By STEVE KING
FINAL. pic.twitter.com/u5Mr89xVUQ
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) October 10, 2021
It would be easy to criticize the Browns, especially defensively, for the way they collapsed in the fourth quarter of their 47-42 loss to the host Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night.
They gave up — gulp! — 26 points in the quarter, which is five more than they surrendered in the first three quarters combined. And in doing so, they blew a sizeable 27-13 third-quarter lead. Yikes!
It would be easy to scream about all of the blown coverages in the secondary — more than I can ever remember seeing in a Browns game — that allowed Chargers receivers to run uninhibited time and time again. It was demoralizing, disappointing and disgusting.
But I’m not going to do that, because it’s not the right thing — the objective thing — to do. That defense, when whole, led the Browns to victories the previous two weeks. But it was much, much less than whole on Sunday, with injuries along the line and in the secondary forcing any number of players to work out of position and also limiting defensive coordinator Joe Woods as to what alignments and schemes he could use.
At the same time, that egregious miscommunication in the secondary has to get fixed. If not, it will be a death knell for the Browns.
What I am most upset about, however, is the decision by head coach Kevin Stefanski to run the ball on a third-and-nine play from the Cleveland 15 late in the fourth quarter with the Browns leading 42-35 and needing only to get a few first downs to seal the victory. Why he didn’t allow Baker Mayfield — that’s the team’s franchise quarterback — to make a safe throw to get the first down — he had had pinpoint accuracy all day in dissecting the Chargers secondary when Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt weren’t carving up the defense overall with the rush — is totally beyond me. It stands out like a black eye.
Even with all the other issues, letting Mayfield — did I mention he’s the franchise quarterback? — throw it there would likely have won the game.
I truly love Stefanski as a coach — the Browns wouldn’t be anywhere close to where they’re at without him — but he has to do a whole heckuva better in that situation going forward.
In a bigger picture, it wasted a valiant effort by the offense, which was so depleted at tackle that Stefanski might have called former Browns left tackle Doug Dieken down from the radio booth to suit up and play.
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