Mid-week thoughts

As a general rule, I try to steer clear of any stories involving the media. Having been a proud member of the Fourth Estate for more years than I care to admit, poking my head into such matters would be considered prejudicial by some.

I have dealt with that, both in the print medium and on radio, and remained on the sidelines while former colleagues took on fire from fans upset with how they did their jobs.

But an incident the other day in Berea involving a former co-worker of mine at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and the quarterback of the Browns made news on a national level.

It caused me to temporarily break my rule – it will not be broken again – because it involves the good and welfare of a football franchise I have loved since I was in grade school. It needs to be addressed.

The protagonists are Tony Grossi and Baker Mayfield, whose professional relationship is what can be best described as edgy. And it doesn’t seem to be getting any better.

Mayfield, after answering a few questions from Grossi the other day well into a news conference with Cleveland media with regard to a situation in the Browns’ latest loss at New England, stormed out after pointedly calling one of them the “dumbest question.”

First, full disclosure. I have known Tony for 35 years. He is an honest (yeah, I know, hard to believe), hard-working (ditto) reporter who feels emotionally about the Browns as I do. If you think he enjoys covering this seemingly ill-fated franchise for the past two decades, guess again.

Tony, known by many Browns fans as the main reason Art Modell is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame due to his lobbying efforts against such an election, does not lob softball, sycophantic questions as do many other reporters. That is not his style.

He has lugged the sobriquet Mr. Negative around since 1999 covering this football team because he wrote the truth. Not the truth as someone else saw it. The truth as it really was. Fans had a difficult time handling the truth. Thus the negative label.

Tony got into trouble with Mayfield even before he arrived in Cleveland as part of  his pre-draft visits prior to the 2018 college draft. He wrote Mayfield allegedly asked for first-class airfare and accommodations, a suggestion that might have been interpreted the kid was a prima donna.

He believes that was the catalyst that led to the confrontational relationship he has with the second-year quarterback, who apparently hasn’t let it go. “I think it goes back to the pre-draft conversations we had, things I said, things I wrote. OK, fine, but you have to move along,” he said.

I also can guarantee Tony does not like to be part of the story. Journalists want to write stories, not be part of them.

There certainly are more important things with which Mayfield needs to be concerned. Like a 2-5 record, a three-game losing streak, an offense that has underachieved in six of the first seven games, not to mention preparing for a game Sunday in Denver.

He needs to put everything in perspective and not let an incident such as this upset whatever routine he maintains during the regular season.

Like it or not, Mayfield is the face of this franchise. His brash persona is, in some ways, engaging. He is the alpha male in the Cleveland dressing room. As he goes, so go the fortunes of this franchise. It’s really that simple.

Everything he does, whether it’s doing commercials, throwing touchdown passes, making visits to hospitals, he represents not only himself, but the team that signs his paychecks.

Pulling a childish stunt like that with Grossi does not help his image and paints another stain on a season that began with so much hope. More than a few national  pundits have piled on with the notion this is just another stick of dynamite for a franchise in the midst of a large explosion.

Mayfield needs to grow up. Being a professional athlete, especially one with such a high profile, he needs to understand the media is a necessary evil and tolerance is his greatest ally.  

This latest incident no doubt will divide Browns Nation, most of whom will side with Mayfield, primarily because of a 2018 season that came from out of nowhere. But that will not solve the problems that currently hamper this team.

And that, with nine games remaining on the schedule and an outside chance to qualify for the postseason, should be the most important goal right now. Fighting with journalists and piling up personal points in the process is not.

*       *       *

Brief anatomy of the Patriots loss: Fourth quarter, the Browns railing, 24-10, coach Freddie Kitchens abandoned the run game after Nick Chubb gained the final three yards of his 20-carry, 131-yard afternoon over right guard on the first play of the quarter.

Kitchens subsequently dialed up 17 straight dropbacks for Mayfield, who was sacked three times, competed just five of 13 passes for 84 yards and scrambled for 18 yards. Two completions, one for 27 yards and another for 26 yards, were wiped out by offside pass interference penalties on Antonio Callaway and Rashard Higgins.

Still haven’t heard why Kitchens ditched the run game so early in the game. Just another piece of the Kitchens puzzle.

*       *       *

Checking the won-lost record and progress of the Browns’ opponents in the so-called softer second half of the schedule, not including Thursday night’s result between Arizona and San Francisco:

Denver, Buffalo, Pittsburgh (twice), Miami, Cincinnati (twice), Arizona and revengeful Baltimore are 18-33-1. The 3-4 Steelers, after a rocky start, have played well lately in the absence of injured quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. The Browns catch a break with new quarterbacks in Denver (Brandon Allen), Cincinnati (Ryan Finley) and probably Miami (Josh Rosen).

The Browns’ first seven opponents – Tennessee, New York Jets, Los Angeles Rams, Baltimore, San Francisco, Seattle and New England – are 36-17. The Jets own six of those losses.

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Monday leftovers cont’d

There is no question whatsoever the 2019 National Football League season has been an eye-opening experience for Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield and not in the way he most likely had envisioned.

The wunderkind of the 2018 season, the underdog kid from Texas who successfully transitioned to the NFL in record-breaking fashion, convinced a lot of people he was the quarterback for whom this moribund franchise had longingly yearned.

Mayfield strutted into the 2019 season as The Man, the Face of the Franchise, the face that would be proudly connected to the Cleveland Browns for who knows how many seasons. The future gleamed.

He was everywhere during the offseason. He made the “Riders Up” call to jockeys at the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May. He could be seen prominently in a number of television commercials.

He made the Browns relevant for the first time since the original team was pirated out of town to Baltimore a generation ago. He put a bounce in the step of a vast majority of the fans who stuck with them. They believed the best was yet to come.

And then the Browns played the first seven games of the 2019 season, overwhelming two opponents and underwhelming the other five, two of them embarrassingly. They are winless in three home games.

The flame that burned so brightly throughout training camp is now flickering with only the hopes of a comparatively softer second-half schedule the lone mollifying factor.

Mayfield was starting quarterback No. 28 since the resurrection in 1999 and played well enough last season to believe No. 29 wouldn’t be coming along anytime soon.

As it turns out, at least based on those first seven games, he is no longer exceptional. He has become an ordinary quarterback. Barring an incredible turnaround in the final nine games, what we saw last season can now be classified an aberration.

Mayfield’s massive ego, as well as his brand, has taken some hits. He has struggled a major portion of the season in part because injuries removed tight end David Njoku and wide receiver Rashard Higgins from his gun belt.

Last season, he made throws the likes of which Browns fans hadn’t seen since the days of Bernie Kosar. When a play was needed, he made it. Tight windows did not bother him. Good things happened with delightful consistency. With few exceptions, his contributions this season have been pedestrian.

Fans, used to seeing the Browns manage to screw up things at crucial junctures of a game, kept waiting for Mayfield to look like Tim Couch, Charlie Frye, Colt McCoy, Brady Quinn, Brandon Weeden and Cody Kessler. They kept waiting for Mayfield to join the long list of failures. He didn’t and that’s what buoyed hopes for 2019.

Maybe it’s the dreaded sophomore jinx. Or perhaps it’s the Sports Illustrated cover jinx. Remember “The BROWNS Are Back” NFL Preview issue featuring Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry?

Maybe it’s because the NFL has finally caught up with him and opposing defensive coordinators figured out how to neutralize him. Then again, maybe he’s a victim of some pretty bad coaching. Perhaps a combination of both.

His brashness and hubris showed up only once this season. After the totally unexpected 40-25 thrashing of the Ravens in Baltimore in week four came this little gem from the department of wish I hadn’t said that: “A win’s great, but I hope everybody keeps the same energy. Threw us in the trash. We won’t forget it.”

Apparently they have. Consecutive losses to San Francisco, Seattle and New England have the Browns closing in on the trash heap at 2-5.. Only the total ineptitude in Cincinnati, where the Bengals are winless in eight games, prevents the Browns from regaining their annual residence as basement dwellers in the AFC North.

Otherwise, it’s been a litany of reasons (excuses?) why the Browns are not who fans thought they were.

*       *       *

Looks as though it will be Justin McCray at offensive left tackle for the time being, or at least until he plays himself back to the bench with Greg Robinson retaking his position along the offensive line.

General Manager John Dorsey made no moves at the trading deadline Tuesday. He tried hard to trade for Washington offensive tackle Trent Williams, but the Redskins wanted more than Dorsey was willing to part with.

McCray, who was less than mediocre in his debut at the position last Sunday against New England, is a natural guard. At a thumbnail under 6-3, he might be the shortest offensive tackle in the entire NFL.

The failed move to pry Williams from the Nations capital falls into the category of some of the best trades you make are the ones you don’t make. Williams would have been only a palliative move that would not have helped that much.

Besides, he will be 32 years old on his next birthday. His days as one of the best offensive tackles in the NFL are clearly in the past. The Redskins wanted at least a No. 1 pick in the next college draft for him. Maybe if he was four or five years younger. That’s way too much now.

The offensive line remains the biggest problem on the Browns. Dorsey needs to take the blame for its current state. He traded away the best member of that line in Kevin Zeitler and has swung and missed in the draft and free agency.

If he takes credit for making the Browns relevant again in a short period of time, he’s got to take heat for not properly addressing this unit and protecting his young quarterback.

For years, the Indianapolis Colts failed to protect Andrew Luck and he suffered physically as a result. It caused his premature retirement. It wasn’t until the Colts used the draft and free agency to cobble together one of the best lines in the league, which has paid off handsomely the last couple of seasons.

If there aren’t at least two, better yet three, new faces on that line for the Browns next season, expect more of what you’re seeing now next season. The skilled positions are solid. Now it’s time to address the guys in the trenches.

*       *       *

Have to feel little sorry for Joel Bitonio. The Browns’ left guard (and best offensive lineman) was involved inadvertently on two plays that helped the Patriots to knock off the Browns last Sunday.

On the second play of the second series of the game, Bitonio was upended by New England defensive end Kyle Van Noy while blocking for a Nick Chubb run. His right foot flew up into the air and kicked the ball out of Chubb’s hands.  It was scooped up by linebacker Don’t’a Hightower and returned 26 yards for a touchdown.

Two series later, still the first quarter, Patriots defensive lineman Lawrence Guy beat Bitonio off the snap on first down at the Cleveland 21 and blew up what was supposed to be a shovel pass to Landry on a reverse. It was picked off by Guy and returned to the 11. Two plays later, the Patriots scored again.

Two unfortunate plays for one of the best players on the team. Suffice it to say they will not take up residence in his memory bank,

*       *       *

Chubb was the unfortunate victim of two fumbles against the Pats. That should not deter Freddie Kitchens and offensive coordinator Todd Monken from making him the key ingredient of a Cleveland offense that ran roughshod over a Patriots run defense that was one of the best in the NFL.

Why Kitchens benched him in the fourth quarter is puzzling. The Browns trailed by only two touchdowns at the time. The young man is a load, arguably one of the best running backs in the league. Leave him alone, Keep feeding him the football.  Now is not the time to rely on Mayfield to be the difference.

*       *       *

Finally . . .  We’ll never know, of course, but wonder what would have happened had Denzel Ward picked off Tom Brady in the end zone on the Patriots’ second drive of the game. The ball slithered through his hands, setting up a field goal. It was a momentum changer. . . . Mayfield has thrown only six touchdown passes this season. Five have wound up in the hands of tight ends: Two each by Demetrius Harris and Ricky Seals-Jones and one by Njoku before he was hurt. . . . Seals-Jones was in on 31 snaps against New England and was not targeted once. Hmmmm. . . . The Browns get a break next Sunday in Denver. Broncos quarterback Joe Flacco, who used to kill the Browns when he was in Baltimore, is out indefinitely with neck problems. They will face Brandon Allen, a career backup who has never appeared in an NFL game.

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Monday leftovers

The walls of discontent are beginning to surround Freddie Kitchens as what has become a borderline nightmarish 2019 season for the Browns unfolds agonizingly slowly.

Carping from many corners of the National Football League universe emerged Monday following the Browns’ third straight loss, a 27-13 setback against the New England Patriots late Sunday.

It wasn’t so much that the loss dropped them to 2-5 as it was the manner in which it eventuated. Penalties, turnovers, multitudinous mistakes and a general lack of discipline that more befit a bad football team than one that had title ambitions.

Yes, the Browns right now are playing more like their predecessors of the last two decades, the ones that gave the sport a bad name with the kind of performances that set the game back years.

Peter King of NBC Sports in his lengthy Football Morning in America column declared Monday “the dream is about dead for Cleveland. The Browns need to go 7-2 to have a playoff prayer. Where are those seven wins coming from?”

He cedes them six in the second (and much softer) half of the season, but not Baltimore and Buffalo (in Cleveland) and at Pittsburgh. “If I’m Freddie Kitchens, all I want is a 60-minute game,” he wrote. “Play one of those and we’ll see if the season is remotely salvageable.”

Under his 10 Things I Think I Think, King cited three Browns-related items under what I did not like about week 8: Baker Mayfield, who underhanded the ball to Lawrence Guy of the Patriots; the Browns turning the ball over on three straight offensive snaps.; and guard Joel Bitonio weirdly kicking the ball of Nick Chubb’s hands, handing (New England linebacker) Dont’a Hightower a walk-in touchdown.

Then this: “I think the Browns, who played the first half (of the Patriots game) like a scared and totally unprepared team, are lucky to be 2-5.”

And he made the Browns the subject of his column-ending Adieu Haiku

Cleveland. Two and five.

That August Super Bowl talk?

Cavs playing tonight?

Cleveland area native Joe Posnanski, who writes for The Athletic, bought the pre-season hype and thought this would finally be the Browns’ season. Not anymore. After Sunday’s loss, he tweeted: “I want to like Freddie Kitchens. I really do. I have not yet seen him do a single thing that gives me confidence he can be a successful head coach.”

The piling on continued on ESPN Monday morning with ex-NFL head coach Rex Ryan and former Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee taking shots.

“Any coach in this league would kill for this talent,” said Ryan, who called Mayfield “overrated as hell” several weeks ago. “ You might be the most talented team in the NFL and you’re 2-5. So who’s going down? I promise you (Kitchens) is going down. If they’re not to going to fire the players, they’re going to fire the coach.”

Added McAfee, “(The Browns) are like the Titanic, Everybody thought they were unsinkable. They’ve crashed into every iceberg you could possibly find . . . and if they’re going to let Freddie Kitchens play the music all the way down to the bottom of the ocean . . . that’s a bad decision for the boat.”

If the Browns’ neophyte head coach is feeling any of this, it did not appear that way at his news conference Monday, although he did seem abbreviated in some of his remarks when asked about the team’s numerous problems.

He whipped out his I-don’t–coach-penalties line, which is getting tiring as the Browns continue to assault the rules book at a steady rate. “I’m not answering questions about penalties,” he said. “I’ve never once in 20 years of coaching coached somebody to take a penalty. . . . So I don’t know. I don’t know.”

That’s right. He doesn’t know. Therein lies the problem.

He did alter that notion of not coaching penalties somewhat midway through the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game, deliberately taking a false start penalty on fourth and 11 at the Cleveland 24-yard line to avoid having to use his final timeout even though the Browns trailed, 27-10, at the time and had no chance of winning.

A mass miscommunication caused the punt team to run onto the field on fourth and 11 at the 24. “The buck stops with me,” said Kitchens. “I should not have let that happen, but once the punt team was out there, there were two choices: Use your last timeout or take a penalty. I decided to take a penalty.”

He confessed he had decided at the beginning of the possession that if it ever got to fourth down, he would not punt. “Yes,” he said. “Yes. I should have (communicated that better with the players), which is my fault.”

It’s not the players he should have communicated with. Any head coach knows that. In that instance, it’s his responsibility to tell his special teams coordinator, who would then communicate with the players. That’s how it works.

Asked if having to take that penalty could be an indicator being head coach and play caller might have been a hindrance and an adjustment might need to be made, he declared, “No. That’s not happening. I am calling the plays. I am the head coach. That is not happening.”

Then came the head-scratching decision that had to make fans wonder just what the hell Kitchens was thinking. He went for it on fourth and 16 from the Cleveland 19. It resulted in one of the five sacks Mayfield absorbed on the rainy afternoon.

Of course the idea of coaching penalties is preposterous to begin with. Penalties stem from lack of discipline. That connects directly with the head coach. Sounds as though Kitchens doesn’t want fingers of guilt pointed his way.

He seems to be saying, “Don’t blame me. I don’t coach them that way.” And yet, the penalties continue to pile up: Seventy (accepted) penalties in seven games, not to mention another 18 that were either declined or were part of an offset.

There appears to be no relief in sight for the lack of discipline. The Browns’ only consistency is their inconsistency on a weekly basis.

It would be one thing if the mistakes were corrected. No evidence that’s the case here. Successfully correcting them would be the mark of a good football team. The Browns are not a good football team. Their record is ample proof of that.

This team doesn’t scare other teams as it did last season in the final eight games. No, this team’s biggest enemy is itself. All opponents have to do is be patient and wait. The Browns will eventually beat themselves.

At the risk of sounding repetitious, football coaches fall into two categories. Most are lieutenants, those who excel at coaching a position or coordinate one of the three phases of the game. Only a few are generals, those who rise above the crowd and display the characteristics to handle an entire team in all manner and variety.

Freddie Kitchens is a lieutenant. He has no business being the head football coach of the Browns. He is incapable of concentrating on being the head coach and offensive play caller simultaneously. His lame excuses for his club’s mind-numbing failures on a consistent basis are growing old.

Fans hear from him about how well the Browns practice. All well and good. But it’s the clubs that can transfer those wonderful practices to game day that thrive. The Browns fail time and again. That, too, falls on the head coach.  

Whatever Kitchens is doing, it’s not working and the situation is getting grimmer by the game. The season is slowing slipping away.

(Much more Tuesday)

Snap, snap, snap, ball game

The Browns didn’t play a bad football game Sunday against the New England Patriots. No, really.

In fact, they played a pretty good game if not for six false starts, two offensive pass interference calls, two more flags for hands to the face, two lost coach’s challenges, one extremely ugly three-snap stretch in the first 15 minutes and a coaching decision that defies logical thinking.

The defense played a challenging game all afternoon in the rain before wilting in the final 15 minutes, challenging because the offense apparently thought Christmas was just around the corner and gifted the Patriots 14 first-quarter points in the 27-13 loss, their third in a row, dropping their record to 2-5.

The offense, once it stopped turning the ball over to the best defense in the National Football League, actually played well enough to hang in there with Nick Chubb leading the way with 131 more yards on the ground on 20 carries against a strong defense.

Chubb, who mysteriously disappeared from the game after gaining the last of those yards on the first play of the fourth quarter with the Patriots leading just 24-10, was the unfortunate victim of some bizarre football that turned the game totally around.

He did not make the play-by-play sheet after that, coach Freddie Kitchens dialing up 17 straight pass plays until running back Dontrell Hilliard closed out the game with a 10-yard run.

Chubb, who fumbles as often as the sun rises in the evening, lost the ball on consecutive snaps early in the game to gift a New England defense that is putting up some ridiculous numbers thus season.

On the first snap, Chubb headed toward the strong side of the formation, but lost the football when left guard Joel Bitonio was upended by Kyle Van Noy of the Patriots, his right foot knocking the ball out of the running back’s hands.   Linebacker Dont’a Hightower scooped up the ball and rumbled 26 yards for the score.

The next snap saw Chubb break three tackles en route to a 44-yard romp, but poor ball security resulted in fumble No. 2. Cornerback Jonathan Jones caught up to him and raked the ball out inside the Patriots’ 10 exactly 15 seconds later, Devin McCourty recovering at the four-yard line.

But wait, as they say on television infomercials, there’s more.

After forcing a New England punt, the offense went back to work. On consecutive snap No. 3 from the Cleveland 21, Baker Mayfield in shotgun formation attempted a short shovel pass forward to Jarvis Landry, peeling back against the flow. Bad move.

The timing was screwed up almost as soon as center JC Tretter snapped the football, which somehow wound up in the waiting hands of hard-charging defensive end Lawrence Guy, not Landry. The 6-5 Guy stumbled five yards to the Browns’ l1.

Jim Nantz, up in the booth with Tony Romo for CBS Television, exclaimed, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Two plays later, Pats quarterback Tom Brady connected on the first of his two touchdown passes to wide receiver Julian Edelman.

The Patriots, who have now won 17 straight at home, are also 42-0 at home against AFC opponents when Brady and Edelman, who have been playing pitch and catch for 11 seasons, play in the same game. And just like that, it was New England 17, Cleveland 0.

Three consecutive snaps, three consecutive turnovers, two nicely-wrapped gift touchdowns. The Browns, for this brief nightmarish period, were their own worst enemy. That, for all intents and purposes, was the game.

The defense limited the New England offense to only 318 totals yards, held Brady and his 66% accuracy to 55% and sacked him three times. The run defense, which has been torched for 618 yards in the last three games, held the Pats to 79. The return of cornerbacks Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams definitely helped.

The Cleveland offense, when it wasn’t stunted by an unconscionable number of pre-snap penalties, managed 310 yards of offense. They added 13 more indiscretions and 85 more yards to the season stats sheet.

The semi-new offensive line – only one change, Justin McCray replacing Greg Robinson at left tackle – had no problems opening holes for Chubb.  Their problems lied in protecting Mayfield, who was 10-for-21 for 194 yards and a 21-yard scoring pass to tight end Demetrious Harris midway through the second quarter.

The second-year quarterback added five more sacks to his season total, which now sits at 21, or three a game. Hard to believe he was dropped only five times in the last eight games of the 2018 season.

Kitchens, the man responsible for what the offense does, also had a poor afternoon. He lost two challenges – one on a spot by officials after a completed pass by Brady, the other on an offensive pass interference call on Antonio Callaway that wiped out a 27-yard catch and run by Landry.

Both were obvious correct calls by the officials, but Kitchens, perhaps frustrated by the way things were unfolding, gambled and lost two timeouts in the process. His nuttiest decision, however, arrived midway through the fourth quarter.

After ostensibly swallowing a few stupid pills and with the Pats comfortably ahead at 27-10, Kitchens decided to go for it on fourth down and 16 at the CLEVELAND 19.  Now one can understand going for it on fourth and long if the ball were closer to the New England goal line than the CLEVELAND 19.

It wound up ingloriously with one of Mayfield’s sacks and Kitchens with what looked like a puzzled look on his face. In all the years I have watched football, I can’t recall any coach at any level publicly displaying ignorance like that.

That could not have gone over well with the gentlemen who occupy important positions in the Ivory Tower. It will be interesting to see how much longer they will tolerate such interesting, to say the least, coaching.

Much ado about this?

Jarvis Landry was asked early this past week what the Browns are going to do against the New England Patriots Sunday coming out of the bye week: “We’re going to win,” the Browns wide receiver said and then repeated himself. “We’re going to win.” He said it both times matter-of-factly.

He then cited numerous reasons he believed that would eventuate. He summed up his feelings by saying, “We’ve got a good chance to win.” It was not a prediction, not a guarantee. He did not use those words. If anything, it was more of a declaration.

Later on Twitter, Landry probably realizing what he had said, backed off and qualified his remarks. “We’re going there to win,” he said. Big difference, but too late.

The original words had barely been uttered had already found their way to Foxboro almost immediately via the social media network and been relayed to the players by none other than coach Bill Belichick.

Now you’d think if that type of bulletin-board material needs to be passed on to the Patriots players for motivational purposes, there’s a problem in New England. This is an unbeaten football team having its way with the schedule after seven games.

They are so full of confidence, they don’t need the words of a wide receiver, whose team is 2-4, to motivate them. It’s pretty obvious they are already motivated.

Browns coach Freddie Kitchens, however, unwisely chose later to dive into the matter with the media in his crosshairs.

“I do a pretty good job of communicating with you guys and telling you as much as I can from a truth perspective,” he began. “I would like the same in return from you guys when you are talking with our players. Everybody in here knows Jarvis was not guaranteeing a win (again, he never used the word).

“He was asked what do you want to accomplish after the bye and stated he would like to win or something in that realm. (No. He was asked what the Browns were going to do coming out of the bye.) New England was never mentioned (and it wasn’t reported that way) so for you guys to do that, I think it was very unfair.”

First of all, Kitchens needs to take some classes in journalism to get a better feel for what the job the Cleveland-area media, and the media in general, entails. 

He chided them for correctly reporting what Landry said. He either did not watch the interview or came away with the wrong impression without checking out what precipitated the remarks. All the evidence is on the video.

It’s obvious Landry eventually realized what he said and how it sounded by using his Twitter account in an attempt to clear it up.

Do you honestly sense an upset?

By all rights, the Browns’ journey to Foxboro Sunday to play the New England Patriots, the unbeaten New England Patriots, shouldn’t result in much of a game.

The disappointing Browns are struggling along at 2-4 and had a week off to lick their wounds courtesy of the bye. The Patriots are humming along, knocking off team after team after team as they waltz toward another Super Bowl.

The statistics this team is putting up along the way are startling, brightly providing intimidating evidence why they are undefeated. The Browns are merely the next team on the schedule.

With one exception, the New England offense routinely puts up at least 30 points a game. And just as routinely, the stingy defense has not permitted any opponent to score more than 14 points and that was only once.

The numbers are staggering on both sides of the football. The Pats have outscored their opponents by an incredible 175 points. The defense has allowed three touchdowns, just one touchdown pass, and scored three. Special teams have contributed the cause, too, with a pair of touchdowns and a blocked punt.

The defense, masterminded this season by head coach Bill Belichick, has racked up 26 sacks and taken the ball away 22 times, including a whopping 18 interceptions, matching the cub’s output in the entire 2018 campaign.

It is truly team oriented with nine players sharing the 26 sacks and six sharing the 18 picks. Make a mistake against them and you can almost count on six points going up the scoreboard.

They boast the best back eight in the NFL in very active linebackers Kyle Van Noy, Dont’a Hightower, Elandon Roberts and ex-Brown Jamie Collins, and a thieving secondary comprised of Stephon Gilmore, Patrick Chung and identical twins Jason and Devin McCourty.

Opponents have converted a puny 14.3% of their third-down opportunities, completed just 51% of their passes and piled up only 12½ first downs a game. This defense has given the word “dominate” a whole new meaning.

And that’s just one side of the football. The other side is not quite as intimidating but impressive nevertheless – it’s sneaky good – in its relentless ability to move the chains, resulting in hoarding the ball for nearly 35 minutes a game.

Quarterback Tom Brady, the Methuselah of the National Football League at 42, is cruising along at his usual 66% accuracy rate, leading an offense that averages more than three TDs a game.

They don’t overwhelm like some of the other NFL offenses that strike suddenly.  Rarely will you see the Patriots stretch the field in an effort to put points on the board. They prefer to chip away and take advantage of opponents’ mistakes.

When you get past the peerless Brady, though, there isn’t much that impresses on offense. Tight end Rob Gronkowski is retired and wide receiver Julian

Edelman has been battling injuries all season.

They average 377 yards a game (the Browns not that far behind at 351). The offensive line is in a state of flux, especially at left tackle, just like the Browns, but it somehow seems to be working, having allowed only 11 sacks this season.

The three-headed monster at running back – Sony Michel, James White and Rex Burkhead – keeps defenses honest. All three factor into the passing game, too. Outside of Edelman, though, the wide receivers corps is so mediocre, the Pats had to trade for Atlanta veteran Mohamed Sanu this week after dropping Josh Gordon.

No matter who plays, Brady always seems to uncannily find a way to make the Patriots offense work.

Now throw in the enormous success Belichick has had against quarterbacks in either their rookie or sophomore NFL seasons and you have a firm grasp on one of the many reasons he is so successful and headed for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

He has won 20 straight games and 34 of the last 39 against quarterbacks who fall under that category since taking over as the Pats head coach. Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, an NFL sophomore, will attempt to become the sixth outlier.

At least he’ll have a full complement of receivers with the return of Rashard Higgins and Antonio Callaway losing more rust since his return from a four-game suspension as they buttress Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr.

Here’s another little tidbit worth digesting: The Patriots are 41-0 at home in the regular season against AFC opponents in the 11 seasons Brady and Julian Edelman play together. And they will play Sunday.

The Browns came the closest to spoiling that mark in December 2013, dropping a 27-26 verdict, the only one-point Patriots victory in the streak.

The Browns are probably at their healthiest since the opening game of the season. Cornerbacks Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams are back, which could mean defensive coordinator Steve Wilks might haul out the more traditional 4-3 look on early downs instead of adding a nickel back.

And then there’s Belichick, the psychologist, in full bloom with his praise for the Browns in his conference call with the Cleveland media earlier this week, an exercise he no doubt would rather not do.

The former Browns coach said this year’s team has “a lot of explosive players to worry about. They make a lot of big plays and cause a lot of problems. Coach Kitchens is a very aggressive coach offensively.”

He didn’t stop there. “They have great runners, receivers, quarterback, experienced (not good, experienced) offensive line,” he said. “Defensively, they do as good a job turning the ball over (no they don’t; they have only eight turnovers this season). Creating negative plays and long yardage, three-and-outs.

“And special teams, they have two good returners (no they don’t), good coverage players, big kicker, punter. . . . . A solid team. It will be big challenge for us Sunday. They play competitively. They do a lot of things well. They cause a lot of problems.”

So why are they 2-4 with a pair of blowout losses?  If they are so solid and competitive with no apparent weaknesses, could it be one of the unmentioned weaknesses is the new head coach?

As for advantages, at least in Belichick’s eyes, the Browns have it with two weeks to prepare for this game coming off a bye, and his team playing in a short week (the Pats drilled the New York Jets last Monday).  Advantage Cleveland, no? No.

For the record, the Browns are 7-11 coming off a bye since 2001 – 3-4 at home, 4-7 on the road. One of those home victories was against the Patriots in 2010, Peyton Hillis rumbling for 184 yards and two touchdowns in a 34-14 walloping in Eric Mangini’s final season as head coach.

Belichick, now in his 20^th season with the Patriots, is practically unbeatable at home. They are 127-28 in Foxboro since he took over in 2000, a winning percentage of .819.  He has crafted a litany of excellence there.

The new Browns have lost all four games in Foxboro since 1999. One more stat: The Patriots lug a 16-game home winning streak into this one.

The good folks at CBS Television have deemed the game worthy enough to be shown to a good portion of the nation and assigned its top team of Jim Nantz and Tony Romo to share their thoughts and insights with the fans.

Nantz and Romo, you’ll recall, also handled the Browns’ season opener at home against Tennessee. Remember the 43-13 blowout by the Titans? Look for a similar result Sunday with four more turnovers, including two more picks by Mayfield. Make it:

Patriots 31 Browns 10

Midweek thoughts

It’s been a long time coming. But it has fully arrived and is throwing the National Football League for a loop.

I have been watching football for a long time, but I can’t remember when officiating has overtaken the game itself with regard to conversation. Less talk of the game; more talk about the officials. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be.

Coaches and more than a few players, after getting hosed by officials’ call(s), clench their teeth and say for the most part the officials did not cost them the game. They don’t believe one syllable. They don’t want money subtracted from their paychecks.

Flag day, it seems, is celebrated all around the NFL now on a weekly basis. Maybe it’s because the league promoted six new officials to referee last season and it takes time to acclimate. Then again, maybe it’s the rules book and how it is enforced that is the causal factor for some shoddy officiating this season.

It seems as though just about every game on the schedule erupts with questionable officiating. I can’t remember when so many penalty flags have been thrown. “There’s a flag on the play” is uttered monotonously too often by broadcasters.

Players are not only confused, they are angry. Same with coaches and team owners. The spate of yellow laundry being tossed around with alarming regularity is making what should be entertainment seem less entertaining.

That and instant replay. Put those two together and the fun of watching grown men playing a collision sport loses its flavor. It’s almost as though the game is interrupting the penalty flags.

In an effort to make certain games are played to perfection for the paying patrons, games slog along with numerous interruptions while efforting to maintain that perfection.

It has reached the point where the rules book has become so obese, the league’s officials are required to approach each game with almost encyclopedic knowledge of how to officiate a game.

Many years ago, veteran Philadelphia NFL reporter Les Bowen pointedly nailed what the officiating problem was and back then, the rules book was not nearly as thick as it is now.

It involved a decision made at the time by referee Tony Corrente, a 25-year NFL veteran official who is still around. “The real problem here isn’t Tony Corrente or any other zebras,” Bowen wrote.

“The bigger problem is, either out of concern over concussions or just wanting to codify every little nuance of the sport, the NFL has passed so many rules, the game has become impossible to officiate consistently.”

Here we are a decade later and the league has done absolutely nothing to make the game easier to officiate, thickening the rules book to the point where it’s almost as though officials rely on replay to justify their calls.

Too many plays in the game are subject to review in the event a coach, his red challenge flag at the ready, or an eye in the sky (the replay booth) want to “take a look” at the tape and make sure perfection is maintained.

It has reached the point where an officiating team can never have the kind of game that is rewarded with praise. That will never happen again.

Replay, which I have never been in favor of, is the main culprit. It has taken officials’ jobs and placed them under a microscope. They are expected to be perfect and then improve on that.

These are human beings we’re talking about here. Humans make mistakes. They don’t like to, but it is inevitable. And when they do, especially the most egregious ones, they catch holy hell.

Players make mistakes, too. A missed block here, a blown assignment there. A dropped pass, a fumble. Their misdeeds can cost their team the game. But they are soon forgotten. Not those by officials, though. Replay takes the human factor out of it.

Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers said it best after a bad call against Detroit in the final minute of a Monday night game a couple of weeks ago helped the Packers knock off the Lions. “I think (bad calls) equal out over the years,” he said.

It is time to return to the human way of doing things in football when it comes to officiating. It’s time to limit the number of opportunities to use replay as an officiating tool and accept the fact that as long as humans play and officiate the game, mistakes will be made.

Fortunately, mistakes on a football field do not have a profound, lasting impact on our lives. At least they shouldn’t.

Fans watched and presumably enjoyed watching the NFL without major officiating problems until 1986. That’s when the league experimented with replay, expanding it in 1999 to allow challenges.

Every once in a great while, an egregiously horrendous missed call by an official creates an audible outcry and stirs up enough interest and NFL owners would listen. Then they would do nothing because they knew the incidence of it happening again was infinitesimal.

This time, though, they relented to an outcry (from New Orleans Saints fans) and put in the outrageously moronic rule to use replay as a tool to determine whether there was pass interference by either team. The results have proved farcical.

Why is that? Because Al Riveron, head of the league’s officials, rules against every red challenge flag (except one) thrown to test the new rule. He is looking for “clear and obvious visual evidence to overturn the call on the field” and sees none.

Hidden in that explanation is the interpretation of “clear and obvious” and Riveron uses it to duck under the eye-of-the-beholder tent. That’s one rule that will not see a second season.

If the competition committee of the NFL wants to make a wise rules change, it should seriously consider changing defensive pass interference from a spot foul to a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down as they do in college football. Now that, at least from this viewpoint, makes much more sense.

Monday leftovers (bye edition) part II

If there is a flaw in Freddie Kitchens’ approach to strategizing the Browns’ offense this season, it lies in his insatiable quest to get the football to wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry way too much.

There is no question the two close friends are the best wide receivers on the team. They not only love playing together again, they love playing in an offense that caters to their talents. Therein lies the problem.

The two men have combined for 54 receptions for 875 yards and ONE touchdown. And that was an 89-yard romp by Beckham with a short slant pass of about 10 yards in the week two victory over the New York Jets.

Baker Mayfield is suffering to some degree this season because it seems either Beckham and/or Landry are the prime targets of his passes. To be exact, they are the prime targets 49.5% of the time. That needs to change.

Kitchens and offensive coordinator Todd Monken need to help their quarterback by diversifying his targets. Opposing defensive coordinators are locking into a pattern here and it is hampering the second-year quarterback.

When you become predictable on offense, that offense tends to bog down quickly. Unpredictability is one of the hallmarks of a good offense. And right now, the Cleveland offense is anything but good.

Last season, Mayfield spread the football around to the likes of wideouts Landry, Antonio Callaway, Rashard Higgins and Breshad Perriman; tight ends David Njoku and Darren Fells; and running backs Nick Chubb and Duke Johnson Jr.

Opposing defenses either didn’t know on whom to key or flat out stopped because Mayfield was indiscriminate in where the football was headed. His receiving corps enabled him to set a league record for most touchdown passes by a rookie with 27.

Through five games this season, Mayfield is stuck on five touchdown passes. And with the National Football League’s best pass and overall defense waiting in New England Sunday, he might be stuck for another week.

The big difference this year is he is not throwing to Njoku, on the injured list; Perriman, now playing in Tampa Bay; Higgins, who has been injured all season; Fells and Johnson, now with Houston; and Callaway, who just returned from a four-game suspension.

Callaway and Higgins, who is expected to play Sunday, are nowhere near ready to execute with the rhythm required to be successful in the NFL. It will come eventually, but eventually is at least a couple of games away.

Their return should put Damion Ratley, Taywan Taylor and KhaDarel Hodge (yes, he’s still on the roster) where they belong – either on the bench or as healthy scratches.

Now Ricky Seals-Jones, a wide receiver masquerading as a tight end, has been a revelation. Since being claimed off waivers by the Browns right before the season opener, he has caught seven passes for 143 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

He has more touchdowns than Beckham and Landry combined. So why doesn’t he have a bigger role in the offense? The 6-5, 245-pounder makes an excellent target in the red zone, an area that has been a minefield for Mayfield all season. He needs to be more involved. Much more.

So S-J doesn’t block very well. So what. Neither does the offensive line. Balance his relative weakness at blocking with the fact he has caught 40% of Mayfield’s touchdown passes and it’s not out of the ordinary to wonder what the hell are the coaches thinking. This is not nuclear science we’re talking here.

It’s a prima facie fact the club’s two best receivers have scored one touchdown. And the last time I looked, scoring touchdowns was the main objective in football for the offense. Stop throwing to them so much and bring others into the picture. Give opposing defensive coordinators something to think about.

Besides, it just might get Mayfield kick-started after proving some pundits correct that there is such a thing as a sophomore slump in the NFL for cocky quarterbacks.

*      *       *

The rumor mill continues to spit out the possibility that General Manager John Dorsey is trying his damndest to trade for recalcitrant Washington Redskins offensive tackle Trent Williams.

There are a number of good reasons to root for the Redskins to toe the line. Making a deal like that is foolish to begin with. It smacks of desperation and when desperation enters such talks, it often results in paying too much.

Dorsey is smart enough, I think, to realize that using high draft choices as bargaining chips midway through a season just to improve one position endangers the future.

There is no question the Browns’ offensive line is nowhere near being what the GM and the rest of the front office thought it would be this season. Losing Kevin Zeitler in the Beckham trade with the New York Giants is being severely felt.

Williams is one of the NFL’s best offensive tackles. But he is 31 years old (he’ll be 32 before the 2020 season begins), a 10-year veteran of the NFL wars and is, if anything, on the downside of his career.

Sure he would be better than Greg Robinson right now. But there is no guarantee if Dorsey somehow comes up with a deal the Redskins can’t refuse that Williams can come in and be plugged into the starting lineup immediately.

He hasn’t played football since last December. He isn’t in shape. And it will take him at least a few games to be comfortable enough in a new system with different nomenclature to be effective. It’s better to bite the bullet, stay put and not mortgage the future.

Dorsey can also blame himself for being in this predicament. Passing on some pretty good offensive linemen in the last two college drafts and selecting poorly (Austin Corbett) has not helped.

It’s time he realizes games are won and lost in the trenches. And his turning a blind eye to that notion, at least on offense, has helped create the desperation to save what many believed was going to be a breakout season for this franchise.

*      *       *

One piece of advice for Mayfield: Take what the defense gives you. Don’t try to squeeze passes into tight windows like you did last season. It’s not working this season.

On more than several occasions this season, you have passed on numerous opportunities to move the chains and author long, time-consuming drives that keep your defense fresh. Think checkdown. Think quick slants. Think more screen passes.

Now that Higgins is back and Callaway has chipped off enough rust built up throughout his suspension, it’s time to take advantage of open receivers underneath. The short to medium stuff works and can frustrate the hell out of a defense. You don’t have to go for the big gulp all the time.

Watch Tom Brady Sunday. Watch how he carves up a defense with short- to medium-range passes mixed in with an effective ground game. He doesn’t dazzle. He doesn’t have to. And it’s terribly effective.

Monday leftovers (bye edition)

While many fans and, no doubt, important members of the Browns’ front office are concerned (bordering worry) about the club’s offense, it’s the other side of the football where the real problems lie.

You want proof. I’ve got proof. It lies in the statistics. And you know what they say about statistics. They do not lie. (Okay, bad pun).

First, let’s look at last season for some perspective when it comes to the job of stopping the opposing team’s offense. The numbers will surprise you.

The 2018 Browns, the team that shocked just about everyone on the National Football League landscape, finished eighth in the league in turnover ratio with a +7. This season, they are 28^th at –6 after six games.

Breaking that down, this season’s club has created eight turnovers. Make that eight measly turnovers (four interceptions and four fumble recoveries.) Last season’s unit had 31 takeaways (17 picks and 14 fumble recoveries) under defensive coordinator/interim head coach Gregg Williams. 

Last season’s defensive unit helped the offense immensely, frequently getting the football back from the opposition, often times in plus territory, but mostly handing them a short field with which to work.

It seems this season’s defense cannot keep up with the alarming number of times (14) the offense has lost the football. A dozen of those belong to quarterback Baker Mayfield with 11 picks and a fumble.

It’s almost a sigh of relief when the defense manages to extract the football from the opposition this season.  Last season, it sparked an offense that looked quite different, from a good standpoint, compared to this season edition.

See where this is headed? No? Read on.

The 2019 Browns have owned the football for an average of 28 minutes and 28 seconds a game. Last season, it was 28:39. Hardly any difference there.

But in the last three games, a victory and two losses, the current Browns have possessed the ball an average of 26:17, mainly because the defense cannot get off the field and allow the struggling offense more opportunities to work things out.

At the same time, the opposition plays keep away from the Cleveland offense and tires out a Cleveland defense to the point where it is vulnerable to a grinding ground game.

Only the Cincinnati Bengals and Miami Dolphins, teams with zero total victories, have allowed more rushing yards per game than the Browns, who have been ravaged for 154 yards a game and sit in 30^th place.

In the last three games before the bye, the Cleveland defense turnstiled the offenses   of Baltimore, Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco to the not-so-merry tune of 618 yards. For those who are math challenged, that’s 206 yards a game.

One more relative stat before fingers of guilt are pointed. Last season, the Browns allowed 21 touchdowns through the air. This season, that number is already 12 through six games.

By now, you no doubt have guessed the biggest problem lies with the coach who has title of defensive coordinator in front of his name.  Steve Wilks’ unorthodox 4-2-5 defense, originally installed to combat the many pass-happy offenses the club has faced thus far, has been disastrous.

The secondary makes entirely too many tackles. Four of the top eight tacklers play either cornerback or safety. That’s not right. Why is that the case? Too may runners gain considerable yardage before encountering contact.

There are some who believe the absence of fragile cornerbacks Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams for most of the season has been especially detrimental. We’ll find out soon enough since they have been declared ready to go Sunday in New England.

That could mean a switch to a more conventional 4-3 look, at least in early downs before sub packaging, which means adding a third linebacker to the mix. Question is, if that were the case, who would that backer be?

With Christian Kirksey already out for the season and rookie Mack Wilson still learning on the job at weakside linebacker, candidates for the strong side include rookie Sione Takitaki, veteran Adarius Taylor and – yes he is still on the team – Genard Avery.

Avery, who has become the forgotten man (with no explanation why), had a decent rookie season in 2018, starting five games. He has seen almost no action this season, having been a healthy scratch for half the games.

He is listed officially as a defensive end, one of five on the club’s official roster, but played some linebacker last season. He had 40 tackles. 30 solo. He also ranked third on the club in sacks with 4½. You can count the number of times he has seen the field this season on one hand.

If the Browns don’t want the fifth-round draft selection in the 2018 college draft on the roster, and it sure appears that way, just cut him and move on. No good reason to continue the charade.

Now if Wilks stubbornly clings to the notion his 4-2-5 will work, expect more of the same results on defense. The Patriots love to run the football and dial up Tom Brady to throw every now and then just to mix things up.

Such stubbornness can’t make head coach Freddie Kitchens comfortable, especially since his offense seems to be incapable of successfully getting into a scoring battle with other teams. He needs a better performance from his defense.

(Much more tomorrow)