Monday leftovers

Yes, the Browns' offense is broken. But it's far from being on life support. It's sort of having a faith in Kevin Stefanski thing.

He's a smart man. And smart men quite often can be very stubborn. Right now, the Browns' head coach is in one of those stubborn stages. Has been for a while. But the Browns are 7-6 and still alive in the playoff hunt.

It sure appears as though Stefanski and his quarterback are going through a rough period. Like about the last nine or 10 games. Baker Mayfield would like to play gunslinger like he did the second half of last season when he was the linchpin of a very dangerous offense.

Stefanski, who is blissfully in love with two and three tight end looks, is not enamored with that prospect. That's clearly the anthesis of Mayfield's agenda. For whatever reason, Stefanski wants Mayfield to be a different quarterback, i.e. a game manager.

A better guess is he wants to keep his quarterback upright for the rest of the season and is willing to dumb down the offense and rely on his weakened offensive line to help a terrific running backs corps gouge out yardage and bleed the clock and thus make play action more effective.

Now that his defense is playing as well as any Cleveland defense in recent memory, those two aspects of the game are vital parts of a formula that generally produces excellent results, the kind that ultimately lead to playing football in the postseason.

Mayfield has not been healthy since a series of major injuries in the first six games of the season and several minor ones since that have made it difficult to be the quarterback he wants to be. It has hampered his effectiveness,

He not so subtly complained after the victory Sunday about the offense becoming too conservative in the second half. He was correct, It was too conservative. It was antithetical to Mayfield's talents.

It took Stefanski about half of last season to convince Mayfield his way was best for him and the team. And when the quarterback bought into it, the team flourished, at least on that side of the ball. 

One possibility about the supposed divide between the quarterback and his head coach could be Stefanski's conservative bent is meant to protect Mayfield, who has endured a battering this season, and prevented him from sustaining a season-ending injury.

Step one might have been taken in Sunday's victory. For the first time this season, Mayfield was not sacked. He was hit only once. That cannot be stressed enough. Stefanski dialed up max protection on many of his 38 dropbacks, which included six scrambles. Inserting Blake Hance as a sixth offensive lineman on about a dozen and a half of those helped.

It's going to be tricky from here on out as the battle for the playoffs in the tightly bunched AFC North begins to slowly unfold. One misstep could mean the difference between finishing atop the division or tumbling back into the cellar. 

And the way the defense has played the last six weeks, the onus is on the offense to come close to replicating that success. A symbiotic working relationship between the head coach and quarterback would be a good start.

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The great dictator of the Browns' immediate future just might turn out to be the injury factor, not the schedule.

It has become so much of a factor this season, it wouldn't be surprising to learn that the first item on Stefanski's daily agenda is checking to see who is and who is not available for something as simple as practice. 

With the spate of soft-tissue injuries and COVID-19 positive tests plaguing the NFL and playing havoc with rosters on a daily basis, game plans for the next game probably have -- or should have -- plans A though F ready to implement depending on availability.

Coordinators have to be flexible when constructing those plans. The manner in which they put together different packages to fit the various situations can be hectic. A late injury, such as the concussion rookie cornerback Greg Newsome II suffered late last Friday, causes immediate scrambling.

Most of the situational packages are on the defensive side of the football, which is fortunate for the Browns because (a) they are the hot unit right now and (b) their defensive roster boasts numerous players versatile enough to slide into different positions and be effective.

In Sunday's victory over Baltimore, a cranky ankle during his pre-game warmups rendered strong safety Ronnie Harrison Jr. unavailable for the afternoon. Grant Delpit, who can play either safety, stepped in and responded with a team-leading 11 solo tackles. 

Keeping track of the comings and goings on the roster, including the practice squad, can become a headache, especially with the suddenness of a positive COVID test. Good timing, it would appear, is everything. 

When punter Jamie Gillan tested positive last week, the Browns immediately picked up veteran Dustin Colquitt, who had been cut by the Atlanta Falcons days earlier. He placed two of his five punts inside the Baltimore 20 and handled all the snaps flawlessly as the holder for placements.

The latest to hit the injured list and unavailable for Saturday's early evening home game against the Las Vegas Raiders are slot cornerback Troy Hill and running back Kareem Hunt. But Stefanski might get tight ends David Njoku and Harrison Bryant back. In some ways, it balances out.

All this factors into the success or failure of a team with a serious shot at the postseason making all the right moves and, at the same time, not losing effectiveness while doing so. 

The high toll of injuries and COVID-19 have caught up with the Ravens, whose first-place standing in the AFC North has become precarious with the Browns and Cincinnati Bengals lurking only a game behind with four weeks left in the regular season. Right now, attrition is their biggest enemy.

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Here's the question: Why isn't wide receiver Rashard Higgins a big part of the Cleveland offense? Or any part, for that matter. He has proven in the past that he and Mayfield like playing pitch and catch. So why was he a healthy scratch two weeks ago in the first Baltimore game? 

And why was he not targeted once in the rematch Sunday although he booked 24 snaps? The subject was broached Monday by the media. Here was Stefanski's answer:

"I know he didn't have any targets, but he prepares really hard. He is ready to go. The ball did not find his way to him (Sunday), but that is kind of how it went. . . . That's based on who is in there when we are lining them up and the coverage. I wouldn't read much into that."

First of all, it's nice to know Higgins prepares really hard and that he's ready to go. That's part of what he's paid to do. He's also paid to catch forward passes. It's difficult to do that when those forward passes are directed elsewhere. Even seldom-used fullback Andy Janovich was targeted once.

For the record, Higgins has been targeted 31 times in nine games with 15 receptions for 185 yards and one of the few touchdowns by wide receivers this season. One of these days, we might get a real explanation from Stefanski instead of a non-answer.

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When Urban Meyer coached at Ohio State for seven seasons, he lost only nine games, never more than two in any season. And then he made a mistake by taking the job as head coach and ringmaster of the NFL Jacksonville Jagwires. (I know, I know.) And sullied his reputation as a head coach.

After 13 games with the Jagwires this season, Meyer so far has managed to lose 11 games, or two more losses than he accumulated in seven seasons in Columbus. Speculation around the NFL landscape is Meyer will be a one-season coach and head back into retirement.

Making the transition from college to the NFL, no matter how successful you are, is treacherous. Just ask Nick Saban, an eminently successful coach at four colleges (268-66-1). Saban dipped his tootsies in the NFL between gigs at Louisiana State and Alabama and was 15-17 with the Miami Dolphins in 2005-06. He couldn't get back to the collegiate ranks quickly enough.

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Finally . . . A couple of early muffs on kicks by Demetric Felton landed the rookie on the bench, where he watched JoJo Natson show him how to handle the job. Stefanski was asked if the bright sun might have been a problem for Felton. The reply: "He needs to catch the ball. Whether it's the sun, wind, whatever it is, he needs to catch it." . . . Rookie James Hudson III played the entire game at right offensive tackle and seemed to do all right. Didn't hear his name mentioned at all. A good sign. . . . Of the Browns' 65 total tackles, 56 were solo. . . . The next four quarterbacks the Browns face: Derek Carr, Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger and Joe Burrow. That'll keep the secondary busy.