Deshaun Watson didn't get the ball away here before his knee touched for one of five sacks he suffered, upping his season total to 31 in six games. (Philadelphia Eagles)
You must have an active subscription to read this story.
Click Here to subscribe Now!
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.
PHILADELPHIA, PA
Here’s the state of the Browns after their fourth loss in a row, 20-16 to the beatable Philadelphia Eagles, while scoring under 20 points for the sixth consecutive game:
* Safety Rodney McLeod is tied for the team lead with 2 touchdowns.
* The offense has scored 1 touchdown in its last 29 possessions.
* Quarterback Deshaun Watson has thrown for fewer than 200 yards for 6 games in a row.
And yet … the Browns somehow ended a terrible 0-for-26 streak on converting third downs with Watson on the field, made three in a row in the fourth quarter and put themselves in position to win.
And then beat themselves. Again.
“We get down low and go backwards on a couple false starts, which is really, really tough,” said a dejected Kevin Stefanski, who suffered a 4-game losing streak for the second time in his five years as Browns coach. “I know there’s plays to be had, but we have to find a way to close the football games out.”
Early in fourth quarter, Watson made 11 yards on a keeper run to the Eagles’ 13, but Michael Dunn, playing his first game all year and having to shift from guard to center early in the game, was penalized for holding. That resulted in a 49-yard field goal to tie the score at 13-13.
On the next possession -- now down, 20-13, after Greg Newsome got caught in traffic, leaving DeVonta Smith to race 45 yards with a 3-yard Jalen Hurts pass to the end zone -- Watson had the Browns at the Eagles’ 21.
Then Amari Cooper was flagged for grabbing the face mask of cornerback Kelee Ringo.
Undaunted, Watson had the ball at the Eagles 3 on third-and-goal. Then guard Zak Zinter false started. Zinter opened the game on the bench but was forced in when Nick Harris suffered a broken leg on the Browns’ third offensive play and Dunn moved to center.
Finally, Jedrick Wills false started on fourth-and-goal from the 8.
Paging Bill Callahan!
After those self-imposed kicks to the solar plexes, Stefanski waved in Dustin Hopkins for a 31-yard field goal to close the deficit to 20-16 with 3:54 to play.
“It’s just shooting ourselves in the foot,” said Jack Conklin, who made it through the whole game in his first appearance at right tackle since a severe knee injury in September of 2023. “March all the way couple times and have big penalties. Been the case here last couple weeks.”
And the defense couldn’t produce the takeaway in the fourth quarter – or any other time against Hurst, the leading turnover machine in the NFL for two years running.
Hurts possessed the ball the rest of the game, beating Newsome again with a 40-yard strike to A.J. Brown, and then kneeling three times at the Browns’ 12, to preserve a Browns’ cover of the 8 1/2-point spread.
All week Stefanski had implored his troops to “create a spark” to ignite a turnaround from their doldrums.
They actually got one at the end of the first half.
Special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone dusted off his field-goal block play that worked in Indianapolis last year and it worked again.
Myles Garrett leaped and stretched to block Jake Elliott’s 57-yard field goal try. McLeod scooped it up and raced 50 yards to the end zone to tied the score at 10-10 just before halftime.
“Right place at the right time,” said McLeod, who scooped up a fumble in Las Vegas and scored two weeks ago and now joins Cooper with a team-leading two touchdowns. “Today that was all Myles’ execution at a high level. We needed it.
“It felt like [an answer to Stefanski’s week-long call]. That was definitely one of a few sparks that was ignited today that would have contributed to a win.”
“Yeah, it should have been,” Stefanski said. “But as good as that was, you just have to come through at the end. That’s the frustrating part.”
At that point, the Eagles were angering their hard-bitten fans. They booed loudly as the Eagles trotted to the locker room. There were also chants of “Fire Nick … Fire Nick” directed at embattled Eagles coach Nick Sirianni.
And the Eagles were the winners, improving to 3-2.
Imagine what awaits the Browns when they return home to play the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday after losing four games in a row, and scoring 15 points, 16, 13 and 16.
“We can’t get down on ourselves, just have to double-down on the process, the routine, the work, and trust that eventually things will go our way,” McLeod said.
“We know what’s ahead of us next week. Starts with the division. Those games are worth two. So no better way from this point on. We’re in playoff mode. That’s just the reality of it. It’s a great opportunity, Cincinnati coming in, to go 1-0.”
So that’s a good thing?
“Absolutely,” McLeod said. “The blessing is the losses we’ve occurred primarily have been in the NFC. So we got an AFC opponent, division opponent coming in, and it’s time to go ahead and prove ourselves.”
I asked Watson (16 of 23, 168 yards, 5 sacks, 10 times hit, 90.5 rating) if the timing is good or bad that the Browns head home now against division opponent Cincinnati. The Browns have won six of eight meetings with the Bengals in the Stefanski era.
“I’m not even worried about the timing, honestly,” Watson said “I want to correct these little things that are costing us games.
“So Monday, Tuesday, we have got to really lock in and really be truthful with ourselves in what we are doing. Not just one or two guys, but all of us. And I’m being the quarterback of this offense with Kevin [Stefanski] and [coordinator] Ken [Dorsey], we have to do something a little bit – I don’t know what we have to do, but we need to do something.
“Lock in so we don’t cost ourselves any more games because we’ve got to really turn this around.”
The season-within-the-season starts Sunday with the first division game.