Week 9: Cleveland (6-2) at Pittsburgh (7-1)
A tough spot for young Glenn Dixon to get his first start, on the road at our fiercest division rival. But I don’t see Justin Lyons being ready, or much of an improvement. We get beat here, 28-20, but we didn’t get embarrassed – Dixon threw one pick, but two TDs, including Don Pritchett’s first of the year. Pittsburgh just moved the ball too well against our defense for us to keep up.
Now we get a much-needed week off, and will get Lyons up to speed with the team.
Week 11: Cleveland (6-3) at Cincinnati (1-7-1)
This ought to be a slightly softer spot, as we keep Glenn Dixon in as our starter. Again, Glenn Dixon avoids making the big mistake (one pick in 35 attempts) but we just aren’t clicking on offense – we gain 425 yards on offense (plenty more than Cinti), but cannot convert in the red zone, and lose here 21-13. Tough loss.
Week 12: Cleveland (6-4) at Philadelphia (3-6-1)
We remain on the road, and give Dixon one more shot – James Houston ought to be ready to play next week. We power to a solid lead behind a good day from Gus Stewart, but this time it is a big mistake by Dixon that costs us – Philly returns a pick for a TD to get the go-ahead TD and win it 27-24. Ouch.
Week 13: Cleveland (6-5) at Buffalo (8-3)
Last game in our long road trip, and we are reeling. James Houston is back, and we are hopeful that we’ll see Deion Brock next week. Houston starts, but gets dinged early, and Glenn Dixon has to play most of the game again. Dixon goes 11 for 17, but we take another loss under his watch, 23-20. This has been a brutally tough start for the promising youngster – we have fallen apart, due in part (but certainly not in entirety) due to the QB carousel. Brock has a QB rating of 80 for his 5 games – that’s not awful at all. But the 0-4 run since he’s been our main QB stings, for sure.
Week 14: New York Giants (3-9) at Cleveland Browns (6-6)
Back home, finally, and we are desperate. We’ve all but blown the division with Pittsburgh ahead by 3 games now, and our main hope is to win at least 3 out of 4 to sneak in as a wild card. We may well need to run the table to get in – there are four teams ahead of us already.
Deion Brock starts the game, but on the very first play his ankle is re-injured. It’s broken this time, and now he is listed as out for six more weeks. Awful news.
Glenn Dixon is once again on call, and he rallies us to a solid 27-6 win, coupled with a great defensive effort. Dixon will get the start again next week, while James Houston awaits a full recovery clearance.
Week 15: Pittsburgh (10-3) at Cleveland (7-6)
Perhaps a must-win game for us, we need to exact revenge against the Steelers, who look to take our division title away from us after these many years. This time, we get what we need – Glenn Dixon has 4 TD passes, and gets the game ball in a 41-14 win over the division leaders. We keep hope alive.
Week 16: Dallas (10-4) at Cleveland (8-6)
As of right now, our 8-6 record would gets us in as the #6 seed (from a three-way tiebreaker) so we cannot let up. James Houston gets the start this week, with Glenn Dixon waiting in the wings once again. We get the win as Don Pritchett takes a bomb from Houston, making up for Houston’s errant pass that gave the Cowboys the lead to begin with. We win 24-21, and stay alive in the playoff chase.
Week 17: Cleveland (9-6) at Baltimore (8-7)
There are four teams in the AFC, including Baltimore, just one game behind us for the last WC spot. A loss here and we end up crossing our fingers with tiebreakers. A win here and we are in. Simple.
Regrettably, Baltimore shows up for this one, and punishes us, 24-10. That drops us to 9-7 for the season, and the end-of-season number crunching delays the news to me… are we in or are we out?
The answer – out. Baltimore gains the edge on us in the tiebreaker courtesy of this win, and we will be on the sidelines for this year’s playoffs. We wanted to repeat as champions, but instead we’ll be watching the playoffs on TV – like so many previous champions before us. Sigh.
Code:
2020 Regular Season Standings
AC North W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Pittsburgh 12 4 0 .750 406 316 9-3 4-2
Baltimore 9 7 0 .563 345 312 6-6 3-3
Cleveland 9 7 0 .563 408 313 6-6 3-3
Cincinnati 6 9 1 .406 369 357 3-9 2-4
AC South W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Indianapolis 11 5 0 .688 386 307 8-4 4-2
Tennessee 9 7 0 .563 335 338 6-6 4-2
Houston 8 8 0 .500 351 343 5-7 3-3
Jacksonville 6 10 0 .375 323 391 3-9 1-5
AC East W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Buffalo 12 4 0 .750 368 286 9-3 4-2
New York J 10 6 0 .625 369 318 8-4 4-2
Miami 6 10 0 .375 251 265 5-7 2-4
New England 4 12 0 .250 266 365 4-8 2-4
AC West W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Oakland 11 5 0 .688 355 316 8-4 5-1
Kansas City 8 8 0 .500 321 349 6-6 3-3
Denver 8 8 0 .500 332 361 5-7 2-4
San Diego 6 10 0 .375 312 398 5-7 2-4
NC North W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Green Bay 8 8 0 .500 314 372 7-5 5-1
Detroit 7 9 0 .438 346 328 5-7 3-3
Minnesota 3 13 0 .188 281 422 2-10 2-4
Chicago 2 14 0 .125 241 371 2-10 2-4
NC South W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Tampa Bay 13 3 0 .813 385 280 12-0 6-0
Atlanta 9 7 0 .563 394 331 8-4 3-3
New Orleans 9 7 0 .563 365 297 7-5 2-4
Carolina 9 7 0 .563 357 311 6-6 1-5
NC East W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Dallas 11 5 0 .688 347 307 9-3 5-1
Philadelphia 7 8 1 .469 350 373 6-6 4-2
New York G 3 13 0 .188 316 453 3-9 2-4
Washington 1 15 0 .063 183 360 1-11 1-5
NC West W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
San Francisco 11 5 0 .688 412 316 9-3 4-2
Arizona 9 6 1 .594 323 273 6-5-1 2-3-1
Seattle 9 7 0 .563 330 307 6-6 3-3
St. Louis 8 7 1 .531 300 305 6-5-1 2-3-1
Code:
2020 Summary for Cleveland Browns
Record: 9-7
Winning Pct.: .562
Cleveland Browns Team Rank
Rushes 505 3
Rushing Yards 2602 1
Yards Per Carry 5.15 1
Pass Attempts 498 25
Completions 294 26
Passing Yards 3449 25
Yards Per Attempt 6.92 21 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 43.2 8
Points Per Game 25.5 2
Turnovers 22 17 (T)
Turnover Margin -2 19
Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 421 15
Rushing Yards 1596 5
Yards Per Carry 3.79 1
Pass Attempts 519 11
Completions 298 2
Passing Yards 3473 3
Yards Per Attempt 6.69 6
3rd Down Conversions 40.6 17 (T)
Points Per Game 19.5 11 (T)
Turnovers 20 14 (T)
Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 35 CIN 23
2 27 at WAS 13
3 42 KCY 17
4 26 TEN 38
5 27 at JAX 34
6 20 at HOU 10
7 21 BAL 0
8 31 IND 14
9 20 at PIT 28
11 13 at CIN 21
12 24 at PHI 27
13 20 at BUF 23
14 27 NYG 6
15 41 PIT 14
16 24 DAL 21
17 10 at BAL 24
Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
19 Dixon QB 178 98 1171 6.57 11 5
2 Brock QB 161 101 1237 7.68 11 1
12 Houston QB 159 95 1041 6.54 5 3
**Team --- 498 294 3449 6.92 27 9
Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
39 Stewart RB 294 1767 6.01 14
37 Sims RB 100 362 3.62 2
44 Barker RB 60 289 4.81 2
**Team --- 505 2602 5.15 19
Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
80 Sellers TE 112 64 738 11.5 132 7
39 Stewart RB 78 50 399 7.9 199 4
89 Pritchett WR 91 49 725 14.7 126 6
45 Brandon FB 49 35 334 9.5 185 1
83 Tilton WR 65 34 428 12.5 80 4
84 Colaianne WR 44 25 329 13.1 20 3
82 Pendleton WR 35 22 406 18.4 52 1
**Team --- 494 294 3449 11.7 845 27
Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
20 Eskridge S 105 32 1.0 2 5 21
59 Michl ILB 95 33 2.0 1 0 6
24 Weed S 81 29 1.5 0 4 9
58 Regalado OLB 59 25 3.0 8 0 4
55 Wallace ILB 51 18 3.5 5 1 2
34 Diaz CB 50 17 1.0 0 1 12
92 Worsham DT 49 25 3.5 14 0 0
28 Enochs CB 48 12 1.0 1 2 6
99 Allen DT 40 19 2.0 10 0 0
71 Quinn DE 31 14 2.0 8 0 0
94 Sinclair OLB 26 9 2.0 0 0 2
35 Helmuth S 26 1 0.0 0 0 1
52 Gunn ILB 23 6 1.0 0 0 1
77 Finch DE 23 14 5.0 12 0 0
46 Caston CB 21 9 0.0 0 1 2
40 Cottle CB 16 4 1.0 0 0 0
**Team --- 807 270 31.0 64 14 66
From the data, we see several things. Deion Brock is just a huge “difference-maker” for this team – in the first half of the season, we were solid on offense, but our passing game fell apart in the second half without him. Gus Stewart ended up picking up a lot of the slack, and had his most productive season by the numbers. This is his first time topping 2,000 yards from scrimmage, after a number of years in the 1800-1900 range.
Defensively, another brilliant year for Kenneth Eskridge, but our LB problems (attrition and injury each playing their part) hurt our group a bit. We still were #1 against the run (in yards per carry) and solid against the pass – we can’t hang any of the decline on that side of the ball, I don’t think.
Only 31 QB sacks is a low for us – we actually had a number of pretty good guys out there, but just didn’t generate the big pressure. I think the lack of a dominant blitzing LB added to the problem, and perhaps the greenness of rookie DE Finch, who posted a respectable PRPct of 4.7, but should be improving.