Baker Mayfield and Kevin Stefanski should be reunited for the Browns' next game in Green Bay. The question is whether they'll have to arrive on the morning of the game, pending COVID protocols. (NFL.com)
Second thoughts: Browns will have to cope with another week of COVID chaos
You must have an active subscription to read this story.
Click Here to subscribe Now!
Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Second thoughts on the Browns’ 16-14 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders …
1. If you thought the Browns’ COVID chaos of the past week was over, think again. Nobody passed through COVID protocols on Tuesday, leaving three days before the team departs for Green Bay. The protocols end after 10 days even if no negative tests are produced. Using that math, the next batch of players becoming eligible – on Friday, Dec. 24 -- should include Jarvis Landry, Austin Hooper and Jedrick Wills. The next wave would be eligible on Christmas Day, aka game day. This group includes Kevin Stefanski, Baker Mayfield, Troy Hill and Malik McDowell. If this latter group does not test negative before then, however, they would have fly to Green Bay on the morning of the game. Kickoff is 3:30 p.m. CT. It’s possible Stefanski would have to plug in Mayfield and the others just hours before kickoff without practicing or participating in a walk-through since they went on the COVID list. “I am not going to deal in the speculation,” Stefanski said. “Obviously, we are all hopeful that we all test out sooner than that, but we will talk about that as the week goes on.”
2. A new brushfire has broken out at the defensive end position. Takk McKinley is done for the year after rupturing an Achilles tendon. Jadeveon Clowney is on the COVID list. And Myles Garrett’s status is uncertain with a groin injury. Garrett vowed after the Raiders game, ‘You’re going to have to kill me to take me off that field,’ but if the injury is severe enough, it could keep him out. “We will see who is available to us and come up with a plan based on the people who are available,” Stefanski said.
3. The Browns are caught in a bind regarding their kicker situation. Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field-goal miss to end the first half – after making his first try just after the Raiders called time to ice him – was his sixth miss in his last 11 attempts. These have come after he was 10 for 10 to start the season. If the Browns decide they can’t live with him anymore, the pickings are slim. There currently are eight kickers keeping sharp on NFL practice squads, including unproven Chris Naggar on the Browns’ PS. Naggar, 24, has never kicked in an NFL preseason or regular-season game. Stefanski seemed to indicate on Tuesday that his best option is to stick with McLaughlin and hope he atones on his next big kick opportunity. “He wants to come through, and we are counting on him,” Stefanski said.
4. The 14-play drive that consumed 8 minutes, 22 seconds and gave the Browns a 14-13 lead may have been the best drive in the fourth quarter the team has had all season. On it, sub-QB Nick Mullens converted a third-and-2, a third-and-3 and a third-and-8 with excellent throws, and then converted the touchdown on fourth-and-5 with a scramble-and-throw to Harrison Bryant. So, four clutch conversions – all by the pass. And then with the game on the line, needing just one more first down to ice the victory, the Browns handed the ball three times to Nick Chubb. He was stopped cold on third-and-3, and the Browns punted the ball back to the Raiders after the two-minute warning. Stefanski had to watch helplessly from his rec room and leave those calls up to offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt in consultation with line coach Bill Callahan and acting head coach Mike Priefer. Stefanski said the normal game-day process is for all those assistants to have a voice in the situation. So, I asked Stefanski if the same call would have been made, then, with him on the sideline. He didn’t say yes. “I am not going to get into that, respectfully,” he said. “Again, AVP is a pro. He has done it before. I have total, total, total faith in him when he is in there doing it.”
5. When the NFL rescheduled the game 48 hours to Monday to allow the Browns extra time to navigate their COVID outbreak, several Raiders vented that the league was granting special favors to the Browns because center JC Tretter helped negotiate the rescheduling as NFLPA president. Ultimately, the Raiders took out all their frustration on Tretter on their biggest defensive play of the game. Johnathan Hankins, the Raiders’ 339-pound behemoth nose tackle, absolutely blew up Tretter on the deciding run play, then trundled inexorably to his left and smothered Chubb for no gain.
6. For over 58 game minutes, Joe Woods’ defense, sprinkled with replacements in the secondary and up front, did a tremendous job. Alternating between strong safety and nickel back, M.J. Stewart played all 69 snaps on defense and 13 on special teams and led everyone with 11 tackles and forced a fumble, which the Raiders recovered. Safety Jovante Moffatt played 54 snaps on defense in his most extensive outing. Defensive tackle Sheldon Day made the most of his 52 snaps with seven tackles and combined with linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah on the strip of Derek Carr that set up the Browns’ first touchdown. And cornerback Greedy Williams also played every snap and made like a center fielder on the interception that should have clinched the victory at the 2:47 mark. But the defense failed at the end because Woods had the DBs playing 8-10 yards off their receivers in a passive “prevent” mode. And on perhaps the biggest play of Carr’s assault on the secondary, tight end Foster Moreau somehow avoided being touched by Denzel Ward and JOK after a reception along the right sideline and was able to gain five additional yards before stepping out of bounds.
7. The Browns have had two extraordinary, emotional games at opposite ends of the spectrum in the Stefanski era. The high point was the surreal triumph in Heinz Field in the AFC wild card game last season, ending a 52-year drought of not winning a postseason game on the road. The low point -- an absolute gut punch -- was Monday’s defeat to the Raiders on a last-second field goal after overcoming so much turmoil leading up to and inside the game. Ironically, Stefanski had to suffer both games in COVID isolation in his rec room.
