BEREA — There were close to 1,200 total plays run over the first nine games of the Browns’ season. All of those plays added up to a 2-7 record.
All of that has, for all intents and purposes, ended Cleveland’s playoff hopes. Still, the Browns have to play out the remaining eight games on the schedule.
The Browns had the last week off thanks to their bye. This week, they get back to work with a road game at the New Orleans Saints.
Before that happens, let’s take one last look back at the nine plays over the first nine games that proved to most represent how the Browns got to 2-7.
1:52, second quarter: Cleveland Browns QB Deshaun Watson’s pass deflected by Dallas Cowboys’ Micah Parsons, intercepted by Erik Kendricks
The Browns set the tone in their first game, a loss to a Dallas team even more disappointing than Cleveland. It was a steady decline from what was actually a close game after one quarter into a blowout by halftime. This was the exclamation point on that decline, setting up the Cowboys for one more score before halftime. The Browns were facing a second-and-14 from their own 26 and elected to have quarterback Deshaun Warson throw the ball. Dallas had linebacker Erik Kendricks came in on a blitz on the right side of the Browns offensive line, which led right tackle Dawand Jones to block down to try and help right guard Wyatt Teller. That left Dallas outside linebacker Micah Parsons completely unblocked and when Watson threw the ball directly at Parsons, he deflected the ball up into the air. Kendricks, who dropped back after being initially blocked, came down with the interception, which he returned to Browns 31. Dallas turned it into a Brandon Aubrey field goal and a 20-3 lead.
1:48, fourth quarter: Cleveland Browns punter Corey Bojorquez’s coffin-corner punt turns into DE Alex Wright’s sack of Jacksonville Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence for a safety
It was the one-two punch that led to the Browns’ first win of the season. Of course, it was set up by offensive self-destruction on what could’ve been the game-clinching drive, with D’Onta Foreman’s facemask penalty the first of three flags in four plays that turned what could’ve been first-and-goal at the Jaguars 9 into third-and-36 from the 50. Obviously, the Browns weren’t able to convert that one, so punter Corey Bojorquez was called upon to pin the Jaguars deep with Cleveland clinging to a 16-13 lead. His punt landed about 4 yards inbounds at the Jacksonville 1 and took a right turn out of bounds at the Jaguars 2 with 1:48 remaining. The next play was almost pre-ordained at that point. Lawrence was in the shotgun and the Browns had their push-rush group in on the defensive line, with Garrett and Z’Darius Smith on the edges and Alex Wright and Ogbo Okoronkwo on the interior. The two edge rushers collapsed the pocket around Lawrence in the end zone, who essentially then just ran into the arms of Wright for the sack — and a safety, which pushed the Browns lead to 18-13 with 1:44 remaining. That meant the Jaguars needed a touchdown to win, and not just a field goal which could’ve tied the game.
9:51 first quarter: Cleveland Browns lose Ronnie Hickman’s interception due to Greg Newsome II’s roughing the passer penalty
The game-changing moment of the day came soon after the Browns had grabbed an early lead by scoring off a fumble on the opening kickoff. Yes, it came on the Giants’ second offensive possession, but it can’t be overstated how much this altered the trajectory of the game. Instead of starting at the New York 24 for the second time in three possessions, with a chance to potentially go up 14 early, the penalty gave the Giants the ball back. They turned that into a 13-play, 81-yard drive to tie the score. The play was pretty simple. Greg Newsome II, lined up over the slot receiver and came off the left side of the Giants line untouched on a blitz. QB Daniel Jones never saw him, and apparently never saw safety Ronnie Hickman out in the flats, because his pass went directly to Hickman for the interception. The problem was the penalty flag — which no one on the Browns defense apparently saw while they danced in front of the Dawg Pound — thrown on Newsome for hitting Jones in the head after the throw. In the NFL of 2024, that draws a flag every time. It drew a critical one on the Browns.
10:28 fourth quarter: Cleveland Browns C Nick Harris’ holding penalty negates WR Amari Cooper TD
There were a couple of candidates to be the play from this game, including the climatic fourth-down sack that ended the game for the Browns. However, this play better sums up the fine margin that the Browns, multiple times during the course of the first nine games, hovered in between winning and, ultimately, losing. Backup center Nick Harris had a tough day replacing an injured Ethan Pocic, as he later had a bad snap that threw off the final red-zone opportunity. On this play, Watson stepped up and to the right to avoid the pressure and hit wide receiver Amari Cooper, who was all alone and easily scored. The problem was when Watson extended the play, that led Raiders defensive lineman Christian Wilkins, with whom Harris was engaged in blocking one-on-one, to start pursuing. The dueling linemen were all alone in space, making the jersey grab visible to the official when Harris wasn’t able to let go of it quickly enough. There was just enough of one — which a TV replay angle from behind the defense showed — that the official threw the flag. The Browns, instead of taking a lead, ended up punting to end the possession. If they had scored there, while it’s not a given, it felt like a win would’ve been likely.
12:30, third quarter: Cleveland Browns’ Deshaun Watson sacked on first-and-goal
This play shows the lack of decisiveness that Watson showed all season before his season-ending injury. Forget that the Browns lost 5 yards because of a penalty, which moved the ball back to the Commanders’ 7. It was still first-and-goal for Cleveland, and there was a clear quick read Watson needed to make on the play. Cooper and wide receiver Jerry Jeudy ran a perfect pick play at the goal line — avoiding the contact that would’ve drawn a pass interference flag. It gave the Browns exactly what they were looking for: Washington defenders both jumping Cooper to double him while Jeudy ran wide open into the end zone. Watson, though, just held onto the ball instead of throwing it. That allowed defensive end Dorance Armstrong to get around right tackle Jones and force Watson to move up into the pocket, where other Commanders defenders also were waiting. Armstrong finally sacked Watson at the Washington 8, one of seven sacks he took. Cleveland, which needed a touchdown to get back into the game, ultimately settled for a 30-yard field goal to cut the Washington lead to 24-6.
3:57, fourth quarter: Browns LT Jedrick Wills Jr. false starts on fourth-and-goal from Eagles 8
Why is this play here? Because it was the one that felt like it best epitomized the ways the Browns botched things when they would get close to the end zone. This was one of two false starts which were called on Browns offensive linemen after they had managed to get third-and-goal from the Philadelphia 3, trailing 20-13. The first one, on right guard Zak Zinter, was a slight twitch, but it did occur. The Browns would later say, with some justification, that the Eagles drew the false start by their movements up front. Be that as it may, the Browns were left with fourth-and-goal from the Philadelphia 8 after a third-down pass to tight end David Njoku was broken up by the Eagles’ C.J. Gardner-Johnson. The Browns appeared to be going for the touchdown on fourth down. They weren’t able to do so when left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. leaped back into his stance before the ball was snapped, anticipating the Eagles’ all-out blitz. That pushed the ball back to the Eagles 13, and Hopkins came on to kick the field goal to make it 20-16 with 2:50 remaining. The Browns thought they may have had a chance to get the ball back, with three timeouts left and the two-minute warning. They did not, and they walked away with their fourth consecutive loss and a 1-5 start.
15:00, first quarter: Cincinnati Bengals’ Charlie Jones returns opening kickoff 100 yards for touchdown
The offense and defense both shared in some of the blame over the first five losses of the season. Here’s a chance for the special teams to get their moment. Browns kicker Dustin Hopkins’ kick made it to the goal line, where Charlie Jones took it and ran up the numbers on the right side of the field. Once he got past the wall around the Cincinnati 25, Jones had virtually no one in front of him. Hopkins, who had suffered a season-ending hamstring injury last season because of an attempt to tackle Houston Texans return man Dameon Pierce, made a half-hearted unsuccessful attempt to get Jones at midfield. Cleveland’s Tony Brown II made contact with Jones around the Browns 10. Jones, though, managed to tip-toe his way down the sideline without going out of bounds before he dove into the end zone for the TD. Considering the way the Browns defense managed to keep the Bengals offense relatively in check throughout the rest of the afternoon, it’s hard to say what could’ve happened had Jones not taken it back to the house. He did, though, and the Browns found themselves dealing with a 1-6 start and a fifth straight loss.
1:04, fourth quarter: Cleveland Browns QB Jameis Winston’s go-ahead 38-yard touchdown pass to WR Cedric Tillman
There’s no other play that belongs here than this one. However, this play can’t quite be discussed without two points of context being brought up. This was Jameis Winston’s first start with the Browns after Watson’s Achilles tear and Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s finger injury the week before against Cincinnati. Winston had played well up until this point, although not without dodging a few pitfalls. None of those were bigger than the play before this one, when his pass was thrown directly to Baltimore safety Kyle Hamilton, who proceeded to drop the ball. Given the second life, Winston’s next pass found a wide-open Cedric Tillman, who had beaten the Ravens’ Eddie Jackson on a post pattern, for a 38-yard TD with 59 seconds remaining for a 29-24 lead. The Browns still needed to sweat out one final Ravens drive, which featured plenty of Lamar Jackson doing Lamar Jackson things, except for getting into the end zone.
6:54, 1st quarter: Los Angeles Chargers’ Justin Herbert hits Joshua Palmer on 28-yard touchdown pass
There were a lot of things that went into the Browns’ inability to build off the win over the Ravens and carry any positive momentum into the bye week. One of those was their inability to communicate in the secondary on a pair of first-half Justin Herbert TD passes that helped the Chargers open up a 20-3 halftime lead. What made this specific play so problematic was the fact the Browns seemed like they were in position to at least hold Los Angeles to a field goal after having recorded negative plays on the previous two plays, including an 8-yard loss on a sack on the play right before which put the Chargers in a third-and-21 from the Cleveland 28. Joshua Palmer lined up out wide to the right of the formation and ran a simple go route. The Chargers wide receiver was wide open thanks to a coverage bust by the Browns, as cornerback Denzel Ward released Palmer, thinking he had safety help with Juan Thornhill over top. However, Thornhill broke on the second receiver, Ladd McConkey, who had run a post. The score gave Los Angeles a 7-0 lead, which grew to 14-3 when Herbert took advantage of another breakdown in coverage to hit Quinton Johnston for a 66-yard score with 8:01 remaining in the first half. Johnston got so open because Ward hesitated for a moment as he took a step toward tight end Hayden Hurst, who was running an out. However, Thornhill wasn’t playing deep behind Ward, which allowed Johnston to get loose.
Chris Easterling can be reached at [email protected]. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns’ 9 most important plays in 2-7 start to 2024 NFL season
