The Cleveland Browns, led by Kevin Stefanski and Jim Schwartz, concluded a remarkable season with a humiliating playoff loss to the Houston Texans. The magical carriage finally turned back into the big, orange pumpkin that we all learned to love.
The clock didn’t strike midnight until the second half when Joe Flacco threw two pick-sixes on back-to-back drives. The first interception was a misfire when he attempted to whip the ball out of bounds before his legs, and the power they generated, were taken out. The second interception was a forced error on fourth and two.
The Browns’ offense couldn’t overcome spotting the Texans 14 points and slid further behind as they tried to catch up. Flacco had been playing very well up to that point. The team’s failures happened as a collective. There’s no singular player to blame; even the players who performed well had costly mistakes.
Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah played every snap on defense for the first time in his career. He made many plays around the ball. However, he failed to contain the edge on Devin Singletary’s 19-yard touchdown run that iced the game.
The team had a meltdown. In the final studs and duds, there are only “duds,” starting with the coaching staff who failed to put the players in positions to succeed.
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