Once again it’s Victory Monday and the Browns are now 9-3. The Browns are guaranteed a winning season for the first time since 2007. All week long, Browns fans heard how the Browns can’t beat a good opponent on the road. Or how the Titans were going to stop the Browns running game and make QB Baker Mayfield beat them. Check and check. Mayfield finished 25 of 33 for 334 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions. The Browns are still the number one wildcard team and the fifth seed for the playoffs. The AFC North is now 11-2 verses the AFC South and the Browns swept the AFC South for the first time. On to the positives.
Kevin Stefanski should get serious consideration for coach of the year. To have this team at 9-3 without off-season OTA’s, a prolonged training camp and no pre-season games is amazing. And, he installed a new offense. Speaking of the new offense, the Browns scored 38 points in the first half, the most points in a half in franchise history. Mayfield had four touchdown passes in the first half, the last Browns QB to do that was Hall of Famer Otto Graham on December 2, 1951. As a matter of fact, Mayfield has thrown four TD’s in a half twice this year, Sunday verses the Titans and in the second half of the second Bengals game. He’s the only NFL quarterback to do that this season. The Browns offense in the first half converted seven of eight third downs and finished ten for sixteen for the game. I think two plays sum up how the Browns offense worked. The first was the touchdown pass to OL Kendall Lamm. The Browns lined up like they were going to run the ball with both Chubb and Hunt in the back field and a jumbo formation. Chubb fakes the the leap in the end zone and Hunt rolls out to the flat. Lamm releases his block and is wide open. The other play was the 75 yard touchdown pass to Donovan Peoples-Jones. Again the Browns line up like their going to run. Hooper goes into the backfield like he’s going to block, Mayfield does the play action and rolls to his right. Peoples-Jones beats the Titans DB and is wide open.
The highest rated offensive players according to Pro Football Focus were Mayfield (91.1), Bitonio (88.8), Teller (83.6), Higgins (81.8) and Conklin (79.0) You know your offense is clicking when three of the five highest rated players are offensive linemen. Because of the play action, the screen game was on fire yesterday, whether it was Chubb, Hunt or Landry. On defense the highest rated players according to PFF were Malcolm Smith (91.4), Myles Garrett (91.2), Sheldon Richardson (79.7) and Mack Wilson (78.8). The linebacker group played very well. Sione Takitaki had a run defense PFF rating of 87.5. The defense in the first quarter made the stops when they had to. I noticed early, the Browns were playing five defensive linemen. This seemed to confuse the Titans. After the stops, whether it be on downs or turnovers, the Browns offense went down and scored. The Titans came into this game having turned over the ball five times for the season, the Browns defense got three turnovers. Smith, Ogunjobi and Garrett all had sacks and LB B.J. Goodson has taken over this defense.
As for the negatives, I wish Kevin Stefanski would have the killer instinct that The Ohio State coach Ryan Day has when he coaches against Michigan. Knock them out and keep hitting them. Because of the missing pieces on defense, the offense has to keep it’s foot on the gas pedal. This defense just doesn’t have the overall talent to hold a big lead, especially at safety. Well at least the special teams are getting plenty of practice with on side kicks. Again the officials were terrible, but thirteen penalties for 92 yards is way to much. I guess the NFL isn’t going to allow the refs to call a holding penalty against Myles Garrett. Lastly, the Tennessee Titans are the dirtiest team I’ve seen all year.
Moving forward to next weeks games. As I mentioned earlier the Browns currently hold the fifth playoff seed. The Browns have two and a half game lead on the Ravens, a two game lead on the Raiders and a one game lead on the Colts and Dolphins. The Ravens play the Cowboys Tuesday night, the Raiders and the Colts play each other and the Dolphins play Kansas City. Of course the Browns will host the Ravens next Monday night. Right now the Browns are playing at a high level at the right time and the Ravens are a desperate team. Lets hope the Browns have revenge on their minds next Monday like they did against the Titans. Everyone stay safe and Go Browns.