CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns tried to catch the Baltimore Ravens off-guard late in the first half of their AFC North Division game at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland Sunday, but a lack of execution turned a trick play into a negative one very quickly.
On third-and-one from the Cleveland 28-yard line, Browns coach Freddie Kitchens called for a halfback pass, but as soon as running back Kareem Hunt caught the toss from quarterback Baker Mayfield, he was swarmed by Baltimore’s defense and took a seven-yard loss in the second quarter of a 31-15 Ravens win.
“That is a shot you either look like an expert or you look like a goat, and I looked like a goat,” Kitchens said. “We took a shot. I wanted to remain aggressive during the whole game, and that is one of those things that did not work.”
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The offensive issues did not stop there.
The Browns had 78 seconds and two timeouts to move the ball downfield and into the end zone against the Ravens late in the second quarter, but instead of retaking the lead, momentum turned in favor of the visiting team.
Instead of keeping the ball on the ground and running out the clock, Kitchens called three straight pass plays, all of which resulted in incompletions for Mayfield, as he was off the mark with throws to wide receivers Damion Ratley and Jarvis Landry.
After the incompletions and a 50-yard punt from Jamie Gillan, the Ravens capped off a 75-yard drive with a touchdown and took a 14-6 lead into halftime.
“I wish that I could have back right before the half,” Kitchens said. “I think that put us behind the eight ball a little bit, and we were not able to recover. I would like to have total confidence in our players to execute. Give Baltimore credit, they made the plays right there and we did not get the clock started.
“When it got to third down, I should have started the clock. I should have ran the ball and just started the clock, but I had the confidence that it was an easy completion, and they made a good play getting their hands up.”
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As has been the case many times during the 2019 season, the Browns learned another hard lesson about inconsistent performances and they recognize the need to improve, even though Sunday’s loss to Baltimore eliminated them from postseason contention for the 17th consecutive year.
“This is a result-oriented business and you are only judged off the results a lot of times, but I do feel like we made progress,” Kitchens said. “We have done enough things to learn from our mistakes moving forward -- offensively, defensively, special teams, coaching, playing and everything.
“We have been in some situations during the course of the year that our guys have not ever been in. I think we can grab a hold of that and get better from that moving forward, and the next time we are in some of these situations, we will be better.”