The 2021 edition of the Browns are just plain exhausting. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll never give up on the Cleveland Browns and they’ve broken my heart a million times, but they will not break my will. Going into the Green Bay game I was hoping for a Browns win, but I didn’t expect one. The loss didn’t ruin my Christmas. Right now, the local media in Cleveland and the so-called experts on Browns twitter are forgetting the first rule of being a Browns fan, you want the Browns to win. Yes, Baker Mayfield threw four interceptions, but you could argue two of those interceptions were the direct result of bad officiating and a third was indirectly the result bad officiating. Bottom line don’t put the team in the position to have to rely on the referees to help you win a game. It’s the Browns, they aren’t going to help.
Here are the positives and negatives that I saw for this game. I liked what I saw from the offense. The coaching staff saw a weakness on the left side of the Packers defense and kept attacking that side. The Browns were seven of twelve on third down and averaged 6.2 yards a play. WR Anthony Schwartz was used like I hoped the Browns would use him. C Nick Harris played very well, as did TE Harrison Bryant. A lot of Browns fans are complaining that RB Nick Chubb wasn’t in the game enough. I found out today, that Chubb takes himself out of games when he’s tired. I hope no one still wants to fire DC Joe Woods, considering what he was working with, the defense played great. As for the negatives, CB Greedy Williams has to play closer to the line of scrimmage, he can’t make up all that ground on the opposing wide receivers. The Browns in the off-season need to stock up on defensive tackles. LB Anthony Walker was great in run defense, but he’s going to wear himself out by the end of the game. LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah missed some tackles and TE David Njoku was back to dropping passes. WR Donovan Peoples-Jones has to start fighting for the ball. Finally, this team really misses RB Kareem Hunt.
The temptation is for fans to blame one person or coach for a loss. Head coach Kevin Stefanski is not getting fired, Baker Mayfield is the starting quarterback for the rest of this year and for next year. Again, Aaron Rogers is not coming to Cleveland. Russell Wilson is not coming to Cleveland. The Browns picked up his fifth-year option for a reason. I continue to trust GM Andrew Berry and so should you. The only wild card to all this, is the owner. If he sticks his nose into the football decisions, then this team is in real trouble.
Amazingly, the Browns can still win the AFC North thanks to the Bengals and the Chiefs on Sunday. The Browns need to win their last two games against the Steelers and the Bengals, the Chiefs to beat the Bengals and the Ravens to lose to the Rams. Winning in Pittsburg is not going to be easy, especially considering it will probably be Ben Roethlisberger’s last home game. The Browns need to get some players off of the Covid list (and no one goes on it) and players back from injury. For the Browns to beat the Steelers they need to have a fast start and punch the Steelers in the mouth from the get-go. The good news is the Browns have two extra days to get healthy and get ready. Everyone stay safe and Go Browns.