CLEVELAND — This was not the show I thought I'd be doing on Monday morning.
The Cleveland Browns were dismantled by the Tennessee Titans on Sunday in the 2019 season opener at FirstEnergy Stadium by the final score of 43-13. In many ways, the Browns were their own worst enemy, committing an absurd 18 penalties in the loss.
Since returning to the NFL in 1999, the Browns are now 1-19-1 in season openers. But, as the 'Voice of the Browns' Jim Donovan pointed out in the premiere episode of 'After Further Review,' an opening day loss can spiral out of control quickly.
"The scary thing is that 0-1 too many times becomes 0-3 in a hurry. Now you have a road game on Monday night in New York. The history says, at least for this team, 0-1 becomes 0-3 very quickly. And you see those stats that show teams that start 0-2 or 0-3 almost have no chance at any kind of postseason possibility." Jimmy told me.
The other scary thing, Jimmy adds, is that if the Browns really do have an offensive line problem, it's hard to find an answer right now. And Baker Mayfield is not going to stay healthy if that offensive line is a problem.
Among the other topics that Jimmy and I hit on during our conversation:
- The penalties. Ugh.
- Why did the Browns seem to blitz so much?
- Yes the offensive line struggled, but did Baker Mayfield hold on to the football too long?
- One of the problems that Sunday's offensive line struggles illustrated was the fact that former 2nd round pick Austin Corbett wasn't even active.
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Watch After Further Review in the player above