Cleveland Browns Lose Heartbreaker in Kessler’s Debut
The Cleveland Browns fell to the Miami Dolphins in overtime 30-24 after missing a game-winning field goal as time expired.
This follows last week’s performance where Cleveland blew a 20 point first quarter lead against the Baltimore Ravens.
The Browns had an uphill battle before the game even started. After losing RG3, Josh McCown went down with an injury. Wide receiver Josh Gordon is suspended until week 5 while rookie Corey Coleman broke his hand in practice after a breakout Week 2 performance. And to top it off, all-star cornerback Joe Haden couldn’t play due to a groin injury.
But Miami failed to gameplan for one last offensive weapon Cleveland had. Terrelle Pryor.
Pryor went above and beyond for a performance of a lifetime to carry the weak Cleveland offense. He joins Marshawn Lynch and Ronnie Brown as the only players in the last 25 years to throw two passes, catch two passes and rush two times.
Terrelle Pryor finished the day with eight catches for 144 yards, 4 rushes for 21 yards and a touchdown, and went 3/5 passing for 35 yards. He also played safety at the end of the first half to prevent a hail mary.
Pryor now has 244 yards receiving through three games. He currently ranks 19th in yards per game with 81.3 with the ranking expecting to change once Week 3 is complete. With a different quarterback every week, his numbers are impressive for a natural receiver alone, let alone a player who was originally a quarterback.
Outside of Pryor’s heroic efforts, Kessler had a solid debut going 21/33 for 244 yards and a passer rating of 85.9. While he avoided throwing an interception he did fumble twice, losing one.
Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson Jr split carries to even the offensive burden. They are slowly turning into a dynamic one-two punch as they combined for 25 carries for 148 yards. Both running backs averaged over 5 yards an attempt.
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It all went for naught as Cody Parkey completely collapsed in Hard Rock Stadium. He missed three of his six field goal attempts including a game-winning 46-yard attempt. Corey Lemonier stripped Miami quarterback Ryan Tannehill of the ball to set up the attempt, but after it sailed wide left, overtime ensued and Cleveland never saw the ball again. To Parkey’s defense, he signed with the team this week after Patrick Murray’s season ended with a knee injury.
Tannehill guided an overtime drive that ended with Jay Ajayi galloping in for an 11-yard score.
Similar to JJ Watt in 2014, Terrelle Pryor put up on the best performances in terms of effort and versatility. Playing in four positions to give the Browns a chance to win is simply unheard of in today’s NFL. Unfortunately the Browns still lost in the most Cleveland way imaginable.
Cleveland looks for its first win next week against the Washington Redskins.