Jacoby Brissett was in full command in the first half. His fine play included this 5-yard touchdown run. (Cleveland Browns)
Browns squander opportunities and lose to Atlanta, 23-20
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
ATLANTA, GA
Instant takeaways from Browns 23-20 loss to the Atlanta Falcons …
1. Opportunity lost: The Falcons’ star playmakers weren’t the problem for the Browns in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The problems were unknowns Caleb Huntley, Tyler Allgeier and Olamide Zaccheaus. Those were the guys that beat the Browns with three scoring drives in the second half. Younghoe Koo’s 45-yard field goal with 2:28 to go was the difference as the Falcons prevailed, 23-20, despite another 100-yard rushing game from Nick Chubb game. Huntley and Allgeier mashed out yards after Corderrelle Patterson’s knee acted up and Zaccheaus caught a 42-yard pass from Marcus Mariota to set up the winning field. The Browns advanced to the Falcons’ 46 on their last-gasp possession. But a penalty, a sack of Jacoby Brissett and then a Brissett interception intended for David Bell sealed the defeat. The Browns dropped to 2-2 after dominating the game most of the afternoon.
2. Withering rush defense: The Falcons tied the game for the second time, at 20-20, on a Younghoe Koo chip shot field goal with 7:19 to play. For the second consecutive series, the Browns couldn’t stop the Atlanta running game. They moved 73 yards on the ground before the defense forced Marcus Mariota to throw away the ball twice from the 2-yard line.
3. Boom, boom: Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt weren’t exactly quiet for three quarters, but they took over a possession the fourth quarter to give the Browns a 20-17 lead. Chubb had three touches and David Njoku one catch to take the Browns to the Falcons’ 48. Then the two-headed monster roared up. Hunt played off a good block by third tight end Miller Forristall and ran for 20 yards. On the next play, Chubb raced through the left side of his offensive line and wasn’t touched en route to a 28-yard touchdown. That run put Chubb over 100 yards for the third time in four games.
4. Who are they?: The Browns were doing a great job defensively on the Falcons’ big three playmakers of Cordarrelle Patterson, Kyle Pitts and Drake London. But they didn’t do so good against two unknown backs, Tyler Allgeier and Caleb Huntley. These two cranked out 75 yards on 10 handoffs to retake the lead for the Falcons, 17-13. Huntley, who was promoted from the practice squad because of Patterson’s mid-week knee injury, carried six times for 40 yards on the drive. He powered in from 5 yards for the touchdown. Allgeier of Brigham Young by way of Youngstown had two rushes for 21 yards on the scoring drive.
5. Defense, defense: After Atlanta scored a touchdown with 1:20 to play in the first quarter, the Browns’ defense forced three successive three-and-outs. On the next possession, Denzel Ward stepped in front of big London crossing the middle of the field and wrestled away the ball for an interception. The Browns went conservative on offense and settled for a 45-yard field goal by Cade York to take their first lead of the game, 13-10, with 3:51 to go in the third quarter.
6. Points left on field: Brissett played what had to be one of the best halfs of his career but only had a 10-10 tie to show for it at halftime. Brissett was 13 of 18 for 171 yards, converted two fourth-and-1 QB sneaks, and scored the Browns’ only touchdown on a 5-yard keeper on which his pump-fake froze linebackers Mykal Walker and Raashan Evans from tackling him. The Browns’ scoring drives consisted of 16 and 14 plays. But some puzzling decisions kept the score close.
7. Take the points, man: After the opening kickoff, Brissett drove the Browns to the Falcons’ 2. Chubb was stopped for a 2-yard loss on third down. Rather than up early – on the road – Stefanski elected to go for it on fourth-and-3 from the 4. Brissett rolled left trying to buy time for somebody to get open, which didn’t happen. Instead of forcing a ball to one of his receivers, he throw it out of the end zone – as if it was third down. In these situations when Stefanski chooses to eschew the points, I firmly believe he is just following orders from up above.
8. Too cute: The Browns’ defense held firm inside their 10-yard line with three stops and forced a short Atlanta field goal. On the next Browns’ possession, they got too cute from their own 12. Another one of those flea-flicker screen passes. They gained 10 yards on one to Kareem Hunt v. Pittsburgh, but even that didn’t seem worth the risk. This time the screen was to David Njoku. Safety Jaylinn Hawkins punched the ball out from behind and Evans recovered at the Browns’ 31. The Falcons scored on three plays. Cordarrelle Patterson scored from 13 yards on a strong burst to the left edge.
9. More points squandered: The defense’s only 3-and-out of the half set up the Browns at their 20 with 6:31 to play in the first half. Two first-down conversion and a rare completion to David Bell for 15 yards set up third-and-1 at the Falcons’ 43. Brissett saw Donovan Peoples-Jones breaking past safety Richie Grant down the left sideline and he got the ball to him. DPJ was tackled at the 1. First and 1. No problem with this running game, right? Wrong. Chubb was stopped for no game on first down. Brissett threw incomplete for Njoku on second down and a Wyatt Teller hold moved the ball to the 11. Brissett threw incomplete on second down and overthrew Amari Cooper in the left corner on third. Thankfully, Stefanski chose to kick the field goal and Cade York’s 29-yard knotted the score at 10-10. So the Browns outgained the Falcons, 245 to 120 and were tied because of some dumb calls. I forgot. There was also a stupid end-around run by Njoku that netted minus-6 yards.
10. New punt returner: Punt returner Chester Rogers couldn’t be promoted from the practice squad because of the defensive needs. But instead of giving the job back to Demetric Felton, the Browns used Peoples-Jones as their punt returner. He had one return for 1 yard in the first half.
11. Pre-game notes: As expected, defensive end Jadeveon Clowney (ankle) was made inactive. With end Myles Garrett (shoulder, bicep) and tackle Taven Bryan (hamstring) previously declared out, the Browns’ starting defensive line was comprised of rookie Alex Wright, Tommy Togiai, Jordan Elliott, and Isaac Rochell. The backups were Isaiah Thomas and Curtis Weaver at end, and Perrion Winfrey and Roderick Perry at tackle.
