Cleveland Browns beat themselves before Jets had a chance

The Cleveland Browns ultimately lost in lopsided fashion to the New York Jets but they beat themselves before the Jets had a chance. A combination of three specific game changing mistakes, all in the first half, on top of a pile of penalties and various other miscues allowed the Jets to find their form, take control and win decisively.

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On the last play of the Browns’ first drive of the game – a drive that was 17 plays, covered 90 yards, converted 5 third downs and took ten minutes of game clock, quarterback Josh McCown tried to make a play on 3^rd and goal from the 14 (thanks to one of the 12 penalties the team committed) to get the Browns a touchdown, start the season off perfectly and endear himself to a fanbase that has largely been doubtful of his abilities.

Instead, a big hit from Jets safety Calvin Pryor knocked the ball out of his hands (a great play by Pryor), the Jets recovered the in the endzone and McCown was left being escorted to the locker room to be evaluated for what was later to be confirmed a concussion. On top of everything else, the Browns were called for a personal foul, so not only did the Browns fail to score and lose their starting quarterback 10 minutes into the season but the Jets got the ball at the 35 yard line; a punch to the gut to start the season.

Despite that, the Browns ultimately took a 7-0 lead with the potential to take control of the game when Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick was fooled by the Browns coverage and threw a pass that was intercepted by safety Tashaun Gipson. The Browns had just scored with backup quarterback Johnny Manziel on a fantastic 54 yard touchdown pass to Travis Benjamin and this could have taken the Jets right out of the game.

A combination of Gipson not securing the football and Brandon Marshall making a huge play, Marshall stripped the ball from Gipson’s right hand and recovered the football, which enabled the Jets to continue their drive in excellent field position.

The Jets would go on to score another touchdown on a gamble by Gipson trying to come down and jump a route on the inside which put the corner in a helpless position on outside on Jets receiver Eric Decker. Decker worked to the inside and Fitzpatrick put the pass right on him for a touchdown, allowing the Jets to tie the game at 7-7.

Having already possibly swung the game by as few as 10 and as many as 14 points, the Browns with Manziel at quarterback were able to drive down the field and get themselves in scoring position with another great opportunity missed.

On a third down play, Manziel rolled out to the left with Andrew Hawkins in the end zone and a defender between them. Manziel did exactly what he was supposed to forcing the defender to commit to stopping him, leaving Hawkins open with the nearest defender hopelessly out of the play. The second year quarterback made the right decision and threw to the wide open Hawkins but threw the him too far into the corner and while Hawkins was able to catch the ball, he was unable to get both feet in bounds. The Browns had to settle for a field goal, giving them a 10-7 lead late in the second quarter.

Ultimately, the Jets would score a touchdown to end the half and go onto score a total of 24 unanswered points while forcing a total of 5 turnovers; 3 in the second half. The Jets deserve credit for weathering the storm, making big plays in critical situations, and taking control of the game in the second half.

The problem for the Browns is they are not a team that can afford to squander opportunities, especially against a defense as formidable as the Jets. They are not built to play from behind and make up big deficits, so those three mistakes in the first half not only kept the Jets alive in the game, but empowered them to take control and win the game.

Additionally, the Browns had 12 penalties for 109 yards, 5 total turnovers, half a dozen drops and after gaining 90 yards and 5 first downs on their first drive, only mustered another 231 total yards the rest of the game and 54 of those were on the Manziel touchdown pass and just 10 more first downs.

The optimistic view is that if the Browns can simply reduce the number of self-inflicted wounds, they would be a significantly more competitive team. Unfortunately, the flip side is that this team is limited in what it can do to overcome those types of issues and their room for error is thin. The Browns had almost total control of the first half but were left with a 14-10 deficit, giving away as many as 18 points in the process.

The Jets owned the second half to a tune of 17-0, but it is easy to wonder what happens if the Browns had capitalized on just two of those game changing plays, let alone all three. The Jets won the game but the Browns gave it to them before they ever had a chance, which is something the coaching staff will harp on as they prepare to host the Tennessee Titans in Week 2.

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