'We shot ourselves in the foot': Turnovers doom Cleveland Browns in loss to Denver Broncos
DENVER — The scouting report was clear as day for the Browns when they went to Denver to face the Broncos.
Don't. Turn. The. Football. Over.
The Broncos had become the AFC's hottest team because they had created a bunch of turnovers by the opposition. It's why they remain the AFC's hottest team after adding the Browns to that list with a 29-12 Denver win.
Three times the Browns turned the ball over on Sunday. They're the fourth consecutive team to give it away at least three times to Denver as part of its five-game win streak.
"Honestly speaking, I think it was more ourselves," tight end David Njoku said. "I think we shot ourselves in the foot, you know what I mean? But it happens. It happens to the best of us. So like I said, it is what it is. We're focused on the Rams now."
The Browns were in Los Angeles within hours of the loss for a week spent in Southern California in advance of that game this Sunday against the Rams. They landed there after having their three-game win streak snapped and their record drop to 7-4 because of how those mistakes allowed the Broncos to seize control.
Two of the three turnovers came in the fourth quarter. The biggest of those was when receiver Elijah Moore was credited with a fumble on a dropped pitch by running back Pierre Strong Jr. on a reverse on the first play of the fourth quarter.
"I didn't see anything," Moore said. "I just pitched the ball."
Which Denver's D.J. Jones recovered at the Browns 20. Four plays later, Russell Wilson found a sliding Adam Trautman in the end zone just before Trautman slid out of bounds for an 8-yard touchdown.
It was Broncos 24, Browns 12 at that point. The fact 13:29 still remained in the game was a mere footnote by that point.
The Browns' final giveaway was going give Denver the ball anyway, as it came on fourth-and-10 from the Broncos 33. Still, P.J. Walker — who replaced Dorian Thompson-Robinson after he left with a concussion late in the third quarter — was stripped while being sacked by safety P.J. Locke.
“It is cool, but I just have to give us an opportunity to put points on the board no matter what the situation is or the time of the game," said Walker, who was also sacked for a safety late in the fourth quarter. "I have to be able to go out there and execute. I was not able to do that today.”
Denver turned the Walker fumble into a 34-yard Will Lutz field goal. That made it 27-12 with 4:19 left.
The final two Browns turnovers were crippling, but the first one was negated by their ability to get a takeaway of their own. Tight end Harrison Bryant fumbled a snap while trying to execute a fourth-and-1 quarterback sneak at midfield in the first quarter.
The Browns, though, got the ball back when Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah stripped Wilson of the ball on a 5-yard run on fourth-and-2. Teammate Alex Wright recovered the ball at the Browns 34.
That was the only takeaway the Browns defense created.
"I was emphasizing, especially amongst the linebackers, we was emphasizing a lot with punching the ball out," Owusu-Koramoah said. "So we got an opportunity and we executed on that opportunity. We got to do a little bit more, a little bit more."
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Browns' fumbles costly in loss to Denver Broncos
