close
close

Browns do…you guessed it…what bad teams do – Terry Pluto

Browns do…you guessed it…what bad teams do – Terry Pluto

CLEVELAND, Ohio – That’s what makes a bad team.

I've lost count of how many times I said that during the Browns' 20-16 loss to Las Vegas on Sunday.

Let's start with Deshaun Watson.

I don't have any major issues with the Browns QB. He could have made some better throws. I would have liked him to at least throw the ball into the end zone on Cleveland's last play while running for his life.

Instead he took a sack. The Browns had the ball at the Raiders' 9-yard line. The score was 20-16. The clock ran out. It was the fourth and third.

I don't know what the final piece should be. For a brief second, it appeared he let Jerry Jeudy break across the center line, and tight end Jordan Akins perhaps went into the end zone.

But Watson was under a lot of pressure. He ended up running out of the pocket and was thrown to the ground with the ball still in his hands.

What bad teams do

However, had Dustin Hopkins (YIKES!) not missed an extra point early in the game, well, the Browns would have been able to at least tie the game with a field goal on the final drive. Yes, Hopkins is an excellent kicker. He kicked a 56-yard field goal early in the game.

But that extra point…

Amari Cooper would have caught an excellent pass from Watson… but instead it bounced off his chest… high into the air… and was intercepted. If Cooper made his normal play, the Browns would have had the ball at the Las Vegas 30-yard line.

Had Nick Harris not been flagged for holding, Watson and Cooper would have scored an 82-yard TD.

If the Browns hadn't allowed the Raiders to run for 152 yards… My goodness, Las Vegas came into the game with 155 total yards in the first three games.

Did the Browns…

The scoreboard doesn't lie

The Browns are 1-3. The four teams the Browns have faced have a combined record of 5-11.

The Browns don't want to hear it, but they're playing like a bad team, period.

The offense rightly received a lot of negative attention. They only scored one touchdown on Sunday. This season, the Browns offense has scored a total of six touchdowns.

The Browns have not scored more than 18 points in a game.

But in this game, Watson was solid. He was 24 of 32 passing for 176 yards. His only interception was the fault of Cooper. Hard to know what's going on with Brown's Pro Bowl receiver, who has had falls and other issues this season.

Yes, the offensive line is riddled with injuries.

But the same was true for the Raiders, who had two rookies starting at the helm.

Part of being a good team is working around injuries on the offensive line.

The defense is just mediocre

The Browns only allowed 20 points. That should be enough to win, especially against a struggling team like Las Vegas.

But the Browns' defense wasn't as dominant as it was a year ago. Way too many missed tackles. It's hard to imagine how the Raiders just ran over Cleveland – but they did.

Watching the Browns is painful.

They are underperforming. They are frustrating and frustrated. They don't seem to be able to develop big games when they're needed most.

The Browns' longest plays of the game were a 36-yard run by Jerome Ford and a 19-yard catch by Jerry Jeudy. That's it. The Browns scored a touchdown on that first drive of the game and no touchdowns after that.

How do the Browns stand after four games?

They are a bad team that does what bad teams do.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *