Browns coach Kevin Stefanski was not pleased with sloppy tackling, a late interception in the end zone, dumb penalties and two missed field goals. The Browns are 2-3 after leading their opponents in total yards for the fifth straight game. (Associated Press)
Cade York’s missed field goals unmasked the real problems with the Browns in 30-28 loss to Chargers
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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.
The scene was set.
After all the sloppy tackling. After a gut-wrenching interception in the end zone by Jacoby Brissett. After a penalty on John Johnson for throwing his helmet in disgust. After a failed fourth-and-1 by the Browns at their own 34-yard line. After a missed field goal from 45 yards by Cade York.
All would be forgiven, if not forgotten, with one more swing of York’s powerful right leg.
Make a 54-yard field goal at the end and the Browns withstand it all and avoid dipping below .500.
But it was not to be.
York’s game-winning attempt toward the closed end zone with 11 seconds remaining drifted right instead of drew left. It sealed a 30-28 Browns loss to the Los Angeles Chargers and saved Brandon Staley, their analytics-crazed head coach, from more public flogging.
Staley did the Browns a huge favor by going for fourth-and-1 at the Chargers’ 46 with 1:14 to play and the Browns out of timeouts. Similar “aggressive” decisions cost his team the playoffs in a devastating loss to the rival Raiders in the final game last season.
“We were disrespected by that,” Browns cornerback Greg Newsome said.
With Denzel Ward out with a concussion, Staley couldn't resist the matchup of receiver Mike Williams against Browns rookie cornerback M.J. Emerson.
"Yes, No. 23 on 81. We liked it," Staley said.
But Emerson met the task and broke up Justin Herbert's pass for Williams, giving the Browns possession at the Chargers’ 45 with 1:14 to play.
With no timeouts, Brissett completed a pass to Amari Cooper for 10 yards on first down. But that’s as far as the replacement quarterback could get.
A stuff of Kareem Hunt and two incompletions for Donovan Peoples-Jones – one of which was thrown deep against 1-on-1 coverage and caught by Peoples-Jones out of bounds – brought York on the field to try for his second game-winner in five career games.
His 58-yard in Game 1 in Carolina against Baker Mayfield's new team saved a lot of hides. But since then York had missed two PATs, including one in a 1-point loss to the Jets, and a 45-yard field goal try at the end of the first half on Sunday. That one wasn’t even close as he flared it right off his foot and a light wind blew it far beyond the upright.
But this one at the end?
“Hit it well,” York said. “My head was still down. I thought it was going to be dead straight, right down the middle. I looked up and it was just outside.
“That was my first time ever missing twice in a game. It was not like I went out there telling myself I missed the one before. I hit it hard and strong, but just barely missed it.”
York had instilled a lot of confidence in himself from everyone after a booming preseason and that Game 1 game-winner. But nobody makes them all from 50-plus with a game on the line.
“Nothing is 100 percent,” said defensive end Myles Garrett. “There is no guarantee in anything. I have faith in him, and I have faith that he will make the kick. I am sure as hell hoping that he will. At the end of the day, there is a process to it, and anything can happen.”
And so, all the big and little things the Browns did poorly came to haunt them.
Brissett’s interception aimed for Cooper at the back of the end zone was stolen by a leaping safety Alohi Gilman with 2:41 to play. From the Chargers’ 9, Brissett had green grass in front of him to run it in. He had escaped pressure and run for 20 yards a few plays earlier on the same drive, but something compelled him to roll to his right and throw for Cooper.
Locked in a duel with the spectacular Herbert all day, Brissett was holding up well – until that pick.
“That was a poor decision by myself,” said Brissett, whose 21-of-34, 230-yard, 1-TD passing day was almost identical to Herbert’s numbers – except for the interception. “Yes, I saw Amari coming. I know I am better than that, and I just made a bad decision.”
“It sucks. It really sucks. That is a pivotal moment in the game. Obviously, the ball was in my hands for a reason, and that was not the outcome obviously that I was intending to happen. I am just better than that. I truly am, and I know that. I will be better next time.”
On a day the Browns’ held Herbert, the league’s leading passer, to 228 yards and one touchdown, their failing was forgetting how to tackle and execute their run fits. It was a mind-numbing exhibition of atrocious run defense.
The Chargers had accumulated 258 yards rushing – total – in their previous four games. On Sunday, they trampled the Browns for 238, including 173 and one touchdown by Austin Ekeler, and 49 and one TD by Joshua Kelley. Ekeler also had a receiving touchdown of 12 yards.
“I’d like to say this,” said Johnson. “Every pass is not just on the secondary. Every run is not on the front. Any given play, it takes all 11. It’s not one person or position group. All 11, we’re not playing at a high level.”
It was the second game in a row the Browns’ defense surrendered more than 200 yards on the ground in losses by three points to the Falcons and two to the Chargers.
“If you imagine the person with the ball has something dear to you, you’re going to find a way to tackle,” Johnson said.
Johnson incurred the wrath of coach Kevin Stefanski for drawing a 15-yard penalty for taking off his helmet and tossing it to the ground after the officials ignored a possible illegal block made against linebacker Jacob Phillips.
“We have to start playing smarter in certain areas and find ways to get a victory, especially at home versus an AFC opponent,” said Stefanski.
Johnson said that Stefanski yelled at him from the bench area, "It's a dumb penalty. You can't play for the Browns doing stuff like that."
For the fifth game in a row, the Browns outgained their opponent. They have blown leads in all three of their losses. They wasted another 100-yard rushing game by Nick Chubb – his fourth – who finished with 134 yards and two touchdowns, including one of 41 yards that helped build a 14-0 lead.
The Browns are 2-3 after their second consecutive loss.
If not for York’s 58-yard game-winner in Carolina, they would be 1-4.
Long field goals erase a lot of bad football. Missing one should open everyone’s eyes to the real reasons why the Browns are out of first place in the AFC North for the first time this year.
