The Cleveland Browns are going to need a second half that mirrored the 2020 season if they’re going to make good on those Super Bowl contention predictions.
Six games into 2021, this version of the Cleveland Browns finds itself at 3-3. Third place in the AFC North. The injuries are piling up and a game against a tough Broncos defense looms on Thursday night–just three days away.
If you’re like me, you’re thankful to be at .500 at this point. The Browns of the past 20 years were always 1-5 or 0-6 by this point. However, last year changed the narrative. The Browns took a big step forward.
Injuries certainly aren’t helping, but the Browns wins are against a Texans team that started a Davis Mills in the second half, while the Bears trotted out Justin Fields before he was ready to play.
They beat a tough Minnesota team with great defense, but let’s be honest. Nobody’s picking the Vikings to do much of anything this season.
In defat, the Browns have lost to Super Bowl contending teams. In two of those, they’ve could’ve won. A 37-17 shellacking at the hands of the Cardinals was shockingly bad. The fan base has zero confidence in the defense and I don’t know how they correct things, as the same mistakes continue to be made.
While these five Browns saw their stocks go in the tank, at least these five players saw their stocks rise in defeat.
1. Cleveland Browns WR Donovan Peoples-Jones
The Hail Mary was awesome, but that play was more of an indictment on poor coverage from he Cardinals. Credit to Cleveland Browns WR Donovan Peoples-Jones, though. He made the play.
Outside of that play, this game was a gem for the second-year receiver. His first catch was spectacular, catching a contested ball at its highest point for a first down.
On his first touchdown oft he game, he trucked a defender to cross the goal line.
Overall, DPJ led the team with four catches for 101 yards and the aforementioned two touchdowns.
Beckham was the Browns other big productive receiver, but a key fourth-down drop devastated whatever hope the Browns had of coming back to win.
It’ll be interesting to see if Baker Mayfield starts connecting with DPJ more now they shown a little more chemistry over the past couple of weeks.
2. Cleveland Browns DE Jadeveon Clowney
Browns defensive coordinator Joe Woods has a big problem in that his secondary couldn’t stop Kent State at this point.
But the defensive line? They’re getting the job done, especially with Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney leading the charge. The duo each had a sack and found themselves responsible for eight of the 11 pressures generated by the line, according to PFF.
Clowney looked healthy after dealing with knee and elbow issues last week, which caused him to miss the game. Besides the sack, he looked Uber-quick on a tackle for a loss of Cardinals’ running back James Conner.
If there’s any beef with the Browns line, it’s that they could be generating more pressure on the inside. Malik McDowell wasn’t credited with a pressure, while Malik McDowell had two. Both of those players also had costly penalties.
3. Browns DE Myles Garrett
It’s impossible for his stock to go up any more, but Garrett was good in this one, point a pass rushing grade of 90.5 according to PFF.
Garrett had a sack and generated a team high five pressures also posting a win rate of 22.6 percent.
Garrett made headlines during the week for his Halloween-themed, quarterback graveyard at his suburban Cleveland home, and he made good on having Murray’s grave marker on the scene.
Again, the defensive line seems to be doing its job, rather it’s the secondary and linebacking corps that’s struggling to make plays.
The secondary is a disaster, but it even looks like JOK is in storefor the worst grade of his young career, as he had trouble in coverage while surrounding a touchdown reception.
As for Garrett, you don’t have to worry about him. The guy shows up every week and should be the front runner for defensive player of the year.
4. Cleveland Browns P Jamie Gillan
Jamie Gillan’s job is safe ,as the Scottish Hammer returned to his old football booting self, kicking two times and averaging 53.0 yards per punt.
Plus, the punts had plenty of hang time and the Cardinals return yardage was minimal.
Gillan’s been under heavy criticism for failing to bomb the ball, which was the reputation he entered the league with. Too often this season, he was barely cracking the 40.0 yards per punt average.
The Browns worked out a punter this week, but it’s unclear if Gillan’s job was ever in jeopardy. Kevin Stefanski seemed to give Gillan a vote of confidence at one of his weekly press conferences, and while sometimes, that can be a bad thing, the coach seemed genuine while basically stating that the punter just needed to shake it off and get back on track.
Anyway, you’ll find the punter on the stock down list at times, but when he’s on the stock up list?Well, you know your team just lost like the Browns did, in shockingly bad fashion in front of the home crowd.
5. Cleveland Browns C J.C. Tretter
Browns center J.C. Tretter is the veteran glue of the offensive line, and while James Hudson struggled significantly at right tackle, Tretter was excellent, not allowing a pressure, according to PFF.
Mayfield was sacked five times, but surprisingly, the analytically oriented site was praiseful of Cleveland’s offensive line, stating that four of the Browns’ offensive linemen earned 70.0 or higher pass blocking grades.
My guess is that Hudson is the one who didn’t.
The rushing grades will interesting to peruse when they come out, because the Browns just didn’t have it today.
The Browns missed Nick Chubb and that has a lot to do with it, but missing Jack Conklin and Jedrick Wills also hurt the Browns chances of doing what they do best.
For what it’s worth, Kareem Hunt rushed the ball 14 times for 66 yards. The Browns talked of conserving Hunt in this one because he was batting injuries, but the back didn’t make it out of the game unscathed.