The Browns had one of their more epic collapses in their loss on Sunday to the Jets. The grades are in and they aren’t good
The Cleveland Browns had an epic collapse late in their game Sunday against the New York Jets and lost 31-30. The stunning defeat leaves the team at 1-1 instead of 2-0, which was almost a guarantee after they went up 30-17 with 1:55 left in the fourth quarter.
However, they fell apart again, as they did a week ago against the Carolina Panthers. Fortunately in that game, the team got bailed out by Cade York’s winning kick. In this game, there was no good fortune.
Following Cleveland’s final score to put them up in commanding fashion, the Jets were able to connect on a quick-hitting 66-yard pass for a touchdown. There were no Browns defenders within 20 yards of Corey Davis who walked in for six.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Jets successfully recovered the onside kick. From there, they went down the field again against the ravaged Cleveland defense, making it look easy and scoring the go-ahead touchdown with 22 seconds.
The horrific ending was in stark contrast to the team’s impressive offensive performance on the day. It certainly was a wasted effort and one that both defense and special teams units should be embarrassed about.
Let’s look at all three phases of the game and give them their well-earned grades.
Browns Week 2 report card
Offense Grade: A
This group should be requesting the other units on the team to buy them dinner for a week and apologize as well considering their failures.
Jacoby Brissett was great going for 229 yards on 22-of-27 passing with one touchdown to wide receiver Amari Cooper. Brissett also had a few good runs that kept the chains moving.
Cooper was great catching nine passes for 101 yards. The No. 1 wideout looked comfortable in this game and was on the same page as Brissett after just missing on a few connections in Week 1
Both tight ends Harrison Bryant and David Njoku had decent efforts as well. They combined for six receptions and 77 yards.
The Cleveland ground game was again the centerpiece on offense as Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt were outstanding in their efforts. They combined for nearly 200 yards of offense as Chubb finished with 87 yards on just 17 carries and a season-high three touchdowns.
Hunt ended up running for 58 yards on 13 carries. Brissett even got into the act as he had six scampers for 43 yards and even made a few Jets miss on tackles as he juked around them.
The team is averaging 28 points a game and that should spell victories. Unfortunately, the rest of the team couldn’t hold up their end of the bargain in this loss.
Defense Grade: F
This grade would have at least been a C or maybe even a B if it hadn’t been for the last two drives of the game.
The Jets were able to move the ball on the Browns for much of the afternoon but it wasn’t until the last two drives that it changed the outcome of the game.
New York finished with 402 yards of offense. Rookie wide receiver, and former Ohio State Buckeye, Garrett Wilson shredded the Cleveland secondary with eight catches for 102 yards including the game-winning touchdown.
The lack of communication on defense has become an alarming problem as it’s nearly cost them two losses in the early season. If it weren’t for Cade York kicking a 58-yard field goal against the Panthers then this team would be 0-2.
The defense’s game plan in Week 2 rarely put pressure on the quarterback either and if it weren’t for a strip sack by the Brown’s defensive end Jadeveon Clowney late in the first half, then they might have been losing at halftime rather than tied. The Jets were able to orchestrate yet another drive after that sack that resulted in them knotting the game.
For all the chatter coming into the season about the potential for this defense, it’s certainly been the polar opposite of that, as opponents seem to be able to recognize the problems and expose this group a lot.
It’s a quick turnaround this week, so we’ll have to wait and see how they play Thursday when they welcome the Pittsburgh Steelers to town.
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.
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