2019 Regular Season
Week 1: Cleveland at Baltimore
Deion Brock and Baltimore’s QB Brent Shimada gunsling back and forth, but it’s Shimada’s 4th TD of the day that puts them up to win it, 30-27. Not a terrible start, but we are in the hole.
Week 2: Cleveland (0-1) at San Francisco
We play a lot tighter this week, and get a 12-9 OT win at the Niners. No turnovers, but our offense was suddenly pathetic.
Week 3: Kansas City (2-0) at Cleveland (1-1)
I fully expect KC to be a major player this year. We put a hurt on them, though, with a solid 26-9 win. Gus Stewart is very solid with 128 yards rushing, and we get things back on the right foot, I think.
Week 4: Cleveland (2-1) at Buffalo (3-0)
We suffer another 30-27 loss on the road, this time to a late field goal. We didn’t really get torched this week (like Baltimore) but jut outplayed in a pretty even game. Deion Brock is playing through a minor injury – but h ought to be okay.
Week 5: Pittsburgh (0-4) at Cleveland (2-2)
Just what we needed – a good rag doll to tear up. Turns out, we need overtime to get the 30-27 win (familiar?) over the seemingly outgunned Steelers. Not a good sign.
DE Seth Hartman is finished for this year – he turned out to be just what we feared, a quality player who just cannot stay healthy. This year ends his contract, and I can’t imagine we will bring him back for a few games each season. Ah, what could have been.
Week 6: Miami (1-4) at Cleveland (3-2)
Ought to be easy, but after last week, nothing is certain. Our offense is downright shaky, and we get one of our two TDs off an interception by CB Adam Caston – and Miami gets the win, 19-17 after a late field goal. We slide to 3-3 on the year, and are looking like a pretty mediocre club, after all.
Week 7: New York Jets (3-3) at Cleveland (3-3)
It’s 14-13 Jets at the half, and then a scoreless second half keeps it that way. AT least at 3-4, we are still in our division race, as nobody has a winning record at all.
Week 8: Cleveland (3-4) at New England (5-2)
We eke out a 16-14 win over the Patriots (led by former Browns QB James Houston), to get to 4-4 at the halfway point for our season. Disappointing, but we’re not lost quite yet.
Here are the midseason stats:
Code:
2019 Summary for Cleveland Browns
Record: 4-4
Winning Pct.: .500
Cleveland Browns Team Rank
Rushes 230 5
Rushing Yards 973 6
Yards Per Carry 4.23 13 (T)
Pass Attempts 220 27
Completions 133 26
Passing Yards 1615 19
Yards Per Attempt 7.34 9
3rd Down Conversions 31.0 30
Points Per Game 21.0 16 (T)
Turnovers 8 9 (T)
Turnover Margin +2 14 (T)
Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 233 27
Rushing Yards 861 20
Yards Per Carry 3.69 7
Pass Attempts 273 30
Completions 152 18 (T)
Passing Yards 1817 26 (T)
Yards Per Attempt 6.65 8 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 46.2 29
Points Per Game 19.0 13
Turnovers 10 16 (T)
We are playing fairly efficiently on offense (not the staggering running game that I’d prefer, but not bad) and on defense we are in the top ten against the run and pass in yards per play. I think this team is better than its 4-4 record, and we will aim for a strong second half and a playoff showing once again.