The Cleveland Browns have been working toward putting a complementary game together, where all three phases played well and combined their efforts for a victory, and that day finally happened against the Atlanta Falcons at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland.
The Browns (3-6-1) protected the ball and got a strong running performance from rookie Nick Chubb, forced turnovers on defense and had a solid day, both in coverage and kickoff touchbacks on special teams on the way to a 28-16 win over the Falcons, which helped the team snap a four-game losing streak.
“We have been very close for a little bit,” rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield said following the win. “We just finally played well on all three phases. We played together, and the defense was getting stops. We complemented them and scored so that is the good part of what we are doing right now. We have been very close. We capitalized on it this week.”
The Browns have the most opportunistic defense in terms of creating turnovers, as they ranked No. 1 in the NFL in takeaways (23), third in interceptions (13) and first in fumble recoveries (10) heading into Sunday’s game against the Falcons, and they added onto their league-best totals.
The Browns forced two fumbles from the Falcons, including one on the opening possession of the second half when defensive back T.J. Carrie jarred the ball loose from wide receiver Mohamed Sanu after he caught a pass from quarterback Matt Ryan.
Six plays later, Mayfield found running back Duke Johnson for an 11-yard touchdown pass that gave the Browns a 21-10 lead with 10:27 to play in the third quarter.
“We talked about how we scored late in the first half that last drive we had,” Mayfield said. “Coming out and knowing that the defense would be out there first, if we can have a double score is what you call it. They get a turnover right there or stop them and then we go in and score right away. That is huge momentum, especially coming out of halftime. That was big for us just really taking advantage of the opportunity.”
Although the Browns will not again take the field for a game until November 25, when they will battle the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, the key going forward is to build off the success against the Falcons during the bye week, taking the time away to heal up and come back ready to play.
“We have to build on it,” Mayfield said. “Like I said earlier in the week, we have to find the positives. We had a lot of positives this week. It is going to be about how we handle that -- not realizing or thinking that we made it because we haven’t.
“We have a long way to go, but there are a lot of things that we did well today. We just need to consistently do that being able to look at this film and learn from the negatives that we had. The bright note on that is we did not have very many [negatives]. Learn from that. Eliminate those and get everybody healthy in a bye week and come back really strong after that.”
