What Happened With The Browns On Sunday? (Fire Hue)

Jeff D Lowe10/22/2018 7:31 PM

The Browns lost another heart-breaking loss in their fourth overtime game through only seven weeks on the season. A 59-yard field goal did the Browns in as they fell to a 2-4-1 record and begin to dip out of possible early-season playoff contention.

Unlike last week in their blowout loss to the Chargers, a lot went right for the Browns this week. So much of the reason they lost in Tampa can be chalked up to the coaching staff. Let’s take a look at the good and the bad from their fourth loss of the season…

THE BAD: HUE JACKSON

What’s this guy’s deal?

Hue Jackson has to go, man. It’s ridiculous at this point that any head coach can be this dysfunctional.

He doesn’t just throw people under the bus, he drives the bus over them, backs up over them and then drives over them again. This isn’t the first time he has done this, either…

That’s not head coaching material. How does a team get up to play for a guy like that? It doesn’t even matter what field or profession you’re in, any boss with that attitude is toxic towards the cause.

We even saw glimpses of his poor relationship with the rest of the coaches during ‘Hard Knocks’…

Todd Haley hasn’t been great by any stretch (more on this later), but I don’t think he is as big of a problem as Hue.

Dude, you were 1-31 when calling plays the last two years. What in the world makes you think you’ll do better now or improve the problem? Hue does have better players than last year, but the offense he ran wouldn’t even thrive with a Pro Bowl team.

Maybe Hue is a good guy, but it’s time for his tenure as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns to end. I will be very upset if he is still the head coach after the bye week.

UPDATE: He’s still doing it again today!

Unreal!

UPDATE TWO: He is walking his comments back.

Whatever, man.

THE GOOD: BAKER MAYFIELD (ESPECIALLY HIS SECOND HALF)

I loved what I saw from Baker Mayfield this week.

STATS

The stats aren’t gaudy upon first look, but Baker was a wildly efficient 13-for-18 with 151 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and 11.6 yards per completion in the second half.

He was countlessly held back by penalties, of which the Browns committed 14 for 114 yards. Even then, Baker was able to make the most out of some tough situations in the second half.

What a run! Somehow, someway, that flag was picked up.

I actually understand why the flag was picked up. Technically it wasn’t roughing the passer, the original call, based on him initiating his slide after the tackle was in progress. But on the other hand, isn’t this a clear helmet-to-helmet hit and targeting? Honestly, it didn’t matter. The Browns got down inside the 5-yard line and ran a few terrible plays that resulted in a turnover on downs (more on that later).

There are moments where Baker needs to get rid of the ball quicker, for sure.

He also still has some issues holding onto the football.

That was a tough turnover after a great play. I still think Hue and Haley should have taken the points, though.

The one thing he can’t control, though, is how bad the offensive line has been in protecting him and leaving him a clean pocket.

What can he even do there? People can say he needs to throw it into the crossing receivers’ feet, but that pocket collapses by the time he hits the third step in his drop. And speaking of drops, the wide receivers better this week, but still found a way to stall the offense here and there.

Overall, it was a great bounce-back game for Baker following a pretty terrible game last Sunday. The guy is resilient and fights hard, even if his confidence has to be a little shaken given the line he is behind and the drops issue with his wide receivers.

I have zero concerns going forward.

THE BAD: PLAY CALLING

Hue is the root of the problems, without question, but that doesn’t mean Todd Haley and Gregg Williams should just be let off the hook. Williams redeemed himself to an extent because his defense, which is pretty bruised and battered, stepped up and kept the team in the game in the second half, and Haley called some nice plays as well. There were still too many mistakes, though, and they led directly to the loss.

For Haley, a few plays stick out to me the most.

What a bizarre run play. The development, which is slow, and the setup are both strange. This seemed to have no chance from the start and put the Browns in one of their multiple long down situations.

The play-action the Browns ran on 2^nd down had no chance and running Baker up the middle in a hurry up on 4^th down was so fucking obvious. Everyone saw it coming from a mile away and I think most everyone questioned why they didn’t just run Nick Chubb again.

That fucking soft zone, man. A lot of what Gregg Williams dialed up in the second half worked and his defense bailed him out, as they have all season, with a slew of forced turnovers. This play, on 3^rd and 26, a must-stop in overtime, is tough to watch back on film. The cushion allowed Jameis enough room to make a good, but not difficult, throw and set this up…

Sigh. Another heart-breaking loss with some glaring issues at the top that held back the team from evening their record up at 3-3-1 on the season.

EVERYTHING ELSE

THE GOOD: NICK CHUBB – The rookie running back was very solid in his first start, rushing for 80 yards on 18 carries for one touchdown.

He took some time to get going and is still being forced to take the ball in obvious second-down running situations behind a bad offensive line. Overall, he has great speed, vision, and size and I am excited to see him the rest of the season. The Carlos Hyde trade was a solid move.

THE GOOD: JARVIS LANDRY – Landry had cooled off a bit since a solid start but pulled off a great game yesterday against the Buccaneers. He also finally supplied Baker with some good plays at the wide receiver position.

The first year Cleveland Brown hauled in 10 receptions for 97 yards and that one awesome touchdown in the clip above. Baker’s success will be largely dependent on how much of a connection he builds with Landry. When these two are on the same page, the offense, which still needs to add some talent at wide receiver, moves the ball pretty well.

THE BAD: MISUSING DUKE JOHNSON – Honestly, Hue Jackson should be fired just for the fact that he hasn’t been able to get Duke Johnson the ball more in his team’s offense.

When he touches the ball, he’s electric and always has the potential for a big play. Five fucking touches!? That’s it!?

THE HMM: JABRILL PEPPERS – I give Jabrill a lot of credit for sticking with it despite all of the heat he takes. I think he’s been better defensively and has improved on punt returns this season.

The issue is that he also fumbled late in overtime on a pretty good return.

Following the fumble, the Buccaneers won the game. Just an example of a guy trying to do too much.

THE BAD: HUE JACKSON – Fix it.