'I have a ton of confidence in Coach Priefer,' Stefanski said. He's got trusted special teams coordinator Mike Priefer, another former Viking who stepped in for Mike Zimmer on a day's notice and almost beat a 10-1 Cowboys team when Zimmer had emergency eye surgery in 2016. The latest COVID-19 uprising to rock Cleveland canceled practices until Friday while sidelining eight players, including two starters, at least two assistant coaches and, yes, head coach and former Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski. Roundtable - Ranking the AFC North Positions: Offensive Tackle For each position group, the writers of the OBR will each rank the position room and then we'll tally up the results and see what the consensus is.The Browns head into Pittsburgh for their first playoff game in 18 years with a slight twist on one of the NFL's most time-honored cliches: Had two chances from the 5 - with a timeout - had they spiked the ball after After Droughns ran for a firstĭown at the 5 with 40 seconds left, the team huddled and walked to the lineīefore a penalty stopped the clock with 12 seconds left. Terrible clock management late in the first half. There was still time to mix in a few runs. Yes, the Browns were behind,īut giving up on the best player on the team - Droughns - does not make a lot Play-calling in the second half bordered on panic. Inexplicable given they only have 16 chances to prove themselves. Phil Dawson was perfect on field goals, Kyle Richardson and Dawsonīoth dropped punts inside the 20, and Dennis Northcutt was reliable returningĬOACHING: D - The Browns started the game listlessly, which is SPECIAL TEAMS: B-plus - Highlighted by the kickoff returns of Joshua Cribbs, who averaged 31 yards on five returns and brought two back longer thanĤ0 yards. For a defense that had been struggling against the run, that Limiting Mewelde Moore to 67 yards on 21 carries and holding the Vikings to 2.6 RUSHING DEFENSE: B - The Browns did a decent job against the run, To Marcus Robinson cost the defense two touchdowns. Made for a long, long day for the secondary. Matched perfectly with what the Browns were willing to give up. That loves to take the short, underneath throws. In Brad Johnson and the Vikings, though, the Browns were facing a team PASSING DEFENSE: D - The Browns are a play-it-in-front-of-youĭefense, one that will give up 10-yard throws but will protect against the big

Giving up on the run was a major mistake. In the third quarter and early in the fourth, the Browns called 12 of 13 OffensiveĬoordinator Maurice Carthon ended the game by calling 28 passes on the final 30 Reason the Browns gave up on the run once they fell behind 17-3. Ran for 73 yards and caught five passes for 43 more, but for some inexplicable RUSHING OFFENSE: B - Reuben Droughns had another very good game. Team's receivers also committed two costly penalties that killed a scoring drive Interceptions, and Charlie Frye threw an interception on his only play. Passes, Dilfer fumbled twice while dropping back to throw and threw two Trent Dilfer never got into a rhythm with his receivers, receivers dropped Passing, better than 50 percent completion rate - but the passing offense was a PASSING OFFENSE: D - The numbers might not look too bad - 214 yards He and Charlie Frye did not read a coverage the same way on Frye's only play,Įdwards may have been born to be a star, but Sunday wasn't that birthday. He had a false start in the red zone, taking the Browns from the 10 to theġ5-yard line in the waning seconds of the first half.

He saw one pass go through his hands and turn into an interception. The talented receiver played like a rookie against the Vikings. Unfortunately, it preceded Edwards' rough game against Minnesota. The story was about Braylon Edwards, and it followed Edwards' good gameĪgainst Miami. 'Born to be a Star' read a headline in the Cleveland Plain Dealer last week. Trent Dilfer during a difficult game against the Vikings in 2005 (AP) (Photo: )

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