CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns know how to lose, which is neither a joke nor a criticism.
They got blown out in Week 1, a 32-point loss to Baltimore that’s the biggest loss in the league this season. They got blown out in Week 6, a 31-point loss to Pittsburgh that’s the second-biggest loss in the league this season. If the Browns called the Blowout Bounceback hotline Sunday, Kevin Stefanski would have answered.
“You can’t let it linger," the Browns first-year coach said after Sunday’s 38-7 throttling. "You learn from it and you move on. We’ll watch the tape tomorrow, we’ll have everybody in and we’ll watch it, what can we learn from it and then move on.
"I just think you can’t dwell on these things. The next one is coming.”
The problem is that the Browns have to play the Steelers against next week, and then the Ravens, and then a team made up of the best players from both the Steelers and Ravens. Oh, wait that’s wrong. They don’t play the best teams in their division every week.
After the first blowout, they won four in a row (over teams currently a combined 8-14-1), and they might win four in a row again with the Bengals, Raiders, Texans and Eagles (currently a combined 6-15-2) up next. You’ll hear and read a lot about a total 76-13 deficit against the Ravens and Steelers (combined record of 10-1) being a problem, to which I say, have you heard of the wild card?
Especially in this season, with an extra playoff spot in play, the Steelers and Ravens shouldn’t stop the Browns from reaching the postseason, whether the Browns beat them the second time around or lose by 60 next time. On our postgame podcast Sunday night, I felt like we fell into a debate around the style points of a potential 10-6 season, because I didn’t care about how many points the Browns lost by Sunday.
Every game is a result in the moment and a preview of the future, and all I know is that the first time the Browns got destroyed by a very talented, well-coached, experienced division foe, it didn’t tell us much about who the Browns really were. They weren’t as good as the Ravens. Now they’re not as good as the Steelers.
I can list the teams they are as good as, and that list is long. The Browns' problems in the back seven of the defense show up more against good quarterbacks, and that was true against Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Many weeks, it’s easier to get away with that.
Baker Mayfield’s troubles diagnosing defenses and striking the right balance of caution and aggression are spotlighted against smart, talented defenses like those of the Ravens and Steelers. Other weeks, especially when the run game is rolling, it’s easier to get away with that.
If the four-game winning streak led you to believe the Browns didn’t have faults, that was wrong. They’re talented and flawed. Mayfield has to stop throwing interceptions when he misreads the defense. That’s a problem that has to get solved. But the Browns may win while they’re solving it.
“In a season like this, you have to find ways to adjust,” Jarvis Landry said. “A lot of times, what is working you continue with until it’s not working. Then you find ways to make it better or adjust. That’s just the phase we’re in right now. We all have to go back, look at the film, be critical of ourselves and take this on the chin and move onto the next one. It’s still a long season. There are still a lot of games left.”
If you’re hung up on what the Browns do against the best teams in the AFC North, here’s a reminder -- they beat both the Ravens and Steelers the first time they played them last season. What exactly did those wins tell you about that team?
So they’ve lost to the Ravens and Steelers the first time around this time, and if in a month they’re 7-3 or 8-2, find me two Browns fans on social media who say “yeah, but they only beat bad teams” and I’ll conk their heads together like coconuts.
The issue isn’t the loss. It’s what comes next. You want a goal for the Browns this season? How about not losing consecutive games? They started 2-2 last year then lost four straight. In 2018 they were 2-2-1 and lost four straight. In 2014, they were 7-4 and lost five straight to end the year. In 2012, they lost their first five, lost their last three and went 5-3 in the middle.
Losses don’t ruin season. Losing streaks do.
“You don’t want to let it landslide," Mayfield said Sunday afternoon. "You don’t want to let one [loss] turn into two. We have to learn from these mistakes, learn from this and move forward. We have another division opponent on the road next week so we need to watch this film, learn and grow from it and move forward.”
There’s nothing to indicate that the Browns can hang with the Steelers and Ravens yet. But there’s also nothing to indicate that reality will weigh them down. Stefanski didn’t have a great day calling plays, but believe he’ll be better in a week. Mayfield’s last three halves are a problem, but believe the Cincinnati defense will help that. The frustration was real Sunday, but this isn’t a team ready to splinter. If two big losses exposed the Browns, they sure did a nice job of concealing things the other four games.
That’s figuring out how to win.
Getting trampled Sunday and getting over it? That’s knowing how to lose.
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