Browns Game Recaps: Baker Mayfield tears Chargers D in Week 5’s 3 good and 3 bad

The Conclusion

The Browns are showing what their strengths are and what their weaknesses are. The Browns’ offensive line, defensive line, tight ends, quarterbacks, and corners are good. We know this. Everyone else is now very suspect.

The safeties are either not improved from last year or simply not ready. Either way that is a problem. This is not a team that can afford to blow leads, not in the AFC North. If the safeties you have aren’t ready, then this season could very easily be lost. The linebackers aren’t much better, but they at least have Jeremiah Owuwu-Koramoah and Sione Takitaki who have been either a consistent playmaker or a steady presence against the run depending on who you’re talking about.

The biggest revelation that fans need to accept right now is that these receivers are not big-time playmakers. Odell Beckham is a non-factor each week and generally has been like this since 2019. It’s very rare that Beckham is able to break a defense as he used to against the Giants and while he can still make circus catches, he can no longer break safeties over the top with his athleticism. Donovan Peoples-Jones had five receptions, one more than the four combined in the previous four games.

Anthony Schwartz and Demetric Felton are not making plays, and for whatever reason, Rashard Higgins is getting limited action despite his ability to get some sneaky separation down the field.

The tight ends are generally good, but David Njoku is the worst blocker the team has and it’s not even a debate. He’s a liability to the team because while he can get open and have a huge showing in the passing game, as he did today, relying on him to hold blocks is a gamble not worth taking. Taking him off the field all but ensures the team is running but keeping him on all but ensures you can’t.

The team has some issues they need to fix, least of all Stefanski’s desire to forgo easy points for analytical percentages.