Browns vs. Jets wrap-up

Alas, the legend of Luke Falk was not meant to be born this past Monday night.  When Trevor Siemian left the game in the second quarter,  recent practice-squad QB Luke Falk trotted onto the field, gave the ball to Le'Veon Bell 7 straight times, and put up a quick 3 points on the scoreboard.  However, that would be it for the Jets on that evening.  It wasn't a total loss for Falk, he did complete 20 of 25 passes, which is way more efficient than Baker Mayfield was.  His 19 for 35 performance was definitely not a thing of beauty, but if it weren't for the 89 yard gash by OBJ, he would have been around 230 yards against a terrible defense.  Side note, this discussion of completion percentage reminds me of a magical Sunday in 1993.  It was the day after Christmas and Vinnie Testaverde went 21 for 23 against the L.A. Rams en route to a 42-14 victory. (NFL record percentage at the time) However, that victory paled in comparison to the events of November 8th, a date which will live in infamy in northern Ohio.  Bill Belichick (and Art Modell) made the decision to release beloved quarterback Bernie Kosar.  I'm not sure what happened to that Belichick guy down the line, but I do know that a year or two later Art Modell ripped the hearts out of a few hundred thousand people when he announced that the team would move to Baltimore.  

Back to the current day Cleveland Browns...  There really is no such thing as a bad road win, and it's pretty difficult to complain much about winning by 20 on Monday Night Football.  But, you know Cleveland fans, we could find some doom and gloom if we were up 21 points at halftime in the Superbowl.  I know it appears I teeter on the brink of being a cynical, negative fan about this team.  However, that's genuinely not the case, I believe there is tremendous offensive talent on this team, and I believe the defense has the potential to be a dominating unit.  But I also can recognize that there isn't all that much big-game experience on this team; not from the players or the coaching staff.  That manifests itself in some small ways like how often the play clock was down to 1 or 2 seconds, inevitably resulting in delay of game penalties.  And it shows up in more significant ways, for example when they were up 20, with two minutes to go in the game and Baker inexplicably drops back to pass and gets crushed.  That's coaching 101 when you have a big lead on the road, hand the ball off agin, and again, and again, and again.

I think there are a few other things worth noting from last Monday night.  Myles Garrett had 3 sacks and is leading the league in that department.  However, he got flagged twice for roughing the passer and both times it was on third down.  He's is an absolute monster, and he has been vocal about his pursuit of defensive player of the year award.  I like that, but at times he does flirt with that fine line between being an aggressive player and a dirty player.  I love that that Landry volunteered to return punts with Hilliard still out with a concussion.  The tone of the postgame interviews was measured, and the message I took away (particularly from Mayfield) was that the players believe there is still a lot more work to be done.  That's certainly true, the next 5 opponents are daunting to say the least.  Rams are in town today, back to back road games at Baltimore and San Fransisco, home against Seahawks, then at New England and the aforementioned Bill Belichick.  Each of those teams sit at 2-0, although I believe strongly that's a misleading statistic this early in the season.  The point is that the Browns have their work cut out for them if they want to be 5-2 or even 4-3 at the end of October.  All things considered the team cleaned some things up from the debacle against the Titans, but clearly there's a need for improvement in overall execution and focus.  I didn't listen to any Cleveland sports radio this week (that's a painful undertaking) but I wonder how the local fans feel.  I wish I could wander around the tailgate lots before the Rams game and get a feel for the mood of the fans.  (Proper safety gear would be strongly suggested, there is an extra 8-10 hours of tailgate time, that could be a recipe for disaster)  Any way you cut it, the Browns went to New York (technically New Jersey) and came back with the results they needed.  Maybe that's the most meaningful analysis of this game.

Go Browns.