The Cleveland Browns lost their second-straight game Sunday, losing to the St. Louis Rams, 24-6. Not much went well for the 2-5 Browns in the Gateway City. The offense struggled to score and hold onto the ball, while the defense continued its struggle against the run. It was one of the team’s worst performances of the season. In this week’s film room, we will take a gander at what went wrong in the crushing loss to the St. Louis Rams.
Let’s take a look at the bad, worse, and worst of the 24-6 Browns loss to the St. Louis Rams on Sunday.
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The Bad: Pass Protection
The Browns had a tough time protecting quarterback Josh McCown versus the talented Rams pass rush. McCown was battered and bruised throughout, as the Rams notched four sacks and seven quarterback hits against the Browns offensive line. The Browns struggled to keep the pocket clean enough for McCown to pass effectively. Here is an example of the offensive line’s struggle on Sunday.
This was the first of four sacks for the Rams. It is simply one player beating another one on one. Rams defensive lineman William Hayes uses his speed off the edge to beat Browns right tackle Mitchell Schwartz around the corner, setting himself up for a free shot at McCown. McCown is sacked and fumbles the ball away for another turnover.
Much of the pressure put on by the Rams pass rush was like this — just one defender beating a blocker. Mitchell Schwartz has had a good season, but on Sunday he struggled versus the talented pass rushers of the Rams.
The Worse: Fumbles/Penalties
The Browns had four turnovers on the day, with all four coming on fumbles. The fumbles crippled the Browns’ momentum; they ended drives, gave the Rams good field position, and one — the very first one — was returned for a touchdown. The Browns just did not secure the ball against the Rams.
Besides the four fumbles, the Browns were killed by big penalties. They committed 11 in total, some of which wiped out big plays, for a total of 98 yards. The Browns lost the field position battle all day, and the penalties forced them into even tougher situations. The fumbles and penalties were self-inflicted wounds that could have been prevented.
The Worst: Run Defense/Tackling
The Browns bottom-ranked run defense allowed another huge chunk of rushing yards this week, as the Rams picked up 158 yards on the ground. St. Louis averaged 6.1 yards per carry, led by rookie running back Todd Gurley, who totaled 128 yards on 19 carries for an average of 6.7 yards. One of the main culprits of the poor run defense was tackling, or the lack thereof. Here is the play that illustrates this perfectly.
The first missed tackle came behind the line by linebacker Karlos Dansby. Gurley juked out Dansby and ran right through a few more arm tackles as he came through the hole. The final and perhaps worst tackling attempt came from Browns defensive lineman Xavier Cooper. He had a straight line to the ball carrier, but Gurley stiff armed Cooper swiping him away like a fly. He ran clean for 40 yards until he was run out of bounds.
The Browns run defense is sometimes too ugly to watch.
Highlight of the Game
Tight end Gary Barnidge is the highlight of the game this week. Barnidge has been the breakout star this season and Sunday was another good day for the tight end. He caught six passes for a team-high 101 yards. He has been the lifeline for quarterback Josh McCown. His receiving ability is both reliable and a source for highlights — he made another one this week. Barnidge was one of a few lone bright spots in a clunker of a game.
Lowlight of the Game
The lowlight of the game was the whole team. The Browns killed their opportunities with mental mistakes in the form of turnovers and penalties. The offense was unable to finish drives off with points, let alone touchdowns. The defense couldn’t stop the Rams run game that they had supposedly keyed in on in their gameplan. It was a total team defeat.