Cleveland Browns vs. Washington Commanders: 3 storylines headed into game

Photo by Charles Murray

The Cleveland Browns will take on the Washington Commanders Friday night down at Cleveland Browns Stadium, and there are several storylines that we will be following closely. The Browns played the New York Jets last week at the annual Hall of Fame Game and got their feet wet in preparation for this game this week.

Many of the Browns newly drafted rookies played last week and several did many good things. This week Browns fans have been talking about the quarterback Dorian Thompson Robinson, and Dawand Jones, the massive offensive linemen formerly of Ohio State. These two players will be looked at quite a bit this week again. Can they play well for a second week?

There have been a rash of injuries for the team since last week’s game including to Jerome Ford, the second-year running back. We’ll discuss that situation and some other main storylines for this Friday’s game under the lights.

Shelby Harris

The eight-year NFL veteran signed a one-year $5 million deal with the Browns this week. The defensive end who last played for the Seattle Seahawks a year ago has had a steady career and is a run-stopper and a good pass rusher at times. He will definitely help the defensive line and will be another player that Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz can utilize to maximize the success of the group this season.

Harris played several seasons in Denver with the Broncos before landing in Seattle this past season. He typically has gotten anywhere from 40 to 50 tackles in any given season. He’s registered 29 tackles for losses, and he’s good at deflecting passes and getting his hands up along the line batting quarterback passing attempts down.

Injury bug

Two of the Browns rising stars at the defensive edge positions included Alex Wright, and Isaiah Thomas both coming into their second year. Unfortunately, both were injured this last week, and required them to have surgery. This will keep them out of action for the next couple of months.

The defensive ends for Cleveland include Myles Garrett and newly acquired Za’Darius Smith.

They’ve also added Ogbo Okoronkwo in free agency and could use newly drafted Isaiah Maguire a bit.

In other injury news, Greg Newsome, a cornerback of the team, continues to struggle coming back from a groin injury. This isn’t good news for the third-year player out of Northwestern, who was expected to have a good year ahead. It was also probably a make-or-break season for him as well. He’s been moved to the slot on coverage defensively over the past year and has struggled to perform well.

The Browns were without veteran cornerback Denzel Ward for a bit too but he’s back on the field practicing. The team has several other cornerbacks, including Martin Emerson, going into his second season. Emerson could really establish himself as one of the leaders on defense if he plays well. He had an excellent rookie campaign last season.

Newsome is only losing more opportunities to make a long-term impression with the team with competition like Emerson right behind him There have been rumblings in the past of Newsome’s potential of wanting out of Cleveland and this could lead to that if he does not get healthy quickly.

The other big injury news was about running back Jerome Ford, who was being given the reins to the second running back status. However, he’s hurt his hamstring and is considered day-to-day. I suspect we won’t see Ford in preseason. Hopefully, by Week 1 he could be ready, but hamstring issues can be tricky, especially for running backs.

Good evening! What a busy day for the #Browns
They signed free agent DT Shelby Harris,prepping for Friday night against Commanders! @TheLeftGuard @ThVillageElliot @CLERodB @ctownthug @NEOSportsInside @dawgpounddaily @KJG_NBA @CLEsportsTalk @FansFirstSN https://t.co/Ay92ra4rWJ

— John Suchan (@JohnSuchan) August 10, 2023

 

Starters get the green light

Earlier in the week, coach Kevin Stefanski indicated that most of the starters would get the start in this second preseason game for the team. This will give quarterback Deshaun Watson an opportunity at a few series. Beyond that, Stefanski suggested that they were looking at sticking to a number of plays and that could result in Watson playing a few series or maybe the first half. After that, we should see backup quarterback Josh Dobbs get some action followed by Kellen Mond and Dorian Thompson Robinson.

 

For the home crowd down at Cleveland Browns Stadium. It’ll be a great opportunity to see the team’s best players on the field to start the game. The team doesn’t return to action at the stadium until the beginning of the regular season in Week 1 when the team plays the Cincinnati Bengals.

Several new players, including wide receiver Elijah Moore will also see the field. Moore has gotten a lot of press in the last few weeks as he’s done well in camp. However, is all the hype warranted? It is only practice and training camp. Moore has not had particularly good statistics over the first two years of his career so it will be interesting to see how he performs in a Cleveland Browns uniform.

It should be a great atmosphere down at the stadium on Friday night. Hope you all enjoy the game!