Cleveland, OH- The Cleveland Browns head into Saturday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens with a .4% chance of making the playoffs. In essence, the Browns are all but eliminated and start to prepare for the off-season. This isn’t unfamiliar to the Browns. We’ve all been here before. The sadness comes from thinking we had a good team at the beginning and slowly realizing we are still a ways away.
Offensive woes
The Browns offense has been absolutely terrible since Deshaun Watson came back from suspension. While some have said he played better against the Bengals, he played so terribly against the Texans, he could only get better. And even still, the Browns offense produced 10 points. This is an offense that was averaging over 24 ppg with Jacoby Brissett. This was a top 10 offense in the league prior to adding what is to be believed as a franchise QB. While we all knew it would take time for Watson to get in a groove, it’s still alarming to have scored a total of 13 points (the offense produced 3 points vs the Texans and 10 vs the Bengals) in two games.
While the Browns are on a third center, the rest of the offensive line is relatively healthy, and the backs and receivers are as well. David Njoku missed the Bengals game but still… 10 points?? The rest of this season is being billed as a tune up for Watson. To help him get his rhythm. I get it. You give a guy $230M, you want to give him every chance to succeed. The offense is going to have to produce points against a Ravens team that is known for their defense.
Inconsistent defense
The Browns defense is just…. I mean they are what they are at this point in the year. The defense on paper was supposed to be a strong suit but this year has been a source of frustration. We just don’t know which defense is going to show up. The talent is absolutely there yet the production has been lacking. With the Ravens without their star QB Lamar Jackson, this is a game you would expect the Browns defense to dominate. But we just don’t know.
To be fair, the Browns defense has been hit with injury after injury. From Anthony Walker to Takitaki, now JOK, the linebacker position has been ravaged by injury. That doesn’t help at all. But the Browns still have talent, and the mistakes have been from the positions of supposed depth. The DB’s have had a year to forget with miscommunication issues and not tackling. Overall, the Browns have struggled and there’s no way to know which defense is going to show up against the Ravens. It could be the defense that dominated Houston and scored 14 points, or it could be the defense that no showed against a backup Bailey Zappe and gave up 38 against the Patriots. We just don’t know.
Overall, I think the Browns will win but I’m not confident. For the fans’ sakes, I hope the Browns can score. The Ravens defense while still good, isn’t great and any opportunity to split with them for the season. At this point, we are trying to salvage what we can. If the Browns can win out, they can finish with a winning record. 9-8 would be an improvement over last year’s record even with all the distractions. Let’s hope they and get there. There still can be goals, there is still reason to play but…. If the Browns put out a clunker on Saturday, the week of Christmas is going to be a long, long week.
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