At 0-5 with a season schedule filled with playoff contenders and division champions, the Cleveland Browns must wonder today if they will win a game at all this season.
On Sunday, the NFL’s most disheartening franchise found more agonizing ways to lose in falling 17-14 to the New York Jets. Their 19th defeat in their last 20 games, dating to last season, featured two interceptions and a lost fumble just three yards from a touchdown that could have given them the lead – and perhaps a win.
Once again, the Browns lost when many measures said they should have won. They actually held onto the ball for over nine minutes longer than New York, outgained the Jets by more than 200 yards and had three fewer penalties. A look at the statistics sheet said Cleveland was clearly the winner. And were it not for the turnovers, they probably would have walked away victorious.
But the Browns are the Browns and so here we are again, on the day after another NFL weekend, wondering when things will finally get better in Cleveland.
The Jets seemed to represent Cleveland’s best chance at a victory. While New York is a surprising 3-2, they are not a formidable threat. Their quarterback is the journeyman Josh McCown, who is 38 years old. They are in the lower half of most statistical categories and have the third-most fumbles in the league. If the Browns had a date circled in red on their schedule going into the season it was Sunday’s. They might drop most or all their other games, but certainly they’d beat the Jets.
Then they didn’t. And the schedule doesn’t get any easier.
Next week they go to Houston, then they play Tennessee, Minnesota and Detroit. Any of those are winnable games for a decent team, but when you haven’t won a game all year and can’t beat the Jets it’s hard to imagine upsetting the Titans. Even Jacksonville, the Browns’ opponent on 19 November, look mighty after trampling the Steelers on Sunday. Cincinnati and Jacksonville – late November and early December’s foes – have been playing better recently. It is becoming very possible that Cleveland might really go winless.
Just a few weeks ago such a thing seemed impossible. Yes, the Browns had gone 3-13 and 1-15 the last two seasons and weren’t very good going into this year, but they had loaded their roster with promising young players taken in recent drafts. They chose an intriguing quarterback in Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer. They were in the second year under Hue Jackson, a well-respected offensive mind. There seemed a hope they would improve this year. Not to playoff good but maybe win five or six games and take a step toward respectability.
Instead, Jackson fell to 1-20 with the Browns on Sunday and Kizer has been the NFL’s worst starting quarterback with three touchdowns and nine interceptions. Little has been good.
It’s still early, perhaps soon things can come together for Cleveland. But given the way this year has started the future seems gloomy still.
And the winning remains far, far away.
Fantasy player of the week
Cam Newton. Before Sunday’s games the NFL Network reported the Carolina Panthers star quarterback was stunned by the reaction to his sexist comment to Charlotte Observer writer Jourdan Roudigue on Wednesday. The network said Newton was unaware of the outrage burning on social media until after practice and didn’t realize he needed to apologize until after talking with the “important women in his life”.
Newton has performed well after controversies in the past and Sunday was no exception. Two days after his apology video, he threw for 355 yards and three touchdowns and posted up a passer rating of 141.8 in Carolina’s 27-24 victory over Detroit.
Stat of the week
Five. This is the number of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s interceptions in Pittsburgh’s 30-9 home loss to Jacksonville. Before the year, Roethlisberger seemed like a logical MVP candidate and the Steelers a legitimate Super Bowl pick. Both might still happen, but Pittsburgh is a sluggish 3-2 with a near-loss to Cleveland and now losses to the Jaguars and Bears. Roethlisberger threw for more than 300 yards on Sunday but his career-high five interceptions and no touchdowns glared bright.
On the other side, Jacksonville is quietly in first place in the AFC South.
Quote of the week
“This was like a PR stunt. This is what systematic oppression looks like.”
San Francisco 49ers safety Eric Reid didn’t mince words on vice president Mike Pence’s departure from Sunday’s Colts-Niners game.
While Pence drew headlines for releasing a statement that said he stomped out early because he was offended several San Francisco players kneeled for the national anthem the reality seems to be that Pence had planned to just honor former Colts star quarterback Peyton Manning, whose career was being celebrated, before running off to catch a plane. NBC News’s Peter Alexander tweeted that reporters following Pence were held in vans while the vice president went into the game because Pence was not planning on staying long.
Pence’s move was part of a strange day in which CBS promoted a reporter’s reference to an old news report that former Niners quarterback Colin Kaepernick would not kneel for the anthem if signed by an NFL team this year. The report was later denied by his girlfriend Nessa, who tweeted that Kaepernick has not made such a vow and has not spoken with any media about his plans.
Gif of the week
It's Gone. 😂 #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/KDScLmpPwR
— NFL (@NFL) October 8, 2017
Of all the reasons given for why the NFL’s television ratings dipped last year, one of the more overlooked might the league’s lack of fun. Any sports association that tells their players to stop enjoying their biggest moments is going to lose viewers. The NFL’s occasional attempts to squelch player touchdown celebrations always seem absurd.
Entertainment is not watching a player dutifully place the ball on the ground after making a spectacular scoring catch.
Entertainment is Eagles receiver Torrey Smith catching a touchdown pass from Carson Wentz in Philadelphia’s 34-7 rout of Arizona and then stepping up to the plate ... literally. Thankfully, the NFL relaxed their celebration rules to bring actual fun to the table.
Elsewhere around the league
• Jay Cutler threw for just 92 yards and was jeered by home fans in Miami but he led the Dolphins to an ugly 16-10 win over Tennessee.
• Andy Dalton threw for 328 yards as Cincinnati continued to come back after a bad start to the season with a 20-16 victory over Buffalo.
• JJ Watt and Odell Beckham Jr, Pro Bowl talents and two of the league’s most recognizable faces, could be out for the season after suffering major injuries on Sunday.
