Monday leftovers

The situation arose last week when Browns free safety John Johnson III questioned the dedication  and leadership of the team. It exploded after they lost to the Baltimore Ravens in agonizing fashion Sunday.

"It's a commitment thing," Johnson said. "When practice is over and our day is done, you just can't run out of the building and forget your job. I think we need everyone in this building to be 100% in on the task at hand."

And then he dropped a bomb. "Right now, I think we're in a place where that's not the case,"he said, adding later that "the leaders on this team need to get together and figure it out and got to change something."

At the time, I thought Johnson went public to get his teammates' attention with a big intra-division game coming up. To let them know, the disappointing defense in particular, that commitment and dedication were primary ingredients in performing better.

Apparently, it was a lot more than that.  

The sound of ranting and raving players, loud enough to be heard in the post-game media room, pierced the air following the loss Sunday, catching the attention of said media. Such outbursts are rare and risk being blown out of proportion.

Head coach Kevin Stefanski tried to defuse the situation. "Yeah, that's normal," he said. "Normal football." Really?

The frustration of losing four straight games might have been too much for some of the players not used to this and with emotions generally ultra raw right after games, anyway, the result is not surprising. But few spill out like this. 

My first thought? Does Stefanski have a monstrous problem on his hands? Or is this just a one-time thing? It's best to allow players the opportunity to blow off steam, get a grip and then move on. Focusing on the next opponent cannot be stressed enough.

I thought Stefanski had a firm grip on his team from an emotional standpoint. Maybe that's still the case, but an incident like this was newsworthy enough to wonder if his hold might be showing signs of slippage.

Garrett mentioned the Leadership Council, which is usually made up of veterans. They are the off-the-field leaders. All well and good. The more important question is who are this team's leaders? The guys who say, "Follow me."

From a performance viewpoint, it used to be middle linebacker Dwight Walker Jr., but he's on injured reserve the rest of the season and no one has stepped up. On offense, guard Joel Bitonio doesn't seem like a take-charge guy. 

Sad to say the Browns traded someone during the offseason who epitomized leadership during his tenure in Cleveland. You can criticize his accomplishments, but you can't deny Baker Mayfield exhibited strong leadership qualities for four years with the Browns.

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As a general rule, I am a big fan of officials in all sports and with rare exceptions will defend them. With that in mind, I believe the Browns were screwed out of a legitimate opportunity to at least tie the game Sunday. And I'm not talking about Amari Cooper's pass interference that took away a touchdown. That was the correct call. Cooper admitted it after the game.

I'm talking about the false start call on offensive lineman Michael Dunn of the field-goal kick team as Cade York awaited Charley Hughlett's snap on a 55-yard attempt on fourth and five at the Baltimore 37 with 2:09 left in regulation and the Ravens up, 23-20.

Before the snap was made, a flag flew. Before making the call, referee Shawn Smith conferred with other members of his crew before tagging Dunn with the misdeed. Except it wasn't a false start and it wasn't Dunn. Nevertheless, five more yards were tacked on, moving York back to midfield and a 60-yard attempt that eventually was partially blocked.

Something looked very wrong when the play unfolded in real time. It didn't look like anyone on the Cleveland line moved.The first movement was made by Baltimore veteran Calais Campbell, a 6-8 defender considered one of the best at blocking kicks,

So I went to the video tape and watched it again. Frame by frame. I can do that with my remote. 

I wondered who threw the flag? Was it the line judge or the down judge, who are the best positioned officials to detect and call any kind of line movement on either team? Turns out it was neither. 

It was umpire Bryan Neale (No. 92 in your program) who reached for the laundry as everyone waited for the snap. He lined up almost adjacent to York, slightly to the kicker's  right. He reached for his flag immediately after Campbell and then fellow defensive lineman Travis Jones, on the left side of the Baltimore formation, penetrated the line of scrimmage and stood Cleveland's Jedrick Wills Jr. straight up.

I then re-racked the tape, frame by frame, and honed in on where Dunn was at the time and looked for any kind of movement. I saw none. He was stock still in a three-point stance until relaxing after the whistle. I did see Cleveland defensive tackle Jordon Elliott on the left side of the Cleveland formation slightly twitch his right leg and then stop, but that was after the whistle..

I have no idea what Neale saw -- or thought he saw -- that prompted him to stop play. The line judge and down judge, meanwhile, kept their flags in their pockets. They saw nothing that would cause them to stop play. 

The only possibility is Campbell and Jones reacted to what appeared to be helmet movement by Hughlett. The long snapper began the play over the football, his head looking straight ahead. And when he dropped his helmet down to look back through his legs and make certain he was aligned with York and holder Corey Bojorquez, that's when Campbell and Jones jumped.

Lowering the helmet in that case is not illegal. 

Campbell and Jones were either clearly offsides or clearly in the neutral zone illegally, either of which should have drawn a flag from the line judge or down judge. Maybe both. But not the umpire, who had the worst view because he was directly behind the line of scrimmage. The correct call would have moved the sticks five yards closer to the Ravens' goal line and created a first down at the Baltimore 32.

Instead, what appears to be an official's mistake put the Browns out of decent field-goal range and into the loss column. They were screwed.

The National Football League is good when it comes to apologizing to teams that have been screwed by officials' mistakes. The Browns should be getting a letter of apology from the league any day now.

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Finally . . . How much longer will Stefanski marginalize his best offensive weapon? Nick Chubb still leads the NFL in rushing with 740 yards, but Saquon Barkley of the NewYork Giants is rapidly closing the gap and now trails Chubb by just 14 yards. Chubb averages 18 carries a game, but often times is on the bench when the Browns are in the red zone. For someone who has a nose for the end zone, the bench is the last place you'd like to see him, , , , No that David Njoku is out for about a month with ankle problems according to reports, Harrison Bryant likely moves into the top tight end role with Pharaoh Brown getting more work in two tight end sets. . . . Jacob Phillips' season is over. The middle linebacker, who recently took over following Walker's injury, has a torn pectoral muscle. Newcomer Deon Jones, who made his Browns debut against the Ravens. . . . Question of the week: Can the Cleveland defense keep Joe Burrow & Co. under 35 points in Monday night's nationally televised home game with the Cincinnati Bengals?