CLEVELAND, Ohio — The coin flip shouldn’t be a complicated decision. Win it, defer, get the ball to start the second half — that’s pretty much standard operating procedure for most NFL teams. But the Browns have been flipping that logic on its head lately and the results have been ugly.
The numbers are stark. Browns beat reporter Ashley Bastock laid them out on the Orange and Brown Talk podcast: “The Browns in first quarters right now are getting outscored by opponents 65-13 and the Saints are getting outscored in first quarters 44-6. So these are two teams that are just not scoring early.