Unwise decisions

If it was Kevin Stefanski's intention to equally distribute the play calls Saturday against the New Orleans Saints in the Browns' 2022 home finale and make it work, it failed miserably.

The Browns' head coach, who designs and calls all plays in his capacity as the club's wannabe offensive coordinator, chose to rely mostly on the throwing talents of quarterback Deshaun Watson to get close to .500 as the season winds down. He chose unwisely

They were officially eliminated from the playoffs -- officially because strange math somehow kept them just barely alive but nevertheless hopeless -- by the Saints, who chose to respect the terrible weather conditions and concentrate on running the football.

Their 17-10 victory, which went right down to the final moments of the game, was played in single-digit, 30 mph winds, wind-chill factor of negative-14 weather that lacked snow. It featured a Saints game plan that ran the ball on 72% of their 54 plays, gaining 152 yards against a Cleveland defense that crumbled in slow motion attempting to stop running backs Alvin Kamara and Taysom Hill.

Saints quarterback Andy Dalton was pretty much a spectator, throwing just 15 passes, completing eight for 92 yards. This game clearly belonged to Kamara and Hill and an offensive line that neutralized a Cleveland defensive line that never touched Dalton.

Stefanski, meantime, dialed up 33 passes (49% of the 67 plays) for a quarterback just getting back to the National Football League after missing 700 days due to the baggage he lugged to Cleveland for a guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract.

Watson was beginning to show signs of the chipping off the rust that had accumulated and slowly was becoming the elite quarterback he was with the Houston Texans for four seasons, but Saturday's rugged weather dictated a much heavier ground game than Stefanski (should have) asked for. 

Watson often looked uncertain and, at times, confused by the smothering Saints defense in the secondary. Several of his throws were well off target. And it's anybody guess why Stefanski called for only three RPO runs, one of which wound up in the end zone. Makes me wonder what he was thinking.

Nick Chubb, who churned out 92 hard yards on 24 carries, needed help and didn't get it from Kareem Hunt, who was ineffective with just eight yards in seven attempts. Watson needed to be part of the ground- game package, not throwing a football so much.

He wound up with just 15 completions on his 33 dropbacks (two sacks) for a measly 135 yards. It was a day where using his outstanding running talents would have kept the New Orleans defense honest. Wonder if Stefanski takes the blame for the unusual -- okay, strange -- playcalling.

Kamara and Hill each scored a touchdown in the third quarter as the Saints overcame an early 10-0 deficit, gained when the Cleveland offense took advantage of a Grant Delpit interception (off a deflection) and 40-yard return, and subsequent 13-yard scoring romp, untouched, by Watson five plays later on the opening play of the second quarter.

After an 18-play, 60-yard drive on the following possession that took 8:44 off the clock but bogged down at the Saints' 12, Cade York's 30-yard field goal grazed the left upright before falling through to give the Browns their 10-point lead. That, for all practical purposes, was the Browns' offense until the late stages of the game as they fell to 6-9.

The Saints came to life on the opening possession of the second half, marching 67 yards in nine plays, the versatile Hill bullying his way into the end zone from eight yards, breaking tackle attempts by Alex Wright, Greg Newsome II, John Johnson III and Chase Winovich along the way to tie the game at 10-10.

They took the lead two Cleveland possessions later, Saints safety Daniel Sorenson, who has bedeviled the Browns in the past with the Kansas City Chiefs, picking off a poorly-thrown pass that deflected off the hand of rookie receiver David Bell and returning it to the Cleveland 15. Kamara scored from four yards out four plays later with 55 seconds remaining in the quarter..

It was still a game at that point, but the Cleveland offense by then had become offensive and not in a good way. The first four possessions of the half ended with two punts, the pick and a numbingly bone-headed (panicky?) decision by Stefanski to gamble on fourth down and two at the Cleveland 39 with seven minutes left in regulation.

He seemingly didn't trust his defense to hold the Saints. Instead, he trusted his wildly inconsistent quarterback, whose pass sailed harmlessly -- and well over -- the head of Donovan Peoples-Jones, presenting the Saints with a gift. But this time, the Cleveland defense rescued their coach with a three-and-out. 

That's when the Browns' only serious threat in the half arrived. It took nearly five minutes off the clock, covered 58 yards in 18 plays and needed six of the club's nine first downs in the half (one by a defensive holding penalty on a third down) to sustain. It reached the New Orleans 15 following an 18-yard connection with Bell with 43 seconds left.

Watson failed to connect with Amari Cooper and Peoples-Jones, whom he had targeted on 15 of his 31 attempts, on his first two throws, but drilled what appeared to be a perfect pass to David Njoku on the doorstep of the end zone. But the ball, which must have felt like a rock in the frigid weather, ripped through the tight end's hands.

Watson's final dropback seemingly took forever as he searched vainly for anyone to get open. He bounced on his feet several times to buy some time, but found no one to accommodate him. He looked left, he looked right, he looked down the seam and still came up empty.

It took so long to develop, Saints defensive end Carl Granderson, who had dropped back in short-range pass coverage at the snap, had enough time to curl back and drop Watson, who by then was looking to scramble.

Two road games in Washington and Pittsburgh remain on the schedule. In some ways, though, the result of this one seemed fitting in light of how this season has unfolded. So many disappointments and frustrations along the way. This was merely another one of them.