Browns must get Joe Flacco prepared to play after hurtful 29-12 loss in Denver
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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.
DENVER, CO
The losses here don’t just mount on the scoreboard for the Browns. Historically, the Broncos inflict physical and psychological damage on them, too. That certainly was the case on a cold afternoon beneath the Rocky Mountains.
The Browns departed for Los Angeles after a demoralizing 29-12 loss to the Denver Broncos that left them in third place in the AFC North at 7-4 and with some key players in a world of hurt.
Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson still looked dazed leaving the locker room with a concussion inflicted on a brutal, running hit to his throwing shoulder by linebacker Baron Browning.
Receiver Amari Cooper was unavailable to media after he was nailed in the ribs by safety P.J. Locke stretching out for a ball thrown by P.J. Walker.
Myles Garrett needed help dressing with his left arm in a sling after suffering a shoulder injury.
And the No. 1 defense in the NFL was licking wounds to its pride after committing costly penalties and yielding 169 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Those uncharacteristic breakdowns enabled resurgent Denver quarterback Russell Wilson to skip away with his third career win over the Browns despite throwing for only 134 yards.
The Browns’ offense contributed mightily with three lost fumbles and another four or five dropped passes. The Browns had but one takeaway as their season turnover differential widened again.
All of which will give the Browns plenty to work on at the campus of UCLA in West L.A. Kevin Stefanski personally requested these Denver-LA games be scheduled back-to-back in May so he could save a long trip and keep his team on the west coast to recover and prepare for the Rams.The top priority now for the coach will be to get Joe Flacco up to speed to possibly become the fourth quarterback to start a game for the Browns this season. Flacco was not elevated for the practice squad for Denver after practicing just with third-teamers for three days upon his arrival last week.
“I’m not there yet … we’ll see,” Stefanski said when asked about his plans for Flacco.
DTR's status for Sunday is in doubt after suffering a concussion in the third quarter. (Cleveland Browns)
DTR certainly didn’t look like he could make the start in LA, and Walker was beat up in his own right after getting sacked four times in a nightmarish fourth quarter, including once in the end zone for a safety.
This game spun out of control late in the third quarter on a drop by tight end David Njoku with the Browns beginning a drive when down by only 17-12. Njoku said he couldn’t see the ball through traffic. DTR’s thread-the-needle fastball banged off Njoku’s hands, or else it might have gone for a big gain.
Two plays later, DTR was scrambling backwards from pressure and was slammed to the ground as Browning, running hard at him, belted DTR in the right shoulder and caught him on the chin. Browning drew a roughing-the-passer penalty and Walker came in to relieve DTR.
Then the game got uglier for the Browns.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, on second-and-7 from the Browns’ 41, Stefanski called one of those gadget plays that defied the success the offense had had running the ball conventionally.
Walker handed the ball to receiver Elijah Moore running a jet sweep and Moore lateraled to third-string back Pierre Strong coming from the other direction. Strong never received the lateral and Denver nose tackle D.J. Jones pounced on the loose ball at the Browns’ 20. Four plays later, tight end Adam Trautman caught Wilson's pass while apparently sliding out of the end zone. It was ruled incomplete but reversed to a catch when Denver coach Sean Payton challenged.
The PAT made it 24-12, Denver. Walker had no chance after that.
“They just pinned their ears back [and rushed],” Walker said. “I gotta find ways to get the ball to our receivers.”
Walker made one nice throw of 26 yards to Moore on an ensuing possession, but hopes of another belated Browns comeback ended when Cooper was blown up by Locke on a third-and-14 pass. Walker was sacked on fourth down, and that was that.
Denver added another field goal and then the safety to hand the Browns their worst defeat since a 28-3 rout by Baltimore in DTR’s first start back in Week 4.
“We put the ball on the ground five times, committed [eight] penalties, didn’t stop the run like we can, just real sloppy,” Stefanski said.
“It’s a tough place to play,” said running back Kareem Hunt. “We just didn’t come out and play our best game. Just real, real sloppy.”
The Browns wound up throwing 42 times and ran it just 24 against the Broncos’ 32nd-ranked run defense despite early success by Jerome Ford (65 yards on nine attempts). Failing to cash in with touchdowns on two trips inside the red zone in the first half made for some panicky play calls the rest of the day.
Defensively, the Browns never could dominate the line of scrimmage and they severely missed cornerback Denzel Ward early as the Broncos got off to a 14-0 start. They wasted a magnificent game from linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (12 tackles, 1 sack, 2 tackles-for-loss and a forced fumble).
“Obviously, it wasn’t enough,” JOK said.
Garrett said, “We didn’t dominate up front like we have. There was a little leakiness to our run game. Made some hits behind the line, but they were able to make those into positive gains and were just having success running the ball on the edges … [and] Russ pulling the zone reads, things we weren’t particularly expecting but they came out and did it and did it well.”Garrett suffered the injury to his left shoulder in the first half. He came back to play in the fourth quarter. He did not know immediately his status for the next game.
“We’ll see. At the end of the day, I’ve played through things that should have sidelined me before,” he said. “I’m going to continue to fight and I’m going to do what’s best for the team and for myself. But we have high hopes for this season and what we want to do. Nothing like this is going to hold us back or me back. [We are] going to find a way to respond.”
The Browns are 7-4 and fell behind the victorious Steelers (7-4), who still own the division tie-breaker with six games to play. So it’s on to LaLa Land for the week, but they won’t be bonding at Disneyland.
“We’re on a business trip,” Stefanski said.
