Mid-week thoughts

This mid-week's fare is a smorgasbord of thoughts that bubbled up well after the victory Sunday in Carolina and yet were still relevant to the good and welfare of the Browns as they prepare for the home opener Sunday against the New York Jets. 

A little of this and a little of that starting with . . . 

How little the offense was prepared on the initial three possessions of the game, running the play clock down to near zero on numerous occasions, barely getting the play off. They were penalized twice later in the game for delay of game.

And there was no excuse why Jacoby Brissett had to call a timeout before the play clock ran out on the fourth play of the game. The fourth!! That's embarrassing and a disturbing  lack of preparation. All those practices, all those meetings designed to prevent such occurrences and then that.

Timeouts are precious in the National Football League. Coaches know this. Or at least should. Squandering one four plays into a game should raise an eyebrow or two upstairs. 

Teams have 40 seconds between plays to execute the next play in the NFL. It was third and three at the Panthers 46 at the time and the huddle broke with about a dozen seconds left. By the time Brissett was ready for the snap in shotgun formation, the clock was at two seconds. The TO avoided a penalty that would have made it third and eight.

Why the confusion? And why does it take so long to get the play in? It says here that's on the playcaller. And who would that be? he asked rhetorically. Either head coach Kevin Stefanski was slow on his calls early in the game or Brissett had trouble deciphering them. 

Stefanski attributed the problem to the loud environment at Bank of America Stadium and said he expected it to be better Sunday against the Jets. Nice try, coach. Well, not really.

Of course it'll be better Sunday. It's at home, where fans are encouraged to pump up the volume when the opposition owns the football. Sorta like when the Browns owned it against the Panthers. It'll be better, too, for the Browns for the seven remaining home games. What a weak excuse. . . .

Tight end David Njoku, who signed a four-year, $56.75 million contract in late May and was expected to be a large part of the offense this season, played 71 of the 80 offensive snaps against the Panthers. The stats sheet revealed he was like a forgotten tight end.

He was targeted once. For the record, this well-paid football player, whose main job is catching footballs, caught the only pass directed his way all afternoon for a seven-yard gain on third down with a little less than four minutes left in the third quarter, two yards shy of a first down.

His main job on this afternoon was blocking on the edge for running backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, who compiled 187 of the club's 217 yards on the ground. He and fellow tight end Harrison Bryant, who caught half of his four targets for 18 yards, helped fortify the strong side of the formation with second-year man James Hudson III subbing at right tackle for the injured Jack Conklin and Chris Hubbard.

With Conklin expected back for the Jets game, it's safe to assume Njoku and Bryant can expect much more attention from Stefanski and Brissett in an effort to diversify the calls on that side of the football. . . . 

Speaking of targets, why just six for the best receiver on the team? Amari Cooper put in 66 snaps worth of football and his quarterback looked his way only six times? He caught three for a puny 17 yards. Sure, his last one set up Cade York's 58-yard, game-winning field goal.  But c'mon. What's wrong with that picture? 

It's a little too early to suggest Cooper and Brissett are having trouble arriving on the same page. But it  makes me wonder whether Cooper might have to adjust to his lesser talented quarterback in order to be a vital contributor. 

Brissett's egregious overthrow of a wide-open Cooper that should've resulted in a touchdown on the first possession of the game might be a sign the road to success between these two is going to be paved with numerous bumps for a while. . . . 

And finally . . . An Anthony Schwartz sighting that actually produced positive results. The fleet wide receiver touched the ball three times against the Panthers, picking up 20 yards on two reverses and making a nice grab on a 19-yard connection with Brissett that converted a third down midway through the fourth quarter. . . . Quick question: Did rookie wideout David Bell play at all? Didn't make the stats sheet. Answer: Yes he did. Booked 22 snaps from scrimmage and two on special teams. Color him ignored. . . . Brissett should work on spiking the ball -- smooth it out -- in a hurry-up situation. His awkward effort just prior to York's big field goal drew flags, which were picked up when referee Brad Rogers ruled it was a legal move. Awkward, but legal.