I don't know when I started using the saying. And I know I didn't coin it. But one simple acronym explains my life as a sports fan: O.I.C. It's three simple letters, but it says so much.
O.I.C. Only in Cleveland.
Only in Cleveland can our starting quarterback throw for nearly 400 yards, and we still lose. The Cleveland Browns were Brownsing at the highest level.
I'm 33 years old. I turn 34 next April. So I'm still a fairly young Browns fan. But I have become so grizzled and numb to run of the mill losses like this. Every now and then my Irish temper bubbles to the surface. But most of the time, I'm just resigned to my fate. I am one of God's lowest but toughest creatures: A Cleveland Browns fan. It's a blessing and a curse.
We've all seen more losses than any fanbase in sports deserves to see. What's one more? What went wrong? Let's take a look.
No defensive effort. Anywhere.
I am still shaking my head. I do not understand how I could watch such a stout, legitimately great defense last season, and then see this poor excuse for a "defensive unit." It just blows my mind. What is Jim Schwartz not doing this year that he was doing last year? I wish I knew...
But in this game, I just saw a lack of effort, and a lack of execution. Especially when it came to stopping the Saints run game, and wrapping guys up with solid tackling.
Giving up 259 passing yards isn't horrible. It's not great, but I've seen worse. But when you get gashed for 214 yards on the ground (7.6 yards per carry), something is very, very wrong. Most of that yardage came from Taysom Hill. In just seven carries, he racked up 138 yards on the ground, and punched it into the endzone three times. Hill's an athlete. He's so versatile.
This unit (with a week off, mind you), looked woefully unprepared to even remotely get after him. It was absolutely pathetic. And while I know the players need to execute, I look directly at Jim Schwartz after a showing like this. I don't know what he was doing all last week during the bye. Yikes!
Missing Person's Report: Dustin Hopkins
This one makes me more sad than angry. But Dustin Hopkins missed a pair of field goals. One from 51 yards, and another from 27 yards.
I can understand missed field goals when they're blocked, or when kickers slightly hook them to the right or left, or when they just don't have enough leg. Sometimes things happen.
But for Hopkins today, he didn't just miss those two field goals. He shanked them. The most embarrassing thing was when he shanked the 27-yarder. He missed one from further back at 32 yards, but then New Orleans was called for a penalty, which pushed Hopkins five yards closer.
And he missed not once, but twice. In the exact same way. They both looked like identical shanks. And I'm more than just irritated that Hopkins missed these kicks. I'm worried.
Kicking seems like such a mental thing. When a kicker is drilling kicks left and right, they rarely, if ever, miss. They go on insanely long streaks.
But on the flipside, if they miss several kicks in a short period of time, they'll keep missing. And then things will start to snowball. That's what happened to previous Browns kickers Cade York and Zane Gonzalez.
They were both promising kickers when we took them. Heck, York nailed a 58-yard game winner against Carolina two years ago, and it looked like he could've drilled it from 70 yards!
But once those two started missing kicks, they were never the same again in Cleveland. And I really hope Hopkins doesn't become the third one. I'm sad and nervous about that.
But this last one irritates me.
EXECUTE!
If you're a veteran Browns fan like this guy, you develop a kind of superpower to be able to do one of two things:
You can sense the exact point when things will start going downhill.
You know bad omens when you see them.
And the only way this superpower develops is if you endure enough excruciating Browns losses. If you go through enough of them, this will eventually come out. Maybe it's a sign of a fragile, broken mind. I don't know. But I try to be positive during lost seasons.
In today's game, the bad omen occurred right after Jerry Jeudy scored on an 89-yard touchdown catch.
It was a GORGEOUS touchdown catch too! Jeudy got right behind the Saints defense, and then he just took one to the house!
But as soon as New Orleans got called for a penalty, and we got the ball just outside the one-yard line, the Browns decided to go for it. Okay. Fair enough. Don't like it, but fair enough. Stefanski even brought two extra tight ends in.
And as soon as the ball was snapped, instead of sneaking it with Jameis, the Browns decided to hand Chubb the ball. I love Nick, and I'm usually calling for him to get the ball. But in this case, all you need is a yard. This means getting a good push in the trenches, and having Winston literally fall forward for the two-point conversion.
Kevin had all his pieces in place. He loves those two tight end sets in short yardage. But they just didn't execute. Story of the 2024 Browns.
After the Browns missed that conversion, it just seemed like they were dead for a while. They died in the middle of the game, and they died at the end from poor defensive execution. They have all this talent, but they're absolutely wasting it.
2-8? With this roster?! COME ON NOW! This is absolutely irritating!
Poor execution. Poor effort. And players making "business decisions" to sit out even when they haven't done a thing to earn that kind of clout. (I'm lookin' at you, Jed Wills. Take your ball and go home. You're a bust.) But good teams don't let these things happen. The Browns are just a bad football team this season.
I have no clue how this gets any better either. 8-2 Pittsburgh rolls into town on Thursday night. Short week. But just like the win over the Ravens, maybe the Browns have another good game in them? I certainly hope.
Until then, hang in there folks. Seven games left. Then we can breathe a sweet sigh of relief.
Statistical Leaders
Jameis Winston: 30-46, 395 yards, 2 TDs
Nick Chubb: 11 carries, 50 yards
Jerry Jeudy: 6 catches, 142 yards, TD
Source
ESPN
Picture Credit
ESPN
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