CLEVELAND, Ohio — Browns wide receiver Jerry Jeudy didn’t have many answers for what happened on Sunday in a 17-16 loss to the Bengals. How many times, he said, does a simple deflected pass turn into an interception?
“It happened twice,” he said. “It’s unfortunate. When do people catch picks like that twice, the same way like that? Unfortunate. It’s football, but it happens.”
One of the interceptions went off Jeudy’s hands, a low, wide throw from quarterback Joe Flacco in the third quarter that Jeudy dove to try to catch. It deflected off his hands and landed in the hands of Bengals safety Jordan Battle.
“No matter where the ball’s at, if it touches your hands, you’ve got to make that play,” Jeudy said.
The second interception was a much more blatant drop by wide receiver Cedric Tillman that ended up in the arms of Bengals cornerback DJ Turner II.
“Next time the opportunity comes,” Tillman said, “I will make the play.”
Then, of course, there were the missed kicks. The Browns handed the kicking job to Andre Szmyt after moving on from Dustin Hopkins, turning to a kicker who had never kicked in a real game until today. That decision bit them with an extra point and field goal both sent wide right.
“I expect better of myself,” Szmyt said.
All of it added up to the Browns losing for the ninth time in their last 10 games.
There was no solace to be found in a game in which the defense allowed seven second-half yards — a game the Browns might have won if they had a normal kicking situation.
Could there at least be a moral victory to be found here?
“We don’t hang our hat on nothing about losing,” Jeudy said. “We lost. So we have to find a way to finish, find a way to win. If you don’t got the ‘W,’ it really doesn’t matter.”
For Tillman, he had to wear that game-sealing drop-turned-INT, but he did catch five passes for 52 yards and a touchdown.
Maybe you’re looking for more from your No. 2 receiver, but it probably should have been enough on Sunday.
It doesn’t really matter, though, does it?
“Frustrated,” Tillman said. “0-1, sick of losing.”
The Browns simply can’t get out of their own way.
Would things have been different if the Browns had created a more aggressive kicking competition after Dustin Hopkins collapsed last season? What if there was a more robust competition for the No. 2 receiver job, someone to really push Tillman?
Maybe things are different; maybe not. But roster decisions have consequences.
What if they had been able to run the ball more effectively after drafting two running backs in the draft in April? At least they finally got Quinshon Judkins under contract on Saturday and Dylan Sampson looked promising as a pass-catching back — but running will only get harder against better defenses than they faced on Sunday.
All of these questions are just part of a bigger one: How much longer will everyone be sick of losing?
“If you were a member of the team last year, I hope you’re sick of losing,” left guard Joel Bitonio said. “And we have to work. You can’t just say, like, we’re tired of it. We have to go out there and get better and figure this thing out.”
That’s the rub, of course. Every loss in the NFL brings the same chorus of watching the tape, putting this loss behind them and getting better next week.
The Browns have been unable to get out of a rut that started early last season. They handed the keys of the offense back to Kevin Stefanski, brought back Joe Flacco and convinced Myles Garrett to stick around after he spent Super Bowl week trying to talk his way out of Cleveland and things still didn’t go their way to start this season.
It’s a little bit of everything. Costly mistakes. Lack of playmaking. A roster with clear deficiencies. Bad luck.
“I felt like we did a lot of good things, but we also did a lot of things that get you beat,” Flacco said. “We just felt we kind of played like an inexperienced team a little bit today.”
Two interceptions off receivers’ arms. Two missed kicks. Dropped passes in key moments.
This is the price you pay when you leave yourself so thin across the board and give yourself so few answers. Mistakes kill even the best teams, but they especially kill the Browns.
For it to happen on a day when much of what they’re built to do went well — long, clock-eating drives and dominant defensive play — shows just how thin the margins are for this team in a league where margins are thin to begin with.
There are no must-wins in the NFL in September, but the Browns, after Sunday’s performance, start with their backs against the wall. We’ll spare you the schedule game, but let’s just say it doesn’t get easier.
The Bengals escaped with a win on Sunday but their fans should be worried about a defense that needed help in the form of drops to get off the field. This might be the shakiest team the Browns face in the first month of the season.
They play the Ravens next week and a stout Packers defense the week after. The margins will be even thinner in those games.
Still, there were positives Sunday. There’s potential for growth, especially if the defense we saw in the second half is real.
“Just (expletive) happens,” Jeudy said.
Browns fans can be forgiven if Sunday’s loss felt like the same old … well, it happens. A lot.
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