Post Mortem: Browns lose to Colts, 31-28

The Browns were gruesomely ugly today, dropping a game to the Indianapolis Colts, a team which has been decimated by injury.   If I recall correctly from the pregame, the Colts had five first round draft picks who were out with an injury, including team superstar Andrew Luck.  Against Pittsburgh and Baltimore, the Browns could rationalize that Pittsburgh and Baltimore are good teams, but the Colts are simply not very good.  And they took the Browns behind the woodshed.  

Backup Jacoby Brissett kicked major butt against the Browns, throwing for 259 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for two others.   

The Briowns have no wide receivers.  Kenny Britt managed to catch 3 balls out of 10 targets for 54 yards.  Next best was Rashard Higgins, with two balls out of 6 targets, and a total of 10 yards.  No other wide receiver had more than a single catch.  Ouch.  

On the positive side, slot receiver and running back Duke Johnson caught 6 passes for 81 yards, and scored a rushing touchdown.  Duke is having a good year.  Another plus is that overall the Browns averaged 5.3 yards on the ground, with 111 yards overall.  Plus Kizer was sacked only one time.  And the Browns did mount a comeback, starting when the game looked all but hopeless.  

I don't care that DeShone Kizer had a tough time with 3 INTs and a fumble. He's just a kid, and for whatever reason the Browns decided he had to learn on the job rather than serving an apprenticeship on the bench for a year.  He's a talented kid, but very raw, so what do we expect?  

Meantime, our defense was torched by second year man Jacoby Brissett, who came over from the Patriots at the last minute when it was clear that Andrew Luck would not be able to start the season.  Despite his not yet knowing the Colt's offense, and having several other players out, Brissett torched the Browns' secondary. 

It seems clear enough that the Browns are going to lose a lot of games, possibly with an eye on the quarterback-rich 2018 NFL draft.   Buffalo, Jacksonville and the Jets all won today, leaving the Browns tied with Cincinnati, the Chargers, Giants and 49ers in the Sam Darnold sweepstakes.  One way to cement a case for this would be to trade Joe Thomas to a playoff team. I expect this to happen sometime between now and October 31, the trade deadline. The ultimate plan is to

The next key matchup will be versus the hapless Cincinnati Bengals, who are also 0-3.  It will be tough to not beat the Bengals, but the Browns never seem to amaze us.