USA TODAY Sports
I spent much of Monday reviewing the official game book from the Browns Chiefs game and thinking carefully about the best way to critique the way the Browns handled the game after Patrick Mahomes, the quarterback from Kansas City, left with a concussion.
Browns safety Karl Joseph caught a can of Chiefs quarterback Chad Henne in the end zone of Cleveland with exactly eight minutes of play. Under 19-10 when Patrick Mahomes left and 22-10 at the end of the ride completed by Henne, the Bruines recorded an attack and cut the margin to five points, 22-17. The Joseph interception pushed the pendulum of momentum squarely in the Browns’ favor.
This is when things are sideways for Cleveland. Through seven plays (and despite losing a time-out en route), the Browns moved 12 yards, from their own 20 to their own 32, burning three minutes and forty-one seconds of clock time. Facing fourth and nine, the Browns moved to Kansas City instead of opting for it.
The reasoning makes sense. If Mahomes was still playing, the Browns should definitely have risked their chances at fourth and nine. Why not play with Henne point and then defense?
One reason not to score, of course, comes from the fact that the Browns have only one time-out left, due to an untouched repeat challenge and the time-out that had to be used to avoid a violation of the game during Cleveland be his last ride. It was Cleveland’s last ride because the Chiefs successfully milked the remaining 4:19 to clinch the victory.
The honest criticism of the Browns therefore comes from the failure to move faster after Mahomes went to the locker room. Before Mahomes was injured, it made sense to reduce possessions and shorten the game. After Mahomes, the total talent gap narrowed if it did not disappear. At that point, the Browns should have done everything faster to increase the number of times both teams had the ball – because in a Baker Mayfield fight against Chad Henne, the Browns are more likely to score more points than the Chiefs .
Consider the first ride after Mahomes leaves. The Browns used eighteen plays, and they lasted eight minutes and seventeen seconds.
Why not enforce the problem at the moment the ride started? Move faster. Start more plays. Get the ball back to the Chiefs and hope for a mistake that could lead to an opening to win the game.
If the Browns simply had a greater sense of urgency during their last two rides, the Browns could have gone to Buffalo this weekend.