On Sunday, the Cleveland Browns had the victory already secured.
With just over two minutes remaining, Brown’s offence was once again advancing down the field against the New York Jets while holding a 24-17 lead. Cleveland just needed a first down since they had already reached the red zone. The Browns could then just kneel three times, finish the game, and depart New York victorious.
Then, though, Cleveland running back Nick Chubb committed the one sin by scoring.
Kareem Hunt, a fellow running back for the Browns, had the opportunity to fall down in bounds and signal the two-minute warning on the play before the touchdown but instead stopped the time by racing off the sidelines.
There were two plays that Cleveland would instantly want to go back and review after Chubb’s sprint to the end zone.
When the extra point try was made after the score, kicker Cade York, the hero of last week’s victory against the Panthers, missed it, keeping the Browns’ lead at 13.
The Browns had erred at this point because, had they gone down at the correct time, they might have easily knelt the game away. But with just two minutes remaining, Cleveland still led 30-17.
What may possibly fail?
They soon learned when Corey Davis was picked off by Joe Flacco with no one around him and no Cleveland defenders eager in pursue him downfield, leading to a dreadful instance of blown coverage from the Browns defense that enabled the Jets to score an easy touchdown.
The next drive, rookie wide receiver Garrett Wilson of New York found room in the end zone as the Browns defense once again crumbled.
The Jets, as opposed to the Browns, kicked the game’s last extra point, leading to a 31-30 victory.
Kevin Stefanski, the head coach of the Browns, accepted responsibility for not telling his running backs more clearly during the game that they needed to sit down.
In such case, Stefanski was responsible for telling the huddle what to do. “We’ve done it before. After all of that, we must finish the game.”
In a circumstance like this, it’s difficult to go down quickly. With little over a minute left in 2020, Falcons rushing back Todd Gurley scored inadvertently, handing the ball back to the Lions. NFL players are instructed to always aim for the end zone, so this impulse is hard to suppress.
It would be simple to point the finger at Cleveland’s two running backs, but Stefanski is correct to accept responsibility. Stefanski had plenty of time to warn his offense that even though they were still calling plays, they needed to be cautious about stopping the clock since the Jets had used up all of their timeouts before the Browns’ last score.
Regarding the missed coverages, the defense shouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place and seemed to be giving up on the game since they probably thought they wouldn’t be back on the field before the timer went off.
Add in a failed extra point, and the Cleveland Browns organization performed an egregiously bad closing sequence to guarantee a humiliating defeat for a team that already suffers from them often.