Monday leftovers

Woke up this morning and the pain of watching and then writing about the Browns' latest improbable loss was still there. I have a feeling this one will not go away for a long, long time. If ever.

The 31-30 loss to the New York Jets is now firmly entrenched in the Browns' Hall of Shame. It is being portrayed by some as the worst ever. No it's not. There are way too many other entries in the last 24 years in the hall just as grievous. 

Social media scrutinized and massaged the Browns' latest collapse after they took a 13-point lead with less than two minutes left in regulation and the general consensus is head coach Kevin Stefanski screwed up by allowing Nick Chubb to score his third touchdown of the game to put the Browns up, 30-17.

Imagine that. Telling a player to do something antithetical to why he's playing the game. 

Second Guessers Anonymous responded by suggesting Stefanski should have deliberately reined in his offense and forced the Jets to use all their timeouts. And Stefanski bit. Second-guessed himself.

Less than 24 hours after the game, he all but apologized for not sending in word to not try and score. "To put yourself up potentially by 14 points inside of two minutes, you should close out that game," he told the media Monday. "So yes, I wish I had said that to Nick and Nick would have done it. But it doesn't change the fact we had plenty of opportunities to win that game." 

What Stefanski, clearly in retrospect, should have done at that point was instruct Kareem Hunt not to go out of bounds twice in that possession in order to keep the clock running and force the Jets to use their timeouts. That was more egregious.

Second guessing is fun in sports. Makes for interesting arguments. Let's take a closer look at the situation here from the various viewpoints of second-guessers.

Of course they knew Cade York would badly miss the extra point following the Chubb score. And of course they knew the Cleveland secondary would disappear and give the Jets a gift touchdown. And for sure they knew the Cleveland hands team would screw up the onsides kick.

If I had prescient vision like that, I'd be a millionaire today. See the future before it takes place. What a concept.

Let's hypothesize what actually happened. The Browns had a seven-point lead (24-17) at that point. Let's say Chubb goes out of bounds before reaching the end zone, as is being second-guessed here, instead of breaking a tackle en route to his 12-yard scoring run. 

The Jets use all their timeouts and the Browns nail it down with a short York field goal to extend the lead to an unbeatable 10 points with, say, 30 seconds left. Here comes the what if.

What if York missed the chip shot? Won't happen? Couldn't happen? Why not? He missed the point after. Did anyone see that coming?

One of the happiest onlookers when Chubb scored was Jets head coach Robert Saleh. "I've never been happy for a missed tackle in my life," he hyperbolized after the game. Of course Saleh knew York would botch the extra point and the Browns' secondary would disappear on the next play from scrimmage and his onsides kick team would be successful.

He didn't need to second guess because he knew all along what would happen. Of course he did.

The downside of this whole scenario is Chubb taking grief in some areas for not going out bounds on his own. Imagine that. It's unfair at best, insulting at worst.

Stefanski, as he should have, accepted full responsibility for the loss after the game Sunday. "Everything that happens on that field is my responsibility," he said. "I'm not going to hide from it. And I'm not going to point fingers. I am going to tell you we're going to get it fixed. We've got to get it fixed."

After what has transpired in the first two games, easier said than done. 

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The crowd at the home opener Sunday was understandably angry and let the Browns know in a full-throated way as they left the field. Myles Garrett, who had a rather quiet game, seemed to be more upset with the crowd reaction than losing the game.

"The more disappointing thing was the booing at the end," the All-Pro defensive end said. "These guys are still putting their asses on the line and playing as hard as they can and they should be respected as such. . . . We have a lot of time to correct what we're doing, so we don't want to see this crowd, this stadium, give up on us this easily."

This is a lament by someone who has played long enough in Cleveland and knows -- or should know -- better that the Browns have one of the most ardent and zealous fan bases in the National Football League. He is highly popular with the fans and might want to rethink his stance.

Meanwhile, he also might think about improving on his production against the Jets. He played nearly 90% of the snaps and put only one solo tackle and a sack on the stats sheet. And that was in the first half. The Jets' offensive line pretty much neutralized him and the Cleveland pass rush in the second half.

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Perhaps it's time defensive coordinator Joe Woods strongly considers switching to more man-to-man pass coverage in the secondary because not much else is working right now with some of the zone.  Zone defenses are effective only when you have players who know what the hell they're doing and that doesn't seem to be the case now.

Blown coverages, two in each game, cost the Browns a victory Sunday and damn near the season opener in Carolina. Giving up easy touchdowns is a recipe for disaster. If this ongoing epidemic doesn't concern Stefanski, something is wrong.

Remember the Browns' mantra: Smart, tough, accountable. Stefanski needs to work on that last part.

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Maybe it's just a coincidence, but strong safety Grant Delpit seems to be somewhere in the vicinity on most of the blown coverages in the secondary in the first two games. At least on two occasions he can be seen, arms akimbo, looking elsewhere as if to say what happened.

Linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, too. He was lined up at the line of scrimmage opposite Carolina tight end Ian Smith in the season opener and passed him off to no one as it turned out, and Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield hooked up with him on a 50-yard play that led to a touchdown.

And he failed to pick up Jets rookie running back Breece Hall, who leaked out of the backfield in the final seconds of the first half and easily strolled into the end zone with a short toss from Joe Flacco with no one near him. 

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Finally . . . Questions with no answers: Why was Donovan Peoples-Jones, who was targeted 11 times in the Carolina victory, targeted just once against the Jets? Why was Anthony Schwartz, who contributed 39 yards to the cause with two reverses and one long pass reception against the Panthers, totally ignored in the Jets game plan with zero touches in 12 snaps? And why did offensive lineman Michael Dunn, who booked only one less snap than Schwartz, check into the game as an eligible receiver 11 times? . . .  Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward took one for the team when asked about what happened on the blown coverage that eventually lost the game. "It wasn't my coverage," said Ward, who had Jets receiver Corey Davis early and then passed him off to . . . no one. "If there's someone you want to blame, I will take full blame for that play or whatever plays we had."