24 Hours Later: My Thoughts on Lackluster Browns Performance in Week 5 vs. Jets

In a few months, we may be looking back on this game as the reason the Cleveland Browns missed the playoffs.

24 hours later, here are my thoughts on the Browns week five loss to the Jets

Missed Opportunities

The Browns had countless chances to score on offense. I understand the rain made things a lot harder, but there's always a way to get things done.

The Jets came into the game with the NFL's 25th-ranked run defense. Despite this, the Browns failed to establish a run game. They finished the game with 96 rushing yards, with 40 of them coming from Deshaun Watson.

Outside of the ground game, the worst moment of the contest by far came with just 4:13 to play.

Cleveland had just scored a touchdown. On the next defensive drive, Carson Schwesinger strip-sacked Jets quarterback Geno Smith. This gave the ball back to the Browns with the lead, 4:13 left to go, and in Jets territory.

You would think Todd Monken and the Browns offense would simply want to burn as much clock as possible right?

Instead, Quinshon Judkins ran the ball out of bounds, and after back-to-back incompletions, the Browns only took 21 seconds off the clock. Of course, this led to the fumbled punt, which set up the Jets for the win.

Outside of the special teams error, this drive is what lost the Browns the game. The inability to take either time off the clock or timeouts away from the Jets was incredible. Instead, Monken got too cute with the football, trying to put an end to the game.

The Team Has to Find a Way to Shift Gears

This season, when the opponent figures out how to stop the Browns offense, that has been it. The best example of this was the week four game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Cleveland scored 21 of their 27 points in the second quarter. After halftime, the Browns had a scoreless third quarter followed by a squeaked out win in the fourth after leading by 14 earlier in the game.

Todd Monken and Deshaun Watson need to find a way to reset the offense during bad times throughout games. When things go wrong, they need a formation or set of plays they can confidently run despite the circumstances.

Final Thoughts

Outside of some great film on situational failure to review, the Browns need to move on from this game.

This loss cannot take away from the incredible start the team had with three straight game-winning drives. Looking at the schedule, the Browns have some very winnable games coming up.

This week, they play the Baltimore Ravens at home. Lamar Jackson's status is unclear at the moment, but it should still be close, with the defense. After that game, the Browns play the 0-5 Tennessee Titans, the Steelers once again, and then the 1-4 New Orleans Saints.