Month: November 2020

It’s Victory Monday again and the Browns are 8-3. Yes it was an ugly win, but last time I checked it still counts as a win. The Browns are currently fifth in the playoff standings and are the number one wildcard team. The Browns will be playing meaningful football games in December. No waiting for the team to fire the GM and/or the head coach. No constantly checking mock drafts. Meaningful December football games. Nice change of pace, right? The Browns are 7-0 when they beat a team they favored to beat by three points. Considering all the starters not playing, that’s a major accomplishment. Unfortunately the Browns have to beat the referees as well as their opponent. I guess some things never change. On to the positives.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, Nick Chubb is a beast. He’s the offensive MVP for this team. In the four games without Chubb, the Browns were 2-2 averaging 95.5 rushing yards a game for a 3.9 yards a carry with no rushing touchdowns. With Chubb, the Browns are 6-1 averaging 199 yards a game for a 5.5 yards a carry and 11 rushing touchdowns. In his three games back, Chubb has averaged 128 yards a game for a 6.6 yards per carry. He leads the NFL in 20+ runs with nine. Yesterday he had 144 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown. The Browns are undefeated when either Chubb or Kareem Hunt score a rushing touchdown. WR Jarvis Landry had one hell of a birthday. He had eight catches for 143 yards and his first touchdown catch of the season. The highest Pro Football Focus ratings for the offense were Landry (94.5), Chubb (88.2), Hodge (79.8), Mayfield (78.9) and Joel Bitonio (78.8). Baker Mayfield was 19 for 29, 258 yards and two touchdowns. Over the last 123 offensive snaps spanning five games, Mayfield has thrown seven touchdowns, zero interceptions for a QB rating of 106.9. The Browns are 4-1 over that span.

As for the defense, the highest PFF ratings were Vernon (82.6), Sendejo (71.1) and Malcolm Smith (63.1). Going into the game the Browns were without their two best defensive players, Garrett and Ward. Then they lose their third best player real early in the game when Ronnie Harrison hurt his shoulder. The Browns defense didn’t get a sack or a turnover, but did pressure Jags QB Mike Glennon all day. Players came up big when they had to. B.J. Goodson had a good game as did Andrew Sendejo. Next man up. Last week I was asking for the special teams to do something special and on the first kickoff return, D’Ernest Johnson breaks off a big return setting up great field position for the Browns first touchdown drive.

As for the negatives, I’m still confused by head coach Kevin Stefanski’s first drive play calling. The only thing I can figure out is he’s not scripting plays, but rather seeing how the defense lines up at the beginning of the game. Again this week Baker Mayfield missed an easy touchdown pass when he overthrew Rashard Higgins in the end zone. Watching the game, it was apparent early that the Browns rushing attack was missing a fullback. Why the Browns didn’t have Johnny Stanton active is a head scratcher. TE Harrison Bryant has a fumbling problem. On defense, the defensive line has to do a better job of maintaining their rushing lanes. I know James Robinson is a great running back, but 128 yards on 22 carries is ridiculous. The linebackers as a group took a step back in this game. On special teams, Donovan Peoples-Jones is an adventure returning punts. The Browns in the past would have lost this game in some frustrating fashion. Players stepped up and they won. That’s a testament to the coaching staff.

Currently the Browns are awaiting an MRI on Ronnie Harrison’s shoulder. CB Denzel Ward is week to week with his calf injury and S Sheldon Redwine is day to day with his knee injury. As for the players on the Covid list, FB Andy Janovich is due back Wednesday and DE Myles Garrett is on pace to be back the same day. Head coach Kevin Stefanski told the media today that the team should know later in the week on the status of DE Porter Gustin, DE Joe Jackson and LB Sione Takitaki. Getting Janovich and Garrett back for the Titans game would be big.

As I mentioned earlier, the Browns are the fifth seed right now and have a one game lead over the Colts and Dolphins, a one and a half game lead over the Ravens and a two game lead over the Raiders. The Steelers and the Ravens will finally play tomorrow night, maybe. With the Ravens having 20 plus players on the Covid list and the Steelers mad about having another game postponed, I really can’t see Baltimore winning. Next Sunday the Raiders play the Jets, the Dolphins play the Bengals and the Colts play the Texans. The Browns head here to Nashville and play the Titans. After watching James Robinson and Josh Jacobs run all over the Browns defense, stopping Derrick Henry will be a major problem. But I really can’t see the Titans stopping Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. Sunday the Colts offense was moving the ball verses the Titans until they lost their starting left tackle on their third offensive series. The Browns offensive line will be the best the Titans have seen in a while and they need to play physical from the start. If the Browns play their game, they should win. This should be a heavyweight fight. On to the next game. Everyone stay safe and Go Browns.

It’s Victory Monday again and the Browns are 7-3. Because of the loss by the Ravens, the Browns are now in second place in the AFC North. Also with the Dolphins, Ravens and the Raiders losing, the Browns went from eighth in the playoff race to sixth. The Browns are now 20-20 in the last 40 games that QB Baker Mayfield has played. That might not seem like much, but in the previous 40 games the Browns were 2-37-1. The team is tied for the fourth best record in the NFL behind Pittsburg, Kansas City and New Orleans. Have times changed. Lets start with the positives.

On offense, even though the Eagles were determined to stop the run, head coach Kevin Stefanski never stop trying to run the ball. I’m so impressed with Stefanski. He has a plan and he sticks to it, no matter what. The players believe in his plan and he puts the players in the best position to win. What a concept. While Mayfield was only 12 of 22 for 204 yards, he again had no interceptions. He did fumble and it led to the Eagles first touchdown, but Eagles DE London Fletcher put an incredible bull rush on Browns RG Wyatt Teller. We all know the connection between Mayfield and WR Rashard Higgins is special, it seems Mayfield also has a connection with WR KhaDarel Hodge. Top Pro Football Focus ratings for the offense were Higgins (78.9), Hodge (77.7), Mayfield (71.5) and Teller (71.0). On the touchdown leap by RB Kareem Hunt, Teller blocked one guy out of the way and then did his Andre “the giant” imitation by putting both arms out and blocked two defenders. RB Nick Chubb had another big game. He now leads all NFL running backs with seven 20+ yard runs. I guess Eagles DE Joe Ostman now knows to get out of his way.

On defense, the top PFF grades went to Sione Takitaki (90.4), Jordan Elliott (90.4), Olivier Vernon (86.9), Denzel Ward (80.2), Adrian Clayborn (75.0) and B.J. Goodson (73.3). Vernon and Clayborn needed to step up with the loss of DE Myles Garrett and boy did they. Vernon had three sacks and a safety and Clayborn added one and a half sacks. I thought S Karl Joseph had a good game and CB Denzel Ward is in Pro Bowl form. But LB Sione Takitaki was the star of the defense. Because of a Ward hit on Eagles QB Wentz, Takitaki timed his jump perfectly and boom, pick 6. On special teams, Parkey was 2 for 3 on field goals and Punter Jamie Gillam’s perfect punt to the Eagles two, set up the Vernon sack and safety.

As for the negatives, the play calling on the first series was kind of head scratching, a three and out. If you’re going to start the game with a pass to the tight end, try Harrison Bryant or Austin Hooper, not David Njoku. Speaking of tight ends, Mayfield had two open and missed both for a touchdown. LT Jedrick Wills had a rough game, but the Eagles front four played a very physical game. I guess Special Teams coach Mike Priefer has seen enough of Donovan Peoples-Jones as a Kicker Returner, he was replaced by RB D’Ernest Johnson. DPJ did return one punt for 30 yards. The one Parkey miss was a blocked field goal. I’m still waiting for the special teams to be special.

As for injuries and Covid, DE Myles Garrett will sit out one more game and Chris Hubbard and Andy Janovich should be back for the Jags game. S Ronnie Harrison has a bone contusion and is day to day. CB Denzel Ward is awaiting a MRI for a calf injury and S Sheldon Redwine has a knee injury. Hopefully Harrison and Ward will be ready for Sunday, but if there’s any doubt, hold them out for a game. I would rather have them both back for the matchup with the Titans week 12.

Moving forward, the only team that didn’t lose that the Browns needed to lose was the Colts, but the Browns have the tie breaker on them. It’s a good thing that the Dolphins and the Raiders lost this weekend, because both have winnable games this Sunday. The Raiders play Atlanta and Miami plays the Jets. As for the Titans and the Colts, they play each other Sunday. Like I said before, I would really like for the Titans to take control of the AFC South and keep the Colts in the wildcard race because of the Browns tie breaker over Indy. The Ravens play the Steelers Thanksgiving night, maybe. The Ravens are dealing with a Covid outbreak and closed their facilities today. The game is still scheduled but might have to be pushed back to Sunday. However it’s too late for the NFL to move a new game to Thursday night, so the Ravens may have to play short handed.

The playoff push continues with this Sundays game against Jacksonville. It has already been announced that the Jags will be without their best pass rusher DE Josh Allen and starting guard Andrew Norwell. Plus three of their four starters in the secondary are dinged up. Enjoy Victory Monday Browns fans. Everyone stay safe and Go Browns.

It’s Victory Monday and the Browns are 6-3. The Browns finally beat Texans QB Deshaun Watson and ended a five game losing streak to Houston. They did what they had to do, win a must win game. Head coach Kevin Stefanski learned from the Raiders game, when the weather is bad, run the ball. Both Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt finished with over 100 yards rushing. Chubb had 126 and Hunt had 104. The last time two Browns running backs had 100 yards in a game was 1966, Ernie Green and Leroy Kelly. Chubb leads all NFL running backs with a 6.1 yard average and he missed four games. You have to give credit to Stefanski, the Browns had about 60 yards rushing in the third quarter and finished with 231. He kept running the ball. While QB Baker Mayfield was only 12 of 20 for 132 yards, he made big throws when he had to. The 21 yarder to Rashard Higgins on third and eighteen comes to mind. Lets look at the positives.

On offense, the return of RB Nick Chubb and RG Wyatt Teller was just what this team needed. When they play, the Browns are 4-1 and when they don’t the Browns are 2-2. According to Pro Football Focus, Teller was the highest graded player on offense with a 96.4. That’s elite. The offensive line did a good job again, only allowing one sack and in the fourth quarter physically manhandled the Texans defense. They wore Houston down. What surprised me was there were no turnovers by either team. Glad to see the Browns protect the ball in that weather. On defense DE Myles Garrett was Myles Garrett. When he ran down Watson and pushed him out of bounds, he showed his speed. It looked like it really surprised Watson. DTs Sheldon Richardson and Larry Ogunjobi both had good games. The highest graded player on defense by PFF was safety Ronnie Harrison with a 77.6. He is currently graded as the fifth best safety in the NFL. He is becoming the third best defender on the team behind Garrett and CB Denzel Ward.

As for the negatives, I wish the tight ends were used more. Austin Hooper was the only tight end targeted with one catch for eleven yards. It ended up a catch for a first down, but in that weather, more tight end targets please. WR Jarvis Landry got a taunting call that killed a drive before it started and Mayfield stopped a drive with a bad intentional grounding call. On defense, I can’t stand the roughing the passer calls, but LB Mack Wilson obliged. These guys need to control their emotions. When Donovan Peoples-Jones bobbled the kickoff after Houston scored, I thought, oh great here we go again. Luckily he got bailed out by Hunt and Chubb. By the way, that was a smart unselfish move by Nick Chubb running out of bounds with 56 seconds in the game. The Texans had foolishly burned all their timeouts and no Browns fan wanted a replay of the end of the last Bengals game. The growth of this team and it’s head coach is amazing. He’s learning from his mistakes.

Next up for the Browns are the Eagles and the weather might again be a factor. Hell it is November in Cleveland. Currently the Browns are just out of the playoff race if the season ended today. As of today, there are nine teams in the AFC with six or more wins. Browns fans need to keep rooting against the Raiders and the Dolphins. Luckily they play each other on December 27 in Vegas. This weekend the Browns need the Titans to pull off an upset and beat the Ravens. As for the Colts they host Green Bay this weekend. The Browns will be favored to beat Philadelphia and should move to 7-3. With some help, they could be back in the playoff picture by this time next week. One game at a time Browns fans. Finally, it was announced today that another Browns player has tested positive for Covid, so hopefully it won’t be anyone important and whoever it is will be alright. Everyone stay safe and Go Browns.

It’s been a very news worthy bye week. First QB Baker Mayfield was placed on the Injured/Covid-19 list on Sunday. After panicking for about three minutes, Browns fans found out he had not tested positive, but had come in contact with a staff member who had. As of this morning, Mayfield was activated from the Covid list and will practice today. Major sigh of relief. Monday felt like victory Monday when we all found out RB Nick Chubb was activated from the IR and returned to practice. Besides Chubb, TE Austin Hooper, RG Wyatt Teller, DE Myles Garrett, WR Jarvis Landry, FB Andy Janovich and LB Jacob Phillips also returned to practice. More sighs of relief and fist pumping. While most Browns fans are celebrating Chubb And Wyatt returning, I’m celebrating the return of LB Jacob Phillips. The Browns defense missed his athleticism and speed. Combine Phillips return with LB Mack Wilson saying he’s finally feeling 100% and the linebacker corps are instantly improved.

On Tuesday, head coach Kevin Stefanski told the Cleveland media the coaching staff spent the bye week scouting themselves. Stefanski added, they took apart all phases of the team and put them back together again. Sounds like a great plan, especially on defense. On offense, I’d like to see the tight ends used more in the passing game. On defense, put LB Mack Wilson back in his normal position and play Ronnie Harrison at strong safety and Sheldon Redwine at free safety. It wouldn’t hurt to try. I’m interested in seeing how Stefanski handles the team coming out of the bye week. It will be another first for the head coach. Historically the Browns are terrible coming out of the bye, going 13-20. The last victory after the bye week came against the Bengals in 2018, Mayfields rookie season.

So where do the Browns stand at the bye. They are 5-3 and if you had them at 5-3, I want to run some lottery numbers by you. Because of the loss to the Raiders, they are one game out of the playoffs. This just means the Houston game is another must win game. The Texans scare me offensively. Well, their passing game scares me. Texans QB Deshaun Watson is 2-0 verses the Browns and in those games Houston was so far ahead, Watson didn’t play in the fourth quarter. Watson’s wide receivers, Brandon Cooks, Will Fuller and Randall Cobb are going to be a major problem for the Browns defense. Add former Browns RB Duke Johnson and TE Darren Fells to the mix and this might be a long day. On the positive side, the Texans can’t run the ball because the interior of their offensive line is struggling. Expect Garrett to line up over the Texans right guard quite a bit. DTs Sheldon Richardson and Jordan Elliott could have big games. On defense, the Texans are just as bad as the Browns, no make that worse. They allowed backup Jaguars QB Jake Luton (who?) to pass for 304 yards. The Texans are 2-6, but those two victories came against the Jaguars. This might be another shootout.

Looking forward, as mentioned earlier the Browns are in the eighth spot for the playoffs. If you’re a Browns fan you need to hope the Raiders and the Dolphins start to lose some games. If the Browns beat the Texans, their next two games verses the Eagles and the Jags are defiantly winnable games. Then comes a trip to Nashville and a game against the Titans. The next three games for the Titans are hosting the Colts Thursday, the Ravens at Baltimore and at the Colts. The two Colts/Titan games will give us an early indication of who will win the AFC South. I’d like to see the Titans take control of the division because the Browns hold the playoff tie breaker against the Colts. As for the last four games on the Browns schedule, they control their on destiny, but a home victory over the Ravens would make a playoff berth much easier. Right now with the way the Steelers are playing, a AFC North crown for the Browns is very slim. But it is 2020 and stranger things have happened. The NFL owners did approve a playoff plan to add an additional wildcard team per conference if games are cancelled. So the Browns could still get in as the eighth seed.

The Browns playoff push starts this Sunday verses the Texans. The Texan defense can’t stop the run and besides J.J. Watt can’t pressure the quarterback. The Browns passing offense needs to attack the Texan linebackers who are terrible in coverage and of course run the ball. On defense, the Browns need to pressure the right side of the Texans offensive line and keep containment on Deshaun Watson. Pressure without too many blitzes. As mentioned earlier, this is the first of many important games for the Browns. Everyone stay safe and Go Browns.

That was a tough game to watch and to write about. It’s been 48 hours, so lets give it try. You have to give credit to the Raiders they played the Browns the way I thought the Browns would play them. Short passes and running the ball. It seemed like the Raiders were second and four to six yards all game long. The Raiders won the turnover battle and when they do they’re 4-0. This Browns defense is better when they get turnovers and they got none. The Browns defense just couldn’t get off the field. The first mistake by the Browns was when head coach Kevin Stefanski deferred and took the ball in the second half. This meant in the fourth quarter, the Browns would be playing into the wind. Rookie coach mistake and I know he won’t make that mistake again. So lets start with the few positives.

The offensive line as a whole played well. Their Pro Football Focus rating was 83.5 and allowed no pressures or sacks. So QB Baker Mayfield had a clean pocket all day. I was glad to see Stefanski still using roll outs on offense. As for the defense, DE Olivier Vernon finally showed up with two sacks. I just wish he was more consistent week to week. That’s it, that’s the list.

Now for the negatives. On offense, dropped passes. A ton of dropped passes. The Browns targeted WR Jarvis Landry eleven times and he had four catches. I don’t know if his ribs were the problem, but if they were, why not target someone else? Donovan Peoples-Jones only had four offensive snaps. Four. I don’t think the Browns targeted KhaDarel Hodge one time. As for the tight ends, after the red zone fumble by Harrison Bryant, I don’t think he was targeted again and Njoku just isn’t reliable. The running game was working, but again the Browns went away from it. They had 101 yards for a 4.7 average. The Browns had six offensive series, the least by and NFL team in a game since 1933. Yikes.

As for the defense, if this team doesn’t get any turnovers, it’s going to be a long day. And it was a long day. The linebackers on this team were non existent. Here are the PFF ratings for the linebackers: Takitaki 57.9, Wilson 29.1, Goodson 52.3 and Smith 67.0. Anything under 70 is below average. Through eight games the Browns defense has given up 195 first downs. They’re 26th in opponent third down conversions and 31st in opponent fourth down conversions. That is terrible. The defensive linemen were pushed off the line of scrimmage five to six yards down the field. There is one disturbing trend that developed in the first eight games. In the Browns three losses, they were out played at the line of scrimmage. My only problem with defensive coordinator Joe Woods, he is not scheming for the talent he has available. I think two plays by the Raiders sum up this game. On third and 17, the Raiders threw a screen pass and gained 16 yards. They go for it on fourth down and get the first down. The Browns defense has forced one punt in two games.

This team really misses RB Nick Chubb, RG Wyatt Teller, WR Odell Beckham and LB Jacob Phillips. The good news is DE Myles Garrett is fine after suffering a knee injury verses the Raiders. He and TE Austin Hooper will defiantly be back for the Houston game. Chubb and Teller are day to day. Cross your fingers both are back for Houston. As for the trading deadline today, I really don’t think GM Andrew Berry will pull off any major moves. He’s looking for players that can help this year and in the future. So players still on their rookie contracts or free agents that the Browns can resign. So no one year rental players. I would love to see a edge rusher or a line backer added, but I just don’t see it happening. Hopefully I’m wrong.

The Browns are 5-3 at the bye, which is better than I thought they would be. They need to rest up and get key players back. Hopefully the defensive coaching staff will have better schemes for the last eight games. The schedule is favorable for the Browns after the bye and I still expect them to make the playoffs. Everyone enjoy the bye week, stay safe and Go Browns.