Instant Insights: Week 3 loss to Los Angeles Rams

PREGAME POSTURING 

Gilbert: Well, I have no expectations for tonight. The Browns are going to be without their entire starting secondary, the right tackle and Baker’s safety net. This game is a game where Baker has to carry the team. Can the offense turn it around and outshoot the Rams? I don’t know. We shall see.

Keys to a Browns win:

1)Browns DL must dominate w/o the starting secondary. Pressure Goff into mistakes
2)Baker and the offense must wake up. They probably need to out shoot the Rams tonight.
3)Browns ST has to continue to be great
4)We need big plays on both sides of the ball

— Joe Gilbert (@JoeGilbertWFNY) September 22, 2019

Gerbs: The inactives are very auspicious. The entire starting secondary being inactive is less than stellar, especially against a team like the Rams. The offense will have to carry more of the water than they have thus far into the season.

Poloha: Rams were already going to be tough to beat even with the Browns at 100%. Now Cleveland is worth out eight starters, including their entire secondary, best linebacker, and tight end? Well, here’s to hoping the backups do well and Baker Mayfield can pull off some magic in primetime.

FIRST HALF

Gilbert: The Scottish Hammer was huge in changing the field position after the penalty-filled first series by the offense.

Gerbs: The penalty against McCray, illegal player downfield, is such a tricky tacky call. It wipes out an eight-yard gain to Pharaoh Brown.

Gerbs: Aaaaand the flags are back. Illegal shift, holding…this is not going well already. 

Gerbs: Flipping field position by the Scottish Hammer Jamie Gillan, a three-and-out by the Rams is exactly what the Browns need. 

Gerbs: Running away from Aaron Donald works once but not twice as the draw play on third-and-one does not work. Nick Chubb has nine yards on three carries and has only one catch. At least on the second drive, the play calls came in earlier, giving Baker time to analyze the defense.

Poloha: Aaron Donald is so damn good.

Suek: An all-too-familiar Browns offense through the first two possessions. Predictable, inaccurate, and inefficient. This game cannot hinge on the performance of an injury-riddled defense. Need to start running on first down. 

Gerbs: The defense needs to get off the field on third downs whenever possible. They cannot allow the Rams to string together long possessions, they just don’t have the healthy depth available to win a long ran shootout. 

Gerbs: Olivier Vernon is making a living in the Rams backfield. 

Gilbert: The defense got a huge stop to limit the Rams to 3. So far solid tackling on the short passing game. The offense needs to step up. 

Gerbs: Third drive of the game starts off well: a 12 yard rush by Chubb off the left side then two slant routes to Odell Beckham Jr for 12 each. The offense is starting to look like last year‘s. 

Gerbs: 12 personnel is the pillar again tonight. This is the offense we want to see. The first quarter ends with the Browns offense knocking on the edge of the red zone. 

Gilbert: Uh is that 2018 Freddie Kitchens on the sideline. In the final drive of the first quarter, we saw quick passes and the run game. Like it.

Gerbs: The best Browns drive of the game ends in a Seibert field goal. It’s so so so much fun to not worry about a field goal. 

Poloha: A long 13-play drive that led to points. Even if it was just a field goal, it’s amazing what can happen when you don’t shoot yourselves in the foot with a bunch of undisciplined penalties on offense.

Gilbert: Solid drive to tie the game up. Got to finish them, but I like the tempo and play calling on that drive.

Suek: Looks like Freddie was reading our notes from this past week: Hurry up offense, with quick-hitting routes and feeding Chubb. Nice to see a revert to weeks 9-17 of the 2018 season wherein the Browns had the second-best offense in the league. Keep the momentum and force a three-and-out on defense and maintain the rhythm on offense.

Gerbs: Crossing routes are what the Rams do best…and what is going to be the death of the Browns with so many starters hurt. 

Suek: Defense needs to force more pressure on Goff in order to create errant throws and an uncomfortable presence. I understand trying to hide the deficiencies of the secondary, but he has had way too much time to find his plethora of playmakers. 

Gerbs: Not enough pressure on Goff, not good enough coverage on the backend. Browns need to use their healthy line to create pressure on Goff. 

Gerbs: Keeping the Rams from scoring or even just a field goal before half will be so clutch. 

Gerbs: FUMBLE! Myles Garrett forces a fumble from Goff and Joe Schobert picks it up. Cleveland is immediately in the red zone with the possibility of at least a field goal.

Poloha: Love the fact that the Browns got a field goal and took the lead following that interception, but a touchdown there would have been awesome.

HALFTIME HINDSIGHTS

Gilbert: I will definitely take this 6-3 lead. The defense is playing so well. It is incredible what they are doing to this Rams offense. The Browns offense looks better, but still not all the way there. I like the quick passing they have shown, plus the tempo out of the pocket is better. In the second half, the Browns need to run Chubb more. He has been effective for the most part. Also, the Browns Special Teams has been simply perfect. Gillan has flipped the field multiple times tonight. I want to see some Baker magic in the second half.

Gerbs: A bit of luck, a bit of last year’s offense, and somehow Cleveland is winning at the half. While it hasn’t been a pretty game, it has the makings of being good enough. If Cleveland can keep the pace on offense and do enough to keep the Rams offense off the field, they can eke out a win and tie Baltimore for the division lead. 

Poloha: Couldn’t have asked for a better half from the defense. The offense needs to be better in basically all areas.

SECOND HALF

Gerbs: Some chunk yardage and an inability to get the Rams into a third-down has them third-and-goal at the 11. A Cooper Kupp out-route is the game’s first touchdown. The field goal at the end of the first half makes this only a 10-6 ballgame in favor of the Rams. 

Gerbs: NBC doing us a favor and showing how slow/quick Mayfield is getting the ball of out his hands and how it affects the quality of the play. Spoiler: faster=better. 

Gerbs: Aaaaaand a penalty flag wipes out a Nick Chubb touchdown run. Penalties keep the Browns back and it’s blatantly obvious at this point. 

Gilbert: Great answer by the Browns offense to take the lead back. Chubb should be the centerpiece of the offense. He did everything on that drive.

Poloha: An 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive is one heckuva way to answer the Rams scoring a touchdown right after the half.

Gerbs: BAKER! A great stick at the back of the end zone to Demetrius Harris and the Browns are back on top 13-10. Response scoring is key in the NFL and the Browns just answered a great drive by LA with one of their own. 

Gilbert: What a freaking close by Carrie. Play of the game so far.

Gerbs: PICK! TJ Carrie snuffs the out-route to Robert Woods and picks off Goff. Nobody thought this team was going to be able to do what it’s done through mostly three quarters with the injuries to the starters but Carrie, Terrence Mitchell, Eric Murray, Jerome Whiteside, Mack Wilson have all stepped up and helped turn the tide. (Trying not to count my chickens, but to be leading this far into the third quarter is blessing enough.) 

Gilbert: Ugh. That was a downer after the big pick. Baker makes his first big miss of the game. And, Gillan shanks it, losing the ability to pin them in horrible field position. Big missed opportunities.

Gerbs: The middle of the field continues to be an issue for the Browns defense. If they aren’t able to competently cover crossing routes, it’s going to remain a problem. 

Gilbert: Blown coverage by Whitehead. Thought he had help inside. Did not. Time to feed Chubb.

Gerbs: Oh hey, another crossing route. Cooper Kupp goes for another score as he scrapes across the line of scrimmage to lose his defender. Rams now back in the lead in what has turned from a somewhat boring game in the first half to an offensive slugfest in the second. Rams up 17-13. 

Gerbs: It will never not be fun to have OBJ on the field for the Browns. Just putting that out there. 

Gilbert: That was the worst handling of a fourth down I have ever seen. A handoff? What are you doing Freddie?

Gerbs: Nothing quite like letting go of any momentum you might have had by running it on fourth-and-nine at near midfield. If the Browns lose this game, that will be a play call to look back over and scratch your head on. 

Gerbs: Undisciplined play by this team is going to sink any chance of going further than .500. A boneheaded time-out by Sean McVay turned a first down into another attempt and Goff’s scrambling was short…until Whitehead went to the helmet of Goff to draw a 15-yard penalty. 

Gilbert: Dawg check time for this offense. The defense held them to a field goal. Time for the offense to wake up.

Gerbs: Down by seven, 6:37 on the clock, Cleveland gets the ball back. It’s now or never time for Mayfield and the offense. Which iteration will we see? 

Gerbs: It was the version where Baker drops back and tries to make too much happen: two sacks on second and third down force Cleveland to punt out of their own end zone. What happened to the quick-hitting offense? 

Gerbs: PICK! It cannot be said enough how much the Browns defense has helped keep them in this game. Such an athletic play by Schobert to go up and tip that pass. 

Gerbs: Two-minute warning and it’s getting close to do-or-die time in Cleveland. Second-and-10 becomes second-and-15 which becomes third-and-15. Shooting yourself in the foot is fun!

Gerbs: Thank the Lord for Jarvis Landry. 

Gerbs: That…was not what was wanted. 

Gilbert: The play calling inside the 5 was worse than the fourth-down call. No runs at all. Everything vertical.

POSTGAME THOUGHTS

Gilbert: The offense is a mess. It is an offense that is not helping any of the players. Freddie must get his play-calling and players moving in the same direction. Everything and everyone (except a few i.e. Chubb) on offense are out of sorts. Simple as that.

Gerbs: This team needs a new gameplan. They are not executing the one they are working with currently and even if they were, it’s not well thought out. It feels like little beams of light trickling through, every so often you’ll get a great drive or even so much as a great few plays, but then it’s all blotted out by shadow and darkness. Quick hits are what will get Mayfield back, not dropping back ten yards in the pocket and forcing the ball downfield. This was a game many of us had written off as a loss ad could have been a win late. The play of the defense definitely helps you feel a little better, but this felt like a no-lose situation, opposite of last week: lose and you were expected to, win and you beat the defending NFC champs. This is neither of those, where it feels like we need a reboot.

Poloha: I’m at a loss on this one. The Rams are one of the best teams in the NFL so I’m not really mad that the Browns lost, I’m more just mad at the way they lost. Even without eight starters, including their entire secondary, the leader in the middle on defense, and starting tight end, they did enough to beat LA. Yet, Freddie Kitchens and the rest of the offensive coaching staff didn’t put the Browns in a position to win. That hurts.