Game Management 101

 

It looked like the Browns were going to pull off one of their more impressive road wins in a long time, but then the team did what they do best, and gave the game away on an interception on a questionable play call.  Don't get me wrong, I think the coaching staff did a remarkable job to even be in the position to win.  The Browns are a team with a scrap heap QB, missing their best offensive player, and almost won the game thanks to an inspired game plan and scrappy defense.  The game just went a little too long.  I always get the feeling that Stefanski and Co put in the work to come up with a group of plays that they have a strong suspicion will work against their opponent.  It just seems like they wildly underestimate how many of those that they will need.  It's like if they need 50 plays, they come up with 40 and say, "We'll figure out what will work as we go." but then they don't.  They are standing around in the 4th quarter with eight minutes left saying things like "I'm out of plays on my sheet.  You guys have any left?  Ah fuck.  OK, let's just throw it down the middle of the field and see what happens.".

Like you, I was sitting there watching that third and 3 and their own 41 yard line with 2:04 left thinking, "they will probably run the ball with Hunt".  Now, ideally they would have not called a time out at 2:04 to stop the clock.  They would have then called a run, and either A) gotten the first down to likely ice the game or B) forced Seattle to use their timeout and punted them back to deep in their own end of the field.  Seattle had not been able to  move the ball since the first quarter, so to me it made more sense to do that then have PJ Walker somehow ricochet a pass of a dude's helmet.  I trust the defense more than Walker.  Wouldn't you?  This would be the time where someone from the Browns organization would quickly tell me that Kevin Stefanski went to Penn, therefore is the smartest guy in the room.  I'll tell you this, Andy Reid went to Glendale Community College, and he wouldn't be so shit stupid to put the game in the hands of PJ Walker as opposed to his defense.  No sir, the Glendale Community College Vaqueros do not educate fools.

Stefanski really struggles with game management.  It just seems to get away from him.  If you were on a road trip with him, he's the guy that doesn't gas up at the truck stop exit insisting "we can make it to the next exit".  He's also the same sad sack of shit you see walking down the highway with a plastic gas can saying things like "obviously with running out of gas, with the outcome, you’re always thinking what can you do differently. I had options there. Certainly you could have gassed up and certainly you can drive to the next exit, but walking here on the highway in the rain with this gas can, that is tough.". 

I don't know.  It's difficult to be bitter about losing this game.  This team isn't that good.  What are you going to do?  It's a .500 team.  You can't win close games without a QB.  The Watson gamble was a bust, and for the next half decade Browns fans are going to watch whatever version of PJ Walker the team can afford not make big plays late.  They won't be able to pay all the defensive players next season with Watson's contract chewing up $60M+, so this version of the Browns is as good as the team is going to be for the foreseeable future.  The Browns are headed into the discount bin where they will try to see if they can squeeze a few games out of discards like PJ Walker/Chase Daniels/Jason Stidham ruminating in the Good Old Days when they had Jacoby Brissett.  They won't even be able to afford guys like Mitch Tribisky and one-legged Kirt Cousins.  They are really fucked.  It's either they play disengaged shitty Deshaun Watson or Walker.  At least Walker wants to be here and the other players seem to like him.  Watson spent another Sunday standing around by himself while the rest of the offense gathered around Walker figuring out how to try and win.  Even Amari Cooper seems to like Walker, and as far as I can tell Cooper hasn't interacted with anyone since 2019.  Maybe just tell Watson he doesn't have to come to the games anymore and let him go buy suits and necklaces on Sunday, clearly where his interest lie.  He can make social media posts when he gets a good deal on a vest and do that  #MoreGLORY thing he seems to think is a good idea. 

This is the point in the season where reality sets in.  The Browns have two likely outcomes.  They can steal a couple games they shouldn't have won, and maybe slide into the playoffs to lose to someone that is actually good.  The more realistic expectation is that they plod along and lose to most of the good teams, lose a game they should have won, and finish 8-9.  Watson continues to be a distraction.  The team tries to figure out how to get rid of him, but they can't.  All the good front office people look to parachute out of here.  Stefanski could get fired if they go 7-10, but in reality this might be his best coaching job since he started.  It's all looking fairly Brownsy with a forecast of big brown clouds.

Go Browns.