The Factory is back

If you want to know how to play a near-perfect football game, all you need to do is watch the tape of the New England Patriots deconstructing the Cleveland Browns, 38-15, Sunday in front of the (most likely disgusted) home folks.

It will reveal one team that was eminently prepared to play 60 minutes of football exquisitely in all three phases of the game. It is a tape Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski must force his sad football team to watch over and over and over until their eyes bleed in order to learn something.

The current losing streak has now reached three games (1-3 at home) with no relief in sight with games against division rivals Baltimore next Sunday and Cincinnati eight days later with the likelihood of a 2-6 record at the bye week more than just a possibility the way this team is playing.

Both teams entered with 2-3 records. Both wanted this game badly to pull even on the season. Needed this one to become relevant. It was a stern test. One team wanted and needed it a whole lot more than the other and played like it.

The Browns who showed up Sunday looked suspiciously like many of the awful, embarrassing iterations this tortured fan base has been subjected to since 1999. Many believed the corner was finally being turned with the arrival of Stefanski in 2020. No it wasn't.

It sure looks as though Stefanski is turning into a composite of Hue Jackson, Eric Mangini, Mike Pettine, Pat Shurmur, Rob Chudzinski and Romeo Crennel  before our very eyes. In no way, shape or form was this team prepared to come even close to winning this one.

They were outclassed in every way as the Patriots came close to duplicating theier 45-7 thrashing of the Browns last season. The Cleveland offense played giveaway with a pair of Jacoby Brissett interceptions and two fumbles, one on special teams deep in Cleveland territory.

Those four turnovers resulted in 24 points by an offense led by a rookie quarterback who made his National Fotball League debut two weeks ago and was working without two of his best receivers. He made it look easy, hitting open receiver after open receiver in the befuddled Cleveland secondary.

Bailey Zappe, forced into this role after quarterbacks Mac Jones and Brian Hoyer went down with injuries, is no stranger to the forward pass, completing 24 of them for 309 yards and two touchdowns. He threw nearly 700 passes last season at Western Kentucky for nearly 7,000 yards and 62 touchdowns. 

He sure didn't look like a star-struck rookie. But Brissett did most of the long afternoon, often looking totally confused with the coverage. Stefanski, who seems to have a misplaced trust in the journeyman,  dialed up 45 passes. 

That's because the New England defense shut down the Cleveland ground game, making Nick Chubb, who led the league in rushing coming in, look human. He carried the ball only 12 times for 56 meaningless yards. Stefanski gave in and then did exactly what Patriots head coach Bill Belichick wanted him to do.

Brissett, who wound up with three of the turnovers, set the tone for the afternoon by heaving a floater that dropped into the arms of Patriots safety Kyle Dugger at his 36 on the second play of the game. The Cleveland defense held the Pats to a Nick Folk field goal after a stout goal-line stand, which in retrospect was the one Browns highlight of the afternoon.

The Patriots clung to a 10-6 halftime lead on a Rhamondre Stevenson 31-yard scoring blast on a quick opener on a third-and-10 with the Browns expecting a pass. A couple of Cade York field goals kept the score close, but it could have been closer after the Browns failed to take advantage of a Myles Garrett strip sack at the New England 38 when a Brissett sneak failed on fourth down.

And then they played the second half. The Browns should have stayed in the dressing room. It sure looked as though they did from a preparation standpoint. 

The Patriots had eight opportunities to score and put four touchdowns on the board in a variety of ways with Zappe and fellow rookie Tyquan Thornton playing key roles. Zappe was 13-of-17 for 168 yards and scoring tosses to Thornton on the opening drive and tight end Hunter Henry after Brissett's second pick.

The Browns closed to within 24-15 on a Brissett-Amari Cooper 15-yard connection and York's third field goal of the day with 6:17 left in regulation. It would have been 24-16 and a chance to tie the game, but Stefanski popped one of those stupid pills and went for a two-point attempt, which sort of looked like a microcosm of Brissett's afternoon. It failed miserably.

So did the subsequent onsides kick attempt, which initially looked successful. The Browns were awarded the ball with Ronnie Harrison on the coverage. But replay showed A. J. Green III of the Browns placing his hand on the ball with one foot clearly out of bounds. New England ball.

The Cleveland defense stiffened again and forced a Jake Bailey punt. Then the wheels fell entirely off the wagon. In a matter of three plays, the close game became a rout.

Browns punt returner Chester Rogers, a veteran who should know better, muffed the punt, the Patriots recovering at the Cleveland 19. On the first play, Thornton skirted left end the 19 yards on a reverse with nary a Brown close to him.

Two plays later, Brissett was strip-sacked, fumbling when he attempted to tuck his arm back, defensive lineman Carl Davis Jr. lugging it to the Cleveland eight. Stevenson banged in the final nail, barging six yards for his second score of the day.

By then, the stadium was no more than half full, many of them wondering where they've seen this act before. Like for the last two decades.

It sure is beginning to look like the 2020 season was nothing more than a season-long aberration that lured many old fans back to the bandwagon. Turns out it was just another tease.

After a brief absence, the Factory of Sadness lives on.