Browns Week 2 Grades: Defense, special teams fail in epic collapse
By John Suchan
Special Teams Grade: F
Early in the first half, when the Browns were winning 7-0, it looked like they were going to get the ball back as they had forced the Jets into a fourth down play near midfield. In punt formation, the Jets threw a completed pass on a fake, and Cleveland was burned on the play. The Jets would go on to score their first touchdown later in the drive.
At the end of the game, Week 1 hero Cade York missed an extra point that would have extended the lead to 14 points. At the moment it didn’t seem like it would hurt that much but the defense went to sleep on the next series as the Jets hit the deep ball in the blink of an eye.
On the ensuing onside kick, Cleveland’s special teams unit failed to fall on the loose football which resulted in the Jets getting their final winning touchdown drive.
This unit has been shaky at best through these first two games of the season. Punt returner Demetric Felton had a case of butter fingers again in this contest. Late in the game, he fumbled a punt and was fortunate to have his teammate recover the ball.
The two bright spots for this unit continue to be their punter Corey Bojorquez and kick returner Jerome Ford. Bojorquez finished with a 52 yards punt average on three punts and Ford had two returns in all including one that went for 44 yards. But even they couldn’t save them from a failing grade.
