Browns: 3 bad and 3 worse things from Week 8 loss to the Raiders

Cleveland got their butts kicked by the Las Vegas Raiders offense as the Browns get sent to 5-3 on the season heading into their bye-week

The Cleveland Browns should not be happy after this performance. This after a humiliating loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers two weeks ago that had the talking heads and some fans have been calling for Baker Mayfield to lose his job, and for the franchise to go in another direction. Critics and the rest of the fanbase, however, noted that Mayfield was hardly the problem and it showed after his career game against the Bengals. That proved the team had far bigger issues than Mayfield who only had two bad games in 2020 so far.

Let that ring true even today, as Mayfield was arguably the only Browns player that didn’t have a bad game. With a wind speed that non-Clevelandres were mesmerized at, the Browns failed to produce around Mayfield. Throughout the day Mayfield had five of his passes dropped. Off the body, through the fingers and just dragged out at times receiver’s hands. If you count those five drops, Mayfield completed 68% of his passes – a great number – for well over 200 yards and at least one touchdown.

Unfortunately, Mayfield finished 12-25 for 122 yards. Not great but that’s why you need to watch the game, as there’s so much more to the events other than the stats. Mayfield looked great and battled the wind with ease. He even rushed for 29 yards and got up after some big hits. He was as one fan described him, “a warrior”. That’s not incorrect either. Unfortunately, the rest of the team failed to help him out at all, dragging him down with costly mistakes, penalties, drops, and being unable to do the basic tenants of the game of football; wrap and tackle.

The Bad

The receiver drops

Whether it was David Njoku, Kareem Hunt, Jarvis Landry, or someone else, the receivers failed to get the team over the hump. They were one of the two biggest issues the Browns offense faced all day, and no, neither was from the Raiders defense, whom the Browns managed well. No, the mistakes came as receivers time and time again failed to make plays and do their job catching the ball. One drop is too many, but at least five? Unacceptable.

Jedrick Wills

When healthy, the offensive line’s lone weak spot is Jedrick Wills. Wills cost the Browns huge on Sunday and not just with his inability to pick up safety blitzes. Wills cost the Browns twice on offense with false start penalties, an issue that has popped up from time to time for him so far. A bust by no means, Wills also isn’t the second coming of Joe Thomas either.

Myles Garrett’s injuries

Myles Garrett came into the game with a minor ankle injury that limited him throughout the week. No big deal but then the game rolled around and all of a sudden Garrett now has a knee injury. Garrett and even Baker Mayfield cite the new knee issue, and not the ankle issue, with why Garrett hardly played on Sunday and when he did play was largely ineffective. Injuries to the leg of super athletes like Garrett are a problem and can sap one of their athleticism very quickly.

The Worse

The tackling

The safeties are the only two players on the defense that seem to have any ability tackling. The rest of the team? Good luck. Terrance Mitchell got bulldozed with ease and even rode a player five or six yards before they finally went down. The linebackers are worst in the league and Mack Wilson’s stack is now at a historic low. While commentators keep talking about how “good” the run defense is, that’s not even a real thing. Of teams that played seven games in the NFL heading into Week 8, the Browns are third in the league for least rushes against their defense. The Browns are not a good rushing defense, teams just don’t need to run against them. They’re that much worse against the pass; which is the third worse team with yards given up through the air.

The effort

Olivier Vernon had two sacks in the first half so fans will think “he’s back, he’s good!” What they’ll ignore is that he gave up on more than one rushing play, notably near the end of the first half when on a sweep Vernon “forced” the Raiders running back to the sideline, as the announcers claimed, but Vernon pulled up and walked out the rest of the play. The back got another five yards or so after Vernon gave up the pursuit. This was not the only time a Browns defender was caught napping. Yes, they were on the field for nearly 40 minutes but that’s their own fault.

Andrew Berry’s defense

This is Andrew Berry’s defense, people. He gave Vernon a new deal with guaranteed money for no reason. He brought in Kevin Johnson. He signed Karl Joseph. He drafted Jacob Phillips and Jordan Elliot. He let guys like Joe Schobert go and replaced them with linebackers on one-year deals who had no business being on an NFL team, let alone starters for the Browns. He failed to acquire Everson Griffen, twice. He failed to acquire Yannick Ngakoue, twice. He’s failed to sign a free agent to actually help this defense. This his penny-pinching, bargain-basement defense. This loss isn’t on Baker Mayfield, Joe Woods, or Kevin Stefanski. This loss is all on the defense and Berry. Congrats.

Conclusion

Andrew Berry has been cutting salary from the defense since he took over the team. Too many people keep saying “it’s only eight weeks” but it’s not. It’s been 10 months. These aren’t new complaints either, people. These are the same complaints fans had after he started making moves. In March. These are the same complaints the team had after last season ended. Berry somehow made this team’s defense worse.

He has built this team on cast-offs, rookies, and the occasional player. No wonder they’re awful.

Yes, there is talent on the defense. Myles Garrett, Denzel Ward, Porter Gustin, and Ronnie Harrison stand out the most but many of the rest are just awful. Too often fans blame Andrew Sendejo but frankly, they’re not watching the game closely. He’s often covering up someone else’s blown spot. I wouldn’t say he’s a building block, he’s just not the gaping problem that our defensive line is or that our corners are, or that linebackers are.

He’s become a scapegoat for a much bigger issue.

If the Browns want to have a winning record, and make the playoffs, and maybe even win a game or two while they are there, they’re going to have to make some moves. Berrys “take the money from the defense to pay for the offense” approach is not going to work.

According to Over The Cap, the Browns have spent nearly $30 million more on their offense this season than their defense. There’s a reason for that. Either Berry can’t notice what makes defensive players good, or this has been deliberate.

Either way, this should be concerning because all Berry has done to improve the team as the trade deadline nears is claim yet another linebacker who can’t make plays off of waivers in the form of Elijah Lee of Detroit. Lee’s been let go by three other teams, but Berry sees something in him.

Good thing the Browns hired Kevin Stefanski before Berry. Who knows what the head coach would’ve looked like otherwise.