3 Takeaways from Browns' Week 13 Loss vs. Rams
The Cleveland Browns lost a battle of wild-card contenders in both conferences on Sunday.
The 36-19 defeat to the Los Angeles Rams dropped the Browns into a four-way tie at 7-5 in the AFC wild-card race and it brought about some concerns regarding the playoff push.
Joe Flacco's play was surprisingly not the biggest issue that plagued the Browns on Sunday afternoon.
Flacco produced a decent performance in his first start in place of the injured Dorian Thompson-Robinson.
The Browns can win a few games with a functional Flacco in the pocket, but they need more support from a rushing attack that failed to have a player over 50 yards for the third time in five games.
Cleveland's late-game defense needs some work as well. The Rams pulled away behind a 23-9 second-half advantage.
Joe Flacco Wasn't Terrible
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Flacco had low expectations for his individual performance going into Week 13 because of his situation.
The 38-year-old was signed after Thompson-Robinson's injury last week and he had not thrown a pass in the NFL since the end of last season with the New York Jets.
Flacco went 23-for-44 with 254 passing yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
He finished with more passing yards than Thompson-Robinson had in the last two weeks and that Deshaun Watson produced in his final two starts of the season.
Flacco was far from perfect, but he was serviceable enough to produce a win if he had support from other parts of the team.
His performance should at least give Browns fans hope that there is a reasonable path to the postseason.
Rushing Attack Needs to Be More Consistent
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Cleveland's leading rusher finished under 50 yards for the third time in the last five games.
That production is unacceptable for a team that needs its running backs to step up in support of reserve quarterbacks.
Kareem Hunt managed 48 yards on 12 carries, Pierre Strong Jr. had two runs for 20 yards and Jerome Ford produced 19 yards on nine carries.
Ford was at least effective in the passing game with three catches for 33 yards, but he has been an overall disappointment since Nick Chubb's season-ending injury.
Cleveland has had one 100-yard performance since Week 2 and that came from Ford against the Baltimore Ravens.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski needs to find ways to make the ground attack more potent in the final five regular-season games.
If that happens and Flacco is consistent enough, the Browns can hold on to a playoff spot, even with the challengers mounting below the No. 6 seed.
Second Half Defense Let Browns Down
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Cleveland conceded 23 second-half points.
The Rams scored on three of their five drives and did not let go of the lead after they went ahead 20-13.
Los Angeles' first scoring drive of the second half answered a 15-play, 74-yard Browns drive that ended in a field goal.
A 30-yard run from Puka Nacua and two key catches from Demarcus Robinson, one of which was a touchdown, hurt the Browns the most on that drive.
The Rams then turned Flacco's only interception of the game into a Cooper Kupp touchdown catch and capitalized on another short field caused by a turnover on downs to finish off the contest.
The frustrating part about the Rams' three second-half scoring drives was Kupp's lack of involvement on most plays.
Cleveland let up a big rushing gain to Nacua and allowed Robinson to beat it on a handful of occasions.
Kupp was held to 39 yards on six catches, but Stafford did a good job of beating the Browns with the other components of his passing offense and that doomed the AFC North side inside Sofi Stadium.
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