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Monday leftovers

Once again, the puzzling playcalling of Freddie Kitchens roars into the spotlight in the aftermath of the Browns’ 20-13 loss Sunday in Pittsburgh.

The Browns were down by 10 points (20-10) at the beginning of the fourth quarter when the head coach and playcaller decided running the football was fruitless and throwing it would be more beneficial.

Nick Chubb touched the football just once more after plowing the last three yards of his 16-carry, 58-yard afternoon to launch a possession. He caught a 21-yard pass from Baker Mayfield that later in the next drive that helped set up an Austin Seibert field goal.

Other than that, one of the best running backs in the National Football League was basically grounded. With plenty of time left in the game, Kitchens appeared to panic and abandoned the ground game.

After that short Chubb run, Kitchens called 15 straight dropbacks for Mayfield, unnecessarily putting his quarterback in danger. It wasn’t bad enough Mayfield had hurt his hand attempting to throw a pass in the waning seconds of the first half.

Up to that point, the Steelers had sacked Mayfield only twice – once in the first quarter and once, a strip sack, late in the third quarter. Otherwise, his offensive line kept him relatively clean.

Of the 15 consecutive dropbacks, five passes were completed for 68 yards (63 on three straight completions midway through the fourth quarter); six fell incomplete, three resulted in sacks; and one wound up in the arms of ex-Brown Joe Haden on the final offensive play of the afternoon.

Kitchens maintains he always attempts to put his players in the best position to make plays. Well if this is an example of that, perhaps he should seriously think about turning over the playcalling duties to offensive coordinator Todd Monken.

Why? Because this is not working. With terrific talent on the field with the likes of Mayfield, Chubb, Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry, this offense should be much more dangerous and productive.

The Browns with all that talent have scored 23 of fewer points in nine of their 12 games this season. Their 40- and 41-point explosions against Baltimore and Miami are misleading and aberrational. And their 28-point output against Seattle was in a losing effort.

The inconsistency of this offense is maddening. It needs the deft touch and coaching of someone who devotes his entire attention to it. Much like Kitchens did last season when he was the club’s interim offensive coordinator for eight games. His stubbornness stands in the way of his possible effectiveness as a head coach.

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Way too much fuss was made over a T-shirt his daughters gave Kitchens for his 45^th birthday that he wore to the motion picture “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”’ Friday night.

It read “Pittsburgh Started It” in reference to the infamous brawl that erupted the last time the Browns and Steelers met a couple of weeks ago. A fan took a picture with the coach and put it in the Internet. It went viral and some suggested it would motivate the Steelers.

That’s a bunch of nonsense. If a coach needs something like that to motivate his team, he’s got a problem, especially so soon after the previous dustup. If his team is not motivated enough about this game, there is definitely something wrong with the coach.

I’d like to think someone like Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin is above that. He’s been around too long and been too successful at getting his teams ready his own way to require outside help.

Said Kitchens after the game when asked, “The T-shirt didn’t have anything to do with this. I wore a jacket with it. My daughters wanted me to wear the shirt. I’d wear it again. I put a jacket on and covered it up.

“I took a picture with a fan. It was as simple as that. A T-shirt didn’t cause us to give up 40-yard passes and we were ready to play. That’s the only thing people need to be concerned about. We were ready to play.”

Tomlin obviously had his men primed and ready for the Browns, especially after they had pretty much dominated the first 22 minutes of the game. Hopefully, the ridiculous notion the T-shirt was a major factor in the victory will fade quickly.

A few Steelers players after the game mentioned the T-shirt, but down deep they had to know gaining revenge for the loss in Cleveland and enhancing their playoff chances were vastly more important motivating factors. Makes for good copy. That’s all.

Bulletin-board material such as this is overrated. Grown men who play a collision sport do not need outside motivation to play. That T-shirt did not in any way cause the Browns to lose focus and then the game. A more focused and lesser talented team overachieved. That’s what beat the Browns.

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The Cleveland pass rush, which had four sacks in its first game without Myles Garrett last week at home against Miami, returned to earth against the Steelers with just one sack. Chad Thomas had it on the third defensive play of the game.

The rush reported as AWOL the rest of the game. It got close to Pittsburgh quarterback Devlin Hodges on occasion, but close is not good enough in the NFL. Definitely not even with a rookie quarterback making only his second start.

The Pittsburgh offensive line, playing without suspended All-Pro center Maurkice Pouncey and banged-up left tackle Alejandro Villanueva, was clearly better than the Browns plug uglies.

The return of defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi from suspension and defensive end Olivier Vernon from injury offered little help. Hodges had oodles of time to unload the ball for the most part.

The secondary was the unfortunate victim of the ample time Hodges had to choose his targets. The tepid pass rush clearly accounted for the five-chunk-play strafing it absorbed. The rookie completed passes of 31, 28, 30, 21 and 44 yards. They accounted for five of his 14 completions and 154 of his 212-yard total.

Wide receiver James Washington, doing his best imitation of the injured JuJu Smith-Schuster, was targeted only four times by Hodges. He caught all four for a career-high 111 of those yards and a touchdown.

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It sure looks as though Beckham is becoming a lesser light in the Kitchens offense. The superstar has been targeted only 14 times in the last two games after seeing 22 headed his way in the previous two.

Now part of the reason is because he is drawing double coverage as the club’s lone deep threat. But he is also just as dangerous over the middle and has accounted for first downs on more than half (56%) his 57 receptions. Kitchens’ biggest challenge has been finding ways to get him open.

Beckham is on pace to catch 76 passes this season for 1,073 yards, figures that would be considered good for most wide receivers. But he is not like most wide receivers. And it sure seems as though this season has been anything but what fans expected.

He has scored only two touchdowns, going eight games between scores. He scored more touchdowns (3) in four games in his injury-riddled 2017 season with the New York Giants than he has in a dozen with the Browns this season.

It will be interesting to see what the offseason is like with his mercurial personality. He has been very much the good soldier through the first dozen games. But this statistically down season portends a possible deleterious situation.

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Finally . . . The Pittsburgh offensive line beat the Browns off the snap almost all afternoon. The crushing blow came after Seibert’s punt on a fake field-goal attempt with 5½ minutes left in regulation landed a yard from the Steelers goal line. The Cleveland defense meekly responded by allowing the Steelers to burn nearly four minutes, advancing the ball to midfield before punting. Totally unacceptable. . . . Chubb’s 58-yard effort against the Steelers was his season low. . . . Benny Snell Jr. a third-string running back, topped him with 63 yards in 16 attempts. . . . Kitchens needs to put Chubb and Hunt in the same huddle much more often. Hunt looked very sharp with 46 yards in seven attempts and much quicker off the snap than Chubb. . . . Three rookies stood out on defense. Linebacker Mack Wilson is getting better by the game, He led the team in tackles (8) and solo tackles (6) and seemed to be around the ball quite a bit. . . . So did fellow linebacker Sione Takitaki, who has three solo tackles. . . . And free safety Sheldrick Redwine, showed up with six tackles (four solo) subbing for Damarious Randall, who did not make the trip.