Freddie Kitchens, Baker Mayfield Are Holding Back the Cleveland Browns

There wasn't a more hyped team in the National Football League this offseason than the Cleveland Browns. At the center of that hurricane of hyperbole were the two men who took northeast Ohio by storm a year ago: quarterback Baker Mayfield and head coach Freddie Kitchens.

Well, three games into the season, the hype surrounding the Browns appears to have been full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. After falling 20-13 to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night, the Browns are 1-2 and look nothing like the Super Bowl contender some made them out to be.

And the guys who were highlighted as franchise saviors are a big part of the problem.

In fairness, Cleveland's issues go beyond Mayfield and Kitchens. The offensive line has been dreadful, ranking 28th in the NFL in pass protection through two weeks, per Football Outsiders. No team in the league was penalized more over the first two weeks of the season than Cleveland—including a ridiculous 18 penalties for 182 yards in a blowout loss to the Tennessee Titans in Week 1.

However, excessive penalties are emblematic of a lack of discipline—which most certainly falls under the purview of a head coach who appears in over his head three games into his tenure.

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Kitchens got the Cleveland job in large part because of the offensive turnaround the team experienced last year once he assumed play-calling duties after Hue Jackson and Todd Haley were fired. He deployed innovative formations and made bold play calls that kept opposing defenses on their heels.

None of that is anywhere to be found in 2019. After Sunday night's home loss to the Rams, the Browns rank a mediocre 23rd in total offense, 25th in rushing and 25th in scoring. That last figure isn't getting better after the Browns managed just 13 points against the Rams. Cleveland's 16.3 points per game after three weeks is over a touchdown less than last year's average of 22.4.

Mind you, this is an offense that was supposed to be that much more explosive with the addition of superstar wideout Odell Beckham Jr. Instead, it's an inconsistent mess that pitches and lurches its way down the field before punting or settling for a field goal.

The play calls that were so innovative are now either boring or bizarre. Despite averaging 5.2 yards per carry as a rookie, tailback Nick Chubb carried the ball 20 times for the first time this season in Sunday night's loss. Despite the deficiencies up front, Kitchens has repeatedly put Mayfield in empty shotgun sets.

Then there was the 4th-and-9 draw play from the Rams' 40 in the fourth quarter of a four-point game.

Yes, you read that right. A draw play. On 4th-and-9.

After the game, Kitchens acknowledged that particular bit of play-calling brilliance may have been ill-advised.

Adam Hunger/Associated Press

"Bad call," he said, via Jeremy Bergman of NFL.com. "Yes, I wanted that call. ... It just didn't work. It was a bad call."

Do ya think, Freddie?

And that wasn't even the worst gaffe of the night. With the ball at the Rams' 4-yard line and his team down seven late, Kitchens didn't once try running the ball with Chubb, even though Cleveland had all three timeouts and the second-year tailback was easily the Browns' best offensive player in the game.

Instead, Kitchens went with four Mayfield passes. That went about as well as you'd expect if you've watched Mayfield play this season.

After setting a rookie record for passing touchdowns last year, Mayfield was anointed a superstar-in-waiting in the offseason. With Beckham and Jarvis Landry at his disposal, Mayfield was sure to be the next big thing under center in the NFL. His face started popping up in commercials. His name was mentioned in MVP conversations.

Mayfield's been a thing in 2019, all right. But "big" isn't exactly the best descriptor for it.

Against the Rams, Mayfield completed just half of his 36 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown—with the game-sealing interception. In two of Mayfield's three games, the top overall pick in the 2018 draft has failed to complete even 55 percent of his passes. He's thrown just three touchdown passes against five interceptions. His passer rating is over 20 points lower than it was last year.

It's partly a function of the terrible pass protection Mayfield has received, but the reality is he's hearing footsteps. On more than one occasion Sunday night, Mayfield rolled out before he needed to for fear of a pass rush he suspected was coming. Mayfield is also missing open receivers and forcing throws that never should be attempted.

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Kitchens did his best after the game to deflect blame from his quarterback.

"If you're looking to blame somebody, blame me," Kitchens said. "Don't blame any of our players. Don't blame any of our other coaches. Just blame me, cause I can take it. So just blame me. Go write your article. Say I messed the game up. Go write your article and say it's my fault cause things aren't looking like they did last year because it is."

Mayfield returned the favor.

"I know what you guys are going to try and do is talk about the play-calling," Mayfield said. "Execution is most important than whatever we have called. We have to do our job."

Sorry, guys. There's plenty of this pie to go around. Everyone gets a slice.

This isn't to say the Browns are doomed. Or that Mayfield forgot how to play football. But changes need to be made now.

For Kitchens, it means not continuing to call plays that haven't worked. The offensive line isn't going to improve unless the Browns add personnel (I hear there's a tackle in Washington, D.C., looking for a new team), but that's not likely. So, whether it's with quick passes or max-protect formations, Kitchens needs to compensate for Cleveland's failings up front. Leaning more on Chubb and the running game isn't the worst idea either.

If the pressures of being head coach and play-caller are to blame, cede the latter duties to Todd Monken. Monken was the offensive coordinator for the league's third-ranked offense in 2018.

Mayfield needs to take a deep breath and relax. It may well be easier said than done, but rolling to the right every time he perceives pressure (real or imagined) isn't especially helpful—especially when it's exactly what defenses expect him to do. Neither are desperation heaves or throws into windows that aren't open.

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The Browns have the talent to turn things around. That the team hung in there against the defending NFC champions despite a secondary that's been besieged by injuries shows that Cleveland isn't that far off.

But whatever the Browns are going to do, they need to do it quickly. Sunday night's loss kicked off a brutal stretch: at the Baltimore Ravens next Sunday, at the unbeaten San Francisco 49ers, home against the Seattle Seahawks and then a trip to Gillette Stadium to play the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots after a bye week. If Cleveland plays the way it has, it will be a 1-6 train wreck.

And the two men who everyone thought would lead the Browns to glory will be largely to blame.