Cleveland Browns vs Buffalo Bills Game Thread
The Cleveland Browns are set to host the 6-2 Buffalo Bills in need of a win. Style points don't matter. They just need to find a way to get a victory, so they can exhale and not go through a game week always being asked about how to fix things or who deserves blame for their 2-6 start. The Buffalo Bills haven't been tested much to this point, but they've managed to outperform expectations as seems to be a consistent theme with head coach Sean McDermott
The Browns were able to avoid turning the ball over last week and reduced the number of penalties they are typically called for in a game, but they lost due to ineffectiveness in the red zone. That is another issue that has plagued the Browns this season and against what will be a stout Bills defense, could be critical in determining the outcome of the game. Their red zone opportunities might be limited, so they need to find a way to make them count with touchdowns.
The Browns will have Kareem Hunt in this game and that could bolster their backfield attack in tandem with Nick Chubb. It sounds like Chubb will still be the featured back, but Hunt will take much of the role Dontrell Hilliard has been filling this season. And given how head coach Freddie Kitchens tends to operate, there is probably a play or few that features Hunt, trying to get him an opportunity to make a splash play.
The Bills have a tough defense, but their offense is limited. Led by Josh Allen, they haven't put up a ton of points this season and are more focused on ball control and limiting mistakes, keeping themselves in games and guaranteeing a chance to win in the end. If the Browns can get pressure on Allen, he tends to make poor decisions with the ball and could create turnovers and potentially an avenue to score additional points.
Antonio Callaway is the player that stands out the most here as he was never listed on an injury report. He's had some mental errors in games in recent weeks, but has never seemingly been held accountable for them. Callaway also missed four games with a suspension due to a failed drug test. That will undoubtedly be a question asked in the postgame press conference and will be a source of speculation.
Damarious Randall made it sound like he wouldn't be playing today, downplaying the possibility all week. The fact he is active is a boost to the secondary with Eric Murray out and Jermaine Whitehead no longer on the team.
Olivier Vernon is out this week, which is a huge loss for the Browns. He's been playing at an incredible level the last three weeks in particular and with him out, that likely means Chad Thomas will get the bulk of the reps. It's an opportunity to prove himself, but the results since he arrived in the league are mediocre at best.
The Bills will be without T.J. Yeldon, who is largely a utility back, able to catch passes and block. Otherwise, they are missing some depth along both lines including Vincent Taylor, , who is a backup nose behind Star Lotulelei. Everyone else is a backup of some sort and largely inactive due to choice as opposed to injury. Dean Marlowe is the team's backup strong safety behind former Brown Jordan Poyer.
First Quarter
The Bills won the toss and deferred, so the Browns will get the ball first.
After a touchback, the Browns come out at the 25-yard line. With double tightends to the right, Baker Mayfield goes deep to Odell Beckham down the right sideline, but the ball is too far out in front falling incomplete.
On second down, Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt are in the backfield. Chubb runs to the left for a big gain up the left sideline.
Another playaction, Mayfield goes from left to the right, throwing a deep comeback, completing the pass to Jarbis Landry by the sideline for another first down.
From the Bills' 38, Mayfield throws a now pass to Hunt lined up out wide on the right, which he takes for 7 yards.
On 2nd-and-3, the Browns run playaction to the left and slip Landry out to the left running from an underneath behind his line on a little arrow for a nice gain.
With a new set of downs, Mayfield goes fake pitch in play action where the back goes to the wrong side, then finds Landry in the end zone for a Browns touchdown. The ball was thrown into a tight window, but the defensive back was unaware the pass was coming and Landry was able to make the catch.
Landry got up and said something to the defensive back, which drew a taunting penalty. Austin Seibert missed the resulting extra point. It also means that if Landry gets another unsportsmanlike penalty, he will be ejected.
The Browns have a 6-0 lead on a very efficient drive that looked like the offense that many thought they were getting this season.
The drive was 6 plays for 75 yards and culminated on a 17-yard touchdown pass to Landry, his second on the year.
On the ensuing kickoff, Tae Davis made a big hit on the returner, which fired up the crowd that is already excited after a touchdown.
On their first play from scrimmage, Josh Allen goes deep up the right side of the field, which falls incomplete, but Denzel Ward was called for pass interference.
The Bills, in Browns territory come back with a pair of plays that net six yards. On third down, Allen tries to go to the sideline to Dawson Knox. The ball was there for Knock on back shoulder, but cannot come up with the grab.
Bills set up in empty formation on 4th-and-4 and Allen misses on a pass to the left side of the middle of the field. The throw was poor and the Browns take over on downs.
Opening on their own 39-yard line, the Browns shift a tight end to the left, try to run toss to that side to Chubb, but Shaq Lawson stuffs it in the backfield. The Browns follow that up with a quick screen to Hunt to the left, which gets them back to the original line of scrimmage.
On 3rd-and-10, Mayfield drops back, is flushed out to his right is able to find Demetrius Harris on the working to the right for the first down.
Browns run a toss to the right that goes behind his tackle. He gets hit early, but is able to fight his way for nine yards.
On 2nd-and-1, Mayfield drops back and did not feel the pressure from Jerry Hughes on the backside, who hits him while trying to make a throw. It falls incomplete. Hughes beat Greg Robinson clean to get the hit on Mayfield.
On 3rd-and-1, the Browns attempt a slant to Beckham, which is knocked incomplete. The Browns ran that with the intent of going for it on 4th-and-1.
They lined in deuces with Chubb to his right and after motioning Landry to the wing, then runs a rub to free up Harris to the right. Mayfield threw immediately and connected with Harris who went up the sideline before getting knocked out of bounds at the Bills' 25.
The Browns follow up with an off tackle run to the left with Hunt lead blocking for him. Hunt gets a nice block and Chubb fights his way down to the goal line.
On 1st-and-goal, Mayfield throws a quick corner route trying to get Beckham, but it falls incomplete as the defensive back grabbed him because he knew he was beat. They flagged it and went half the distance to the goal.
The Browns run a toss to the right, but the Bills get penetration and tackle Chubb for a loss. They follow up with another toss that cuts back immediately, but it gets tackled by a Bills defender not fooled by the misdirection.
On 3rd down, Mayfield again tries to target Beckham going to the left corner of the end zone and he's again grabbed, which sets up another 1st-and-goal situation.
They try to run a dive with Chubb, but he gets stopped short of the goal line. Mayfield throws a nice fade to Beckham, but Tre'Davious White is able to knock the ball out of Beckham's hands.
On 3rd down, Chubb runs left, appears to slip and gets stopped short, setting up 4th-and-goal. This is their seventh play from the 1.
Tossing to the right, Chubb gets stopped short as the Bills defense annihilated the Browns run blocking. Chubb had nowhere to go. An embarrassing series for the Browns offensive line and overall run blocking.
The Bills take over at their own 2-yard line and try to run it out on back to back plays. They gain two on the first and three on the second, setting up 3rd-and-5. The Bills are unable to get anywhere on third and the Bills are forced to punt.
Dontell Hilliard misjudges the Bills punt and it he drops it as it went over his head, but he was able to recover it. The Browns just don't get anything out of the return.
Browns start the drive at their own 27-yard line, running Chubb to the left for minimal gain.
On second, the Browns have four wide and Mayfield drops back. He checks it down to Chubb in the middle for a 4-yard gain. On 3rd-and-5, Mayfield finds Hunt on an angle type route and he's tackled short of the first down.
The first quarter ends with the Browns leading 6-0, but they missed opportunities to take full control of this game.
Second Quarter
The Browns open up the quarter with a punt and the Bills manage to get a big win in terms of net field position, starting at their own 24-yard line.
The Bills open the drive with a run Devin Singletary to the right, who goes for 9 yards. T.J. Carrie is down on the field after the play being tended to by trainers. He's being evaluated in the team's medical tent.
The Bills run it again to get the first down, moving them to the 36-yard line.
Allen executes a quarterback draw up the middle, able to get another first down before the Browns are able to get the tackle. T.J. Carrie is back in the game.
Allen tries to go down the field to the left but can't connect. Ward had tight coverage on the receiver.
On 2nd down, Singletary runs a counter to the left and is able to fight for 8 yards on the carry.
Bills run a bunch to the right, Allen finds Knock on a short drag to the left, picking up the first down before Morgan Burnett can make the tackle.
A new set of downs, Allen play actions to the left, going to the right, then throws a pass back to the left, exploiting a hole in the defense.
In the red zone, the Bills run Frank Gore to the left for a gain of two. They follow that up with another quarterback draw from Allen, exploiting a one-linebacker box from the Browns. He is able to get into the end zone easily. The Bills connect on their extra point, making it 7-6.
The Browns had total control of this game with the opportunity to take a two-score lead. Instead, they fail at the goal line and the Bills manage to work their way out of bad field position over two drives and now have the lead.
Tavierre Thomas returns the ensuing kickoff out from the end zone, getting the Browns to the 23-yard line.
Despite almost not getting the playoff coming from a stoppage, Mayfield drops back, has to step up in the pocket and throws to Beckham on the left, who is unable to make the catch.
The Browns follow up with a run for 6 to Chubb on second down, setting up 3rd-and-4. Mayfield drops back, is able to find Beckham down the field on a corner post for 16-yards.
At their own 45, the Browns give it back to Chubb, who finds a hole and runs for another nice run. Wyatt Teller got just enough of Tremaine Edmunds to prevent him from making the tackle in the hole.
With a new set of downs, Mayfield comes out from under center turning like he's going to hand it off, but stops and throws a tiny slant to Landry who gets 10 more yards and another first down, putting the Browns at the Bills 28.
Mayfield tries to throw a ball away over Beckham's head and White almost was able to intercept it as Mayfield was being hit.
The Browns motion a receiver across the formation to the left, Mayfield turns from undr center and pitches to Chubb going to the right who's able to pick up another first down and put the Browns in the red zone behind a nice block up the sideline.
Mayfield goes quick pass from under center, throwing a now pass to Landry on the left sideline, who goes up the sideline for 6 yards.
With both Hunt and Hilliard in the game, they cross the backs, having HIlliard block backside as Hunt goes to the right and is able to find more yardage, getting tackled at the 4.
The Browns throw a broken slant play to Landry. It was more contested than it should've been as a screener was missed.
The Browns, now at the 2, go toss to the right to Chubb and he might have had the corner, but he cut it back and was tackled short.
On 3rd down, the Browns attempt to throw a shuffle pass to Chubb, which is dropped, bringing up another 4th-and-goal situation. The play was there if Chubb caught it.
The Browns set up to go for it on 4th, but Chris Hubbard is called for a false start and the Browns bring out Austin Seibert. Seibert connects, making it 9-7. Once again, the Browns falter in the red zone and have now left at least 9 points on the board so far in this game.
On that drive, the play calls were there. The shuffle pass in particular, was there for the taking, but they dropped the ball.
The Bills come out trying to pass the ball as Allen sat back in the pocket, flushed to the right, he was unable to connect on the pass which was tipped in the air, but fell harmlessly to the ground. They throw a quicker pass to the right on an out that picked up 8 yards on 2nd down.
On 3rd-and-2, Cole Beasley gains inside position on Carrie and catches a slant that goes for a big gain from the left side of the field. Mack Wilson was shaken up on the play, but seems to be fine.
The Bills try for a hard count, but the 2-minute warning hits.
On first down, Myles Garrett gets to Josh Allen as his arm is going down. The ball comes out and the Browns recover it, but they called it incomplete on the field. Allen calls timeout, which theoretically gives the review booth the chance to review this, since it's within the final two minutes of the half. It's not likely to get overturned due to the call on the field.
Allen comes out quicker and gets the ball out to the left for a completion of seven yards. On third down, Allen drops back and goes to his right early. Sheldon Richardson was grabbed trying to go with him. Mack WIlson drills Allen as he goes out of bounds. The holding call is accepted, making it 3rd-and-13.
On the long third down, Allen delivers a strike on a wide open curl, which gives them a first down. The Bills use their second timeout, stopping the clock at :34.
Off of the timeout, Garrett is able to get to Allen again as he's throwing. It falls incomplete. Allen has taken a few big hits in this game.
They try to go to the right on second down on a short curl, which falls incomplete. Garrett with pressure again.
Third down, Allen is unable to find a receiver again, rolling all the way to the right by the sideline before throwing the ball away out of the back of the end zone. Chad Thomas was standing up and dropped into coverage on that play.
The Bills attempted to get something out of the drive, kicking a field goal, but they missed wide right on the 34-yard attempt.
Despite just :17 to go in the half, the Browns attempt to get something going, running to the left with Hunt, who is forced out of bounds after a decent gain of 9. The Browns call a timeout with :08 to go. Baker drops back out of the timeout and ultimately goes to the left, scrambling for the first down with :02 left. Not clear any of this is worth the trouble, but the Browns appear to be preparing for one last shot before the half.
From their own 35, the Browns run Hunt to the right, who gains about 8 yards and the half is over.
The Browns lead 9-7 at the half. Both teams left points on the board with missed opportunities. The failures by the Browns down by the goal line are certainly more embarrassing.
Half Time
Baker Mayfield was 13/20 for 124 yards in the first half. His accuracy and timing were good. He didn't make any poor decisions. Able to connect with five different receivers, Mayfield looked far more like the quarterback from last year than the one that has struggled at times during this year. The past few games have showed some improvement.
Nick Chubb has 16 carries for 82 yards including a pair of big runs. His average is good, but hampered by failures at the goal line. The dropped shuffle pass also hurts, but he's still a tremendous player.
Kareem Hunt had three carries and three receptions in the first half for 38 yards.
Jarvis Landry is the leading receiver, catching six passes on six targets for 64 yards and the touchdown. The taunting penalty may have cost the Browns a point in a game where it could come back to haunt them.
Defensively, Myles Garrett is starting to take over, but holes in zones and running lanes are being exploited for some big plays. The Browns have largely held, but some breakdowns have been problematic.
Third Quarter
The Bills get the ball to start the third quarter, starting at their own 23.
After a run to the right for minimal gain, Allen has all kinds of time to throw a strike down the middle of the field for a first down.
Forcing Wilson to miss a tackle, Singletary runs for a first down to the right, able to get up the sideline.
Devaroe Lawrence gets immediate penetration into the backfield, which leads to a tackle for loss by his teammates.
Myles Garrett chases Allen all the way around the pocket, forcing him into the arms of Chad Thomas, who appears to go upside Allen's head in the process. The Bills are forced to punt.
Browns start at their own 8-yard line, coming out in empty formation. Mayfield hesitates to get the ball out and Tremaine Edmunds hits him in the end zone for the safety, making it 9-9.
Everything about the decision to go empty is terrible. Virtually every time the Browns try to run a play out of it, it's just not ineffective. It's negative.
Bills get the ball on the safety punt. They end up with a significant penalty, moving them back 15 yards, making it 1st-and-25 on their own 11.
They maneuver their way up the field on 1st and 2nd down before Allen tries for a deep shot on 3rd-and-3, which never had a chance. The Bills punt it and the Browns get the ball back
After a three yard run from Chubb, the Browns get a free play on an offsides penalty from Star Lotulelei. Mayfield tries to connect with Harris, but it's too high. They take the penalty.
On 2nd-and-2, Mayfield goes to Beckham on a quick out route to the sideline for the first down. The Browns then go to Kareem Hunt to the right for a big gain up the sideline behind a Rashard Higgins block.
The Browns get nothing on a Chubb run and then a screen to Chubb up the middle, setting up 3rd-and-9.
With pressure coming from his backside, Mayfield finds Beckham to the right for the first down. They come back with a run to Hunt for 4 yards to the right.
On 2nd-and-6, Mayfield tries to go up the sideline to Hunt on a wheel. It was a poor decision as Lamar Alexander was there the whole way. Hunt shaken up on the play.
Mayfield's pass is deflected on third down.
Austin Seibert drills a 47-yard field goal, putting the Browns back on top, 12-9.
The Bills starting at their own 25, throw a pass to the left to Cole Beasley, who's able to gain six before being tackled. The Browns sent pressure up the middle, but the pass was out too quick.
Allen finds John Brown on a slant from the left, able to beat Greedy Williams on the play.
Williams is almost able to get an interception on the next play after Allen rolls on playaction to the right and didn't anticipate Williams being there.
Allen tries to go deep on the following play, but it's way too far over the receiver's head, but Larry Ogunjobi is called for roughing the passer. The hit appeared to be bang bang.
On a key 3rd-and-4, the Browns draw a holding penalty, but Allen steps up and tries to scramble, getting shoved out of bounds, which draws a late hit. The penalties offset.
The Bills try to swing a pass out to the left, but Joe Schobert makes a tackle at the line of scrimmage, potentially behind it, which makes it 4th-and-4.
The Bills show like they are going for it. Freddie Kitchens calls timeout with 3 seconds left in the quarter. He didn't need to use it, so unless there's a tornado on the stadium that would've dramatically changed the field goal situation from one end of the field to the other, it was just an awful timeout.
Josh Allen drops back and throws the hardest ball possible over the middle of the field, which is nowhere near anyone. The Browns take over on downs and the quarter ends.
Fourth Quarter
The Browns take over on their own 36-yard line after the missed field goal and hand it off to Chubb going to the left on a counter. He gets 4 on the play.
They go with a quick screen to the right, but the Bills had numbers and were able to stop Landry in the backfield for a loss of 3.
On 3rd-and-9, Mayfield tries to throw a corner route, but is short on the throw with two Bills defenders in position to make a play. The only reason it wasn't intercepted was because they collided.
The Browns punt the ball away. The offense has barely had the ball in this half at all.
Bills start the drive with a run to Gore for 3 yards. Allen drops back on second down with no pressure and finds a wide open John Brown to the left. Greedy Williams with a poor read on the route.
After the Browns send a blitz that causes Allen to throw an incompletion, they run another iso playaction and finds the back on a check down, setting up 3rd-down-and 6. That third down, Allen feels some pressure and rolls to the right, but makes a poor throw on the move that falls incomplete.
Allen has been able to make some nice passes on drop backs when he can set his feet. When he's been throwing on the move, it's been brutal in terms of accuracy. Some of these passes aren't even close.
The Bills punt it away and Hilliard calls a fair catch at the Browns 15-yard line.
On first down, Mayfield finds Landry on an out route to the right to sideline, which Landry snatches out of the air cleanly and gets a first down.
The Browns open up their next set of downs with a Chubb run going to the right. He's able to fight through a tackle by a defensive tackle to get 6 yards.
Mayfield tries to go down the right sideline with a deep ball to Beckham on a fade. It's a good ball, but the coverage was there and couldn't make the connection.
3rd-and-4, Mayfield gets initial pressure, tries to move back and to the right, but the blitz from the right is able to get him to the ground. The Browns get one first down, but are punting after just four plays.
The Jamie Gillan punt isn't great and it's returned reasonably close to midfield.
From the Browns 48, Allen finds Knox on a tight end cross for 21 yards.
They then try to run a jet sweep to Isaiah McKenzie to the right. Holding is called on Lee Smith, moving the Bills back 10 yards. Chad Thomas drew the hold.
On 1st-and-20, Allen sits back and throws a strike to Cole Beasley in the middle of the field, gaining 26. Despite the hole created by the hold, the Bills are easily able to find their way out.
On 1st-and-10 from the 11, Allen tries to go to Knox who appears open, but Damarous Randall is able to close down and knock the ball away.
Allen runs a keeper to the right and slides for no gain. It's not clear if they were trying to run draw and aborted, but it was definitely a designed run.
On 3rd down-and-10, the Browns get pressure on Allen, but he's able to get through and scramble. Sheldon Richardson punched the ball out, but guard John Felciano is able to recover the ball near the Browns goal line. The ball flew out forward and took a terrible bounce for the Browns, going off of Randall's hand and into Feliciano.
This turn of events is just remarkable. The Browns force the fumble, have the numbers to recover the ball, but it manages to find it's way back to the Bills, who gain yardage from it because the ball flew out forward.
The Bills run toss to Gore going to the left and gets tackled near the goal line. The initial call was that it was a touchdown, but he looks to be short on replay. It's now being reviewed.
They determine Gore was short, but then Allen just goes sneak from under center and punches the ball in for the touchdown, making it 15-12. They tack on the extra point, making it 16-12 and the Browns need a touchdown. 5:26 left in the game. The Browns have two timeouts.
On the kickoff, Tavierre Thomas returns it from the goaline, fakes a handoff and runs forward to the 18-yard line.
The Browns come out with a screen to the right to Hunt. After making a defender miss in the backfield, Hunt is only able to get one yard.
Second down, the Browns run a quick playaction where Mayfield goes to the left to Beckham on an out route. Looked very easy, moving the chains and Beckham got out of bounds. 4:34 remaining.
Mayfield, out of the fun, throws a quick arrow pass to Hunt, which gets 3 yards before being tackled. 2nd-and-7.
The Browns attempt to run a fly sweep to Hunt where Mayfield tosses the ball up to Hunt. Hunt doesn't look at the ball and misses it entirely. The Bills pick it up and run it into the end zone. The call is a touchdown, but it's pretty clearly a forward pass as that's the specific reason they do that.
They rule it an incomplete pass, making it 3rd-and-7. The Browns come out with a pass with Hunt lined up out wide and Mayfield hits him by the sideline for a first down.
Fresh set of downs, Nick Chubb runs to the right and just fights and carries defender with Landry and Joel Bitonio pushing him forward. That puts Chubb over 100 yards for the game.
The Browns call a timeout with the play clock winding down. There is 2:23 left in the game and the Browns have one timeout remaining. The Bills have all three.
From the Bills 45, the Browns go playaction to the right, then come back with a slant to Landry to the left. He catches it but White tackles him almost immediately for a gain of 4. The clock stops for the 2-minute warning.
Chubb is at 19 carries for 116 yards for the game. Hunt has 11 touches for 74 yards.
Landry has 8 receptions on 9 targets for 73 yards and the touchdown.
Beckham has 5 receptions on 12 targets for 57 yards.
The Bills call timeout when they see the Browns offensive look.
The Browns run motion with a bunch of window dressing to playaction. It looked like Hunt was wide open to the right, but Mayfield dropped a throw in the bucket to Landry down the left sideline, setting up another 1st-and-goal situation.
The first play, they hand off to Chubb going up the middle gaining nothing.
From the 7, the Browns go wide in their formation. Mayfield looks to the left to a trips set, before coming back and finding Rashard Higgins, who was isolated in coverage. Higgins left the defensive back screwed in the ground, getting wide open. Mayfield didn't miss him. Browns finally get into the end zone from the red zone and Higgins finally gets a target.
Browns up 19-16 with 1:44 remaining.
Bills open their drive with a drop back pass. A Wilson blitz flushed Allen to the left into Myles Garrett. Allen threw the ball away to the left.
Allen finds Singletary on a short pass to the left. Randall is able to corral him for a 2-yard gain, but he gets out of bounds. 1:34 left at their own 27.
3rd-down-and-8, Allen finds Brown to the left for a big gain and a first down.
New set of downs, Allen goes to the right to McKenzie for another first down by the sideline, goes out of bounds. 1:05 remaining and one timeout for each team at the Browns 42.
On the ensuing first down, Carrie blitzes off the right and deflects a pass that falls incomplete. They go to Singletary to right for six, but he doesn't get out of bounds with the clock running. Bills hemorrhaging clock here.
Allen goes to the right and sails a pass incomplete. :22 seconds left. It's 4th-and-4. They line up showing like they'll go for it. They end up calling timeout as the playclock expires. The Bills will attempt a 53-yard field goal.
Hauschka's kick miss wide left, barely. The Browns take over and can get in the victory formation. They've won this game, often in spite of themselves. Nevertheless, a lot of big moments and coming together as a team late, they were able to get a win and take down the Buffalo Bills.
Final: Browns 19, Bills 16
