Jim Harbaugh avenged his brother John's loss last week to the Browns. The Chargers look like they could be a factor in the AFC playoff race now. (Los Angeles Chargers)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is an analyst of the Cleveland Browns for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Where do the Browns go from here after being blown off their home field, 27-10, by Jim Harbaugh’s error-free Los Angeles Chargers?
They reached their bye week with a 2-7 record and the realization that a repeat of last year’s playoff run is not going to happen. There’s too far a road to travel and it’s too steep a climb.
The Chargers extinguished Jameis Winston’s boundless energy with a defensive effort that forced three interceptions (could’ve been five) and sacked him six times. So the genie is back in that bottle.
The convincing loss was sobering, considering West Coast teams aren’t supposed to travel cross country and play so cleanly (no turnovers, only five penalties) on the road in the first year of a new regime. But this Harbaugh team, now 5-3, might eventually be better by the end of year than the one the Browns dispatched to Baltimore a week earlier.
Justin Herbert took advantage of two blown coverages for TD passes of 28 and 66 yards and running back J.K. Dobbins exploited the hole in the Browns’ defense vacated by injured linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah for touchdown scampers of 16 and 7 yards.
“It’s real disappointing because it’s a lot of just self-inflicted errors,” said Myles Garrett, who broke a four-game drought with three sacks of Herbert. “Just out of position, beating ourselves. Whether it’s out of position on a run where it could really be a tackle for loss or maybe at worst, a one or two-yard gain or a play that could be pressure, maybe a QB hit, get off the field, maybe a sack. Things that could change the game end up being a touchdown there and it can’t be that kind of swing. It can’t be where it’s touchdown or bust. We got to execute more consistently than not.”
The total team defeat included two deflating plays on special teams – allowing a 53-yard punt return by Derius Davis to set up LA’s first touchdown and having a Dustin Hopkins 51-yard field goal try blocked.
The defeat could cause GM Andrew Berry to make any trades he might have on the table. The NFL trade deadline is Tuesday at 4 p.m. and speculation heated up during the first half that pass rusher Za’Darius Smith would be dealt to Detroit, as long rumored.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported, in fact, the trade is expected to happen Sunday night or Monday.
Smith, who has five sacks for the Browns in his second season with them, played the entire game and was credited with a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit.
Leaving the locker room, Smith was notified of the report – “That happen?” – and said he did not hear anything from his agent. “See ya’ll,” he said.
Other Browns have been mentioned on the rumor mill, but it is not expected that Berry would part with any of the team’s core players. It’s doubtful that any players available would bring much in return; Smith might fetch a fourth-round pick from the Lions.
Although the special teams breakdown early was a bummer, this game swung on two blown coverages in the first half, resulting in the TD catches by Joshua Palmer and Quentin Johnston.
On each, miscommunication between cornerback Denzel Ward and free safety Juan Thornhill left the receivers wide open and no defender between them and the end zone.
“You can put it all on me,” said Ward, who was cleared from concussion protocol on Saturday and cleared to play in the game. “We have to do a better job of communicating. They were both blown coverages. We gave them that. I got to do better at communicating out there, making sure we’re all in the correct position. They were real gimmes. We gave it to them.”
Thornhill gave the impression Ward was covering for others.
“It wasn’t all on Denzel,” he said. “I’m a safety. I’m supposed to communicate with him as well. Even if he’s not looking at me, I have to find a way to get those calls to him. I would never put that on Denzel. It’s all 11 of us.
“It wasn’t even just Denzel. It was multiple people that didn’t get a call.”
So the three breakdowns – the punt return, and two blown coverages – gave the Chargers a 20-3 lead at halftime. The Browns’ offense reverted to its constipated former self during that time, achieving only 57 yards total offense.
Winston then tossed the three interceptions in the second half trying to make up the deficit.
A two-play sequence at the end of the Browns’ first possession of the second half sealed the loss.
On his finest drive of the game, Winston took the Browns from their 30 to the Chargers’ 5. On first down, Winston put the ball on the money to Cedric Tillman running a slant at the goal line. It bounced off his hands. Next play, Watson tried to bloop the ball to Jerry Jeudy in the right corner of the end zone, but cornerback Tarheeb Still leaped to deflect it and safety Elijah Molden intercepted it.
Ballgame.
“My faith is not wavering,” said Winston (26 of 45, 235 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT, 50.5 passer rating). “I still believe. I still know what this team and this offense and this defense are capable of doing. The biggest thing is we have to eliminate plays that beat us. And I had three of them. And we all know the plays that we can help this team out with. So that’s just accountability and I think we’re going to embrace that. And having a week to really digest how we can get better is required.”
Kevin Stefanski said he didn’t think of giving backup QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson some play time in the fourth quarter.
“No, we’re just going to continue to fight,” he said.
But it’s possible that after a week of soul-searching, Berry, for one, might conclude that DTR needs to be evaluated over an extended period of starting.
The question is not if but when, and that time got a little closer after Sunday’s humbling defeat.