Cleveland Browns’ fans still have to be shaken up after the season ending injury to Nick Chubb in Monday night’s loss to Pittsburgh. We know Chubb had a severe knee injury in his college days, but he seemed indestructible since coming to the Browns.
The organization won’t give up on the season though, so there are still 15 games remaining and the focal point of the offense now has to be QB Deshaun Watson.
We said before the year started that the fate of the season depended on how well Watson played, and if he didn’t play well, the Browns were essentially screwed.
It’s only two games, but Watson is still struggling, completing just 55.1% of his passes, just 5.6 yards per attempt and a quarterback rating of 69.1, which is 30th in the league, ahead of just rookie Bryce Young and Zach Wilson.
He’s behind Kenny Pickett, who looked terrible against the Browns on Monday.
He has to be better than that if the Browns want to make the playoffs.
Of course, after a Browns’ loss, the critics of Kevin Stefanski have returned complaining about play calling. What if we told you Cleveland ranked sixth in the NFL in yards gained after two weeks?
That’s where they are. They are moving the football. The problem is turnovers, as the Browns’ six have them just one behind the Vikings for the most in the league. Stop turning it over, and we think the offense will be just fine.
Besides turnovers, we have to talk about the offensive line. The interior of the line is fine with guards Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller and center Ethan Pocic. Rookie Dawand Jones has stepped in for Jack Conklin and has more than held his own.
But like a lot of units, it is only as good as its weakest member and right now Jedrick Wills is not playing well. Pittsburgh put a lot of pressure on Watson. Now, we understand Watson sacks himself at times, and he is fifth in being sacked with nine.
At what point though does Stefanski and offensive line coach Bill Callahan make Wills accountable for his play? It appears he is the weak link in an otherwise pretty strong unit. We don’t know what the alternative would be, but it will be a problem going forward because that’s where opponents are going to attack.
We recognize the Steelers do not have a high-powered offense, but it certainly looks like the Cleveland defense is approaching elite status if they remain healthy. Pittsburgh basically had one good offensive play all night, and the unit has allowed less than 100 yards rushing in both games.
That’s a vast improvement from the sieve against the run it was last year.
Certainly, the Browns will see offenses better than Pittsburgh in the coming weeks, but it appears the new coordinator and the new personnel have made a great difference in this unit.
As for the loss of Chubb, there is no replacing him. That’s what happens when you are the best at what you do. But we are sure Stefanski will still want to run the football and Andrew Berry will find another running back to help pick up the slack.
That said, the focal point of the offense is gone, and it is up to everyone else, particularly Watson to improve. That doesn’t mean he needs to throw for 400 yards every week though.
For us, we think the next most explosive player the Browns have on offense is TE David Njoku and Cleveland needs to find a way to get him the ball more often.
Cleveland suffered a blow with the injury to Chubb, but it becomes a worse situation if they let his absence ruin what should be a promising season.
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