3 Browns to Blame for Loss to the Broncos in Week 12

2. David Njoku, Tight End

Once again, it was a Jekyll and Hyde scenario for David Njoku this weekend. On the whole, he had a good game and even made a couple of amazing catches. On the team’s touchdown drive in the third quarter, he made a leaping grab where he pulled the ball down with his fingertips. Later, he had another impressive grab on a low pass, which Njoku hauled in while sliding to the turf.

But then, things fell apart for him. Njoku found himself in a familiar situation that he was in one week ago as Dorian Thomspon-Robinson was throwing him the ball in the end zone. Just like in Week 11, the quarterback threw a perfect pass and Njoku got both hands on it. Also like in Week 11, the pass was incomplete as Njoku couldn’t complete the reception.

Cleveland still scored, thanks to a brilliant call on fourth down that led to Harrison Bryant finding himself wide-open on fourth down, but it was still tougher than it needed to be. And to make matters more frustrating, Amari Cooper then dropped a pass on the two-point conversion.

Njoku had a chance to redeem himself on the following drive but again made a mistake. This time, he took a pass on first down and was wide open with a ton of room to run. Njoku was unable to haul it in and the ball ended up falling to the turf for an incompletion.

Players aren’t expected to make every single play, and we even saw the reliable Cooper drop one. But Njoku has been struggling over the past couple of weeks to cleanly catch the ball, and it’s really bad in the end zone. He’s still a great all-around tight end but this is an area where he needs to improve in a hurry.