Browns WR struggles: Assigning blame for drops is difficult, on everyone involved

Fans of the Cleveland Browns have been through pretty much everything. From losing their team to losing every game of the season and everything in between, Browns fans have dealt with losing. In many ways, the team has tried pretty much everything to turn things around. Former scouts, former winners/legends, former lawyers, former football guys and, now, an Ivy Leaguer have run the front office since The Return in 1999.

Similar swings have happened at the head coaching spot as well.

What does Cleveland have to show for it? Four winning seasons in over 20 years, with a fifth one unlikely to arrive in 2025-26.

Week 4’s loss to the Detroit Lions was just another game, in many ways. The Browns lost because QB Joe Flacco threw interceptions, a couple of good passes were dropped, the offensive line wasn’t good and special teams was downright putrid.

We’ve already covered that Flacco should hold on to his job for at least one more week and, perhaps, more conversation will come about Bubba Ventrone’s special teams job and the banged-up offensive line. For now, as a lifelong Cleveland Browns fan (and now a media member for 15 years), I want to complain about dropped passes.

Let’s be honest, one of the biggest reasons that football is so interesting to so many people is how nuanced it is. While it is a blunt sport, there is almost nothing simple about it. The number of variables in each and every play outnumbers most other sports. There are 22 players, the officials, the field conditions, the weather and the crowd affecting most plays.

Generally speaking, passes that fall to the ground can be blamed (or credited) to three parties:

• Quarterback
• Pass catcher
• Defender (making a good play)

The reality is nuanced. Did the weather impact the throw, footing or catch? Did the refs allow the defender or offensive player to be more physical than generally allowed? How is the route supposed to be run against that defense? Did the pass catcher read the defense differently than the quarterback? Do the coaches want the ball thrown to a specific player on a certain play or is the QB supposed to go through his progressions? Did the quarterback throw it too hard, too low, too high or too wobbly? Did the pass catcher round off his route, run his route flat or slow down his route?

We could probably go on and on.

The reality is that each play has nuance to it. Rookie TE Harold Fannin Jr. dropped a beautifully feathered pass that came down perfectly “in the basket” while the defender was in tight coverage. Catching a pass like that is difficult for most players (We saw Jameson Williams struggle to locate a deep ball from Jared Goff on Sunday, similarly). Given the trajectory of the ball and the angle of Fannin’s body, the youngster would have only seen the pass for a very short amount of time before it went through his hands.

WR Jerry Jeudy continues to struggle with drops, including one where Flacco was late getting the ball to his top receiver, leading to a contested catch point along the sidelines. A quicker release would have made a catch more likely, but Jeudy should have still pulled it in. Jeudy was manhandled on the throw that became an interception when the defender tackled the receiver, then caught the throw.

Not technically a drop but rookie WR Isaiah Bond being unable to get his feet down to secure a third down catch pushed Andre Szmyt’s field goal attempt back a few yards. The rookie kicker missed a deep one, setting Detroit up with great field position near the 50-yard line. Those extra yards lost by Bond’s incompletion could have made a huge difference in a game that then would have only had a seven-point difference.

While Bond should have completed the catch, was Flacco late on the pass? Did Bond run the route correctly? Was the defender allowed to be more physical than generally allowed on that route?

In the end, as a fan and a media member, it is often tough to know exactly who or what is to blame for dropped passes. Generally, most want to blame the pass catcher when the reality is that it is generally a number of variables. The problem is, if Fannin, Jeudy, and Bond catch those passes, the Browns offense goes from horrible to potentially acceptable (not good/great, however).

Maybe fewer fans are calling for HC Kevin Stefanski’s head if the offense is able to stay on the field with those being completed passes. Speaking of blame, do we really know what coaches are good at making sure players catch the ball, or do we assume that teams with fewer drops are doing so because of their coaches and vice versa?

The little nuances of football, like with dropped passes, are what make the game so great and so frustrating at the same time. Week 4, this Browns fan and media member is stuck on the frustrated side with the drop passes getting the attention.