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CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Browns were defeated pretty badly Saturday evening, 45-14, by the Texans in the AFC wild card round.
This caps off Cleveland’s 2023 season for good … but that’s just the scoreboard.
Here are the real winners and losers from the game:
Loser: Silver Platter Turnovers
The “season of giving” already passed, but the Browns must not have received the memo.
We knew the Browns were in rare territory going into the postseason. An 11-win team tying for the AFC’s second-best record while leading regular season in total turnovers (37), and ranking first in interceptions (23).
Everyone waited to see how much longer this offense could get ‘er done with the high turnover rate. But history showed this bad habit was here to stay, no matter how long their season extended. That habit came back to bite, very hard, at at a bad time.
With the Browns defense finally showing a pulse and forcing a Houston punt to start the second half, the offense was making strides. Three passing first downs were gained through seven plays, including David Bell rising high for the 16-yarder to push the offense past the logo.
But then Joe Flacco tried to force deep pass while being nearly sacked, a pass that was short and fell into the hands of Houston’s Steven Nelson, who took it back for 82 yards.
Alright, it’s OK, erase that and onto the next one. Right?
Wrong. The fourth play of the next series was a fourth-and-2, and an easy read for Houston’s Christian Harris as Harrison Bryant was sent on the quick tight end out route. Harris read it, caught it, and took it the other way for 36 yards.
The game was over right then and there.
Flacco’s been an awesome comeback story for the league, but the cons of his gunslinger mentality were building up since his arrival. His 13 touchdowns through five regular season games looks good on paper, until you add in the eight interceptions thrown.
Nothing was different in Houston. His veteran experience did not appear in those moments, instead he slinged like there was no tomorrow. A ‘YOLO’ attitude one may add, for he just couldn’t go down with the ball.
During the game, a graphic on the TV broadcast depicted the Browns as the first team in 20 years to make the playoffs while leading the league in turnovers. The last team to accomplish this feat?
The 2003 St. Louis Rams, who led the league in turnovers (39) while ranking second in interceptions (23) and fifth in fumbles (16).
Their season ended at the hands of Carolina in a 29-23 overtime divisional round loss. In that game, quarterback Marc Bulger finished with 332 yards and three interceptions, two of which came in the fourth quarter, and a pivotal one toward the end of overtime.
Time for the team to turnover back to Cleveland.
Winner: C.J. Stroud’s playoff debut
Browns fans were too familiar with Stroud’s game, watching him dominate in Columbus for two seasons before taking his talents to the big leagues.
So it was understandably difficult to watch Stroud dominate like a veteran Saturday evening.
Houston’s got a star in the making, a stud that Jim Schwartz and his defense didn’t have an answer for. He approached the matchup like a veteran, and dominated Cleveland’s defense in a fashion we haven’t witnessed this season.
Stroud’s patience allowed Brevin Jordan’s tight end screen to set up perfectly, as he invited Cleveland’s Jeremiah Owusu-Kormoah and Ogbo Okoronkwo to apply pressure, allowing Jordan to take it downfield for 76 yards.
Houston’s offensive line deserves credit as well for keeping Stroud untouched, especially when Stroud had all the time in the world to find Dalton Schultz off the play action for 37 yards towards the end of the first half.
Stroud completed 76.2% of his passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns. The crazy part is all three touchdowns, and 236 of his passing yards, were thrown in the first half alone.
His three touchdown passes tied the rookie record for most in a playoff game, with Washington’s Sammy Baugh (1937), Dallas’ Dak Prescott (2016), and San Francisco’s Brock Purdy (2022).
Winner: Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah
It’s hard to come up with a winner from the Browns’ side the way their season ended, but there was one shining light in Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.
It seemed as though he was the only one who showed up defensively, recording seven of his team-high nine tackles in the first half alone.
The third-year linebacker had a heck of a first season in Schwartz’s defensive scheme, a system which allows the linebackers in place to showcase their tackling ability.
He finished the regular season with a team-high and career-high 101 tackles, according to Pro Football Focus data. Among linebackers, he finished tied 20th in overall PFF defensive grade (75.2) and fifth in pass rush grade (84.1).
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Loser: Defensive let down
The Browns defense let the team down when it mattered most.
The Texans offense wouldn’t be stopped. Period. And Saturday’s massacre served an important reminder: the regular season and playoffs are not the same.
Regular season wise? Dominance.
The Browns defense finished first in fewest yards allowed per game (270.2), the fewest since the 2014 Seahawks (267.1); first in fewest passing yards allowed per game (164.7), the fewest since the 1977 Browns; and first in fewest first downs allowed (253), finishing with six more than the 2010 Chargers (247).
Houston Texans tight end Dalton Schultz hauls in a touchdown catch chased by Cleveland Browns safety Ronnie Hickman in the first half. Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com
But if you can’t translate that to the postseason, who cares?
Nothing is to be taken away from the performances this unit gave us this season. They bottled up some of the league’s premier quarterbacks and showed they were for real.
Then again, it looks worse as they were repeatedly compared to some of the best defenses the league had ever seen; the 1972 Dolphins, the 1986 Giants, the 2000 Ravens, the list continues.
The difference is those defenses translated their dominance into the playoffs.
They got a break with only having to deal with backup Case Keenum in Week 16, as Stroud sat out recovering from a concussion.
But Stroud made up for that Saturday evening.
Winner: Houston’s Big Payback
The Texans were ready to win.
You can’t hand a beatdown the way the Browns did in Week 16 and think they’d easily replicate that.
But head coach DeMeco Ryans made sure they remembered that feeling of a 38-year-old Flacco throwing for 368 yards, Amari Cooper setting a franchise record in receiving yards, and the score being 36-7 at one point.
Instead, that team is the epitome of a youth movement and swept the field with Cleveland when it mattered most.
The Texans made Flacco a shell of himself with four sacks and back-to-back pick-sixes. They also kept Stroud untouched as he played flawlessly on his way to placing his name in the record books. But most importantly, they gave the Browns a taste of their own medicine.
And to think this was the same team analysts predicted to finish far below .500 while officially starting their franchise rebuild.
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