the line at will? The defense gave up drives of 99, 95, and 92 yards Sunday. Yikes.
If the Browns were to have any chance at the win in Week 10, especially with the offense giving little effort as well, they would have needed the defense to show up. I think they stayed back in Cleveland from the effort that we saw today. This has certainly been a roller coaster of a season and the Browns defense has tried slowing down that ride.
Who to blame more each week is a weekly talking point. I don’t believe defensive coordinator Joe Woods has called games well and his inability to get a gage on his team and players is a real negative for him continuing next season in the same role.
What’s up with Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski?
I just don’t understand what Kevin Stefanski is doing with the offensive play calling these days. In the opening drive by the Browns they went on a nice 84-yard drive where their running back D’Ernest Johnson ran wild for 58 yards. I understand that teams adjust as the game goes on, but Stefanski abandoned the run game the rest of the way and when he would try and run the team was already down big.
This is being written prior to the post-game press conference by Stefanski, but I hope I don’t hear him say that he has to do better again because he’s always taking the blame for his team in losses and doesn’t seem to put the accountability on his players at times.
His team played very poorly today and yes some of that falls back on the coach but the other half falls on his players that should have tried to play better today.
Now the Browns must try and recover after the deflating loss and try to get a win against the Lions next week. Cleveland’s playoff chances took a serious blow Sunday. Can Stefanski rally his troops still?
As I mentioned above about Woods, I too am very concerned about how Stefanski hasn’t been able to get that consistency from his players as well. As I believe the team is heading in the right direction, this season has been very concerning.
The swings from week to week are not good for a team that had aspirations of a Super Bowl in its future.