Banged up Browns lose to Rams

The Defense

Kitchens and defensive coordinator Steve Wilks came into Sunday night short-handed but had an exceptional game plan in place to start the game. For that, they get an A+. Conversely, during the game, Wilks defense never adjusted as the Rams began to move the ball. Without a couple of mistakes by Jared Goff leading to interceptions, this game could have got out of hand quickly. All in all the defense caused three turnovers and held the high-powered Rams to 20 points, more than good enough to win this game. Browns fans should be pleased with the overall performance of the Wilks lead defense this season.

Baker Mayfield

It was a story of two Bakers again. The first Baker was the one we all know well from his rookie season. You all remember that guy, right? The pinpoint accuracy, get the ball out so fast if you blinked you missed it and dropped dimes everywhere. He was there for a stretch last night using a run-pass option quick-strike attack that had the Rams reeling. So, of course, the Browns stopped using it. I said it last night, and I will repeat it, I needed more RPO in that game. Watching Baker run it was a thing of beauty.

Then we saw skittish run for your life Baker rearing its ugly head as it has all year. Each time the Browns went to a traditional drop-back offense, all momentum was lost. Baker either ran for his life or thought he needed to. To be fair to Baker, the coaching staff must be better. They should realize what is working instead of forcing something that the offensive line and Baker are not handling well this season. In the end, as the quarterback of this team, Baker needs to be better and make the plays to win games. That is just the life of a franchise quarterback.

Freddie Kitchens

I know we are only three games into Kitchens tenure as head coach, but he has to be better. You cannot miss things like the shove out of bounds, and the explanation given didn’t help the situation.

“I did, and I was told if I would have challenged and won, they would have accepted the penalty,” Kitchens said. “They would have been offsetting. It would have been a repeat of the down. I just didn’t know if it was worth it. The way the percentages go with getting that call and not getting that call, to have an offsetting (penalty) and not an automatic first down, I didn’t think it was worth it.”

When it was pointed out to Kitchens that it would have been a replay of the down he responded with “Would have gotten a down back, yeah.” This response is not good enough for the head coach of a playoff-caliber team. Combine that with the fact that the Browns continued to force a downfield passing attack and rack up penalties during stretches of the game that killed drives. A lot still needs fixing on the offensive side of the ball. Although, it was nice to see the Browns finally use Nick Chubb to help dictate the flow of a game for a change. Now inject some more of that RPO into the gameplan and see what happens.

Conclusion

Still a work in progress. That is all I have right now when it comes to this team. They went into this game with a beat-up team and showed grit and heart but also made some blunders in-game. Clearly, the talent is there, and they are improving but, in the end, they still lost the game. The only solace is the rest of the AFC North also lost their games yesterday. Freddie, Baker, and the entire team must now get ready to fight it out for first in the AFC North with Baltimore next week. Will we finally see them tap into their full potential? Or will more growing pains rear their ugly head?

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