5 Browns Most to Blame for Wild Card Collapse Against Texans

What is there to say in an introduction here? The Browns blew it.

We did get a little over one quarter of football where it looked like this might be a fun, closely contested game, but that unraveled in record time.

The offense was terrible. The defense was even worse. The game wasn't close enough for special teams to even matter.

Football is a team sport, but things don't go this far off the rails without some people really failing to do their jobs in a huge way.

And that's why these five Browns take the most blame for Saturday's loss to the Houston Texans.

1. James Hudson III

The Houston Texans defense is supposed to be the weakness that lets you beat them, but even before this game there was one part of the defense that did deserve some respect: the defensive ends.

Will Anderson Jr. and Jonathan Greenard aren't some unbeatable duo, however. This isn't like getting stuck blocking Myles Garrett, where even a good tackle is expected to struggle.

James Hudson is only on the field because of injuries, and it's not his fault that he's starting when he has no business doing so, but there are no excuses in the playoffs. You need to perform no matter what's going on.

And Hudson absolutely did not perform.

He gave up some key sacks, making it impossible for even casual fans to miss how bad he was, but the closer you were looking the worse it was. As he started to get beat his play deteriorated as he seemed desparate to recover, and ended up over-compensating and then getting beat inside and on bull rushes.

The Browns' inability to protect Flacco was the first domino (at least on the offensive side of the ball) that started to bring this disaster.

But you know I've gotta circle around to the other side of the ball now.

2. Greg Newsome

Based on what comes up when you do a quick Twitter search for Greg Newsome's name, no Browns fan needs me to tell them just how bad he was.

Newsome couldn't cover anyone. He couldn't lock anyone down 1-on-1 on the outside. He couldn't keep up with anyone in the slot. He couldn't tackle. He couldn't read and react to any of the Texans' misdirection plays.

This was an all-time bad performance from Newsome, capping off a wildly up-and-down season.

Two of Newsome’s best games of the year came at the end of the regular season, but this looked more like the Greg Newsome we saw against the Steelers or Broncos, not the one we saw against the Jets in Week 17.

Newsome had held opposing QBs to a 74.8 passer rating when targeted in the regular season — showing huge improvement from the marks of 85.6 and 84.6 he posted in his first two NFL seasons. But those improvements were nowhere to be seen on Saturday.

The Texans' passing attack is good, no doubt, but Greg Newsome takes a huge chunk of the blame for making C.J. Stroud look like the greatest quarterback of all time.

3. Joe Flacco

I was ready to forgive Joe Flacco. All those years hating him while he was on the Ravens were going to be made up for when he carried the Browns to a playoff victory.

But it turns out Flacco was just coming up with a new way to let down Browns fans.

Of course, Flacco was facing pressure all day (thanks, James Hudson). Of course, Flacco's top receiver was playing hurt. But come on.

I guess the whole "threw an interception in every game" thing Flacco had going in the regular season should have prepared us for this, but throwing two pick-sixes is next level.

It's not like it was just the turnovers either. Flacco made some really nice throws in the game, but even some of his completions were lacking. That early deep ball to David Njoku was a touchdown if he put enough arm into it.

He also wasn't doing enough to get the ball downfield. He doesn't control play-calling or the pass-rush in front of him, but in a blowout loss you really don't want to see over 50% of the receptions going to David Bell, Jerome Ford, Elijah Moore and Kareem Hunt, who collectively averaged just 4.7 yards per catch.

4. Grant Delpit('s Absence)

I don't "blame" Grant Delpit in the sense that I'm annoyed at him and think he should've done anything differently. The guy was hurt, and i'm sure it absolutely crushed him to not be able to play today.

But his absence is absolutely a key piece of this loss.

Greg Newsome got cooked everywhere, but there was also nobody else really stepping up and reading the Texans' passing plays outside of Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.

And when an opposing team's tight ends are shredding you, well that's a crystal clear sign that you're struggling at the safety position.

Juan Thornhill and Ronnie Hickman simply could not get it done, and for as much as it sometimes seems like JOK can be everywhere on the field at once, this game proved that he can't do it alone.

5. Jim Schwartz

This one is another "there are no excuses in the playoffs" kind of blame. Was it hard having Delpit out? For sure. Is having to play Greg Newsome going to make things challenging on any defensive coordinator? Of course.

But Jim Schwartz' defense did not look like a Jim Schwartz defense today.

Houston had little trouble picking up blitzes and stunts, giving C.J. Stroud plenty of time to pick apart the struggling secondary. The front-seven looked ill-prepared to stop any of the Texans' running plays.

But most of all, the number of wide-open receivers Stroud hit was ridiculous.

Not to take anything away from the rookie, who was stellar, but Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik deserves just as much credit. His play design had Stroud looking like he was taking part in a routes-on-air drill for much of the game.

Schwartz can't be on the field making Newsome keep up with someone in a 1-on-1 situation, but he should absolutely have come up with a gameplan that either had Stroud under pressure or forced him to throw to covered receivers.

No pressure and open receivers is an inexcusable combination.

This doesn't take away how good Schwartz was for most of the year, but this sourt taste might make it a little easier for Browns fans if he does end up landing a head-coaching gig elsewhere.

More Cleveland Browns news and analysis: