DETROIT — A strong first quarter turned into a nightmare for the Cleveland Browns on Sunday afternoon as they took on the Buffalo Bills in Detroit— highlighting the same ongoing issues that have plagued the team throughout the season in a failure to fix what's broken.
Among those issues, the special team unit, which has been anything but special all year.
On Sunday, reoccurring problems with kick and punt return coverage reared up with the Browns giving up 76 yards—one a 32 yarder—to kick returns and 37 to punt returns on two attempts. Meanwhile, punter Corey Bojorquez's slump that has seen weak punts in their latest stretch of games continued against the Bills. Bojorquez's long of 55 was his one decent punt of three attempts.
"They had some big plays on special teams that kind of went unnoticed but that kind of hurt us. If they get a turnover, we gotta stand up and make a big play. We didn’t have any turnovers to help our offense out. I think, between those three phases, we did not play well at all together," said safety JohnJohnson III.
As for kicker Cade York, his leg wasted in another game with the special teams unit sent out on the field to protect him. For the third time this season, York's field goal attempt was blocked in moment the Browns were desperate for points.
Week in and week out Browns special teams coordinator Mike Priefer breaks down in great detail the way he works to improve his unit, but with repetitive issues, there is a clear need for more drastic measures. Action will always speak louder than words, and with regression from Bojorquez and lackluster effort from his coverage unit, the action has been dead silent.
"Just miscommunication. I feel like a little bit of miscommunication between punter and gunners and stuff like that so just got to get on the same page. Returns, we got to just make tackles," said safety Ronnie Harrison Jr. after the loss. "I feel like we're right there every time, we just got to wrap the guy up and make a tackle. So we're close, just got to keep fighting."
The one special teams positive was Jerome Ford continuing to show that he might be what the Browns have been looking for in their return game.
While the special teams unit's deja vu efforts were problematic, there were reoccurring issues with the defense as well.
Now, the defense did a good job to start the game, holding the Bills to two field goals before the final two minutes of the first half. Then, the issues returned. The interior of the defensive line couldn't hold up against the run at multiple points of the game, with the Bills exploiting gaps and moving the chains with ease.
Safety Grant Delpit confessed that issue comes down to guys understanding their assignments, playing together and maintaining their gap integrity in order to prevent big chunk runs.
"In order to have trust you have to know what you're doing. You got to have faith in—you got to know what you're doing then the team has to feel that they know what they're doing. If you don't know what you're doing, it never works," Delpit said.
#Browns Grant Delpit on how to fix the trust in run game: "In order to have trust you have to know what you're doing." pic.twitter.com/GXaKMahXCZ
— Camryn Justice (@camijustice) November 20, 2022
On the edge, Myles Garrett had a sack but he and Clowney were being chipped consistently enough to give Bills quarterback Josh Allen plenty of time to get the ball out.
Still, there were positives Sunday from the defense, like the return of linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah who made his impact known early and continued making plays all over the field all day, notching 12 tackles—seven solo and one for loss.
"Everybody has to do their jobs. Being aggressive at the point of attack. Using what you know and stop thinking and go," Owusu-Koramoah said. "I had a few mistakes on that. Just got to go. If you know the play, if you feel the offensive line and you feel the tight ends moving, you got to go. And that's something I'm going to go back to the drawing board and I'm going to work on myself."
And on the offensive side of the ball, well things weren't great. A strong first quarter gave way to a rough three quarters to follow. The Browns offensive line, which was one of its strongest areas, a shell of itself again on Sunday. Yes, center Ethan Pocic went down with injury early in the first quarter and was replaced with third string backup Hjalte Froholdt, but even the tackles, Jedrick Wills Jr. and Jack Conklin struggled throughout the day.
Browns quarterback Jacoby Brissett under pressure throughout the game and dealing with low snaps from Froholdt was a recipe for disaster.
"Obviously losing Po on the first or second play of the game is not ideal. Hjalte came in and tried to battle his butt off to get in there. He hasn’t had that many snaps at center. If you look that’s probably our fourth or fifth center of the year. It was tough. But I think the guys fought. We never gave up," said guard Joel Bitonio.
As for the run game, the Browns attempted to keep it going but it wasn't it's normal will-imposing force fans have come to expect.
"We were talking on the sideline like we can be the Jets here, we can make a comeback, and we were pretty close. But wasn’t good enough early and we never truly got the run game going the way that we need to get it going," Bitonio said.
The positive from the offense? A strong outing from wide receiver Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones, who continued creating a connection with Brissett that on Sunday continue to shine.
“I think those guys came and played well. Obviously, making big plays. We obviously called on those two guys a lot. We knew we had an opportunity in their secondary to go after them. Those guys answered the call and made a lot of plays for us," said head coach Kevin Stefanski.
Unfortunately for this Browns team, the silver linings won't get them far. With a 3-7 record heading into a game against Tom Brady and the Buccaneers, a playoff appearance seems all but lost. Still, the Browns plan to not mail in the remaining games knowing that in this league, it's not over until it truly is over.
"Stranger things have happened. We could go and win seven straight, easily. We’ve just got to get that first win first. Get that first win first and then stack them up," said wide receiver Amari Cooper. "Play better. That’s the remedy right there. We play better, we win, you win, you get momentum, get confidence, start piling wins, it’s impossible to stack wins if you don’t get that first one."
Camryn Justice is a reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on Twitter @camijustice.
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