Deshaun Watson earned Kevin Stefanski's offensive game ball after the coach asked him to be effectively a game manager against the Jaguars. (Cleveland Browns)
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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.
Second thoughts on Browns’ 18-13 win over Jacksonville Jaguars …
1. Kevin Stefanski’s use of jumbo formations was a throwback to last season when he was winning games with P.J. Walker and Dorian Thompson-Robinson at quarterback. You didn’t expect the coach to do it with Deshaun Watson at the helm. Watson was supposed to be refitted into an offensive system comparable to the shotgun-spread offense he operated in his glory days in Houston. That was the reason for bringing in Ken Dorsey as offensive coordinator. Recall Stefanski saying at Dorsey’s introduction that he was looking forward to Dorsey “putting this offense back together.” So what changed? The Dallas debacle, for one. It was obvious in the opener that Watson is quite a way from recovering his former game. It can happen as the season progresses, but Stefanski has to be mindful that his No. 1 task is to win games. Substituting extra offensive linemen at the expense of extra receivers is not something you would see the Chiefs do with Patrick Mahomes or the Bills with Allen or the Bengals with Joe Burrow, or even the Texans with C.J. Stroud. But it’s where the Browns are at in this particular stage of Watson’s career. “Whatever is required, you know,” Watson said after the win in Jacksonville. “If that's what the offense needs to be able to move the ball and get positive yards, then that's what we're going to do.”
2. Stefanski awarded Watson a game ball in Jacksonville despite throwing for 186 yards, compiling a 78.8 passer rating, and engineering just one touchdown drive. Plus, Watson suffered a brain-freeze late in the game by barely throwing away the ball instead of taking a sack and keeping the clock moving. The incompletion, which almost was a fumble forced by on-charging Josh Hines-Allen, stopped the clock and saved the Jaguars about 40 seconds in the crucial final moments. It seemed the game ball was earned by Watson for persevering through a very difficult week for him, for not committing a turnover, and for accepting and executing a game plan designed for someone far less than a “franchise quarterback.” “I think Deshaun understands how to win, first and foremost,” Stefanski said. “And I think he understands that he’ll do whatever it takes to win. I think he’s like a lot of the great quarterbacks out there. They’re prepared to do whatever it takes to find a way to win.”
3. For the record, the Browns ran 16 plays in jumbo (one extra lineman) and super jumbo (two extra linemen). They netted 75 yards on them – 36 coming on Jerome Ford’s run with the Jaguars expecting a Jameis Winston sneak on fourth-and-1. So, the other 15 plays in jumbo or super jumbo netted 39 yards. Now, two other times the Browns used it on fourth-down QB sneaks, which Winston converted, and another time Watson scored on a 1-yard QB draw. Watson threw five times out of the jumbo formation – to Ford for 0 yards, to David Bell for 9 yards, to Elijah Moore for minus-1 yard, to Amari Cooper for 2 yards, and once for an incompletion.
4. On a Zoom interview on Monday, Ford said of his 36-yard run around the left edge out of the QB sneak formation, “I just wish I was a little faster.” Yet, according to NextGenStats, Ford reached 21.29 mph running with the ball, which is the second-fastest time recorded so far this NFL season. Houston receiver Nico Collins clocked 21.89 mph on a 55-yard reception in Week 1.
5. The Browns’ 24 penalties through two games lead the NFL by 5. They had 13 in Jacksonville. Seven of them occurred in the last 7 ½ minutes of the fourth quarter – four on offense and three on defense. “We need to be better in that area,” Stefanski said, stating the obvious. “It’s hard to win. We don’t need to make it harder on ourselves and we did in a bunch of areas. So we can just identify and correct, we’ll keep hammering it. But until we do it, we’re just going to make life hard and we don’t want to do that.”
6. Za’Darius Smith was on the injury report (back) during the week and played 37 snaps in Jacksonville. He did not record a tackle, assist or sack. Alex Wright played 33 snaps and recorded 2 tackles and 1 assist and the sack on Trevor Lawrence in the end zone for a safety with 1:44 to play – arguably the biggest defensive play of the game. On the play, Wright lined up at right tackle inside end Myles Garrett and busted through center Mitch Morse and left guard Ezra Cleveland. Garrett’s outside rush forced Lawrence to step inside and Wright pulverized him. Wright now has had a sack in 5 of his last 6 regular-season games. Over that same period, Smith has 3 sacks. Smith is 32; Wright is 24. We could be seeing much more of Wright in the coming weeks.
7. Receiver David Bell had a hip injury that will require surgery, Stefanski said, effectively ending his season. Stefanski had given a game ball to Bell for his 3 catches for 27 yards on only 9 plays in the Jacksonville game. “So disappointed for him,” Stefanski said. “A guy that his teammates really appreciate how that kid works. He’ll bounce back.” Bell’s loss means rookie Jamari Thrash should assume the WR5 role behind Amari Cooper, Jerry Jeudy, Elijah Moore and Cedric Tillman.