For the second straight year, the Cleveland Browns have started 0-9. While many fans expected this team to still be bad, I’m not sure many expected this. The Browns are staring down the barrel of an 0-16 season, and that’s for the second year in a row. As always, this game was a learning experience for these young Browns and the coaching staff. So, what have the Browns (hopefully) learned from this one? These are our week 10 Cleveland Browns takeaways.
Week 10 Cleveland Browns Takeaways
Kizer’s Best Game
Despite the hard loss, DeShone Kizer played at least relatively well. Passing for over 230 yards on the game, Kizer looked the part of a franchise quarterback for the Browns. Sure, he did throw an interception that sealed the game for the Detroit Lions. However, it is very, very easy not to blame the quarterback for that one. Ricardo Louis gave up on the play in absolutely awful fashion; that one was not Kizer’s fault. In fact, it seems even Kizer realized this, as he chewed out Louis on the sidelines for giving up on his pass.
What’s not being talked about nearly enough here is Kizer’s running game. The rookie had eight rushes for nearly 60 yards, and that became a major factor. It might be hard to see Kizer having a great game, even in a loss, but both the numbers and eye test prove that to be true. At times, his weapons just let him down.
Hot Start, Can’t Finish
In the first quarter of this game, the Browns looked better than decent. In fact, they looked pretty great for a while. They jumped out to a 10-0 lead very quickly, and were looking poised to win the game. However, two plays were able to single-handedly turn the tides of this football game. First off was the injury to linebacker Jamie Collins.
Collins’s injury immediately changed the defense. Rather than shutting down Matthew Stafford and the rest of his squad, the Browns surrendered runs up the middle like they were going out of style. Ameer Abdullah and Theo Riddick immediately took advantage; even Stafford got in on the running action. Another play that changed this game was the injury to Kizer which brought in…Cody Kessler.
It’s so weird to think that at one time, Kessler was the incumbent quarterback on this team. Then, it was Brock Osweiler, before Hue Jackson finally settled on Kizer. Those were rough times. And when Kizer got knocked out with a rib injury late in the third quarter, the rough times returned. Kessler came in for only seven plays, and collected negative eleven yards. Kizer did come back in, but the Lions had already overtaken all of Cleveland’s momentum. The Browns would never get it back.
The Dynamic Duo
Let’s end on a positive. Myles Garrett, when paired with Emmanuel Ogbah, for an entire game, is a dominant force. On the first play, Garrett and Ogbah closed the pocket on Stafford and crunched him for a sack. Although Garrett himself did not collect a sack during this game, he had multiple pressures on Stafford.
One thing is clear: this defensive line is young, hungry, and stupidly athletic. With those two on either side of him, Danny Shelton can be a downright force in the middle. You cannot ignore this Browns defensive line for very long. They’re coming, NFL quarterbacks. And they are your worst nightmare.
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