CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Bud Dupree, Stephen Tuitt and T.J. Watt beat their blocks and flushed Baker Mayfield out of the pocket to the right, Browns linemen chasing the pass rushers after their failed attempts to stop them.
His ribs sore, his confidence beaten out of him, the disconcerting interceptions back as part of his game, Mayfield looked for anything to salvage this third-and-4 call in the third quarter Sunday at the Pittsburgh Steelers.
He attempted a desperate short sideline pass to Jarvis Landry that fell incomplete. But wait, upon a review, the play was ruled as a catch, with Landry losing the ball only as he reached it just short of the first-down marker. The gain was for 3 yards, giving Kevin Stefanski the choice to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Browns 29-yard-line, trailing by 17.
A flicker of hope. On fourth down, the Browns handed the ball to Kareem Hunt, and nine Pittsburgh defenders threw him backward into the 11th row of the upper deck.
That was Cleveland’s day in Pittsburgh, hope soundly and surely snuffed. But it was hope for a day that was Steeler stomped, not hope for a season.
The social media wallowers were poised and ready as soon as Mayfield fired his first distressing interception. I believe the case went something like this:
A Browns team with the longest playoff drought in the league, that was off to its best start in 26 years in perhaps the toughest division in the NFL, should abandon hope after losing on the road against an undefeated division opponent that Tony Romo kept discussing on the CBS broadcast as looking like a Super Bowl contender.
That about right, doomsayers?
If you picked the Browns to win Sunday, don’t let hurt feelings over that missed call amplify what Sunday was -- a terrible day against a terrific team. The lingering problems are legit -- blown coverages, a lack of talent in the back seven, Mayfield getting fooled by man coverage that offers help from a second defender he too often doesn’t see. We’re all monitoring those issues, win or lose, and analyzing how they might improve. Maybe with roster help at safety or linebacker. Maybe with improvement by Mayfield while working in Year 1 of the Stefanski offense.
But a lot of Sunday was Pittsburgh-specific. The offensive line, a Browns strength, was dominated all day by the Steelers. The guys they needed didn’t show up. But it doesn’t mean Jack Conklin, Chris Hubbard, J.C. Tretter, Joel Bitonio and Jedrick Wills won’t show up next week.
Then there are the injuries. If you didn’t think the Browns would miss running back Nick Chubb, who missed his second full game with a knee injury, and right guard Wyatt Teller, who missed his first full game with a calf injury, you know now you were fooling yourself. Mayfield’s sore ribs don’t excuse his performance, but he wasn’t 100%.
So these are not excuses, but explanations. This is about moderating your expectations, not abandoning them.
A loss like this can trigger anyone back to the default of poor old Browns, because only two games so far this NFL season have been lost by 30 points or more, and the Browns own both of them.
First was 38-6 in the opener at Baltimore, and now 38-7 on this Sunday at Pittsburgh. Those are big losses to good teams. The Browns do need to find a way to better compete against the top of the division, but the losses don’t count extra because they were blowouts.
For anyone jumping in now to say that the Browns' four wins were against bad or mediocre teams, I’ll say it forever -- that’s how the NFL works. Beat the bad and mediocre teams and the 4-2 Browns still have a path to the playoffs.
Mayfield wasn’t good, Stefanski wasn’t good, the offensive line wasn’t good, the run game wasn’t good, the pass game wasn’t good, the pass rush wasn’t good, the linebackers weren’t good and the secondary wasn’t good.
But, honestly, that doesn’t mean the Browns won’t be good on many Sundays ahead. A trip to Cincinnati is next.
There’s an NFL world somewhere between awful and awesome. The Browns live there now. They were awful for too long, but a leap to awesome isn’t the only other option.
The Browns aren’t on the level of the Steelers and Ravens. They have six winnable games ahead before they play either of them again. Some people overreacted after the first loss to Baltimore, and the temptation may be there to do it again.
Fight that urge. Sunday was awful. The season is not.
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New Browns face masks for sale: Here’s where you can buy Cleveland Browns-themed face coverings for coronavirus protection for adults and youth, including a single mask ($14.99) and a 3-pack ($24.99). All NFL proceeds donated to CDC Foundation.
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October 19, 2020 at 03:07AM
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