Midweek thoughts

From the files of Captain Obvious: The Browns’ offense, supposedly the strength of the team this season, looks like a wounded bird desperately seeking to fly.

This was not supposed to happen. On paper, the Browns looked as dangerous offensively as any National Football League team not nicknamed Chiefs. It has been anything but.

Why? In some ways, a lot of the blame can be laid squarely at the desk of head coach Freddie Kitchens, who decided his starters, especially the skilled position starters, did not need to play in exhibition games.

Quarterback Baker Mayfield threw a lot to Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry, David Njoku and Nick Chubb in training camp against the team’s defense. But in no way does that prepare that talented group when games take on importance, i.e. the regular season.

It has been said players that practice well usually play well during games. How many times have we heard coaches laud the practice regimens of their teams leading up to a game and then go out and get flattened?

Some players believe it or not play much better in games than in practice. Practice is boring. Too repetitious. But repetition, some coaches ardently believe, translates well to the game itself.

The timing factor, so important for the smooth function of any offense, has not been evident in the first two regular-season games. At best, it has been spotty. Quick glimpses of what fans saw the second half of last season.

Baker Mayfield is not (yet) the quarterback fans saw turn this franchise around last season with sky high hopes for 2019. More than a few are beginning to wonder whether he is (a) experiencing a sophomore jinx, (b) looking normal because defenses have figured him out or (c) merely a one-year wonder.

Opposing teams with mediocre defenses at best have exposed numerous problems on that side of the football. Several much better defenses are on deck, starting with the Los Angeles Rams at home Sunday night.

What is the problem? Without getting too technical, which I can’t do anyway, the eyes see a different Baker Mayfield thus far. He looks unsure of himself, something that belies his confident approach to the game.

He entered the NFL with the reputation of being extremely accurate with his passes and proved it last season. Now, he’s late with his throws. He’s missing wide-open targets. And he is not making pinpoint passes into tight windows.

Whenever trouble lurked last season, especially in the pocket, Mayfield almost always found a way out by moving his feet and exhibiting terrific pocket presence. Not this season.

He’s been sacked eight times already in two games. You can blame the offensive line just so much. A sizable portion of the blame, it appears, is Mayfield’s failure to correctly identify what opposing defenses are doing to neutralize him.

At least half the sacks are of the coverage variety, his receivers failing to get open and make themselves available. Rarely have we seen him break contain in the pocket and connect on the run.

And now with Njoku, his top red zone target, on the shelf for as many as a couple of months because of a broken wrist, one bullet has been removed from his gun belt. Kitchens has to alter his plans now for his red zone offense.

The reason Njoku is on the injured list can be traced back to Mayfield’s problems. The short pass the tight end caught was so high, he had to jump and reach up for it, exposing himself to an undercut tackle, which was what New York Jets cornerback Nate Hairston delivered.

Njoku landed on the crown of his helmet and wrist, trying to brace his fall, simultaneously. The result was a concussion and the fractured wrist.

Far be it for me to even think I could be an offensive coordinator at any level of football. But my goodness, it isn’t difficult to see Mayfield needs to deliver the football faster, a lot faster, than he is now. “He’s taking too many hits,” Kitchens acknowledged. “I don’t like my quarterback to take hits. I need to get the ball out of his hands quicker.”

Why Kitchens doesn’t call more quick-developing pass plays – fewer seven-step drops – is puzzling unless he thinks his smallish quarterback is Superman and can absorb all that punishment and remain vertical. That would thrill the five guys up front.

Mayfield also has to stop being disdainful of his checkdown receivers, the outlet guys who can help bail him out of trouble and avoid sacks. Negative plays have hampered the offense too much in the first two games.

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The defense all of a sudden is beginning to look like a small M*A*S*H unit.

The entire starting secondary – cornerbacks Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams (hamstrings) and safeties Morgan Burnett (quad) and Damarious Randall  (concussion) – is on the injured report for the Rams game, as well as weak side linebacker Christian Kirksey (chest).

If they aren’t ready for the Rams game, rookie Mack Wilson will step in for Kirksey, Terrance Mitchell and T. J. Carrie will man the corners with Jermaine Whitehead and Eric Murray at strong and free safety, respectively.

Shaky offense, battered defense. Only two games into the season filled with reasonable hopes. Not exactly the way to begin a 16-game trek through the NFL minefield for a team expecting so much more.