Musing on where the Browns stand after the loss to the Ravens

The Cleveland Browns fell into the bye week with a tough, ugly loss to the Baltimore Ravens this past Sunday night. It was an ugly game of poor offense and very good defense. In the end, Cleveland fell back to 6-6 on the season. With that loss and the team entering the bye week, I muse on where this team stands and what the rest of the season has in store.

This Browns team is broken right now. Plain and simple. Is it unfixable? That cannot be answered right now. But, the team is facing an avalanche of problems with the offense being the major part of the mess right now. It is true that injuries have hurt this team, but for it to submarine this far down, injuries cannot scapegoat the offense. There is no simple answer to what is wrong with this unit. Let’s diagnose what the biggest problems are on offense.

The biggest problem is that this team cannot pass the ball with any sort of consistency or sustained success. Blame can go around for this ineffective passing game. However, Baker Mayfield deserves his fair share of the criticism. He has not been good enough, point-blank. He plays from play to play and game to game, with inconsistency and it is really hard to figure out what the Browns are getting each time he goes onto the field. Everything in his game is inconsistent. His accuracy is all over the place. His field vision has been quite impaired. And, his confidence looks shot. There are so many instances where he pump fakes or hesitates to let it rip, losing an opportunity for completions. Now, I believe injuries have resulted in some of his struggles. But, the team and Mayfield have told us so many times over the last few weeks that he is healthy and at this point what else do can I do but take their word. That means he needs to play better and injuries cannot be an excuse anymore. He and the team have said as much.

Mayfield has been bad, but he is clearly not the only problem on offense. The wide receiver play is just not up to par right now. The unit, now without Odell Beckham Jr., is struggling to get separation and getting open for the quarterback. There is no receiver on the field who the opposing defense must respect. That is the bottom line. The receiver corps is void of top-tier talent. Jarvis Landry has been very inconsistent, disappearing from the action for large stretches of games. Donovan Peoples-Jones is probably the most physically talented receiver, but it is clear he is not ready to be the guy on offense. This unit is not good enough right now.

With all the pass catchers, both receivers, and tight ends, catching the football has been a struggle lately. When Mayfield has made a play, the pass-catcher has far too often dropped the pass. When a quarterback is struggling, missing out on opportunities when the quarterback actually makes a nice throw is a killer.

The Browns now have a void at right tackle. Blake Hance is a liability in pass protection, leaving a turnstile on the right end of the line. For a quarterback already struggling and has a history of bad play versus pressure, constant pressure is not helpful at all.

So, this is where we are at. The passing game is broken with problems from the person throwing the ball, catching the ball, and the ones blocking to protect the quarterback. With all of this, Cleveland is unable to pass the ball, which has limited the run game and the play calling.

The run game is now constantly facing loaded boxes because defenses know that there is no threat from the passing game. On almost every run attempt, the Browns can see seven or eight defenders hovering near the line. Defenses know that the success of stopping this offense is not allowing the run game to get going and driving the unit forward. It’s just simple math right now. The run game has too many defenders to block and not enough blockers to block them all. That is a no-go for the run game.

This means the play calling is greatly affected and limited. Kevin Stefanski cannot run the plays he wants because he has a limited passing game and a run game going up against defenses schemed to stop it. So, saying they need to run the ball more is just wrong. It makes no sense to continue to do something when the opposing defense is dialed up to specifically stop that. The numbers just don’t add up. And, the hard part for Stefanski is that he is now forced to put the ball in the hands of a quarterback and passing game that cannot get it done right now.

Stefanski has his warts from this season. His managing of Mayfield has been baffling to me and the lack of discipline this team is something he must answer for. But, play calling is not one of those things I would disparage him for this season. He has one arm tied behind his back and there is not a lot of good options for him to go to on the play-call sheet. It is frustrating to watch, but we are where we are due to the execution of this offense, not the play calling.

So, where are we at? Not a good place, sadly. This offense is broken with numerous things to fix. But, the distant hope is that this offense has a history of success, so maybe it can regain it. We have seen Mayfield perform at a high level at the end of 2020. We have seen the offense put a lot of points on the board from just this season. This bye week is coming at the right time, probably a little too late, but boy am I glad we are finally here. This offense needs rest and some time to get this righted. A week off could get this offense back with a clean mind and not one looking back on all its mistakes. Hopefully, we see the Browns defense finish the season with the same type of performance it showed in the loss versus the Ravens. That lessens the stress on the Browns offense having to win with scoring outputs.

There is little time left in the regular season with just five games to go, but somehow through all of this struggle, Cleveland is still in the hunt for a playoff spot. There is a chance to get this right and save the season. But, the Browns play five games against five opponents who are all still in the midst of the playoff chase. It will not be an easy finish to the year.

I want to have hope that they can turn this around. But, I just can’t right now. The offense looks so out of whack and has so many individual problems, I just don’t know if all of them can get sorted out enough for the unit to turn it into a respectable scoring offense. And, even if the offense improves, I am still hesitant to trust a defense that has been largely inconsistent this season. This is going to be an uphill battle. I hate to say it.