CLEVELAND, Ohio — Close your eyes and inhale through your nostrils, Cleveland. Hold the breath for three counts, exhale through the mouth, and say your affirmations:
One game can’t ruin a season. September is the least consequential month football. Good teams suffer bad losses all the time, and they still manage great seasons.
Feel better yet? Me neither. The Browns lost 21-15 on Sunday to the previously winless New York Giants at Huntington Bank Field. And this time, I refuse to heed the level-headed coach-isms that losing teams preach after games like this.
One game? Try two ugly home losses in three weeks. Too early to panic? Only if you believe September’s games don’t count in the standings. Good teams lose to bad teams? Sometimes, yeah. But when the symptoms of a loss read like Sunday’s, we football doctors have a right to wonder whether our patient is healthy.
Start with the obvious (and the most concerning) red flag: Cleveland’s offensive line surrendered eight sacks Sunday, which is two more than New York managed through two weeks combined (six). Some occurred after All-Pro guard Wyatt Teller and former first-round pick Jedrick Wills Jr. left the game with respective knee injuries, but plenty occurred before. Frankly, few (if any) blocking combinations have inspired confidence in Cleveland’s pass protection or run game through three weeks. And particularly if Teller or Wills miss extended time, I don’t see many reasons to project faith going forward, unless you count “needing more time to gel.”
Maybe fans weren’t overreacting to former offensive line coach Bill Callahan’s departure to Tennessee this offseason.
Then examine the defense that calls itself the best in the world. Jim Schwartz teaches his unit to play with swagger and celebration, but Cleveland left no room for either after allowing 21 points in the first half to a middling quarterback (Daniel Jones), throwing to a rookie wide receiver (Malik Nabers) in an offense that scored 24 points total through two weeks.
Make it twice in three weeks now that Schwartz’s defense, which did rank best in several key categories last season, has looked unprepared and/or outfoxed to start a game. The Cowboys hung 20 points before halftime during Week 1′s 33-17 loss. The Giants hung 21 on Sunday. Both meltdowns happened at home, where Cleveland allowed just 13.8 points per game to opponents last season.
Maybe Cleveland fans had valid concerns about their defense after last postseason’s 45-14 loss to the Texans.
Or maybe we’re still overthinking this. If Browns fans listen to Cleveland’s coaches after Sunday’s loss, they’ll be reminded that one bad result does not make a bad team. If Cleveland stares at its calendars long enough, they can convince themselves that plenty of time still remains to fix the issues ailing their Browns. If we all do our breathing and say the affirmations, we might still believe that everything will be OK.
Feel better yet? Me neither. One game can’t ruin a season. One month can’t portray a season (particularly if that month is September). And good teams suffer ugly losses all the time.
But this one made Browns fans sick. And the symptoms appear to have staying power.
