BEREA, Ohio — Currently in the midst of a three-game losing streak, the Cleveland Browns' struggles have been obvious.
And according to one of the team's key players, it's the off-field preparation -- or lack thereof -- that has contributed to the state of the on-field product.
"It's a commitment thing," safety John Johnson III told reporters on Wednesday. "When practice is over, you can't just run out of the building and forget about your job. We need everyone is this building to be 100 percent in on the task at hand. Right now, I think we're at a place where that's not the case."
Johnson's comments come just days after the Browns suffered a 38-15 loss to the New England Patriots at FirstEnergy Stadium on Sunday. The loss -- Cleveland's third in as many weeks -- dropped the Browns to 2-4 heading into an especially brutal stretch of their schedule, which begins on Sunday when they face the Baltimore Ravens on the road.
To this point, Cleveland's season has largely been defined by defensive breakdowns, particularly in the team's secondary. Asked about Johnson's comments, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski admitted that the team is working with its younger players to address those concerns.
“I have talked to John, I have talked to the leadership group and talked to a lot of the young players. You do want these guys to take their jobs seriously," Stefanski said. "This is a job at the end of the day, and you have to spend time with it when you are in the building and you have to spend time away from the building. There are young players of course that you are trying to teach them how to be a pro.
"Until you teach them, there are some guys who don’t know. Like most teams, you have young players that you are bringing along, but I think the guys do a good job of pouring everything they have into these weeks. We fill up their day. We fill it up with whether it is meetings, walkthroughs, practice, lifting, rehab and those type of things, but there is also an element of this job that you do stay committed to it outside of this building.”
The good news for Cleveland is that despite its sluggish start, Cleveland remains just one game back in the AFC North, with five of its six division matchups still ahead. Johnson noted that if the Browns can win each of their next two matchups against the Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals, they'll be in first place of the AFC North -- although at this point, that is something that is certainly something that is easier said than done.
"We have two games coming up division games. I think if we win both, we will be in first place," Johnson said. "As bad as we are playing, that is the big picture, and that is what we are trying to focus on.”