[2022] Browns Bulletin, Week 8 - Clash of Undefeated Teams Leads to First Loss

[Piercewise1]

 

The Browns (5-0-1) and Jaguars (7-0) faced off on Thursday night, the first in a series of clashes that will see the AFC’s leading teams go head-to-head. Both teams stuck to their strengths, with Cleveland leaning on Juan Mora’s legs and Jacksonville putting everything in the capable hands of Steven Connolly. The game featured 3 lead changes, and neither team led by more than one score until late in the 4th quarter. Ultimately Jacksonville handed the Browns their first loss of the season by the final score of 27-24.

 

“I don’t know if there’s any room for moral victories when you stay undefeated this long,” @Piercewise1 said after the game, “but I’m so impressed by how this squad played today. Jacksonville is an incredible team, one of the best in the league, and we traded punches with them for 60 minutes. No one gave up or took a play off, even when we were down 10 with just a few minutes to go. An incredible game by everyone on the field, and all credit to Jacksonville, @Ricky Campbell , and @Weeze for the team they’ve put together.”

 

Cleveland scored first, taking a 7-0 lead on their second drive of the game when Juan Mora and David Avila combined for all 80 yards on 10 touches. Mora would remain a force all game, rushing for 158 yards and 2 touchdowns on 27 carries and adding 45 yards on 6 receptions.

 

Jacksonville struck back in the second, notching a field goal and a defensive stop before capitalizing on long passes from Connolly to Charles Brown (40 yards) and Richard Roshell (39 yards, touchdown) to take their first lead. The Browns got burned by the passing game all day, as their pass rush failed to make the expected impact.

 

“We sold out on rushing the passer, thinking it was the only way we might contain that offense. We knew it was a risk, and Connolly made us pay for it with some beautiful throws. Credit to that offensive line as well that kept him clean and gave him time to do what he does best.”

 

The momentum shifted again in the third, as Rivera hit a bomb of his own to George Lovejoy to set up a go-ahead TD pass to Mark Lysek. Jacksonville’s next drive stalled in Browns’ territory, and with the ensuing possession Cleveland drove 60 yards the other way to add a field goal for a 17-10 lead. But Connolly wasn’t remotely done, and before the end of the quarter he added another long TD pass to the stat sheet, this one 46 yards to Roshell.

 

Cleveland’s next drive ended with a 3rd down sack, and Jacksonville drove all the way to the 1-yard line before an illegal block and a lost-yardage play set them back. They settled for another field goal. But the real backbreaker came on the next drive, when Rivera’s pass for rookie Marcus Ekstrom was picked off by Charles King. Two plays later, Connolly bombed his 3rd touchdown pass to George Devoe for the largest lead of the day.

 

“I feel sick about it,” Rivera said in his post-game interview. “It felt great leaving my hand, but King made a great play on the ball and really fought for possession. Practically tore it out of Marcus’ hands. So credit to him for a great play, but I could have placed the ball even a little better and taken that chance away from him. In a game like this, with everyone playing so well, every little thing matters. So it was tough to watch it happen in the moment, for sure.”

 

The Browns went 3-and-out on their next possession, but they still weren’t done. With Jacksonville trying to run out the clock, Luis Chavez made a great play to strip the ball from Stephen Tabbert and give the offense another chance.

 

“It was a weird moment”, linebacker Louis Dell remarked. “We had [Tabbert] stacked up near the sideline, everyone’s pushing and shoving, and I think he just sort of figured the play had run its course. But there was no whistle, and then Luis runs out from the mess of bodies holding up the football.”

 

The ruling on the field was that Chavez had established possession just before stepping out of bounds himself, so it was called a fumble and a defensive recovery. The Browns needed only 4 plays to get into the end zone, closing the gap to 27-24 with a 1-yard touchdown dive by Mora. But Jacksonville gained a first down on the final possession and was able to run out the clock and preserve their victory.

 

Despite the loss, the Browns (now 5-1-1) remain in first place in the AFC North by the barest of margins after the Bengals (6-2) lost to Miami. They’ll try for their first division sweep next week when they host the Pittsburgh Steelers (4-4), whom they defeated in week 1. Meanwhile the Jaguars have another huge game against an undefeated conference foe, hosting 7-0 Denver. For those wondering, the Browns will travel to Denver in week 12 to complete the round-robin of AFC elites, in a game that could have huge playoff seeding implications.

[Weeze]

Denver is gonna be another tough match. But after that, we get to play Tennessee again in Nashville. Last time they took us down to a wire. So it’s a three game window for us that is going to be stressful