Browns are advised not to give Patrick Mahomes the ball with time on the clock

Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.

Takeaways from Browns practice and interviews …

Containing Patrick Mahomes for the first three quarters is one problem for the Browns’ defense on Sunday. But that might be easier than containing him in the fourth quarter.

With a game on the line and the ball in his hands, few quarterbacks in the history of the NFL have been as successful as Mahomes.

This year alone, seven of the Chiefs’ 12 victories have come on game-winning drives engineered by Mahomes in the fourth quarter. These are defined as the offensive scoring drive in the fourth quarter or overtime that puts the winning team ahead for the last time.

Mahomes has benefitted this season from a blocked punt v. Denver, an errant snap v. Las Vegas, and a field goal that caromed off the left upright, plus other fortunate occurrences. They have won six games decided on the final play.

For his career, Mahomes has 23 game-winning drives. The all-time NFL leader is Tom Brady with 58. Among active quarterbacks, Matthew Stafford leads with 47, followed by Russell Wilson with 40, Derek Carr with 35, Aaron Rodgers with 33, and Joe Flacco with 27. Mahomes and Dak Prescott have 23.

But when you consider the number of games played by Mahomes, his ranking on percentage of game-winning drives v. total games goes up on the all-time list.

Surprisingly, Stafford leads this category with a game-winning drive in 21.46% of his games played (47 of 219). Ben Roethlisberger is second at 21.28% (53 of 249). And Mahomes ranks third all-time at 21.1% (23 of 109 games).

Other quarterback luminaries of note: Peyton Manning had game-winning drives in 20.3% of his games, John Elway is at 17.1%, Dan Marino 19.4%, Drew Brees 18.4%, and Joe Montana 14.5%.

Among active QBs, next in line behind Mahomes is Carr (20.7%), Wilson (20.5%), and Prescott (18.8%).

So while Mahomes’ overall numbers are precipitously down from his typical seasons – he ranks 16^th with a passer rating of 92.0 – he is the best in the league, still, at doing whatever it takes to grind out a final winning drive.

Is he the best ever?

“If you look at a lot of those comebacks, some of them are spurred by a great scramble,” said defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. “Some of them are spurred by just making an off-schedule play. Some of them are spurred by just ripping the ball down the field and taking what the defense gives him.

“I’m old enough to have seen Joe Montana do that stuff and all those different guys. I mean, I’m sure all of Cleveland would beg to differ when it came to John Elway with the late drive and things like that. Let’s just put it this way, he’s right up there with those guys. I think that probably gives him the respect without disrespecting other people.”

Mahomes puts pressure on an opposing offense to possess the ball in a close game in the final minutes and not give him the ball with a chance to win and too much time on the clock.

With the Buffalo Bills in 2022, offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey was able to pull ahead, 24-20, with a touchdown with 1:04 to go. The Bills ate 4 minutes, 22 seconds off the clock. But they had to sweat out the final moments. The Bills’ defense intercepted Mahomes with :56 left.

“It’s definitely a balancing act to where you don’t want to be detrimental to what you’re doing on offense to where you’re not doing something where you can’t go out and execute or you put yourself in a bad situation because you’re trying to conserve or run down the clock,” Dorsey said. “The main thing is we got to go out and score points, and if you’re in those situations, then obviously you take those things into account. But at the same time, you got to be able to go out and score and go up to give your defense that chance to then stop him.”

As Kevin Stefanski said, “It’s easier said than done.”

Jeudy feeling grand

Even though the Browns ridiculously targeted Jerry Jeudy only two times in the first half in Pittsburgh, the receiver finished with five catches for 64 yards.

So his 6-game stretch with Jameis Winston at quarterback (38 receptions for 678 yards) now has moved him into fourth place with 944 receiving yards. Jeudy’s personal high in four years in Denver was 972 yards.

A 1,000-yard season “would mean a lot,” Jeudy said. “Because it’s gonna be my first. New team, first year. So it’s a great feeling.

“I’ve definitely thought about it. All the elite receivers hit 1,000 yards. I feel I was one of those receivers that can do that. This year I’ve had the opportunity to do it. We haven’t had the season we want as a team. That’s the most important thing. But [getting] 1,000 yards [would be] a great feeling.”

Brownie bits

Safety Grant Delpit is looking forward to tackling former teammate Kareem Hunt. “I’ve been telling him I’m gonna catch him,” Delpit said. “I told him that when [he signed with the Chiefs]. His dreads just swing hard. It looks like he’s running hard. Kareem’s a great player. I’m happy for the success he’s having.” Hunt leads the Chiefs with 608 rushing yards and 5 rushing TDs …

Tight end David Njoku (hamstring) and guard Joel Bitonio (back) were the only DNPs. Njoku might not make it to Sunday’s game. “Obviously Dave’s a big part of what we do,” said Dorsey, “but I think we got a lot of faith in that room and guys step up and that’s part of this league and part of what you have to go through throughout the course of the league.” …

Special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone said the team hasn’t yet decided on the kicker for Sunday’s game. The team is considering giving slumping kicker Dustin Hopkins a breather and having Riley Patterson fill in. “Yeah, we’ve talked about a few different things and like I said, we’re just going to try to see how it goes today,” Ventrone said. “Both of them will kick today and tomorrow and then make a determination on how we’re going to go for this week.”