The Cleveland Browns entered Houston on Saturday as a road favorite--an unusual circumstance in the NFL playoffs--but the Texans routed the Browns 45-14 to put a sudden and disappointing end to the Browns' season. Rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud nearly had a perfect passer rating (157.2 out of a maximum possible 158.3) as he eviscerated the Browns' highly touted defense. Stroud had 236 passing yards and three touchdowns without being sacked in the first half en route to becoming the youngest quarterback to win a playoff game. Meanwhile, Cleveland's late-season acquisition Joe Flacco--the MVP of Super Bowl XLVII for Baltimore who played very well down the stretch for Cleveland--became the first quarterback to toss multiple pick-sixes in a playoff game since 2007. Flacco tossed those pick-sixes on consecutive possessions, which has not happened in the NFL playoffs since Rich Gannon did it in Super Bowl XXXVII. Stroud is beginning what looks to be a promising career, while the soon to be 39 year old Flacco may have played his last NFL game.
Full credit to the Texans for a job well-done, but as a long-suffering Browns fan my focus is trained squarely on the losers (which is not meant to detract in any way from what the Texans accomplished).
Kevin Stefanski did an excellent job leading the injury-riddled Browns to an 11-6 record in the 2023 regular season, as the Browns overcame season-ending injuries suffered by elite running back Nick Chubb and starting quarterback Deshaun Watson. Stefanski is the only Browns coach since Bill Belichick to win a playoff game; three years ago, the Cleveland Browns defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 48-37 to notch the Browns' first road playoff win since 1969 and their first playoff win overall since 1995. The Browns scored more than 48 points in a playoff game just twice in their storied history, defeating Buffalo 49-7 in the 1948 All-America Football Conference (AAFC) Championship Game, and routing Detroit 56-10 in the 1954 NFL Championship Game. After beating Pittsburgh, the Browns lost to the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, 22-17.
Stefanski is easily the Browns' best coach since Belichick, although being the best Browns coach during that dreadful period in franchise history is admittedly a low hurdle to jump. While giving Stefanski credit for the success he has enjoyed, it must be noted that the Browns have often flunked situational football on his watch. The 2023 Browns led the league in most turnovers, and ranked second in most penalties committed. Turnovers and penalties often result from a lack of concentration and discipline; both traits are honed in practice, which is where the best coaches make their mark in any sport (notwithstanding the obsession that many media members have with in-game adjustments). I will never forget my conversation with Tom Brown, who started at safety for the Green Bay teams that won the first two Super Bowls (he also played briefly in MLB for the Washington Senators). Brown told me that what changed for the Packers after the departure of Coach Vince Lombardi is that during practice the team lacked the attention to detail that characterized Lombardi's approach to the game, and that lack of attention to detail in practice led to sloppiness during games.
The turnovers, defensive lapses, and other mistakes the Browns committed during this debacle are all too familiar to Browns fans. The Browns did not look ready or well-prepared. It is worth noting that Stefanski rested most of his starters in the final game of the 2023 regular season, and the Browns suffered a 31-14 drubbing at the hands of their intrastate division rival Cincinnati Bengals. I understand why the Browns rested their players, and I realize that the Browns were not the only team that rested their starters, but I have never been a fan of resting, load management, tanking, or anything other than trying hard to win every game. Tony Dungy was a great coach, but he only won one Super Bowl--and he won that Super Bowl in one of the rare seasons (2006) that he did not rest his key players down the stretch. During other seasons, Dungy's well-rested players watched other teams play in the Super Bowl. Dungy rested his players in the 2007 season finale, and they responded by laying an egg in their first playoff game, giving up more points and more yards than they did in any regular season game, much like the Browns' vaunted defense collapsed versus the Texans despite being so well-rested. In contrast, Tom Coughlin won two Super Bowls, and he should be commended/respected for trying to win every game, an approach that helped his New York Giants win a Super Bowl versus the previously undefeated New England Patriots.
The Houston-Cleveland matchup is intriguing not only from a coaching/preparation standpoint but also because of the 2022 trade that sent quarterback Deshaun Watson from Houston to Cleveland in exchange for six draft picks; the early returns suggest that the Texans won that trade by an even wider margin than they won this game: Watson has been often injured and only seldom effective as a Brown, while the Texans used the draft picks to acquire (either directly via the draft or by trading the draft picks) running back Dameon Pierce, defensive end Will Anderson Jr., receiver Tank Dell, guard Kenyon Green, linebacker Christian Harris, receiver John Metchie III, and defensive end Thomas Booker. The Texans still have three more draft picks from that trade, so they can run up the score so to speak if one or more of those draft picks play well. Pierce led the Texans in rushing (939 yards) as a rookie in 2022, but had a diminished role this season (416 yards) after Devin Singletary emerged as the featured back. As a rookie this season, Anderson Jr. has already made an impact. Fellow rookie Dell had 47 catches for 709 yards and seven touchdowns in 11 games this season before breaking his leg. Green has not made his presence felt yet, but the Texans traded down in the draft to select him, in the process acquiring a fourth round pick and two fifth round picks. The Texans packaged one of those fifth round picks with a third round pick to move up and select Harris in 2022. Harris is a key player for the Texans' defense; the Texans used the fourth round pick to select Metchie III, who missed all of the 2022 season with leukemia but bounced back to have 16 catches this season. Booker is no longer with the Texans.
Before the Houston game, the Browns thought that they had a Super Bowl caliber defense, a veteran quarterback who had already won a Super Bowl, and an offense that featured enough good playmakers to enable Flacco to shine. All of that hope and expectation meant little after kickoff, so the Browns head into yet another offseason facing more questions than answers:
Is Stefanski a Super Bowl-caliber coach?
Will Watson get healthy and stay healthy?
Will Watson return to playing at a Pro Bowl level if he stays healthy?
Will Chubb be the same player he was before tearing up his knee?
Why did the Browns' highly praised defense fall apart when the stakes were highest? Unless the Texans go on a playoff run that proves otherwise, the Browns were embarrassed by a team that is not a Super Bowl contender, which is very disconcerting.
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