Jerry Jeudy had the game flipper moment in his hands. A sideline ball from Joe Flacco late in the fourth quarter, with 14:03 left. The Browns, trailing 20-10, looked destined to flip the script. Especially since Lions corner D.J. Reed suffered an injury in the third quarter and was carted away. At their own 26-yard line, Joe Flacco had escaped Aidan Hutchinson’s rush and dropped a ball down the left sideline.

Jeudy saw daylight, maybe even seven points straight. A touchdown or a third-down conversion. Instead, the ball slipped right through his hands. Ripping off his helmet, he muttered to himself and took a lonely walk to the bench. Leaving fans devastated. One Cleveland Insider did not hold back on his criticism.

“Jerry Jeudy can watch the tape with Jeff Schudel this week,” Anthony Lima said on 92.3 The Fan on Sunday, adding that Jeudy needs to sit down with Browns reporter Jeff Schudel and take notes of his gameplay at Ford Field. “They can sit together and, you know, diagnose the drops that we all saw in him, you know, reacting. God, you almost would think that Jerry Judy was like one of those Chad Ochocinco”

The comparison with a retired NFL wide receiver who has played 11 seasons for the Bengals and Patriots stung, especially since Jeudy has never come close to that type of dominance. Daryl Ruiter followed with his own jab: “You thought he was Odell Beckham Jr. the way he acts sometimes.”

OBJ? Who, despite missing the first four games of his rookie season due to a hamstring injury, in just 12 games, delivered 91 receptions for 1,305 yards. Jeudy was supposed to be that guy. And at times, he has been. Last year, he set the Browns’ single-season receptions record with 90 grabs and put up 1,229 yards.

“The way he acts, he can’t catch the football. It’s why Denver moved on from him,” Lima added. “Why did you guys think Denver moved on from him? … He is not a winning football player.” That’s the harshest criticism yet. But it echoes what many Broncos fans had said before Cleveland made the trade.

“His biggest game of his career, they also lost,” Lima said bluntly. “He is not a winning football player. He just isn’t. It’s what everybody in Denver who had eyes wanted to tell us when we traded for him. He’s not a winning football player. I don’t know how much more evidence you guys need.”

Drafted 15th overall in 2020, Jeudy flashed in Denver with 211 receptions for 3,053 yards and 11 touchdowns across four seasons, but inconsistency always defined his run. That’s why Denver moved him on 9 March 2024. Shipping him to Cleveland for a 2024 fifth-round pick, No. 136 overall (traded to Seattle Seahawks) and a 2024 sixth-round pick, No. 203 overall (traded to New York Jets)

Jeudy’s season with the Browns started promisingly. He opened Sunday’s game with three catches for 48 yards on the first drive, helping build a 7-0 lead. But when it mattered most, the connection with Flacco crumbled. Moments later, in the fourth quarter, Kalif Raymond returned Corey Bojorquez’s punt 65 yards for a touchdown to stretch Detroit’s lead, turning what could have been a comeback into a long-lost dream.

Flacco targeted Jeudy six more times, and not a single pass was completed. One even turned into a Reed interception. That’s the crux of the frustration. A dropping-dead performance, and Jeudy knew it, too.

Jerry Jeudy under fire as Browns’ offensive woes continue to mount

After the game, Jeudy admitted, “That (expletive) got me hot. I gotta make that damn play, bro. It’s a big-time play, I got to catch that (expletive). I catch them (expletives) every day in practice. That would have been a big play.”

The Browns’ offense is already sputtering, averaging just 13.3 points per game. Flacco has been ineffective, and calls are getting louder to hand the keys to rookie Dillon Gabriel. But head coach Kevin Stefanski isn’t ready to hit that button yet.

“Obviously, when we struggle like we did on offense, I understand the question. But that’s not our focus,” Stefanski told reporters. Instead, he shifted responsibility across the board.

The veteran quarterback threw two interceptions, the first on a broken play with wideout Cedric Tillman. Flacco floated a ball down the sideline, but no one in brown and orange was there. Lions safety Kerby Joseph was waiting, pulling in an easy pick.

Many pointed the finger at Tillman for running the wrong route. Although Flacco later owned it. But for Jeudy, the microscope is squarely on his hands. Once billed as a cornerstone, he is now at the center of Cleveland’s crisis. And with the Browns sitting at 1-3 ahead of a trip to London, the questions around him are only growing louder.