CLEVELAND — Takeaways (appropriately enough) from a Browns loss in New England that produced three turnovers on three consecutive snaps…
- Freddie Kitchens says he doesn’t coach penalties, which I suppose is only a relief if you thought he did.
- His timing wasn’t the greatest on that post-game reminder since he did, in fact, instruct his punt team to take a penalty on fourth-and-11 because he decided he wanted to go for the first down and didn’t want to use his last timeout.
- Baker Mayfield was sacked for a five-yard loss. The only positive is that the Browns didn’t narrowly miss converting fourth-and-16 by the five yards they yielded by being disorganized.
- ”I don’t coach penalties,” Kitchens said after the game. “I’m not answering questions about penalties.”
Somebody should.
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The Browns had 13, their highest number since the 18 penalties in the opener against Tennessee.
They had all summer to prepare for the opener. They had the bye week to prepare for the Pats.
Could they do worse, penalty-wise, if they took this week off and showed up in Denver a couple hours before kickoff.
After a craft beer crawl.
- The more pertinent point is that Kitchens doesn’t seem to be coaching against penalties either. If he’s preaching penalty intolerance, that message isn’t getting through.
- On certain Sundays all these regimes in Berea have seemed to run together. Sunday made you wonder if Kitchens challenge flag advisor is the same person who convinced the Haslams Pantone 2028 C would be a keeper.
Kitchens flag fluttering to the ground just as Tony Romo was saying these were plays that he would not challenge lent support to Romo’s earlier take that he “feels sorry” for Browns fans. Get in line, bub.
- Overturned pass interference calls in the NFL this season in particular are a Yeti-sized rumor.
- The Browns in stretches controlled the line of scrimmage on offense against the Patriots. Nick Chubb finished with 131 yards on 20 carries.
There. And you thought I wasn’t going to say anything positive.
- Chubb is the best recipe for success until you fall behind by 17 points early or 14 points late.
Then you’re going to need your defense to shut down the opponent and you’re going to need to be efficient on offense when Chubb isn’t running the ball.
The Browns are to efficiency what the Hummer is to gas mileage.
- Kitchens said in training camp he wanted a tough team. Better had he tried for smart and disciplined.
- Why does this team get distracted so easily? A week after the Seattle loss, Kitchens was still defending his end-of-half play calling without being prompted.
Baker Mayfield was still talking about the officiating. Odell Beckham Jr. was feeling put upon by the NFL’s fashion police.
Kitchens doesn’t coach distractions. But he allows for them in the name of letting his players “be themselves.”
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- What the Browns players are is 2-5 and convinced they’re better than they are.
- If they’re looking at Denver, Arizona, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Miami as schedule softeners, well, there is some merit to that.
But guess what? The Broncos, Cardinals, Bengals, Steelers and Dolphins are looking at them as a beatable opponent.
- OK, not Miami. Let’s not get carried away
- Mayfield on the 2-5 Browns: “It’s just the consistency and a lack of discipline and accountability right now on Sundays seems to be the problem. I’ve said we can be a great team when we do our jobs but we just haven’t translated it yet.
Forget “great.” Start with “solid” and “well coached” and we’ll see where we we are on December 1.
And “focused” and “humbled” and…