Cleveland Browns: Is it time to hit the panic button?

Another week, another end of the world loss for the Cleveland Browns that’s resulted in a ton of questions about the team. But is everyone overreacting?

The Cleveland Browns are once again on the hot seat after a major blowout loss to the San Francisco 49ers in which they went down 31-3. Baker Mayfield went 8 for 22 passing for just 100 yards and no touchdowns while also throwing two picks. On the whole, the Browns accumulated a whopping 180 yards of total offense.

It was a beatdown much like their opening day shellacking at the hands of the Tennessee Titans, just maybe worse since we’re now five weeks and change into the season. It seems to be that everytime this Browns team loses that fingers will be pointed and the sky will be falling in Cleveland due to the major hype train that this team turned into this past offseason.

But is it time to hit the panic button in Cleveland?

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What we all need to keep in mind, especially when this team loses, is that the Browns are still trying to find their identity. The proof has been in the pudding that this team succeeds when it pounds the run game and limits the number of times Mayfield has to drop back and sit in the pocket.

The offensive line is a major issue with their offense, but the personnel isn’t going to change that much from now to the end of the season. Maybe they can swing a trade and bring in a solid tackle. But other than that, the guys they have in there right now are the ones they have to work with until next year’s draft.

The line cannot stop “decent” pass rushes, let alone “elite” pass rushes, so the play-calling (at least in terms of passing plays) needs to be geared more towards max protection and keeping Mayfield upright. Two tight-end sets and establishing the run game so they can work off play-action are what this offense needs right now.

Mayfield has gotten a lot of criticism, and rightfully so, for his sub-par play this year. He leads the league right now with eight interceptions in 2019. If we look back to when he took over last year for the Browns, he also leads the league with 20 picks since that time.

Another big issue we’re seeing with him is his accuracy and ability to throw from the pocket. In the Week 5 game in San Francisco, we saw a perfect example of how limited he can be from the pocket.

The pick he threw to Richard Sherman was an on-point representation of how a shorter quarterback can struggle to see over the line of scrimmage. That ball he threw should’ve been chucked away. But with the big bodies of DeForest Buckner and Arik Armstead bearing down on him, he wasn’t able to see clearly where the ball was going and he blindly threw it up. Regardless, an improved offensive line can mitigate a lot of those issues.

It’s also worth noting that Odell Beckham Jr. has seen his targets drop each week. When Mayfield throws him the ball, he has his lowest passer rating (when compared to the other receivers he’s throwing to).

This is a team that already has mouths to feed in Nick Chubb, Jarvis Landry and now the returning Antonio Callaway, not to mention Kareem Hunt when he’s activated from suspension and David Njoku when he comes off IR. Is this just a situation where there are too many stars to keep happy? Could that mean an OBJ trade at some point? I’m not sure.

But one thing is for certain, this team experiences the highest highs and the lowest lows on a week-to-week basis. We’re not going to stop hearing about how “overrated” they are until they actually prove they can at least win the division.

On the plus side, they will be getting reinforcements back at some point in Hunt and probably Njoku. Their defense is playing rather impressively despite being down Christian Kirksey and their two future star corners in Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams. And up until now, they’ve played one of the toughest schedules in the league.

They get the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots next, but after that, it turns into arguably one of the softest schedules in football. In the meantime, the Baltimore Ravens (their only real competition for the division right now) see their schedule intensify.

The AFC North can be won at 9-7, maybe even 8-8. The Browns have their problems, sure, but this division race is far from over and the tide is very shortly about to shift in their favor. A second-half surge in the regular season is coming from this team.