DETROIT – Joe Flacco needed all the help he could get heading into Detroit, and he didn’t get very much at all.
Instead, he threw two interceptions that probably were not his fault, and was strip-sacked by Aidan Hutchinson late in the game to set up the Lions’ final touchdown. The turnovers led to 17 of the Lions points, and resulted in the Browns losing the turnover battle, minus-2.
As a result, the Browns lost 34-10 to fall to 1-3 as they gear up for their trip to London next week to face the Vikings.
The Lions, who had scored 90 points in their previous two games, improved to 3-1 with their third straight victory.
With 3:59 left in the game and the Browns trailing by the final margin, coach Kevin Stefanski put Flacco out of his misery and replaced him with Dillon Gabriel.
Flacco was 16 of 34 passing for 184 yards, with three sacks, no touchdowns and two interceptions. He also had the fumble and finished with a 39.3 passer rating.
Flacco was playing behind two backup tackles, with right tackle Jack Conklin inactive with his right elbow injury — for the third straight game — and left tackle Dawand Jones out for the season with knee and hamstring injuries that required surgery.
That left Flacco with Cornelius Lucas on the right side and second-year pro KT Leveston making his first NFL start on the left side. Not ideal when the Browns were facing premier edge rusher Hutchinson and an excellent No. 2 edge in Al-Quadin Muhammad.
The two interceptions led to 10 of Detroit’s early points for a 17-7 edge.
On the first one, Cedric Tillman ran a hitch, but Flacco fired a fade down the left side. That one led to a field goal for a 10-7 Lions lead. Flacco said after the game that he was to blame for the play. “The first pick was on me,” Flacco said. “Yeah, I thought he was going. I was in the wrong, not him.”
The second one came with 4:46 left in the half when Jerry Jeudy fell down — he believed he was knocked down — near the left sideline, and D.J. Reed easily stole the pass and returned it 34 yards.
It led to a 2-yard TD pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown for a 17-7 command.
Lions kicker Jason Bates kicked a 58-yard field goal with 8 seconds left in the half to make it 20-7. After Andre Szmyt kicked a field goal to cash in on Denzel Ward’s interception to close within 20-10, Kalif Raymond ripped off a 65-yard punt return for a touchdown to put the game out of reach at 27-10 with 13:40 left in the game.
The punt return followed back-breaking back-to-back drops by tight end Harold Fannin Jr. and Jeudy, with Jeudy’s coming on a deep ball down the left side. Jeudy hunched over in frustration, knowing he could’ve made something big happen there with the Browns trailing only 20-10.
Szmyt missed a 56-yard field goal attempt late in the third quarter that would’ve made it 20-13.
Flacco, whose strip-sack by Hutchinson led to an 8-yard TD pass from Jared Goff to St. Brown, suffered other dropped passes, including one on a short third-down toss to Jerome Ford.
With Flacco already struggling heading into the game, he needed some big plays from his receivers and excellent protection from his blockers. He didn’t get enough of either.
Now, the Browns must decide who they’ll start against the Vikings next week, but this debacle certainly wasn’t Flacco’s fault.
Jeudy, who caught all three of his passes on the opening drive, finished with three catches on nine targets for 58 yards and two drops. Fannin finished 2-of-6 with a drop.
It was a dismal performance by most, except for running back Quinshon Judkins.
Denzel Ward’s INT helps the Browns narrow the gap
Ward’s interception on a deep ball intended for Jameson Williams helped the Browns narrow the gap to 20-10 on a 33-yard field goal by Szmyt.
The Browns started at the Lions 42, and Judkins got things started with an 11-yard run. Seven plays later, Szmyt nailed the chip-shot field goal to cut the deficit to 10 with 6:44 left in the third.
It was the second straight week with an interception for the Browns defense, after Grant Delpit got one last week to snap a streak of seven games without an interception. Delpit’s pick helped keep the Browns’ 13-point rally alive for the 13-10 come-from-victory.
The defense then forced a three-and-out, and the Browns had a chance to close to 20-13 on a 56-yard Szmyt field goal with 1:25, but it was short.
Flacco’s two INTs lead to 10 Lions points
The Lions led 20-7 at the half after the two Flacco interceptions led to 10 of the Lions points.
The first came with 1:49 left in the first quarter and the score tied at 7. Flacco looked for Tillman on a fade down the left side, but Tillman had run a hitch, and no one was near safety Kerby Joseph when he picked off the pass to start Detroit at the Browns’ 46.
Jason Bates kicked a 48-yard field goal five plays later for a 10-7 Lions advantage with 14:17 left in the half.
Flacco was picked off again with 4:26 left in the half when Jeudy fell one the comeback down near the right sideline, and Reed swiped the pass and returned it 34 yards to the Browns’ 5.
Three plays later, Goff found St. Brown for the 2-yard TD pass on the right side of the end zone, where he was wide open in an apparent blown coverage. That made it 17-7 Detroit, with most of those points coming off the picks.
It was two more picks by Flacco that weren’t his fault. In the 17-16 loss to the Bengals in Week 1, two of Flacco’s passes went off the hands of Jeudy and Tillman, and were picked off.
Judkins’ TD and Jahmyr Gibbs answers for a 7-7 tie
After the Browns held the Lions to four plays on their opening dive, Cleveland marched 88 yards downfield in 13 plays and Judkins rumbled in from the 1 on fourth down.
The touchdown made it 7-0 and came after the Lions stopped the Browns on three straight runs from the 1, one by Judkins and two straight by Flacco.
The Browns got to that point largely via catches of 11, 33 and 4 by Jeudy, who had only 10 receptions heading in.
Jeudy got the first touch of the game, an 11-yard catch on the opening play. The 33-yarder moved the Browns to the Detroit 12. The Lions almost had an amazing goal line stand, until the Browns went for it on fourth and 1, and Judkins punched it in.
But Gibbs answered with an 8-yard TD run of his own to tie it 7-7 with 3:30 left in the first quarter.
The drive began with a 30-yard kickoff return to start Detroit at their 35, and St. Brown caught a 25-yard pass on third down to the Browns’ 35. A holding call on Denzel Ward wiped out a sack by Isaiah McGuire on the play before the touchdown.
Cedric Tillman ruled out with hamstring injury
After his gaffe on Flacco’s second interception, Tillman was ruled out of the game with a hamstring injury. He visited the medical tent with about 11 minutes left in the half, and tried to come back. But after a brief return, he headed to the locker room and was soon ruled out for the game.
Lions OC supplies the bulletin-board material
Lions offensive coordinator John Morton got the Browns extra fired up on Thursday when he said “I don’t think they’ve seen a run game like ours yet.”
Myles Garrett had something to say about that on Friday during his weekly availability.
“He’s entitled to his opinion,” Garrett said. “He hasn’t seen a defensive front like ours and he’s entitled to say what he wants and we have the privilege to see who’s right and I think it’ll be a battle of ideologies and I think our DC also has some things to say and we have to be the ones who put it into action and so we have to meet and see who’s right.”
Rookie defensive tackle Mason Graham, the No. 5 overall pick out of Michigan, wasn’t fazed by the remarks.
“I mean we’ve stopped the run every week and that’s what we’re going to continue to do,” he said.
Detroit rushed for 109 yards and passed for 168. The Browns were outgained on the day, 277-249.
Lions LB Jack Campbell delivers a backhanded compliment
Lions linebacker Jack Campbell, in trying to compliment the Browns, delivered a backhanded compliment of sorts.
“Usually Cleveland is like, usually you’re playing them and they’re kind of at the end of the season and they kind of know they’re not making the playoffs,” Campbell said. “This team’s hungry and they’ve got the right guys on the team so it’s going to be a good fight.
“What we talk about is our standards,” he said. “The way we practice, the way we prepare, the way we play, it’s about our standards. Nothing else matters. And we’re very aware of what’s coming in here. That’s a big win those guys got. They had to fight their way back to get that W and they did everything right at the end of the game to get it done. And they willed that to happen, so they’ve got the fight in them.”
Dan Campbell knew what he was facing
Lions coach Dan Campbell prepared his team for the tough Browns defense it was about to take on.
“This defense, I’ve already mentioned, I think is the best that we will have faced,” Campbell said. “Green Bay was damn good, but this defense is really good, man. So, we’ve got our hands full over there. And offensively, man, they’re going to ball control, Flacco’s seen every look you could see, they’re going to lean on the rookie (Judkins) in the run game). And so, we know what’s coming in here.”
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