Monday leftovers

The two men mainly responsible for the Browns' improbable 23-16 loss to the New York Jets Sunday that temporarily torpedoed the club's goal of qualifying for National Football League playoffs each took responsibility for the setback.

"We got flat out beat today," said head coach Kevin Stefanski. "I got flat out outcoached. We got outplayed. We did the things we can't do. Minus-2 in the turnover battle, penalties, drops, not good. Credit to the Jets."

He refused to use the absence of his top four wide receivers due to the pandemic as an excuse. "That has nothing to do with the guys we didn't have," he said. "We had plenty of guys. We had all the guys we needed and didn't get it done."

Baker Mayfield, whose costly fumble while attempting a sneak on fourth and inches in the waning moments of the game deep in Jets territory was the backbreaker with the possibility of tying the game so close, was even more adamant. 

"There's no excuse," the quarterback said. "Plain and simple, I failed this team. I put three balls on the ground. Two they recovered and the other on fourth down. I just need to hold on to the damn ball. Plain and simple. We had exactly what we needed to win this game and I did not do good enough."

He, too, protected those players who stepped in for the COVID-19-related victims back home. "I am proud of those guys (Marvin Hall Jr,, Ja'Marcus Bradley and Derrick Willies) being able to step up," he said. "These guys didn't even think they were going to play. For anybody to criticize them, shame on you. Put it on me for not doing my job."

I believe both were well meaning in their remarks, but I hold one much more responsible for how the game unfolded than the other.

Mayfield was doing what his head coach/playcaller asked him to do. He was asked to drop back and throw the football an incredible -- and career high -- 57 times with Jarvis Landry, Rashard Higgins, Donovan Peoples-Jones and KhaDarel Hodge watching the game back home probably wondering what the hell is coach doing.

With the NFL's third-best ground game at his disposal and the heart of the passing game in Cleveland, Stefanski called for Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, relative spectators in this one, to run the ball only 15 times (for 39 yards). That bears repeating: 15 TIMES. Maybe that was a Stefanski doppelgänger calling those plays. It sure couldn't have been the run-loving boss.

He no doubt game-planned to strafe the weak Jets secondary and by the time it was chiseled, news broke about his wide receivers late Saturday, less than 24 hours before game time. Apparently, it was too late to adjust. 

Nevertheless, he still liked his chances in the passing game with his three tight ends and the versatile Hunt, who wound up touching the ball just seven times for 52 yards. In the first half alone, 17 of Mayfield's 24 targets were either tight ends or running backs. Hall and Bradley saw only two passes thrown their way.

Chubb carried just eight times (in 36 snaps) for six yards behind a makeshift offensive line that dropped back to protect Mayfield (not very well) 27 times. A 27-9 pass-run ratio is nowhere near what a Stefanski offense looks like. The Browns were fortunate to be trailing only 13-3 at the half.

Kendall Lamm, subbing for the ill Jedrick Wills Jr. at left tackle, and Nick Harris, filling in until Wyatt Teller returns at right guard, tried hard. Can't fault their effort. The results are a different matter. The Jets' defensive line abused them for a major portion of the afternoon. And yet Stefanski was determined to keep throwing the football.

Missing from the Cleveland arsenal were the rollouts, the bootlegs, the misdirection plays that have worked so well this season and made Mayfield so successful. He was pretty much confined to the pocket, not exactly his favorite place from which to throw.

That Stefanski welcomed Bradley into the game plan in the second half was a nod the tight end thing was not working. Austin Hooper was targeted a ridiculous 15 times overall  -- he caught seven for 71 yards -- and Bradley, who caught his only pass for six yards in the first half, was in Mayfield's crosshairs 10 times in the second half with four receptions and 54 more yards.

And yet the Browns had a terrific chance to pull even in the late stages, marching down to the New York 16. And then came the fatal fumble on a sneak on a fourth and inches, a play that had worked twice earlier in the game on consecutive possessions that led to both touchdowns.. 

Was Stefanski's flat out being outcoached remark an apology? No, it was more of an observation. He did not take blame for the loss. Someone had to with such importance attached to the result. Mayfield did.

No, this one belongs solely to Stefanski, whom I believe is the best coach this franchise has had since 1999. He had numerous opportunities to change tactics and stuck with a passing game that was severely  weakened. 

Virtually abandoning the run was a mistake. Ironically, it was the failure to successfully execute a run of less than a foot that eventually cost Stefanski and his team the opportunity to make Sunday's season finale against Pittsburgh just another rivalry game.

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While Mayfield and Stefanski are the main culprits in the bothersome loss, the defense had to take a large portion of the credit (blame?) with a performance that ranks right down there with some of the embarrassing setbacks over the last two decades.

It isn't unusual to see a team blow a coverage in a football game every once in a while. Happens all the time. What took place Sunday against the Jets,, though, was inexcusable and gave the Jets three gifts two days after Christmas. All three Jets scores came as a result of some sort of confusion in the Cleveland secondary.

Watching strong safety Karl Joseph whirl twice and raise his hands in the air in disgust and/or frustration as if to say "what the hell are you doing?" because an assignment was blown was way too commonplace. That should not be happening in game 15. To see all three scores with nary a Brown near them has to concern Stefanski.

You know it's bad when cornerback Denzel Ward admitted after the game that he did not play well. It's a situation that needs to remedied in a hurry because the Steelers arrive Sunday with one of the NFL's best receiving corps. 

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Quick observation: Harris played well, not great, in his professional debut in the Browns' victory a week ago against the New York Giants. Filling in for Chris Hubbard, who was injured just two plays into the game, he held his own. He kept mistakes to a minimum.

It was a different story against the Jets for the squat -- he's barely six feet tall -- guard against the Jets' more aggressive defensive line. A much better run blocker than pass protecter, he played all 81 snaps and was called on to drop back on 57 of them. 

That was totally unfair for a rookie who hadn't played a snap before the Giants game. And it showed in a performance that saw him responsible for one sack, four pressures and numerous hurries. He was no match for the Jets' larger interior linemen. He is too short to play guard in the NFL.

The Steelers no doubt will see that this week as they prepare for Sunday's gane, while the Browns are hopeful Teller's sore ankle is healed enough for him to play.

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Finally . . . The Jets' defense sacked Mayfield four times, hit him eight times and recorded eight tackles for loss. The Browns dropped Jets quarterback Sam Darnold only twice, hit him five times and had just four tackles for loss. Trenches. That's where games are won. . . . Why was Hall, a veteran wide receiver, targeted only twice and Bradley the rookie 11 times? Inquiring minds want to know. . . . Cleveland defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson was credited with 10 tackles, three solo, and blocked an extra point. . . . Is it any wonder Cody Parkey has a reputation of being inconsistent? The placekicker has missed extra points in the last two games and now has four for the season. Missed, not blocked.