CLEVELAND, Ohio – I keep looking at these numbers: 364 yards passing and three touchdown passes.
Sounds like a blast from the past of Joe Flacco with the Browns in 2023.
Instead it was Shedeur Sanders, having the best rookie game of any Browns QB since Baker Mayfield in 2018.
Sanders delivered a powerhouse performance in his third NFL start. We also should add that he ran for a touchdown.
So suppose you knew Sunday morning that Sanders would lead the Browns to four touchdowns and they’d put 29 points on the scoreboard. All that was against Tennessee, the worst team in the NFL.
By the way … Tennessee entered the game averaging 15 points, the lowest in the NFL.
Even in Browns Town where strange things happen, it’s hard to imagine Sunday’s game vs. the 1-10 Titans.
A terrific performance from Sanders …
The offense scored 29 points, its second-best output of the season …
And the Browns still lost, 31-29.
Tennessee Titans linebacker James Williams Sr. blocks the punt attempt by Cleveland Browns punter Corey Bojorquez in the second half.John Kuntz, cleveland.comThis is discombobulated
The Browns lost because their special teams were a disaster … again.
This time, it was a blocked punt. I looked at the tape several times, along with my boss David Campbell. Two Browns blockers went after one Tennessee rusher.
Next to him was Tennessee’s James Williams. No one touched him as he roared after Corey Bojorquez’s punt. Williams was so close to Bojorquez that he blocked the punt with … get this … HIS STOMACH! Williams didn’t even need to jump or raise his hands … or anything.
That was a mess.
Just like how the Browns botched a pair of 2-point conversions, the second attempt something with running back Quinshon Judkins in the Wildcat. It appeared he was trying to lateral to Gage Larvadain …
Forget it.
I have no clue what they were supposed to do. The key players were Larvadain and Judkins. Both are rookies. They were asked to execute a rather complicated scenario near the end of a close game.
Was that a wise coaching move?
I’ll just quote late Cavs coach Lenny Wilkens, who sometimes said, “That was just discombobulated.”
Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski jogs off the field after a loss to the Tennessee Titans. John Kuntz, cleveland.comPeople are still watching
A few days before the Browns lost to Tennessee, Cleveland safety Grant Delpit said: “Not a lot of people (will be) watching this game. Keep it honest. It’s two teams that have … four combined wins overall. But we’re going to really see who loves this game. We’re going to see who loves football.”
But a lot of Browns fans were watching the game. They keep emailing me about it.
Many of them are angry, and that is understandable.
The special teams continue to collapse. The usually reliable defense fell apart, giving up 161 yards rushing and a pair of TDs to Tennessee’s Tony Pollard.
The offense was utterly inept and disorganized trying to convert on a pair of 2-point conversions.
It’s hard to define “discombobulated,” but you know it when you see it – such as several times in the Browns’ loss to Tennessee.
According to vocabulary.com: “Discombobulate is a fun, fancy word for ‘confuse.’ If something has put you in a state where you don’t know up from down and you can’t spell your own name, you may be discombobulated.”
Sounds like the Browns these days.