The Cleveland Browns could’ve easily knelt for a win, but instead they gave up a 13-point lead to the Jets in 90 seconds

Kareem Hunt makes a run against the New York Jets. Nick Cammett/Getty Images The Cleveland Browns blew a 13-point lead to the New York Jets with less than 90 seconds to play on Sunday. The loss was a true team effort, with confounding mistakes made across the entire Browns roster.

The biggest miscue of the day likely belonged to Nick Chubb, who scored a touchdown he definitely should not have scored. The Cleveland Browns had the game in the bag on Sunday. Holding a 24-17 lead with just over two minutes left to play, the Browns offense was once again marching down the field against the New York Jets.

While Cleveland had entered the red zone, all they needed was a first down. Then, the Browns could just kneel three times, run out the clock and leave New York with a victory. But then Cleveland running back Nick Chubb did the one thing he shouldn’t have done: He scored.

—Cleveland Browns (@Browns) September 18, 2022On the play before the score, fellow Browns running back Kareem Hunt also had the chance to go down in bounds and bring the game to the two-minute warning, but instead he stopped the clock by running off the sidelines. Followed by Chubb’s run to the end zone, there were two plays that Cleveland would immediately want back. After the touchdown, kicker Cade York, the hero of last week’s win against the Panthers, missed the extra point attempt, leaving the Browns’ lead at 13.

At this point, the Browns had made a mistake, given that they could have simply knelt the game away had they gone down at the right moment. But still, Cleveland held a 30-17 lead with less than two minutes left to play. What could go wrong?They soon found out, when an absolutely atrocious bit of blown coverage from the Browns defense allowed the Jets to score an easy touchdown, with Joe Flacco finding Corey Davis with no one around him, and no Cleveland defenders interested in pursuing him downfield.

—New York Jets (@nyjets) September 18, 2022That cut Browns’ lead to 30-24. 1:22 left to play. Then the Jets recovered an onside kick.

—New York Jets (@nyjets) September 18, 2022On the ensuing drive, the Browns defense fell apart once again, as New York rookie wide receiver Garrett Wilson found space in the end zone. —New York Jets (@nyjets) September 18, 2022Unlike the Browns, the Jets made their final extra point of the day, and wound up winning 31-30. After the game, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski took the blame for not better informing his running backs they needed to go down.

“That’s a scenario where that is on me to communicate that to the huddle,” Stefanski said. “We have done that before. Having said that, we need to close that game out.

“Going down early in this type of situation is no easy task. In 2020, Falcons running back Todd Gurley accidentally scored with just over a minute to play, giving the ball back to the Lions. NFL players are taught to pursue the end zone at all costs, and it’s not an instinct that turns off easily.

While it could be easy to blame Cleveland’s two running backs, Stefanski is right to take the fall. Given the Jets had used up all their timeouts before the Browns final touchdown, Stefanski had ample time to inform his offense that even though they were still calling plays, they needed to be wary of stopping the clock. As for the blown coverages, the defense should have never been in that position in the first place, and appeared to have already checked out of the game, likely believing they wouldn’t be back on the field before the clock hit zero.

Throw in a missed extra point, and the Cleveland Browns organization executed an impressively poor final sequence to ensure an embarrassing loss for a franchise that already has plenty of them. Read the original article on Insider.