5 Browns whose stock is down after Ravens heartbreaker in Week 14

5. Edge contain

It’s hard to put Myles Garrett and Larry Ogunjobi on blast for individual performances because they did things that affected the pocket. Throw Olivier Vernon and Porter Gustin into the mix, as well.

But the reason the Browns lost is their failure to stop the run, and really, Jackson’s decision making in the run-pass option is what doomed Cleveland.

How many times did we see Jackson fake a handoff to one of his backs, only to take it to the outside for a big gain?

When that happens, Garrett, Gustin and Vernon can’t be expected to make every tackle, but they’ve got to be able to kick the play back inside for the linebackers to clean up.

There was a point in the game when Jackson was still running the RPO where it became obvious he was going to run the ball every time. If I knew it from the couch, so the Browns knew it too, and they still couldn’t stop it.

The poor defensive showing probably re-enforces the need to draft for defense come spring time. Berry invested heavily in the offense in 2020, and it will be the defense’s turn in 2021.