No dome, no problem for the New Orleans Saints who came into the supposedly advantaged Cleveland Browns in icy, outdoor conditions. In the coldest game in Cleveland since 1981, the Saints beat the Browns by a score of 17-10 despite their natural habitat being in a roofed facility in Louisiana. The only scoring play for Cleveland came on a 12-yard run by Deshaun Watson.
Falling to 6-9 on the season, the Browns have sealed back-to-back losing seasons under head coach Kevin Stefanski. The Saints advance to 6-9 on the season as well. With two weeks to go, the Browns look to pick up the pieces against the Washington Commanders next week.
For another edition of 4 Downs, what stood out from this largely unforgettable game between the Browns and Saints?
1st Down: Nick Chubb got his 20 carries, so what happened?
There goes the adage that the Browns will win if Nick Chubb gets 20 carries.
On the day, Chubb finished with 23 carries for 92 yards, averaging less than four yards per carry. Too often the Browns were stuck in second and third and long situations due to the weather and their inability to get things consistently churning on the ground.
While the optics of throwing 31 times in this game does not look pretty, the Browns threw over a third of those attempts on the last drive, and eight within the last two minutes of the game. That number is way more inflated than it appears on the surface.
It flat-out comes to the Saints being more dominant up front and bottling up the Browns’ ground game. They once again lost in the trenches and lost on the scoreboard.
2nd Down: 3 dropped touchdown passes loom large in this one
For as many play-calling qualms as there were in the game, and there was a handful in the second half, the Browns could not have dialed up better redzone shots on the last drive of the game. And execution failed as wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones and tight end David Njoku dropped touchdown grabs on back-to-back shots.
Throw in the touchdown that Amari Cooper dropped in the first half, and the Browns left quite a few points on the board in this loss to the Saints. We can argue about the run/pass splits as much as we want, but the short answer is that the Browns left at least 14 points on the board because of lapses in execution.
3rd Down: Now that the playoff hopes are officially dead, what can the Browns look towards?
Quarterbacks coach Drew Petzing has been a hot name this season as he appears to be in line to land an offensive coordinator position this offseason. While Stefanski is expected to return in 2023, he could go out and add a passing game coordinator who specializes in spread and air raid concepts to attempt to meld Watson’s play style with Stefanski’s offense a bit more closely.
Regardless, there is going to be a lot of spinning on Stefanski’s staff this offseason. They still have two games left, but my hunch is that a lot of these decisions have been made for weeks.
4th Down: Bring on the 2023 NFL Draft
Even without a first round pick, there are a lot of fun prospects in a deep class for the Browns to pick from when they come on the clock. Right now, it looks like they will be picking anywhere from 41-to-46 by the time the 2023 NFL Draft rolls around.
It is a deep crop of defensive tackles and edge rushers, both needs for the Browns. There are fun and explosive wide receivers who would complement this current set of pass catchers as well. The Browns do not have as many voids to fill as it seems, but this is a good class to have eight picks in given its depth.
Browns Wire draft coverage will pick up, and mock drafts worldwide will pick up. Now that the Browns are eliminated from the playoffs, it’s time to have some real fun.
