Browns believe getting ‘back to the basics’ will be key
ATLANTA — The Cleveland Browns can legitimately say they are two plays, only two plays, away from being 4-0.
Instead, they're 2-2 and coming home from Georgia having let one defensive slip-up open the door for the Atlanta Falcons to hand them a 23-20 setback.
“The NFL is a game of margins,” defensive tackle Jordan Elliott said. “It's really small margins. … We gotta continue to iron out things, and we'll do that.”
The path forward starts with Sunday's home game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
“Back to the basics,” linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-koramoah said. “Set edges, fit gaps, get takeaways. We were negative-1 in turnover margin (against Atlanta). Just have to make sure that we focus on those things that we've focused on since camp – getting the ball out, interceptions, fitting our gaps and do the basics.”
Here are other lessons Cleveland can take from the loss to the Falcons.
Donovan Peoples-jones can be counted on
Amari Cooper, the four-time Pro Bowler, had back-to-back 101-yard receiving games against the Jets and the Steelers. Against the Falcons, he was targeted just four times, fourth most on the team, with one 9-yard catch to show for the effort.
However, the cavalry came out to help. Peoples-jones turned a team-high nine targets into five catches for 71 yards. Tight end David Njoku also had five catches to go with 73 yards.
Beyond that, rookie David Bell had arguably his best game, catching two passes on three targets for 35 yards.
Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt are almost always solid
Chubb finished Sunday with 118 yards on 19 carries. His 28-yard touchdown run gave the Browns a 20-17 lead with 9:51 remaining.
Hunt had 49 yards on 10 carries. That's a yeoman's 4.9 yards-per-carry average.
But they still wanted more.
“At the end of the day, we have to find a way to win,” Chubb said. “We had opportunities to punch it into the end zone from the red zone. We had opportunities to end the game, but we just didn't do it.”
The run defense disappears when it’s needed the most
All of the talk before the game was about Atlanta's passing game. All the talk when the game was over was about running back Caleb Huntley, who was on the practice squad last week.
Huntley finished with 56 rushing yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, eight of which came on a fourth-quarter scoring drive. Tyler Allgeier recorded 84 yards on 10 carries, including a 41-yard run that set up a tying field goal with 7:19 left.
Overall, the Falcons ran for 202 yards on 35 carries. Of that, 172 yards were the result of 25 second-half runs.