Who’s to blame?: Browns film room looks at every bad decision from Sunday night

The Cleveland Browns lost their second game of the season to the Los Angeles Rams in a game where the Browns defense was heroic and the offense couldn’t get out of their own way. The loss to the Rams saw the offense continuing their off-sorts play. Nothing is clicking with this unit, except for probably running back Nick Chubb. But, in a day where we all want one answer to fix things, the Browns offense has failed so far this season due to a number of reasons. This is particularly true in terms of the passing game. In today’s film room, I will examine the incomplete passes and sacks in the game against the Rams and try to categorize them into what the main reason was for the failed play. Let’s take a look.

Play design/play calling problem

The biggest and most frequent reason for a failed pass play versus the Rams was the play design or play calling. This could be a play that has multiple players running into the same area, or a play call that is not right for the situation or a play where it puts the players in bad positions. Here are the six plays that failed because of the play design or play calling.

Q2 11:52 third-and-5: Mayfield incomplete to Beckham

This play was a five-wide set on the five-yard line. Quarterback Baker Mayfield looks to the left initially, but the play has two players running almost right into each other. Running back Nick Chubb, out of the backfield, and tight end Demetrius Harris, on the left end of the line, run their routes right behind each other to the left sideline, making a possible throw impossible. The other three targets ran simple routes that were easily covered by the Rams, leaving Mayfield with no to go and the pressure coming quickly. The play ends up with a last-ditch effort by Mayfield to throw it to wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. in the endzone.

Q2: 08 third-and-10: Mayfield incomplete to Chubb

This was the final play of the first half. This was completely baffling because it is a play that was exactly the same as the previous downs play. There were absolutely no changes to any of the routes or the formation. The previous play also ended in an incompletion¹ and the Browns somehow tried it again on the very next play.

Q3 6:46 second-and-8: Mayfield sacked

This play design has no chance. It has two flat routes that are covered tightly and then three deep and I mean deep routes downfield with all three going at least 20 yards downfield. There were no levels to these three routes. They all ran down the field for way too long. Against the Rams talented pass rush and behind the Browns struggling offensive line, this play is simply ridiculous. It puts way too much pressure on the line to hold up for a long period of time and against the defense that had five defensive backs, nothing was going to open quickly. Just a poorly designed play given the situation.

Q4 5:12 third-and-10: Mayfield sacked

This play is simply a horrible timed one. It is a third-down situation, but the Browns run nothing to the sticks. Of the four targets, two of them are running streak routes right next to each other, one is running a deep post route into double coverage and one route underneath where the player had no chance of reaching the first down if they were targeted with the pass. This is baffling given the situation and the proximity to the endzone.

Q4 1:54 second-and-15: Mayfield incomplete to Chubb

This is another repeated play that given the situation is too easy for the defense to diagnose. The Browns utilized the running back screen-play far too often in the game with a variety of success. Given the fact that the Browns were behind the sticks here, the defense was definitely keen to the idea that the Browns could go to this play again. Just not great thinking on this play given the situation and what they had done throughout the game.

Q4: 40 second-and-4: Mayfield incomplete to Landry

I hate these sorts of plays around the goal line. The Browns call a roll out to the short side of the field with three passing targets going against five defenders on that side of the field. The spacing is not there, giving Mayfield very little passing lanes. It is just not a play with a lot of upside or high probability of success.

Blocking breakdown

The second most frequent reason that a pass play failed is because of a blocking breakdown. This could be the offensive line giving up quick pressure to affect the throw or the blocking scheme not protecting the play correctly, allowing a free rusher. Here are the five plays that fall under this blame.

Q2 3:28 first-and-10: Mayfield incomplete to Beckham

The Browns had an easy first down completion here if the offensive could hold up long enough for Beckham to progress through his comeback route. But, both right tackle Justin McCray and right guard Eric Kush could not stay stout long enough. Both were beaten around the edge and Chubb also failed in his duties to chip the edge, to give Mayfield even more time to wait for the route. But, the right side failed, causing the rusher to hit Mayfield’s arm when he was throwing.

Q2: 18 first-and-10: Mayfield throws it away

This is probably a touchdown if the blocking was good. Mayfield had a post route to Harris in the middle of the field, but he had to wait until he cleared the underneath linebacker. However, McCray is beat on an inside move, which was the worst thing that could have happened. Mayfield was about to step up and throw the pass to Harris, but the rusher showed inside just in time to flash in the face of Mayfield. Mayfield had to escape the pocket and throw the ball away.

Q3 5:28 first-and-6: Mayfield incomplete to Ratley

Mayfield simply had no time on this play. He felt pressure in under 2.5 seconds after Kush was beat from his right guard spot. Mayfield made a great move to get free of the sack, but the rest of the line then collapsed, giving him no chance to throw the ball with a good base or view what is happening downfield.

Q4 6:29 first-and-10: Mayfield sacked

This is a tale of two pressures. The first comes on the edge against tight end Harris. He is beaten immediately on the edge and so this causes Mayfield to have to go to his dump-off option of tight end Pharaoh Brown out of the backfield. Though, as he turns to the left, he is met by a rusher after left guard Joel Bitonio is beaten. The pressure was from the snap.

Q4: 43 first-and-4: Mayfield incomplete to Landry

This may not be blamed on anyone, but the pressure is what causes this failed play. The Rams blitz six defenders on the play with one coming late, right at the snap. The Browns did not have enough guys to pick up the late blitzer and he got a free rush to Mayfield. The rusher caused Mayfield to quickly throw the pass to receiver Jarvis Landry. Had Mayfield had enough time to put the right amount of touch on the pass, Landry was going to be able to get behind his coverage. The pressure messed up this play.

Mayfield late to throw or missed open man

The next biggest and most frequent reason is centered around quarterback Baker Mayfield’s processing. It is a play where Mayfield either throws too late to a target, missing the timing of the throw, or a play where he just flat out misses an open target. Here are the four plays that fit these criteria.

Q1 10:22 first-and-10: Mayfield incomplete to Beckham

This pass to Beckham is simply too late. The receiver runs a short stick route that would garner a nice five-yard gain on first down. But, Mayfield waits too long to hit the trigger, allowing the defenders to close on Beckham to break up the pass. The pass needs to be thrown before Beckham made his break.

Q2 8:00 third-and-4: Mayfield incomplete to Landry

Mayfield was late again to get rid of the ball. He had receiver Landry on an out route, but the pass was all about timing. He had to hit the pass right off the break of Landry. This would allow the ball to get thrown between the zone coverage. He waited too long for the outside corner to turn around and close on Landry. After missing that opportunity, the pressure got to him and he resorted to a tough sideline pass on the run to Landry.

Q4 2:01 first-and-10: Mayfield throws it away

Take what you can get. Mayfield missed an easy completion right before the two-minute warning. He had wide receiver Damion Ratley open in an underneath sitdown route. It would have been a nice start to a big drive right before the two-minute-drive. But, Mayfield wanted to go deep and he for some reason left the pocket, limiting his time to throw. It was just not a good play by the quarterback.

Q4 :37 third-and-4: Mayfield incomplete to Harris

This was Mayfield’s biggest miss of the game. He simply missed the potential game-tying touchdown to Landry. He did not see Landry running inside on the slant route, where the receiver had won the inside position at the snap and had no one inside of him. It was wide open and he missed it.

Penalty should have been called

The last reason that caused more than one pass play to fail was due to a penalty not being called. It is a play that was affected greatly by a player, who should have been called for a penalty. Here are those two plays.

Q2: 12 second-and-10: Mayfield incomplete to Landry

This was a big no call in this play. Mayfield clearly read the defense and saw the mismatch between Chubb and the linebacker solely in charge of covering him with no help from anyone else. Chubb is running an angle route and would have had the entire middle of the field open if he could beat the linebacker. But, the linebacker flat out held the running back, not allowing Chubb to free in the middle of the field. It caused Mayfield to have to go to another read, but by that time, the coverage had closed on any possible target. The hold stopped the play from being successful.

Q4 10:11 second-and-9: Mayfield incomplete to Seals-Jones

This is clearly a pass interference on the sideline. The corner hit tight end Ricky Seals-Jones before the ball got to him, causing the tight end to fall out of bounds before securing the catch. There were other things that mucked up the play, however, the pass interference derailed what would have been a completion.

Play had no chance

Q1 12:13 third-and-18: Mayfield incomplete to Chubb

This play just had no chance from the start. With the Browns needing so many yards on third down, the Rams would definitely ready for a screen pass. It is a well-used play in these sorts of situations. The Rams almost knew from the snap that a screen was coming. In this situation, the Browns had not much they could do, given how far they were from the first down marker. I don’t hate the play call given the situation. It just did not have a chance once the Rams read it early.

No blame

Q2 2:15 third-and-14: Mayfield incomplete to Landry

This play has no blame in my mind. The Browns needed 14 yards for a first down, so a deep route was needed here. Mayfield read the defense and saw a potential opening in the deep middle portion of the field. He had Landry running a streak route with single coverage. He saw the defensive back with his back turned, so Mayfield threw the ball over the defensive back’s shoulders. In that situation, Landry has shown he could make the catch, but in this situation, he couldn’t bring it down. I don’t blame anyone for this incompletion.

Mayfield inaccurate pass

Q3 2:09 third-and-8: Mayfield incomplete to Landry

This is the one incompletion that was due to Mayfield throwing an inaccurate pass. Mayfield has Landry between the zone coverage, but he threw it behind the receiver instead of in front of him. It was a miss by Mayfield.

Everything

Q4 :33 fourth-and-4: Mayfield intercepted

The final play of the game was a disaster. Everything broke down. First of all, the play design had three receivers on the right side of field running right into the same area of the field. Next, the protection on the left edge broke down when left tackle Greg Robinson was beaten around the edge. And, to finish off this disaster, Mayfield rather than stepping up in the clean inner pocket, he runs out to the right where none of his targets were running their routes. The play almost ended up in a miracle touchdown pass, but the play was too much of disaster to overcome.

Quick Ending Thoughts

As you can see above, much of the problems can be fixed in this offense. Time should be the aid of this offense.

Can we talk about the great start by the two young special teamers, punter Jamie Gillan and kicker Austin Seibert? Gillan has been awesome in pinning teams inside the 20-yard line and kicking it high enough for his coverage team to get down there to prevent a good return or a return at all. Seibert has been perfect in his field goal kicking since his first missed PAT of the season. And, his kickoffs have been high and directional to force teams to start their drives in tough field position.

The defense was simply heroic versus the Rams. They were down their entire starting secondary and one of their starting linebackers. They somehow held the talented Rams offense to 20 points. The backup secondary showed that the defense has depth in the backend, able to withstand injuries. That is key to a great unit.

This loss, though hurtful given how the team lost, is not as sole-crushing or devasting to me. Before the game, I had no expectations and I had a laissez-faire attitude to it. This game would have been great if they had won, but with all the missing pieces and the offense struggling, it is not a devastating loss in my eyes. I thought before the game that the Ravens game was far more important than the Rams game.

The offense better show up to this Ravens game. This is a huge game early on in this young season.

1. See the play in the penalty section of this piece. It was at the Q2: 12 mark [↩]