The Stunning Return of Yan Gomes: Cleveland’s Spirit Yanimal
October 3, 2016Cavs add point guard Toney Douglas
October 3, 2016One never sets out to have flashbacks of Alex Smith on a Sunday. For the hardcore Browns fans who live and die by every man on the 53, Smith should ring a bell as the third-string tight end who was the go-to weapon for then head coach Pat Shurmer in what was a high-leverage situation against the then St. Louis Rams. Calling a run play, despite having Peyton Hillis and Montario Hardesty and Chris Ogbonnaya on the roster, Shurmer decided to hand the ball of to Smith.
To reset: The Browns were on the Rams’ 9-yard line, 2nd-and-goal to go with 3:10 to play. They were trailing, 13-12. Colt McCoy tried to hand off to Smith on a play designed for normal fullback Owen Marecic. Smith never got the ball. Alex Smith, to that point, had played in 85 NFL games over six-plus NFL seasons before Sunday. In all that time, he never took a handoff. Following the game, he made it a point to say his carry-free career extended through Pop Warner, high school and college.
Shurmur called a run on the next play, and was content with a field-goal attempt. Phil Dawson’s game-winning attempt was wide left, and the Browns lost the game by one.
This past Sunday, with 1:07 left in the third quarter and the Browns clinging to a 20-17 lead, the two-score underdogs were driving in for the score. With the ball on the Washington 16-yard line, this time, it was fullback Malcom Johnson—a former tight end—who would get his name called for the first time. The result? You guessed it: A fumble. But not just any fumble; the kind of turnover that has been the bane of the Browns’ existence wherein the other team finds a way to use it as the back-breaking moment in said game. Think Patrick Murray’s blocked kick, or Cody Parkey’s three misses.
“Malcolm practices at that position carrying the ball,” said Browns head coach Hue Jackson following the game. “Malcolm’s a pro football player that gets paid on our football team and he can carry the ball. He’s got to do a better job and again, as we know, Crowell had made a big play right before then, Duke was out, and I didn’t want to put a first-time player in that position (reserve back George Atkinson) when we have a guy that’s a veteran player, so I put Malcolm in there. I trust him to get it done and we didn’t get it done. So, again, I’m not going to question that decision, that’s just a part of football. Got to hold on to the ball.”
The result, just like five years earlier, was a loss. Unlike the game against the Rams, however, the player in question didn’t want to be interviewed following the game. How convenient.
WINNER: Cody Kessler
If we’re using expectations as a barometer by which we measure a third-string rookie who, if the season went as planned, would not be taking a single snap, it’s tough to hate anything Cody Kessler has done to this point. In the preseason, he looked like a deer in headlights. From Day 1 of being the Browns’ starting quarterback, however, he continues to show signs of growth and composure mixed in with the unavoidable traits that come with being a third-string rookie quarterback.
LOSER: Cody Kessler
Though Kessler was deemed to be “accurate” on 26 of 29 passes (according to Pro Football Focus), very little of these were down field. Only seven passes went more than 10 yards, and the second half turned into a game where the Redskins dared the Browns to make a play. This, of course, becomes more troubling when the Browns are behind and need to move the ball in short order. We saw what happened when he tried to push the boundaries of this 10-yard forcefield when one pass was intercepted by Well-Compensated Josh Norman and the other ended the game.
WINNER: Hue Jackson
The ideal for a coach in any situation is one who gets the most out of his or her players, putting them in the best position to succeed. And while it could be argued that handing the ball to Malcolm Johnson in any situation (more on this later) is decidedly not a recipe for success, Jackson has kept this Browns team—one with 29 players having experience that tops out at two years—in games. Three of the four losses have been of the crushing variety, and keeping his team’s morale up will be a challenge as this continues on throughout the season, but there has been very, very little in the way of holes to poke in Jackson’s approach thus far. This past Sunday was no different.
(Bonus points for calling out Johnson for fumbling that ball. I’ll always err on the side of accountability.)
WINNER: Terrelle Pryor
Many will point to the four yards that Pryor amassed after his fantastic, LeBron Jamesian first half, but three costly turnovers didn’t exactly bode well for the Browns’ control of second-half game flow. The kid still has work to on situational route running, but to think that this is his first full season as an employed wide receiver, and what he’s been able to do on a weekly basis is borderline mesmerizing.
https://vine.co/v/56ehp6b2guY
Kessler would to Pryor some favors by not locking on to him during certain stretches of games, but we’re talking about two players who are (for all intents and purposes) rookies. That he didn’t have a contract extension waiting for him in the locker room at halftime is head-scratching.
WINNER: Isaiah Crowell
It’s cliché to say that certain players have “chips” on their shoulder or look “night and day” compared to seasons past, but there is simply something about the way Isaiah Crowell is running the football that just looks different. More power. More purpose. Even when Kessler dumped off a two-yard pass when the Browns needed six, Crowell took the ball up the right sideline and shed would-be tacklers like he was walking through a beaded curtain. Much will be made of Matt Jones (stay tuned), but Crowell tallied eight missed tackles on just 15 carries (totaling 112 yards), averaging six yards after contact.
The real travesty here is that Crowell only had 15 carries. Hue Jackson likes deploying multiple backs, but there comes a point where you just keep feeding the NFL’s second-leading rusher.
WINNERS: Cleveland Browns offensive line
The interior of the Browns’ line was the giant question mark heading into Week 4, but Cleveland’s runners averaged just 2.6 yards outside the tackles and 8.2 yards on average between the tackles (via PFF). Watch this Crowell run from early in the first half:
https://vine.co/v/566ZJHeF35O
Thomas and Bitonio are studs, but for these types of holes to open on a line with a rookie right tackle and a center starting just days after being added from a practice squad… Very impressive stuff.
LOSERS: Malcolm Johnson and Duke Johnson
This was brutal. Game-changing.
https://vine.co/v/56175qnPAWL
In the red zone, ready to go up two scores, the Browns (who have a guy on their roster who is second in the NFL in rushing, by the way), opt for a single-set backfield with fullback Malcolm Johnson (a guy who has yet to record a carry, by the way). Johnson promptly fumbles the carry, the ball careering five yards down field an into the arms of a Washington defender. That he wouldn’t address the issue after the game removes all benefit of the doubt. Bush league stuff right there.
WINNER: Jeff Triplette
There’s nothing I can add that will make this any more of a treasure than it already is:
https://vine.co/v/56eLu9KJzH2
GIGANTIC LOSER: The NFL
That the NFL and its officials did not review the bogus Duke Johnson fumble was one thing. To go on record after the game and affirm the handling of said fumble is borderline crooked.
#Nfl explanation of Duke Johnson fumble ruling pic.twitter.com/cwm7TPFKsU
— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) October 2, 2016
Look: Johnson’s just as much to blame here for putting the ball on the ground at all, but for the league to mess this play up so badly… It’s tough enough for this young team to win football games. If the league is also going to be a headwind, there’s little reason to have a modicum of hope.
LOSER: Cleveland Browns’ run defense
Not only did Washington’s Matt Jones net two yards before contact, the erstwhile mediocre back recorded a whopping 22 missed tackles and four yards after contact. As good as Demario Davis and Chris Kirksey have been this season, Week 4 was easily their worst game as a run-stopping unit.
WINNER: Jamar Taylor
Another solid game by one of the low-key additions of the Browns’ offseason. His interception set up the Browns’ first touchdown, and his side of the field was rarely used by Cousins throughout the game.
LOSER: Ray Horton
Kirk Cousins was blitzed 10 times in this game and was sacked twice. Not horrible, especially given the timing of the plays. Unfortunately, when the Browns did not get to the quarterback, he abused the blitz package to go 7-of-8 for 79 yards, recording his highest yardage per attempt.
https://vine.co/v/56eWHnj6bJU
As good as Joe Haden was in Week 2 and Jamar Taylor was in Week 4, no defensive backfield can be asked to hang with receiving options for as long as the Browns’ were this past Sunday. If the team cannot amass much of a pass rush, they’re going to be in trouble all season long.
WINNER: Las Vegas
At first glance, the Browns opened up as 9-point favorites and a ton of money flowed in to move the line to where it closed at 7.5. Once things settled in, it was nearly a 50/50 split with Vegas taking in -110 of any bet from that point forward. The lines makers could not have played this one any better.
LOSER: Those who bet the Browns plus 7.5
When you have a one-score dog winning a game outright in the second half, you’re usually feeling pretty good about things. Once the tides started to shift, however, the wheels fell off so quickly that they went from knocking on the door of being up two scores to being down two scores. That last 4th-and-6 play was huge as a touchdown would have put the Browns back on the winning side of the docket. The Browns do enough stomach punching as it is. To add this to it was that much worse.
And now, the fans…
Winners – Browns fans. One game closer to the end of the season. Losers – Browns fans. Still have 12 more games to suffer through
— George (@GShihadeh) October 2, 2016
Winner: Watching the Ryder Cup instead of the Browns. Our draft position with a Chicago Bears win
— Csparrow12 (@csparrow12) October 2, 2016
winner: crow and the makeshift OL. Losers: RBs named Johnson.
— Michael (@crobarred) October 2, 2016
64 Comments
WINNER: RGB and his unflappable persistence for 0-20.
Knowing value and being able to execute are two different things. For whatever amount they differed with Schwartz, it is a pittance compared to the XXX rated obscenity of cap space we have this year and next.
i’m not putting the blame on the HBT for Schwartz’s departure … he could’ve signed , but elected to test the market.
it’s old new news now … forward we go.
The Browns are moving up!
https://media.giphy.com/media/iAk1HT45vcGEU/giphy.gif
Why does Norman have to be in every conversation? The Skins don’t play man coverage and Norman did pick off a pass aimed at Pryor in the fourth. It’s a team sport and the Redskins D is terrible. One guy can’t save them no matter how good he is.
One of them was a makeup call, after Triplette sabotaged the previous Skins drive with a bogus holding call on Scherff.
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Totally agree. It’s not like he tried to hand off to Barnidge or something. Johnson is a FB and it would have been a successful call. If we shouldn’t expect him not to fumble, he shouldn’t be on the team.
If that botched fumble recovery call had happened to a more widely watched team the sports world would be exploding about it. I get that bad calls happen and being an NFL official is a hard job, but for the league to actually claim that now there’s “no-stoppage” reviewing going on and that the call had been confirmed is beyond ludicrous.
I get how you might think that, given where the ball landed and the fact that the Washington defender appeared to get there first, you might make the assumption they had or would recover the ball if you couldn’t see. From the original viewing angle it did look that way. If the NFL just said that the officials made a judgement call based on the player that got there first and appeared to have his arms around the football and that there wasn’t a review, it would still suck, but at least I could believe it was on the up-and-up. But in this case, they are actually saying that upon review, the call was correct, and that it had been done in real time during the game. Other angles clearly show Johnson and the Washington defender both pulling their arms around the ball, and then Johnson immediately gets up with it. In fact, the players on the ground all clearly still think the football is at the bottom of that pile. The official making the call, and one other official, are both LOOKING AT THE PILE WITH NO BALL IN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are freaking PRETENDING to see what has happened, which we know because they ran up to the pile, looked down, and then make a call after the ball had already moved on. They’re STILL LOOKING AT THE PILE while Johnson is holding the ball up in the air!
If nobody noticed it at the time, or there was miscommunication or whatever happened, then fine, but don’t try to tell me that it was reviewed without stopping play. I don’t usually get this steamed over stuff like this, but I feel like the NFL routinely responds to their mistakes by flipping off the fans and I’m frustrated it hasn’t gotten more press.
Y!Sports, ESPN, SI, FS1, and every other major outlet has been covering this call and noting how ludicrous it is for the NFL to act as if they got this one correct.
In depth breakdowns (Chris Burke at SI had I think the best) showing how wrong the refs got it.
Er… well good! I suppose I’m a bit under a rock lately and read my sports news late enough to have missed most of that coverage this week. Stupid work obligations interfering with my sportsfanning…
I didn’t look at this at first because the calls were horrendous both ways and I thought it was probably a wash as usual. But now that I have taken a look it is a scandalous call. But I know why the NFL decided to lie about it after: the call was made by their token, celebrity female referee. They would rather lie than fire her, which is what should happen and what would happen to a male ref blowing something this badly. There’s bad and then there’s this call.
Plenty of male referees have blown calls at least as badly. I don’t really think they would have to fire her if they just told the truth. I mean, I’m all for additional transparency, and if an official does an empirically bad job then sure, they should be fired, but in this case, despite the fact that she made the initial call, it’s Jeff Triplette’s responsibility to do the review. I have no idea what her track record is specifically at this point in her career.
Me neither. But this is almost certainly why they decided to lie. She’s a “trailblazer” don’t you know. And female trailblazers in pointless activities need to appear to be better than men at things. It’s just how this works. If the NFL admits a mistake and apologizes, which they always do with their male refs, then people would notice and realize that female refs are NOT better than male refs. Literally nothing will change except the genitalia, which is not something to get very excited about as a football fan. Unless you’re really drunk I suppose…
This is basically why Europeans laugh at Americans who think that electing a female head of state would be a sign of progress or that it would somehow change things. Europeans have been doing this since the 60s and nothing ever changed there. The female politicians are just as dishonest and corrupt as the male ones. Once again, only the genitals change. Hooray!