Monday leftovers (Tuesday edition)

Time to chill, Browns Nation, and not get too excited about the Browns’ 23-3 victory over the New York Jets Monday night.  .

Let’s put this in perspective as thoughts now turn to Sunday night in Cleveland and yet another national television audience as the Super Bowl runners-up Los Angeles Rams invade.

Beating a bad team on the road is a start. A sterner test awaits when the infinitely better Rams arrive for a short-week visit. Let’s see how that one plays out first before rendering judgment.

The victory over Jets Monday night was accomplished against a wounded team that played most of the game with a third-string quarterback who has virtually no National Football League experience.

An optimist would say a victory is a victory, Enjoy it no matter how it is wrapped. Take it and be satisfied A pessimist – full disclosure: I am one by nature – would argue the Browns should have won that game. Calm down. It was really quite homely.

Too many problems still exist, especially on offense. Coach Freddie Kitchens, the man mainly responsible for efficiency on that side of the football, admits it and all but promises to be Mr. Fixit.

Top item on his to-do list should be straightening out his quarterback, the one around whom the fortunes and misfortunes of this team revolve. Baker Mayfield has had an uneven start to the 2019 season thus far.

There are times when he flashes the accuracy that elevated him into the top tier of NFL quarterbacks in the second half of last season. Then there are times when you wonder just what the hell he was thinking.

Way too often in the first two games, Mayfield has looked uncertain about himself from a body language standpoint. The attitude, the self-confident air isn’t quite there yet.

It is reflected in his throws. He is uncharacteristically missing wide-open receivers He is not hitting the tight windows, those backbreaking plays that demoralize an opposing defense. A lot of it stems from his reluctance to get the ball out quickly. Either that or he has trouble reading defenses.

Most of his eight sacks – he was dropped only five times in the last eight games last season – stem from holding on to the ball too long in order to make a play. Couple that with a weak offensive line and you have a better understanding why he has absorbed an awful beating.

Kitchens shouldered the blame, but not before Mayfield criticized himself. “I think I need to be better checking the ball down (to outlet receivers) on getting completions,” he said.

It has taken Kitchens two games and watching his meal ticket get beat up to realize quick-developing plays just might be the panacea to correct the problem. That way, offensive linemen don’t have to hold their blocks as long and are more effective.

If the ball isn’t out of Mayfield’s hand in less than 2.5 seconds, some sort of negative play is about to eventuate.

It requires something the Browns have lacked all season, including the exhibitions. Offense is all about timing and because the starters played so little in the exhibitions, that timing is all messed up.

Practicing it is one thing. Translating it to game action is quite another. And that has been the case for the most part in the first two games. If game action is needed to hone this offense from a timing standpoint, the better-performing defense needs to bail out their offensive brethren for a while.

The rest of the first half of the schedule is a minefield against some of the top teams in the league; teams like the Rams, Baltimore, San Francisco, Seattle and New England. There is not a soft spot in that group.

The second half is much easier with a more favorable home schedule. But unless Kitchens repairs his offense and elevates the competitive level pronto, the easier second half will only help raise the final record rise to mediocre range.

That’s not what Browns Nation expected.

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Myles Garrett has been locked in beast mode in the first two games with five sacks, a handful of quarterback hits and a whole bunch of hurries. At his current pace, he will break the club record of sacks in a season (14½ by Bill Glass in 1965) by midseason, if not before. He just missed it last season with 13½.

After his three-sack game against the Jets, it would not surprise if he shoots next for the club record for sacks in a game (four), held jointly by Andra Davis in 2003, Jerry Sherk in 1976 and Mack Mitchell in 1977.

Garrett was on a mission to prove to Gregg Williams, his former defensive coordinator and interim head coach and now the defensive boss with the Jets, that he has more, considerably more, moves than the two Williams limited him to the last two seasons.

Extrapolate his current total of five – it would be more if officials stop incorrectly calling roughing on him – and he is theoretically on pace to rack up 40 sacks, which would obliterate the league record of 22½ by Michael Strahan of the New York Giants in 2001.

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Greedy Williams had a reputation coming out of Louisiana State of being a solid cover cornerback who rarely sticks his nose in the rough stuff that doesn’t involve pass defense. Some believe that’s why he lasted until the second round of the last college draft.

When the Browns selected him in round two, he arrived and assured everyone that he was more than what the Browns hoped would be a shutdown corner. He had no problem supporting the run.

He more than proved it against the Jets, turning in a momentum-turning tackle on Jets running back Le’Veon Bell with 3:35 left in the third quarter and the Browns clinging to a 16-3 lead with the Jets in the red zone.

Rather than kick a field goal, Jets coach Adam Gase gambled on fourth down and two at the Cleveland 12. Williams lined up in soft coverage on the weak side and backpedaled for a few yards at the snaps.

Bell hauled in a swing pass from quarterback Luke Falk to that side and attempted to cut upfield, Williams spotted it quickly, peeled off his man and delivered a solid shoulder tackle that took Bell down one yard shy of the line to gain.

The Browns immediately capitalized when Mayfield changed the original play call and delivered a 10-yard strike to Odell Beckham Jr. down the seam off a play fake to Chubb and the wide receiver converted it into an 89-yard back breaker.

All because Williams shed his college reputation with a game changer that was rewarded handsomely.

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Finally . . . Sudden thought: Mayfield’s troubles seemed to start when Rashard Higgins left the Titans game in the first quarter with a knee. The wide receiver has been a go-to receiver for the Cleveland quarterback with his ability to find the open spots. . . . The Browns cut way down on their penalties against the Jets, drawing nine for 85 yards. That halves the 18 for 182 yards in the opener. Still way too many, , , , The Browns and Jets combined for only 29 first downs, an embarrassing six by penalty, three for each team. . . . Mayfield targeted Beckham and Jarvis Landry 17 times, completing nine. . . . The Cleveland defense came up with its first takeaway of the season, a jarring tackle by Joe Schobert that popped the ball loose from Bell at the Cleveland 6 midway through the fourth quarter.  It was recovered in midair by cornerback T. J. Carrie. . . . Schobert had a game-high 13 tackles, 10 solo. . . . Rookie linebacker Mack Wilson had only 11 snaps, but made them count with four tackles, two solo. . . . Once again, Kitchens favored the pass heavily over the run. Of the 59 plays, 38 were quarterback dropbacks and 21 called runs. That’s only 35.5%. . . . The victory over the Jets was the Browns’ first on MNF since Nov. 17, 2008, a 29-27 victory in Buffalo. . . . It was also their first road victory in September since the 2013 season.