4 Reasons Cleveland Browns have regressed in 2021

Cleveland Browns regression: Reason No. 2 – Inconsistency on offense

I’m not going to sit here and just bash Baker Mayfield, but a huge reason this team has continued to struggle is from the lack of offense at times. Then when the offense can’t do anything, the defense loses some momentum, and then it becomes a revolving circle of bad football.

Let me be clear, Mayfield hasn’t been great, but it’s not all his fault. There have been injuries to the top three tackles, and second-year left tack Jedrick Wills has just struggled at times. With all the changes upfront, the zone scheme just hasn’t been working the second half of the season and there have been a ton of negative runs that just didn’t happen last year.

Another huge concern is the wide receiver room. Jarvis Landry is by far the best on the team, but there’s a real lack of talent when it comes to man-to-man coverage. Donovan Peoples-Jones has had breakthrough games, but then last week he had three drops that really changed the flow of the game.

I’m not blaming Mayfield, but we also can’t ignore his poor play at times. What’s hard to decipher is how much blame we can put squarely on him. The offensive line has given up a ton of pressure, his receivers haven’t been open, and he’s playing through a ton of pain.

Part of me wants to think it isn’t Mayfield’s fault at all, but he has just been inaccurate with far too many passes.

Any way you look at it, the offense has been bad all except a few games, and it’s just put too much pressure on the defense to be perfect.