BEREA, Ohio — The Cleveland Browns played their third preseason game without several key pieces of the offense when Pro Bowl wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry joined starting running back Nick Chubb on the sidelines for Friday night’s matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
But their absences in a 13-12 Browns loss to the Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida will “not at all” be used as an excuse for the dropped passes, incorrect routes and stalled possessions.
“Those guys are coached to execute,” Browns coach Freddie Kitchens said of those who did play Friday. “Those guys are coached to do their job and we didn’t do a very good job of preparing those guys to do a good job, and they didn’t do a good job of doing their job.
“We’ll look at the film and see what it was, but I know the execution wasn’t there and it had been before. Those guys had played in other previous games and they’ve performed in practice and they’re expected to perform. Whoever’s out there, they’re expected to perform. We don’t care who it is.”
And if there is any excuse-making going on in the locker room, those players might just have to deal with Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield.
“I think that excuse has been used enough in our offensive meeting room, and that’s something I’m going to hammer home,” Mayfield said following the loss.
“That’s a very easy one to use, to say, ‘We don’t have Jarvis and Odell out there,’ but right now, we’re looking for people to step up. Who’s going to be that consistent No. 3 and 4? That’s the frustrating part. We expect people to do their job, no matter who it is.”
The Browns struggled to extend drives despite most of the first-team offense playing the whole first half against the Buccaneers.
Mayfield completed just 10 of his 26 attempts for 72 yards and an interception on his final throw of the first half against the Buccaneers while taking one sack for eight lost yards and being flushed out of the pocket on many of his passes.
Along with going 0 for 4 in red zone trips, the Browns converted just 12 first downs, including four from penalties, and went two for 14 on third down. Conversely, thanks to a strong second-half effort, the Buccaneers went nine of 19 on third down.
“Hopefully, we don’t have to do too much of that offensively,” Kitchens said. “You just try to educate them. You try to make them realize that anybody that is creating that noise is not going to have an impact on our season for the good or the bad because it doesn’t matter. They are not sitting in the meeting rooms. They are not walking between the white lines.
“Everything [the players] do does matter. Anything outside of what they are supposed to be doing at the current time, if they let that inside in any way, it is a detriment to our team. You just try to educate them and talk to them about it, and I have been talking to them about it since the spring. I think our guys will do a good job of understanding what is important, understanding what doesn’t matter, and then, just playing their best.”