The Cleveland Browns have a long list of offensive issues, and that Week 6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers made it painfully obvious. Everything that could go wrong pretty much did. From injuries piling up to zero rhythm in the passing game and from no explosive plays to keep the defense honest to Dillon Gabriel’s struggles to move cleanly in the pocket, you name it.

It wasn’t just one issue. The Browns have a full-on chain reaction of problems that showed exactly how out of sync this offense really is. After that ugly 23-9 loss on Sunday afternoon that pushed them to a horrendous 1-5 record, the Browns’ veteran guard, Joel Bitonio, pointed out the obvious issues.

“We’ve to execute better,” Bitonio said after the game when asked how the Browns can turn around things offensively. “We’ve got to stop penalizing ourselves. I mean, I don’t know how many penalties we had in the first half today, but it’s obviously not winning football. Just those mistakes hurt.

“When you’re playing a team that has a pretty good defense and they run a ball control offense, we can’t go out there three and out. We can’t have those negative plays. Like there’s 10-15 a game that are either someone unblocked or a penalty, and that just kills your offense.”

It was a long afternoon for the Browns, and the team’s offense struggled throughout the day. The passing game struggled to scare the defenders, and the rushing attack was ugly as usual. And we’ll study it piece by piece. For starters, Gabriel made his second start of his career.

While he didn’t have an awful game as the Oregon Ducks product threw for 221 yards and did not have an interception, he wasn’t efficient either, as he completed just 29 of 52 passes. On top of that, Dillon Gabriel was pressured 22 times, as he took 16 hits and was sacked six times by the Steelers.

Now, if we address the elephant in the room, Bitonio was spot on when he said the Browns just can’t afford 3-and-outs. That’s exactly what happened against the Steelers. Cleveland went 6-of-17 on third down, which works out to a miserable 35% conversion rate. Penalties didn’t help either. We’re talking six flags for 44 yards that stalled any momentum they tried to build.

By the end of the day, the Browns punted four times, managed just three field goals, and couldn’t find the end zone once. The offense was stuck in neutral and was unable to sustain drives. Meanwhile, the offensive line wasn’t helpful either, and it’s quite understandable.

Across six weeks, the Browns used six different offensive line combinations. The crystal? Multiple injuries and Sunday’s game weren’t an exception either. Both Jack Conklin (concussion) and Cam Robinson (knee) were injured, forcing backups into key roles, leading to their overall offensive struggles.

Looking at the numbers, the Browns managed just 248 total yards (183 through the air and a measly 65 on the ground). Quinshon Judkins was supposed to be the breakout guy in Week 6, but he came up flat, rushing for only 36 yards on 12 carries. Sure, Harold Fannin Jr. caught 7 passes for 81 yards, but even with that, the passing game never really scared the Steelers.

Long story short: The Browns have changed the man under the center with Dillon Gabriel; they have tried six different offensive line combinations, but nothing seems to be clicking for their offense. And they need to fix certain things as the veteran guard pointed out.

Kevin Stefanski to give up playcalling?

The 2024 season for the Browns wasn’t something to remember. We’re talking a 3-14 debacle. And at the heart of that ugly track record were the offensive issues. Cleveland struggled to score 20 points in most of the games. And as a result, the front office fired the offensive coordinator, Ken Dorsey.

While they promoted the tight end coach, Tommy Rees, to the OC job, the head coach, Kevin Stefanski, took the play-calling job into his hands. The idea was simple: The HC wanted to pull off the 2023 miracle this season. But after a 1-5 troubling outing and a Week 6 loss against the Steelers, Stefanski left the door open to give up play-calling. Once again.

“There’s a lot of things that we need to do better and obviously I’ll look at all things,” the HC said after the Week 6 loss to their division rivals. And when asked if he was thinking about giving up play-calling duties, Stefanski didn’t rule out a complete change. “There’s a long list of things we gotta do better,” he said.

This season feels like déjà vu. After six weeks, the Browns still haven’t cracked 20 points in a single game. With that kind of offensive output, Stefanski’s play-calling and Rees’ coordination are going to be under serious scrutiny.