BEREA, Ohio — It was a play so bad, that it was practically sacrilege to the football higher powers according to Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.
With 58 seconds left in the game and the Browns trailing the Jets 27-20, Cleveland DE Cam Thomas jumped offside on fourth-and-5 to give the Jets a first down and prevent the Browns from having a chance to win or tie the game.
“Cardinal sin in four-minute, really embarrassing play for us,” Schwartz said on Thursday.
Everyone watching the game knew there was no chance of Justin Fields throwing the football. The only incentive for the Jets in that situation was to try and get the Browns to jump offsides, and they succeeded.
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski, who had yelled to his defense not to move, couldn’t believe his eyes, and on the broadcast, appeared to mouth “Oh my God,” on the sideline.
Fields went on to kneel the clock out for the final two plays of the game, giving 2-7 New York its second straight win and sending the 2-7 Browns home reeling.
Maybe the most disappointing aspect of the fourth down miscue was that Schwartz thought Thomas had a nice game prior to that one big lapse.
“The thing that sort of, yeah, I’m disappointed with Cam is that he played a really good game other than that,” Schwartz continued. “But that one play defines his game as opposed to his pressures, his run defense, he got a sack, did a lot of good things in the game, but that’s just the way this game goes and that’s the spotlight we all live under and we have to do better.”
Thomas’ big blunder wasn’t the only one Schwartz singled out on Thursday.
Another was four snaps earlier, when linebacker Devin Bush was called for a holding penalty on third-and-16 after Denzel Ward was credited with a sack of Fields.
The flag gave the Jets a fresh set of downs, and was again just poor situational awareness.
“We get a holding penalty on third-and-extra-long when they’re just trying to keep the clock running,” Schwartz said.
The other mistake came at the start of the fourth quarter, when the defense allowed a 42-yard score by Jets running back Breece Hall on a screen pass.
On that play, Schwartz said he gave the unit a more aggressive call as the game was tied 17-17, and they were trying to keep the Jets out of field goal range.
But thanks to one hard (and somewhat questionable) block on Carson Schwesinger that knocked his helmet off and took the rookie linebacker out of the play, the Jets were able to take advantage for the score.
“It’s a tight game, we were behind the eight ball early in the game and we’re trying to keep them out of field goal range,” Schwartz said. “So, you’re aggressive and you’re blitzing, and they get one block and all of a sudden they can score a touchdown. You know, even though when you look at a lot of the stats and things like that look good, it wasn’t enough for a win.
“And if we either make a play here, or don’t commit a penalty or just make a mistake, then maybe we have a better chance to win that game. But there were a lot of things that we’re proud of with the game, but we’re never proud of the loss.”
And for Schwartz, it hearkens back to one of his favorite phrases about the NFL: “That’s just life in the big city.”
Mistakes are bound to happen at this level, but for him and his unit, it’s all about how they move on, even when they’re under a microscope.
“I’ve made mistakes in games where you do something, make a bad call or something like that,” Schwartz said. “It’s not as evident as that. I mean I think if you look across that game, I’m sure dozens of people on both sides made mistakes and plays that they’re not proud of.
“The thing is, when you make it in that situation, it’s magnified and that’s the spotlight that players live under. That’s the spotlight that coaches live under. I think you have to learn from it, you have to flush it and you have to be able to move on.”
Those kinds of breakdowns are still, in Schwartz’s words, “really embarrassing.”
But more than anything, it was another reminder that in the NFL, the smallest lapse can undo an afternoon’s worth of good work.
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