So much excitement and anticipation, and in a few precious minutes the Cleveland Browns blew it all on Monday Night Football.
A nightmare of a start by both sides of the ball for Freddie Kitchens’ Browns quickly turned all the positive buzz from last week’s impressive thrashing of the Ravens in Baltimore into last week’s news. The San Francisco 49ers came out smoking hot and embarrassed the Browns right off the bat.
San Francisco’s first offensive play saw Matt Breida run 83 yards for a TD. He was not touched by a single Browns defender. That followed a series where the Browns punted after four plays, the only positive one of which was an Odell Beckham Jr. pass to Jarvis Landry. Beckham dropped a ball and there was a false start penalty, too.
The very next offensive play saw Baker Mayfield underthrow Antonio Callaway and get picked by Richard Sherman. Mayfield was under heavy pressure from Nick Bosa, who was “blocked” by TE Demetrius Harris.
Another possession, another 49ers TD with little defensive resistance. Another Browns possession, another turnover as Mayfield was once again instantly harassed by the 49ers defensive front and fumbled after scrambling frantically. He didn’t complete a pass to a Browns player until the final play of the first quarter.
The 49ers looked like the innovative, creative, fun team. The Browns looked like the team that has no business being on national television.
It was just the first quarter, but it’s not the first impression anyone wanted to see from the Browns. And it’s the second time in five games this season Kitchens’ Browns were completely unprepared to handle the task at hand.
