3 Big storylines for Browns in Monday Night battle against Bengals
By John Suchan
Hocus Pocus: Jacoby Brissett needs to limit mistakes
One major factor in the recent Browns losing streak has been the poor play by Jacoby Brissett. He’s made some big mistakes especially late in games that have directly affected the outcome. In this last loss to the Ravens, Brissett had a ball stripped in the first half which resulted in the Ravens taking the lead in the first half after having a short field to work with.
Late in the contest, Brissett was able to get the team down to the 40-yard line but then was sacked twice, taking his team out of reasonable field goal range. He was sacked again at another stage of the game ruining another opportunity. The goal of this early part of the season was to have Brissett manage games by protecting the ball and putting the team in good positions. While he looked like that was the case through the first few games, Brissett has had more miscues than expected.
In the last two games, he’s been sacked nine times and fumbled the ball four times. He’s also thrown three interceptions in the last three games, while only having thrown two through the first four games of the year. His feel in the pocket is on and off at times. A couple of his sacks have been where he didn’t sense the defender coming from his backside and he’s had a couple of fumbles because of that.
He didn’t throw an interception this past week and did a better job of making accurate throws but for the team to win moving forward he has to maintain that focus and cut down on those sacks and get rid of the ball. He’s a lifetime backup quarterback and that’s what we are seeing at this point of the season. When he was the starter with the Indianapolis Colts on and off through four seasons, he finished with an 11-19 record. He’s now 2-5 with this Browns team so he’s about par for the course.
Can he get a win against the Bengals on Monday night? He’s 0-1 against them as he went 25-39 with two touchdowns and one interception in a close 24-23 loss in 2017 when he was the starter for the Colts. He was sacked four times in that game as well. If he can avoid the sacks and not turn the ball over then the Browns will have a great shot at the win.
