CLEVELAND — The headline sums up the Browns' Week 6 home loss to the Arizona Cardinals. It feels like it could also sum up the Browns' 2021 season, which is now leaking optimism and hope like an over-taxed dam.
You hope it holds and saves the day, but with each new injury to a premiere player it begins to feel overwhelming, like it’s just too much to overcome. The images of Kareem Hunt being carried off the field felt like the dam breaking.
How is this happening, so many key players missing large and critical chunks of time? Well, it is football, and that's a big part of it. You hope you can stay healthy, but hope appears to have left town, and now at 3-3 and a short week to prepare for the Denver Broncos upon us, the Browns are officially at a critical crossroads of the 2021 season.
For starters, let’s not mistake it: The Cardinals are the better team. They had key losses to deal with coming in, too, like no head coach and no Chandler Jones due to COVID. Yet they went on the road and overcame the obstacles. That's what great teams do, and there's a reason the Cardinals are now 6-0.
The Browns seem to turtle in the face of mounting injuries and obstacles. One week, it's a depleted secondary. The next, the offensive line is patchwork. Skill player losses have been an issue every week.
That forces a team to maintain a laser focus. They know going in the scales are tipped and there is no room for error. Anywhere.
Yet when things start going south early, the mistakes are often compounded by other mistakes. Leaving points on the field is becoming a growing concern. Enough with the fourth-down tries. This isn't Madden; it’s real, and the misses have consequences. When points are there, take them.
The Browns are now 5 for 11 on fourth-down attempts this season. Each time you go for it and miss, you're gifting opponents momentum and the football. Fourth-and-inches? Okay. Sometimes the scoreboard dictates you go for it. First possession of the game? Take the points.
Turnovers are death in the NFL. Plus-minus ratio is usually the most telling statistic in the game. Give it up once, you have to be very good in other phases to win. Give it up twice, you better be taking the ball away, too. Give it up three times, and you have a very slim chance of winning in the NFL.
The Cardinals are second in the NFL in turnover margin at +8. They are 6-0. The Browns are now -3, and sit at 3-3.
And of course, penalties will undo a team regardless of when they happen, but when they continually happen on critical plays, the collective mountain becomes too much to climb. The Browns were penalized nine times for 88 yards, and though some of the penalties (like the fourth-quarter phantom roughing the passer penalty called on Malik Jackson) were all-time bad, there were too many others that were obvious, and they will punish you every time.
If the Browns didn't already know it, Nick Chubb is this team's unquestionable MVP. Coming into Week 6, Cleveland was No. 1 in the NFL not just in rushing offense, but other offensive categories as well. Take Chubb out of the mix, and the run threat was virtually non-existent: Just 73 yards on 19 tries. Ask Baker to do too much, and you'll get what we saw in the 37-14 loss.
This team is good enough to beat bad teams; this team is good enough to beat mediocre teams. But that gets you 8 wins a year. Before you turn the corner to double digit wins, you must be able to beat some of the elite teams. This Browns team has proven they can do that; they have not proven they can do that more often than not, and that will always keep you from going where you ultimately want to go.
The Browns are 3-3 with a third of the season in the books. They've had far more things go against them than for them: Mounting injuries, bad penalties and bad bounces. Remember, though: Over 17 games, things tend to even out.
The Browns are due to get some breaks. They'll need them if they want to make 2021 the season they thought and hoped it would be.