Ineligible Man Downfield: Raiders 16, Browns 6 in a game Cleveland could have won
Also from the weekend: a slew of Indians roster neews.
The Browns certainly could have won Sunday.
The Browns defense is bad. It’s fitting that the Raiders’ sole touchdown came on a third down. The Browns have a ton of issues on defense, but they are downright atrocious when they are presented with an opportunity to get off the field. The Raiders went 8-14 on third downs Sunday, good for a 57 percent success rate, and did nearly all of their damage on third and fourth downs. The Raiders posted a .48 EPA per play mark on those late downs, compared to just a .07 mark on first and second downs.
The Browns simply lack players with good instincts in both the linebacking corps and the secondary outside of Denzel Ward. The linebackers get sucked in and moved by play action far too often, and they leave the middle of the field wide open an embarrassing amount. And over and over again, safety Andrew Sendejo is always in the vicinity of a chunk play by the opposing offense. Whether he’s picking horrid angles, missing tackles or flailing in coverage, he is severely damaging this defense on the back end. The look Ward gave him when Henry Ruggs slipped by him in the corner of the end zone in the second quarter, on a TD catch that was overturned by an inch, spoke volumes.
Outside of Myles Garrett and Ward, the Browns lack any sort of playmakers on the defensive side of the ball. Ronnie Harrison shows flashes, but he’s still learning how to play in Joe Woods’ system. You can’t ask Garrett to get pressure on every single down. That’s not a tenable gameplan.
At this point, the Browns have no choice but to roll with the players they have. Joe Woods and co. are going to have to take a long look at the scheme they’re running and make some tweaks, because at this point, what else are you goin to do?— Jordan Zirm
Drop after drop crushed the Browns’ offense. We’ll get to Baker Mayfield later on, but he was not helped out by the Browns’ receiving core on Sunday. Harrison Bryant fumbled on the team’s opening drive, ending a chance at a touchdown. Jarvis Landry had two drops. David Njoku had one. So did Kareem Hunt.
Each was crushing in their own way. One of Landry’s cost Cleveland a touchdown — a score it absolutely needed to get. Njoku’s drop on third-down hit him square in the chest and ended a drive. (For how vanilla he is, Austin Hooper makes that catch and gets the yards he should. There is value to that.)
With the poor weather, and no Odell Beckham Jr. for the first time, the Browns didn’t have as much margin for error to begin with. All of the drops made scoring points way, way harder than it already was. That wasn’t the whole game, but it was a big chunk of it. — Chris Manning
Jedrick Wills and Chris Hubbard struggled. To start with Wills, this was his worst game as a rookie. He picked up a holding call that negated a Kareem Hunt run that would have been a first down and instead made it 2&12. Later on, he had two false start penalties and overall played as passive of a game as he’s played. Ups and downs are going to happen with a rookie, but he has to be better than he was Sunday. It’s also clear from the first seven weeks that Wills is capable of more.
As for Hubbard, he remains a good depth piece. But the dropoff from Wyatt Teller to him at right guard is massive. You can see it when the Browns try to run behind him — there just isn’t the same push that Teller generates. And while getting Nick Chubb will help the running game, getting Teller back might help more. — CM
Baker Mayfield wasn’t the problem. From a 10,000 foot view, Mayfield’s future is still a big question mark. Sunday wasn’t exactly a mark for him, but it also wasn’t one against him. His final numbers — 12-25, 122 yards, 4.9 yards per completion — don’t reflect the performance he had. As the numbers show, Mayfield had the second-worst difference between his completion rate and his expected completion rate. In other words: He was actually more accurate than how he actually finished.
Was he empowered by what Kevin Stefanski dialed up? Absolutely. But every single quarterback is and should be. Between this and last week’s performance, Mayfield isn’t on as shaky ground as he might have been a few weeks ago. The foundation is still shaking, but it’s no longer crumbling. — CM
ICYMI
This from Landry was at least memorable
The wind on Sunday was, in fact, insanity
Myles Garrett injured his knee Sunday and is getting an MRI
Garrett said he plans to play if he can move, though. Note that the Browns have a bye week next week.
Per Ian Rappaport, OBJ’s time in Cleveland may be over
Mayfield said the locker room was ‘pissed off’ after Sunday’s loss
Over the weekend, the Indians declined options on Brad Hand and Carlos Santana
They did, however, pick up Roberto Perez’s option
Bench coach Brad Mills won’t be back in 2021
They also made some 40-man roster moves
The Cavs reportedly want to ‘accelerate’ their rebuild
From last week: Our newsletter on Obi Toppin
One thing to read today
Possible Browns trade targets from WKYC’s Ben Axelrod
Who we are
Chris Manning: Site Manager at Fear the Sword, co-host of the Locked on Cavs podcast, words at places like Cleveland Magazine and Forbes. On Twitter @cwmwrites
Jordan Zirm: Social editor at @TheCheckdown. Formerly of ESPN Cleveland. Words at B/R, SB Nation and UPROXX. Host of The Rebuild podcast. On Twitter @clevezirm
Photo: USA Today