The Browns are now 8-3 and have secured a .500 or better record for the first time in 13 years with their win over the Jaguars.
The Cleveland Browns are bouncing back and in a big way in 2020. After years, nay decades, of insufferable play and hard to swallow records, the Browns are finally a good team. The Browns went to 8-3 on the season, defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars 27-25 on Sunday. The win comes at a time when the Browns are set to head off to Tennessee to face off with the Titans, who are coming off of a huge 45-26 drubbing of the Colts.
Now ideally, there’s a lot of minor nuances that go into these breakdowns, little things that sway the discourse one way or another. Unfortunately, I was unable to properly view the game. I was on the road all day and listened to the game on the radio, meaning that a lot of what I’d like to have seen for myself had to be given to me in the form of Jim Donovan and Doug Dieken.
So discourse over things like penalties and non-calls are going to be based on what was said during the broadcast and not as much on what I saw.
That said, it was quite the experience, driving from the border of Indiana and Ohio with the Browns game playing on AM 850 the entire way into the city. I didn’t know that ESPN Cleveland went out that far, but it did. Who needs satellite radio?
With all that being said, let’s hop into the four good things and four bad things from Sunday’s Week 12 win over the Jaguars.
Andrew Sendejo
Andrew Sendejo has played admirably this whole year. Often times running halfway across the field to cover up someone else’s mistakes, Sendejo often gets the fanbase’s worst takes directed at him. By no means a Pro Bowler, but Sendejo is also not the worst part of this defense. On Sunday he had a massive play to close out the game, breaking up a two-point conversion on what would be the Jaguar’s final offensive play.
Jarvis Landry
Something’s been off with Jarvis Landry most of the year, and if you suspect it might be lingering hips issues, you’d probably be right. Whether a sign of things to come or proof the Jaguars are just that bad against the pass, Landry went off on the Jaguars for 143 yards, on only eight receptions and one touchdown. You can say “Landry’s supposed to do that!” in an attempt to negate his day but the fact is he hasn’t done it all year. So what he’s supposed to do has changed radically since his major offseason surgery on his hip.
Nick Chubb
Nick Chubb looked really pedestrian in the last two games. Two big plays kept his stats from looking bad but Chubb was routinely around three yards a rush. That was even against two teams who had been bad against the run all year. There was no excuse for it, and Chubb seemingly agreed, as he went off for a huge day against the Jaguars. Rushing for 144 yards on just 19 carries for a touchdown, Chubb was routinely busting out rushes of five or more yards on his runs. This was a great game to get him going.
Baker Mayfield
Baker Mayfield added two more touchdowns to his season total, and another 258 yards passing. Mayfield has been pretty consistent from game to game from what you can expect and his four games in a row without an interception is a new personal best for the Browns quarterback. When the elements aren’t conspiring against him, Mayfield can have pretty good games throwing. Which is what this was, a good game.
Bad
Baker Mayfield
….But it should’ve been a great game. Baker Mayfield completed 66% of passes and didn’t commit one turnover. He also missed at least two slam dunk passes for touchdowns in what could’ve put the game out of reach before the 3rd quarter started. Now, this is very much nitpicking, especially after a win against a team that could have been 5-5 if things broke differently for them. That said, I don’t see this as a team that’s going to be “lucky” to make the playoffs. They can make noise if they shore up these minor issues. Mayfield’s two misses sounded to be a problem of footwork and not talent, so hopefully, Mayfield can actually have practice time to work on that. Seeing as how often the Browns facility is closed lately, credit to Mayfield for being as good as he is with no real practice time to prepare for games.
Browns defense
Mike Glennon torched the Browns. The Browns had no pass rush and frankly couldn’t get off the field yet again on third downs. You’d like to say the lack of practice time hurt the Browns here, same as Mayfield, but we’ve seen what a protected and fully practiced Mayfield can do. We’ve yet to see the Browns defense do much of anything this year.
Kevin Stefanski’s two challenges
Again, didn’t see the plays themselves, but Jim Donovan flat out called the result of both plays correctly before Kevin Stefanski challenged the results. If Donovan and Stefanski are seeing the same things on the big board, why is Stefanski challenging them? It was a slam dunk that Harrison Bryant was unable to procure the catch in the endzone, yet Stefanski still challenged it? Then the Browns had a third and one, and Stefanski challenged that call to haggle over a few inches? Granted he won that challenge but as Donovan pointed out on commentary; why bother?
The refs
Browns fans can oftentimes be a bit overly passionate when it comes to the officiating crews, granted, which fanbase isn’t? To that end, however, the refs in this game apparently missed a few big plays. The most obvious was an egregious holding call against the Jaguars that went uncalled. There were also some other calls mentioned on social media that I’m unaware of at the moment. That said, at least it didn’t turn into Bottlegate 2.0.
Conclusion
The Jaguars aren’t a bad team. The Titans, Colts, and Packers all won against the Jaguars by seven points or less. So this is in no way a slight against the Browns that they struggled against the Jaguars. It’s also worth noting that Myles Garrett, Ronnie Harrison, Denzel Ward, Andy Janovich, and Porter Gustin all missed time against the Jags due to various reasons. This game may have been radically different if the Browns were at full strength (or as near to full strength) heading into this game.
Yes, Mayfield missed a few easy passes, but that’s more mechanics than anything and can be rectified with practice time. Yes, Stefanski made a few boneheaded decisions but he’s also the front runner for Coach of the Year. This is a team that can make some real noise this year and the Titans are going to be in for a real fight because the Browns have proven time and time again that they’ll find a way to win.
The biggest and most glaring issue is the defense, who even at full strength has trouble getting off the field on third down and getting a pass rush going. Why the Browns haven’t called Clay Matthews III yet is still baffling. The Browns just don’t have any real good pass rushers besides Myles Garrett and three-sack games aside, Olivier Vernon is far more likely to have no sacks, than have three sacks.
You’d like him to split the difference but that doesn’t seem likely at this point. The Browns defense will be the biggest question mark going into the last five weeks but that doesn’t mean the Browns haven’t proven they can’t find ways to compete.
The Titans are next up and this game could make or break expectations.