The Browns’ encouraging 2007 was followed by a decade of failure, A key player from the disappointing 2019 team imagines a big reversal of fortune.
BEREA What is it about Arizona?
Some call it the desert. For the Browns, it's a black hole.
Maybe they'd have been money ahead had they hired the former Arizona pilot, Bruce Arians. As it turned out Sunday, they fired the 11-year Arizona assistant, Freddie Kitchens.
The Browns likely would have reached the 2007 playoffs had they won a December game at Arizona. They might have retained Kitchens had his game there this December not been so desolate.
As it turns out, they've wandered in the desert ever since 2007. They are left squinting into a hope the mirage that was 2019 somehow leads to a 2020 oasis.
One of the few 2019 achievers broached the topic Monday. Jarvis Landry explained why an offense that was supposed to step on the gas instead ground into reverse.
"We just didn't really know what the plan was, and what we were trying to do,“ Landry said. "I don't think we ever really found our identity."
Pairing Odell Beckham Jr. with his former LSU teammate Landry was supposed to be a home run. Baker Mayfield and Nick Chubb were in their second year. A team that went 5-3 in the 2018 second half imagined doing at least that well across two halves.
And then ...
Landry looked good, improving from 976 yards as a first-year Brown to 1,174 yards in 2019. But the 2018 Browns led the 2019 team 5,900-5,455 in yards, 359-335 in points and 7-8-1 to 6-10 in record.
Landry said the 6-10 flop is to be blamed partly on "relying on plays and not players."
Landry “feels for Freddie,” but when asked if a more experienced head coach could help, he said, "I think it could."
"There was no doubt the people here were trying to win," he said. "I just did not think we knew how to do it.”
The Jekyll-Hyde madness of 2019 was reflected by the fourth and fifth games, a 40-25 win at Baltimore followed by a 31-3 loss at San Francisco.
The team went 4-4 in its subsequent games. At one point the Browns led 20-6 against Seattle. They beat Buffalo and Pittsburgh, back to back. They led Miami 28-0 at one point.
And then ... Arizona. Oh, Arizona.
With a chance to get to 7-7, they laid an egg in the sand, falling behind the Cardinals (4-10-1 against everyone else) by 21 points.
"We could have beat a lot of playoff teams," Landry said. "The Arizona game ..."
He drew out a long point about that game. His words boiled down ... super-stinker.
The 2019 Browns were not supposed to stink.
"We definitely had the capability of being a great team," he said. "We knew our potential. We tried to find ways to tap into it. We didn't do it enough. Why? I really don't know."
Landry played through a hip injury. He was anxious Monday about results of an MRI. If surgery is required, he said the recovery time would be "six to eight months."
Asked if the knife would be a last resort. he said. "Yes ... we'll find out Friday."
The watch is on to find out who will operate the offense in 2020.
"A lot is going to be answered with the head coaching position, and how a lot of positions get addressed," Landry said. "I trust ownership. I trust Mr. Dorsey and everybody upstairs to go out and find the right guy."
Landry sounded convinced the Browns really do have the talent to assemble a playoff-style team.
"We have the opportunity to get Myles (Garrett) back," he said. "We've signed (center) JC Tretter back. Pretty much everybody you see in the locker room has a chance to return and be a part of this, with the experience of the last two years, to be able to push us into the playoffs and to ultimately our end goal, the Super Bowl.
"You guys who have covered the team for a long time know. This may have been the most talent we've had that you've seen in one room. You still have more time, and you don't want to lose that. You want to take advantage of it when you have it."
The '07 Browns team went 10-6 with an offense featuring a former No. 3 overall pick at wideout (Braylon Edwards, 16 TDs), a former No. 5 overall pick at running back (Jamal Lewis, 1,304 rushing yards), and a former No. 6 overall pick at tight end (Kellen Winslow, 1,106 receiving yards). It had an excellent "glue" receiver, Joe Jurevicius.
That team would have improved to 8-4 had it won at Arizona. The weakness was at quarterback, with one-hit wonder Derek Anderson. Baker Mayfield, the 2019 QB, is supposed to be ascending, but he didn’t.
A lot of things didn’t happen in 2019.
“Guys get hurt. There are off-the-field issues. A bunch of different things happen in breaking points of games,” Landry said. “Being able to hold your composure. Being able to talk to each other. Treating everybody with respect. I just think at times there was a lack thereof."
Asked specifically whether Mayfield can be the franchise QB a No. 1 overall pick must become, Landry said, "Most definitely."
"He's tough as hell," Landry said. "I'm six years in. He's only two years in. He's still a rookie to me. He's growing at the position. He wants to get better. That's the most promising thing."
A dozen years have passed since the Browns managed a winning season in ’07. The real success was supposed to hit the next year. Instead, the ’08 Browns bombed, going 4-12.
Landry pleads a case for the 2020 Browns.
"We have a great locker room," he said. "We really do. We just have to find a way to add some more pieces and put it all together."
Reach Steve at 330-580-8347 or steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com
On Twitter: @sdoerschukREP
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December 31, 2019 at 04:44AM
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Key 2019 Brown imagines end of decade of failure - Akron Beacon Journal
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