From 2015 through 2017 the Cleveland Browns went 4-44 and, somehow, they are currently embroiled in their most embarrassing season of the last decade. The Browns fell to 2-6 on Sunday after dropping yet another must-win game against a questionable team, losing to a Brandon Allen-led Broncos team 24-19.
This despite outgaining the Broncos (351 yards to 301), running 30 more plays than Denver (73 to 43), converting twice as many third downs (six to three) and never allowing Denver into the red zone. The Broncos never once got inside the Browns' 20-yard line and still managed to score 24 points.
We thought Cleveland had crawled through 500 yards of foul-smelling football to burst into freedom under a new regime with loads of talent all over the roster. Instead, there are fires popping up all over the place.
Linebacker Jermaine Whitehead, who missed a number of tackles, took to social media after the game, searched his name on Twitter and threatened bodily harm to fans and media members who had criticized him online. He was released Monday morning.
Portions of the broadcast during the second quarter focused on Cleveland wide receivers Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry because the duo was informed by the NFL, according to NFL on CBS reporter Jay Feely, to change their cleats at halftime or else they would not be allowed to play in the game. In other words, they could fall in line with the NFL uniform regulations or, as Kevin Harlan so eloquently put it, "wear Joker shoes."
A large portion of the response to this situation was an outcry against the NFL's draconian uniform policy. That's fair. It's a preposterous policy. And Odell said after the game he had the uniforms changed on him at the last minute, which created the mixup. The pre-planned cleat process is legit as I understand it. He's not the only one who does this. But the uniform confusion is weird -- the Browns announced before the season, or at the very start of the season, their intent to use their color rush uniforms as their primary colors. So it's not like this snuck up on Beckham.
A wild Week 9 is almost in the books and there's a lot to go over. Fortunately, Will Brinson, John Breech, Ryan Wilson and Sean Wagner-McGough are here to break everything down on the latest episode of the Pick Six Podcast. Listen to the full show below and be sure to subscribe right here to get daily NFL news fired into your eardrums.
Whatever. We shouldn't even be talking about this. It's preposterous. If you think you're going to violate the league's uniform policy or if the league tells you to change cleats, just do it. Don't make a big deal out of it and quit focusing on cleats and start worrying about wins.
That sounds very "get off my lawn-ish" I suppose. But don't get caught up in the uniform argument. The Browns are in the middle of a total self-destruction. Freddie Kitchens continually makes one or two enormous mistakes per game. Cleveland outplays its opponent every week and still loses. On Sunday the Browns got hosed by a bad spot on a fourth-down Mayfield sneak and after essentially having it explained to him that a challenge would probably lose, Kitchens challenged anyway.
Last year, under the debacle with Hue Jackson, the Browns were 2-6-1 on Nov. 4. Guess what? It's Nov. 4 again. And Cleveland is 2-6. Kitchens claims he isn't worried about his job security, but how can that be true? The heat is on. His quarterback went from the smoothest cat in football to looking like a shellshocked insurance agent in the span of 18 months.
Everything around Cleveland imploded in a matter of weeks. We're not at Thanksgiving yet and a very promising Browns season is circling the drain, with more looming drama from OBJ on deck. According to Feely, Beckham claimed after his game he "can't get the ball to save his life." It was clear that Beckham wasn't happy about the final Browns offensive play, a failed fourth-down conversion in which Mayfield threw at Landry in double coverage instead of finding Beckham in single coverage.
Beckham probably has a decent argument here. Immediately CBS cameras showed Beckham shaking Broncos cornerback Chris Harris to get open down the field. Next Gen Stats showed OBJ had two yards of separation from Chris Harris. A half-decent throw leading him probably scores a touchdown and wins the game.
I'm not blaming Mayfield here. Quarterbacking is hard. It's fair to wonder what kind of instructions he got on this play. If OBJ is going to be singled, that's got to be the throw. He's a superstar wideout acquired in the offseason for these very moments. And yet eight games into his Browns tenure he has more games with less than eight targets (four!) than any other season in his career.
There's no obvious solution here, but at least one tweak seems pretty simple: take play-calling duties away from Kitchens and turn things over to Todd Monken. It seems sort of basic that having less in-game matters (i.e. playcalling) to worry about would ease the burden on Kitchens significantly.
The schedule is still easy, although winning out -- or even going 7-1, one of which is needed for the playoffs in all likelihood -- is just asking too much. The Browns have three straight home games against the Bills, the Steelers (Thursday Night Football) and Dolphins beginning in Week 10. They need to figure out some way to generate a run down the stretch -- if only to drum up some false hope for 2020.
November Run
On the other end of the disappointment spectrum lie the Chargers. America's favorite sad sack football team limped into Week 9 having just fired its offensive coordinator and preparing to "host" a "home" game against the Packers. The stands in Los Angeles looked like the Chicago River on St. Patrick's Day. Aaron Rodgers was peacocking into town for a free win, ready to pile up some more touchdowns as he built his MVP resume. Then the Chargers woke up and smacked Green Bay around 26-11.
The game wasn't remotely that close, honestly, save for some standard Chargers drama at the end. Should we have seen this coming? Yes. 2I took the Packers to win and cover, like a moron, also forgetting this was the Chargers' first game in November. Look at what the Bolts, regardless of city, do when the calendar flips:
| Year | Record entering Nov. | Record in Nov. | Nov. Point Diff. | Final Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | 3-5 | 2-1 | +9 | 5-11 |
2017 | 3-5 | 2-1 | +49 | 9-7 |
2018 | 5-2 | 3-1 | +56 | 12-4 |
2019 | 3-5 | 1-0 | +15 | ??? |
This is when Philip Rivers and Co. shine. Like any group of employees who just watched a lengthily-tenured manager get canned, the Chargers were much sharper and much more attentive when they arrived at the office for work following the dismissal of Ken Whisenhunt. Bear in mind, the long-time offensive coordinator was kicked to the curb after a win.
Los Angeles posted its best offensive game of the season by far. Melvin Gordon was flying -- literally -- around the field. He looked rejuvenated and motivated. Austin Ekeler was awesome too. We (me, guilty as charged) made it about the two of them against one another. The issue was always just the Chargers not knowing how to use them both in tandem. Lynn and new OC Shane Steichen did an excellent job of that.
Multiple times the Chargers had third-down conversions they desperately needed, they outmuscled the Packers and picked them up. One drive stood out to me in particular for its aggressiveness: after the Packers scored their first points to make it 19-3, the Chargers got the ball back with 46 seconds left in the third quarter. If there ever was a place to be hyper-conservative and try to melt clock, this was it, especially for a hyper-conservative team and coach.
Instead, Rivers took a shot play down the field to Mike Williams in single coverage and the rebound receiver pulled it in for a 46-yard gain. Eight plays and roughly four minutes of clock later, the Chargers were attempting a 19-yard Mike Badgley field goal when the Packers went offsides. The penalty didn't give the Bolts a first down, but it gave them a very convert-able touchdown opportunity. Going for it meant wiping out a guaranteed three-score lead. But after getting an earful of goshdarnits from Rivers, Lynn relented and let his quarterback go.
Gordon plunged in for a touchdown to make it 26-3 and the game was over (outside of a very brief moment following a garbage Packers touchdown where Badgley missed a field goal and caused Jim Nantz to utter "oh no" as if he may or may not have seen the Chargers meltdown on Sunday for the last 10 years).
Health was a big factor for Los Angeles here. Getting Russell Okung back on the offensive line was enormous. And Melvin Ingram's return didn't generate enough pregame buzz. With him and Joey Bosa lined up on the same side, the Packers had no answer for the Chargers pass rush whatsoever. The duo finished with three sacks and six hits on Rodgers. As Bosa told NFL Network's Steve Wyche, Rodgers "didn't do s--- today."
In his last three games, Bosa has 5.5 sacks, 10 quarterback hits, 17 tackles and six tackles for loss. He's morphed into a wrecking ball out there. Oakland, Kansas City, and Denver are on deck. Oh, by the way, he's eligible for a contract extension this offseason.
Los Angeles was so dominant that, at one point during the CBS broadcast, the duo of Jim Nantz and Tony Romo had covered more yards than the Packers had produced.
I'm not sure if that's entirely accurate, but it's a good joke nonetheless: Nantz and Romo came down to the sideline of the Chargers stadium to broadcast for a bit during the third quarter, a cool moment on the broadcast to show how intimate the stadium is.
And lucky for the duo it was much easier to broadcast the game with the Chargers running away in typical November fashion.
Looking ahead for this team, they're getting Derwin James back at some point. A road trip to the Raiders on Thursday is enormous. The Chiefs at home 10 days later might be even bigger. Win those and they're 6-5 going into the bye with the Broncos (road), Jaguars (road), Vikings (home), Raiders (home) and Chiefs (road) left. Given how weak the back end of the AFC looks, a 9-7 Chargers squad could easily sneak into the postseason. Or maybe they'll just rip off a bunch of wins and lose to the Chiefs in Week 17 to miss the playoffs. Either way.
Goal line issues
At the risk of ignoring the Raiders, allow me to talk about the final goal-line situation for the Lions on Sunday.
Actually I can't ignore Oakland: the Raiders have been awesome this season. Jon Gruden is doing a heck of a job coaching up this offense, Derek Carr has been fantastic the last month and Josh Jacobs is a top 10 running back, a compliment that really might be understanding what a job he's done as a rookie. I could not be more impressed with this Oakland team. I was dead wrong about them and they have a legit shot at making the postseason with a bunch of rookies in Mike Mayock's first draft class. We mocked them for trading Khalil Mack -- and they could certainly use him -- but they're going to get a higher pick from the Bears than their own pick. Tom Cable got killed for the offensive line and they're playing really well lately. This team is 4-4 despite not having a home game between September 3 and November 15. Great job by Oakland all around so far.
Not a great job by Darrell Bevell at the end of the game against Oakland on Sunday. With the Lions trying to march down the field and get a game-tying score, Matthew Stafford hit Logan Thomas for a 13-yard gain down to the Raiders one-yard line on third and long. The Lions were out of timeouts so they scrambled up to the line of scrimmage, knowing they couldn't stop the clock and they would have one play to win the game. Stafford was in the middle of lining everyone up when ... the Raiders called timeout??
Everyone -- people watching, the FOX announcing crew, the Lions and maybe even Jon Gruden -- was confused. I honestly don't know if Gruden called the timeout or not. He wasn't asked about it in his postgame press conference (??) and the face he made when the timeout was called looked like someone who could be furious at a player or furious at himself or just furious.
That's a spot where you want to force the Lions to rush and potentially make a mistake, not to give them time to get things together and call a play.
Unless Darrell Bevell is the offensive play-caller apparently. Given time to get his "one play" in, Bevell elected to call Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones off the field.
And instead of letting Stafford operate out of shotgun and whip a ball into a receiver or throw a jump ball to Babytron, the Lions got into a jumbo set and ran play action.
Now it's totally possible they run the ball here. Teams do that all the time. But by not having primary wide receivers out there it left Stafford with very few outlet options when the Raiders got pressure.
Stafford actually got the pass away to Thomas, who had a chance to pull the ball in but the two couldn't make it happen.
Objectively, this is a terrible play call. It's not the first time Bevell has gotten adorable at the goal line either. I'm not suggesting this team should have run here, but when you have Golladay, Jones and T.J. Hockensen, and Jesse James, maybe don't throw the ball to Thomas out of jumbo play action there.
In a very weird and surprising way, the timeout allowed the Lions to think about it and put Bevell in charge instead of Stafford. The result was a win and the Raiders moving to 4-4, keeping themselves in the playoff hunt, with the Lions left to wonder what might have been after yet another extremely close loss.
Sim the season
Not to stomp on my good friend Gregg Rosenthal's turf here, but have you seen what kind of legendary clock melting Redskins interim coach Bill Callahan is engaged in since taking over in Washington? Dude is whipping through games at an unprecedented pace for modern football.
Here are the three fastest games played in 2019. All three of them are under 2 hours and 45 minutes, a length of time for a professional football game you just don't see these days.
| Opponent | Result | Game Length | WAS Rush/Pass Attempts | WAS Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
vs. 49ers | L | 2:36 | 12/26 | 0 |
@ Vikings | L | 2:39 | 16/21 | 9 |
@ Bills | L | 2:40 | 23/22 | 9 |
I don't even know what to make of this, honestly. The Redskins have lost all three games, they've scored a total of 18 points in these games, yet somehow they're actually 1-2 in these games and no one's been forced to watch it for more than two hours and 45 minutes. It's kind of incredible. Adrian Peterson ran for 100 yards in the first half Sunday and the Redskins still only managed six points.
No Longer Tanking Gatorade Shower Photo of the Week
Glorious shot of Brian Flores celebrating his first-ever win, but it's kind of a nightmare if the Dolphins only end up with a single top-10 pick and no top-five picks after trading away all their players.