Myles Garrett was credited with a half-sack on a scoring change phoned in by the NFL office in New York. Originally, Mason Graham was given the sack but when it was ruled that Josh Allen gave himself up to avoid a safety, the sack should be shared Garrett and Alex Wright. (Cleveland Browns)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns and NFL analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
It’s all a matter of perspective.
Does a 23-20 loss to the playoff-bound Buffalo Bills hurt that much if it moved the Browns to No. 3 in the draft order?
The Giants and Raiders are the only teams ahead of the Browns at the moment, and those two 2-13 teams face each other Sunday in Las Vegas. Barring a tie between those teams, the Browns (3-12) could move into second place in the draft order with a loss to Pittsburgh and one game to go.
There are expected to be two stellar quarterbacks available at the top of the coming draft – Fernando Mendoza of Indiana and Dante Moore of Oregon -- and if the Browns have a chance to nab one of them without having to trade up for him wouldn’t all this losing be worth it?
Wasn’t that the plan all along?
The Shedeur Sanders fan base would disagree, of course.
Sanders is trying to convince the Browns’ brass that he is the man to lead the franchise going forward. A win over Buffalo would have dropped the Browns out of the top five and made it more costly to invest in another quarterback in the draft.
Sanders had his chances to make that happen, but it was not to be.
Although he improved on his league-low completion percentage in his fifth start, completing 20 of 29 passes, many of them were of the checkdown variety. His famed long ball was never seen against the Bills’ second-ranked pass defense. He didn’t blame a cut on the pinkie finger on his right hand, which needed attention in the locker room and forced him out for one play in the first half.
“I wouldn’t have come back if I couldn’t throw,” Sanders said.
Sanders tossed two interceptions, both of which were deflections on checkdowns. One caromed off Quinshon Judkins’ shoulder pad and the other was deflected at the line of scrimmage by Joey Bosa and intercepted by tackle DaQuan Jones. They led to 10 Buffalo points.
And when Sanders had two possessions in the final seven minutes to threaten Buffalo’s lead, one ended on a sack on fourth-and-2 at the Browns’ 44 and the other evaporated on a sack and intentional grounding penalty deep in the Browns’ zone. They were the only sacks taken by Sanders on the day.
“I just gotta get the ball out a little quicker. That’s it,” he said.
Besides a greater completion percentage, Sanders made four plays with his feet, converting three third downs. His 49 yards on keepers made Sanders the Browns’ leading rusher for the third game in a row.
Part of that was due to a devastating injury suffered by Judkins late in the first half that ended his rookie season. Judkins’ right leg got trapped on a tackle by linebacker Matt Milano after a short catch. He suffered a dislocated ankle and a fractured fibula, according to coach Kevin Stefanski, and will have surgery very soon.
“I feel bad because I threw it, you know?” Sanders said. “Truthfully, it hurts. It hurts.”
Surprisingly, the Browns mounted a comeback from a 23-10 deficit on some concerted running by Judkins replacements Rocket Sanders (11 rushes, 42 yards) and Trayveon Williams (3 rushes for 17 yards, and a screen pass for 26 yards). The Browns scored one touchdown on a Harold Fannin 1-yard run on fourth down and settled for an Andre Szmyt field goal on the other threat. Fannin also scored on the Browns’ opening drive on a 13-yard pass from Sanders.
Defensively, the Browns were gashed on the ground in the first half for 133 rushing yards. James Cook scored on runs of 44 and 3 yards and had 100 on nine attempts in the first half. The defense adjusted well and surrendered only 31 rushing yards in the second half, but the damage was done.
Early Buffalo leads of 13-7 and 20-10 enabled Bills quarterback Josh Allen (12 of 19, 130 yards) to avoid sack monster Myles Garrett. Allen suffered a foot injury in the game but played through it.
Garrett did ring up a half-sack to up his season total to 22 – a half-sack from the single-season record. He was credited with a half-sack when NFL officials in New York phoned in a scoring correction on a sack originally given to Mason Graham.
Garrett and Alex Wright were in hot pursuit of Allen, who was running back toward his own end zone. Allen appeared to slip to the ground just outside the goal line. Graham touched him down for the apparent sack. But the play was changed about an hour later and was ruled a half-sack for Garrett and Wright because, the correction stated, Allen had given himself up to avoid a safety.
“I saw [Allen’s] eyes get big when he saw me, so I knew he recognized who it was,” Garrett said. “So, he started to hightail the other way, and then he slipped, and then I slipped. So, I was thinking this could be the one to tie it, but it ended up just a half.”
The difference in this game ended up being a botched play at the end of the first half by – who else? – the Browns’ special teams.
After the ensuing Buffalo punt following the disputed Allen sack, the Browns took over at the Bills’ 30-yard line because of a face-mask penalty on Gage Larvadain’s punt return. But Andre Szmyt’s 48-yard field goal attempt didn’t come off because Rex Sunahara’s long snap couldn’t be placed down correctly by holder/punter Corey Bojorquez.
“A missed opportunity,” Bojorquez said. “I won’t get into it too much, but it was not what it needed to be. The entire operation. Don’t expect it to happen again.”
It’s little things like that that have put the Browns close within reach of a top two pick (again) in the coming draft.