The Creative Browns Find Another Way To Lose

There are years where teams are destined to do well. They get every break. Players come out of nowhere to make positive contributions.

Conversely, there are years when everything goes wrong for a team. And that’s the only way we think you can explain the Cleveland Browns right now.

Some of it was self-fabricated, no doubt. When you finish 11-6 and make the playoffs and then replace most of your offensive coaching staff, you kind of deserve what happens to you.

It is utterly amazing to have a starting quarterback throw for 395 yards, two touchdowns, and not turn the ball over and still score just 14 points. It should have been 20 points if not for two missed field goals by Dustin Hopkins, who was 18 of 21 from beyond 40 yards a year ago, and this season has missed six kicks.

Hopkins missed a 32-yard attempt which was nullified by penalty and then missed a 27 yarder right before halftime.

There have been too many games this season where the defense played well enough to win for Cleveland, but yesterday wasn’t one of them. They were atrocious. They allowed 200 rushing yards for the second time this season, and a season high of 473 yards.

If you can’t stop the run, you can’t win. And the Browns’ defense has held opponents under 100 just twice all year.

Taysom Hill, a 34-year-old QB/TE/RB looked like someone bound for Canton. When he’s in the game, you have to figure the ball is going to him, yet Cleveland allowed him to rush for 138 yards and three touchdowns, catch eight passes for 50 yards and complete a pass for 18 more.

And he turned it over twice!

Don’t forget, besides the two missed field goals, the special teams allowed a 53-yard punt return and returned three kickoffs for an average of 18.5 yards. Cleveland hasn’t had a viable kick returner since Josh Cribbs and it shouldn’t be that difficult to find a decent one, let alone someone as dynamic as Cribbs.

The one thing we feared was a seeming lack of effort from some of the players, which could cost Kevin Stefanski his job. The optics weren’t good in New Orleans where it appeared players were going through the motions at times.

What can be done at this point in the season?

Perhaps some accountability is in order. It will be tough because of the short week before Thursday’s game vs. Pittsburgh, but the Browns will then have some time off before a Monday night game at Denver.

If players aren’t putting forth maximum effort, then they should lose playing time or a roster spot. After all, with the playoffs out of the question, shouldn’t the coaching staff and front office be looking towards next season and who can help then?

Hopefully, the players themselves will get together and put up more of a fight at home in a rivalry game in a couple of days. The thought of getting embarrassed in front of a national audience should be enough for some players.

As for the organization? It’s hard to trust them to make the correct decision heading into next season based on their actions surrounding the coaching staff and casting their lot with Deshaun Watson.

It’s a shame for the long time Browns such as Joel Bitonio, Myles Garrett, Nick Chubb, David Njoku, and Denzel Ward that what should have been a promising season has turned to garbage.

Don’t Overlook LeVert In Cavs’ Winning Streak.

The streak continues. The Cleveland Cavaliers still have not lost under new coach Kenny Atkinson, running their record to 14-0 on the year with another win over Chicago Friday night.

Cleveland goes for #15 tonight against Charlotte at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

Atkinson’s squad has captured the fans of northeast Ohio much like the Indians’ 22-game winning streak did in 2017. Fans were chanting “14-0” behind the desk of the Cavaliers’ post-game show after the win against the Bulls.

The wine and gold lead the league in field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage, and points scored. And despite all of the offensive numbers, they still rank 6th in defensive efficiency.

It’s a team effort too. Ten players average over 10 minutes per game with only four being on the floor for 30 minutes, and none of those getting more than Donovan Mitchell’s 31.1.

The Cavs have won close games and blowouts. They’ve led wire-to-wire and made come from behind victories.

They are winning, and as usual, that’s a good thing.

Have they taken advantage of a soft Eastern Conference? Yes, there only two other teams in the East above .500 and the Cavs play one of them Tuesday in the defending champion Celtics.

Cleveland beat the other team over the breakeven mark, Orlando, early in the season. However, they have also knocked off the 10-2 Warriors and the 8-4 Lakers in this early season run.

You can only play who is one your schedule.

Ty Jerome has received a lot of love from fans and basketball folks around the league, but another unsung player has been Caris LeVert.

Because LeVert has not been a great three-point shooter in his career (34.4%), he sometimes draws the ire of the look only at the scoring column fans. We remember some poor shooting nights last year and the reaction on social media being that he’s not a good player.

But LeVert is what the basketball world calls “a player”. He plays and usually make a positive impact on the game no matter what his numbers say.

If his shot isn’t falling, he plays solid defense, gets some steals and rebounds. And at 6’6″, he can play either guard spot because he’s a good passer and has the size to play small forward as well.

So far this season, he’s fifth on the team in scoring at 12.4 per game, second in assists at 4.7, while shooting 55% from the floor, and an incredible 48.9% from three. Now we don’t expect the long-range shooting to continue at that pace, but his attempts are down, so perhaps the quality of the shots are much better.

He’s also a player who can create his own shot, which under the old regime was a needed skill, as only two other players (Mitchell and Darius Garland) had that skill, so if the shot clock was running down, he was a player to look for.

It is funny to us that Jerome and LeVert have played so well, because we have been saying Cleveland needed size in the backcourt for some time now, and both of them are exactly that, with Jerome being 6’5″.

The Cavs’ four best players get a lot of credit for how well they have played this season, but don’t overlook the play of Caris LeVert. He does a bit of everything and that is something coaches love.

In Support Of Stefanski

With the Cleveland Browns unexpected struggles this season, many in the media and fans as well have to have a scapegoat for their poor record. The easy target for their angst is head coach Kevin Stefanski.

Look, we aren’t saying Stefanski is a great coach. We also don’t think there are many great coaches in the NFL currently. The only people in charge we would put in that class are Andy Reid, John Harbaugh, and Mike Tomlin.

There are others who could ascend to that level, including Stefanski, but they aren’t there yet. But to be fair, this is the first non-competitive season for the current Cleveland coach, who has won 11 games twice, but his worst season to date was a 7-10 mark in 2022.

Stefanski is among the newer age head coaches. They are younger, didn’t play in the NFL and look more like college professors than “football guys”. Others in that category would be Mike McDaniel in Miami, Matt LaFleur in Green Bay, and Shane Steichen in Indianapolis.

There are others too.

They were hired because teams were looking for their Sean McVay, a young coach, full of energy, and a football savant. He took the league by storm at age 31, going 11-5 in his first year and taking the Rams to the Super Bowl in his second year. He won the title in his fifth season.

We think perhaps these guys don’t get a long rope from the fans because they don’t resemble the coaches they grew up with. Coaches like Vince Lombardi, Mike Ditka, Bill Parcells and Bill Cowher. Emotional men with fire in their eyes and not afraid to confront players.

We forget about people like Tom Landry, Paul Brown, and the last Browns’ coach to win a title, Blanton Collier, who were quieter and more refined on the sidelines.

Both types have had success winning in the NFL.

Another thing that irritates the hard-core football folks is Stefanski’s press conferences after games. At this point, we don’t know why anyone is surprised the coach says nothing in these settings. Our guess is he has told his players he will not do that. He will take the blame when things go bad.

To go along with this, we have no doubt errors are addressed and handled in the locker room. We don’t think players get to do whatever they want.

Usually, there is a one-year grace period for a coach after a successful season, and even though they didn’t win the Super Bowl, last year was a great season for the Browns. That would indicate Stefanski is safe this year, but a slow start in 2025 puts him firmly on a hot seat.

It does become a different story if Stefanski loses the locker room, and the players are no longer putting out an effort to win games. And that could occur if moves are made to play younger players who aren’t ready to compete.

Remember, the players don’t care about next year, nor do they care about draft picks. And that’s not just players who feel they won’t be back with the Browns next season.

Would people like Stefanski more if he got in players’ faces on the sidelines and ranted and raved at the officials? Probably, but that’s not him.

Stefanski deserves to come back next year and reverse what happened this year. Even if the losing continues unless he loses the players.

Browns Don’t Need To Tank Again

The Cleveland Browns are having a dreadful season at 2-7, and it’s probably worse because of the expectation coming into the season after a 11-6 record a year ago.

But Browns’ fans being Browns’ fans and some of the Browns’ media being people who have covered a terrible franchise over the last 20 years, the knee jerk reaction is the team should lose every game the rest of the season, because that’s the only way to win in the future. Get the highest draft position possible.

We feel differently and one of the reasons is this team isn’t that bad from a talent standpoint. Yes, they need to get younger as the Browns are one of oldest rosters in the NFL this season.

Besides, the whole “tanking” thing was done in 2015-17 when the Browns went 4-44 over three seasons. Unless we fell asleep like Rip Van Winkle, we don’t remember a Super Bowl parade after the organization did that.

Cleveland has the worst offense in the league and that was after they replaced pretty much the entire coaching staff on that side of the football. But you have to think that with competent quarterback play, the Browns would be 4-5 right now and still in the playoff hunt, rather than being among the worst teams in the league.

That said, we do believe in Bill Parcells’ adage that your record is what it says it is.

First, getting a high draft pick is no guarantee in getting a top-notch quarterback. A look at the best QBs in the sport shows that. Patrick Mahomes was the 10th overall pick. Josh Allen? 7th overall. Lamar Jackson was the 32nd pick.

Joe Burrow and Jared Goff were both selected first overall. On the other hand, another highly regarded young passer, Justin Herbert was picked sixth.

The Browns are going to have a high choice in next year’s draft, but we don’t need them to pick in the top three or five, which would mean they have to finish 3-14 or 4-13. We feel you don’t want that type of losing mentality to seep back in the locker room.

We thought the franchise was past that a year ago when they went through four quarterbacks and seemed to have the mentality that they would win anyway.

Try to get a QB next spring, but also use the rest of the picks on players who can add speed to the current roster. The Browns have 14 players currently on the team who are 30 years old or older, although two of them are specialists in K Dustin Hopkins and LS Charley Hughlett.

Of those players, the only ones who will likely be back in 2025 are Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller. There are nine more players will be reach 30 next season, including Nick Chubb, Myles Garrett, Ethan Pocic.

Deshaun Watson will also turn 30, but it’s difficult to see him on the roster a year from now.

The best solution might be to turn back time and rehire all of the coaches on the offensive side of the ball to give the team a functional offense again. Since that’s not possible, perhaps what’s needed is to get back to fundamentals, meaning being able to run the football.

That suits Kevin Stefanski’s offense, based on a play-action passing game. Cleveland has only allowed more than 21 points in four games this season. Designing an offense that can get to 21 points shouldn’t require a demolition of the current roster.

Right Now, A Total Buy In For Cavs’ Players

As the Cleveland Cavaliers continue their tremendous start, we heard a comment about the off-season that seems to make a lot of sense.

The organization didn’t do a lot in terms of roster reconstruction over the summer, but they did take care of some potential free agents.

The biggest one of course was signing Donovan Mitchell, a perennial all-star to an extension taking him through the 2027-27 season. Although many in the national media had Mitchell declining the player option he had after next season, the five-time all-star decided to stay with the Cavs.

Team president Koby Altman also signed Evan Mobley through 2029-30 and Jarrett Allen through 2028-29. Darius Garland, the other member of what the organization calls “The Core Four”, was already under contract until 2027-28.

As these signings were announced, we thought it was odd to make a commitment to a group that hasn’t been to the conference finals as of yet.

On the other hand, none of the Cavs’ best players are worrying about getting big contracts anymore. And that makes for a more cohesive basketball team.

We aren’t saying any of these guys were ever selfish on the floor, but there is certainly a thought for most players of making a good reputation in the league, showing they can put up numbers, because if they do, a big deal will be coming their way.

Mitchell is the team’s leader and his buy in to what new coach Kenny Atkinson wants to do probably puts everything in place, but you have to wonder if the contract had an effect.

In his first two seasons with the Cavaliers, Mitchell averaged 28.3 and 26.6 points per game playing around 35 minutes per night. He also took about 20 shots per contest.

We know it’s early, way early, but this year, the former 2nd team all-NBA selection is scoring just 22.5 points per game in 30 minutes, taking two less shots per game.

Look, winning makes everyone happy, and because Cleveland has started 10-0, pretty much everything Atkinson has touched has been golden.

Coincidentally, the organization has long felt that for the team to take another step forward, Evan Mobley needed to be more a part of the offense. Mobley is averaging two more shots per game this year, and his scoring average has risen from 15.7 last year to 18.4 in 2024-25.

Mitchell has always expressed a desire to play for championships. Most players feel the same way, but it’s not that they don’t want to win, it’s they don’t know how to do it. Sometimes it’s as simple as trusting your teammates more.

We aren’t saying the difference is because he got his life changing contract, but rather, he feels more comfortable because he got his deal, and is a better player.

And we aren’t just pointing out Mitchell here, we are saying getting everyone on long term deals has fostered more of an emphasis on the team. Right now, every player is sacrificing playing time, as no one is playing more than Mitchell’s 30.3 minutes a game.

If Atkinson can keep the minutes down for his star players, it could and should pay dividends later in the regular season and the playoffs.

Also, the increased time for the reserves mean if they are called upon later in the season, they will be ready. No one gets better by sitting and watching.

Right now, the only agenda for the Cavaliers is winning. Hopefully, that’s the way it stays because team basketball is beautiful to watch.

Do Guardians Overpay For Gloves?

Both of these things can be true. The Cleveland Guardians can and should spend more money on players, and the World Series between two big market behemoths indicate baseball needs to do something to even the playing field for all franchises.

In looking at the Cleveland projected payroll for the 2025 season, the highest paid player is of course the team’s resident superstar, Jose Ramirez. The next two are players known for their glove more than anything else in Andres Gimenez and Myles Straw.

This begs the question: Do the Guardians overpay for defense?

If the franchise is going to limit the amount of money spent on players to less than $100 million, we believe they need to examine where they would get the most bang for their buck.

We have noted this before, but offense (meaning scoring runs) is what gets teams into the playoffs. Of the top seven teams in runs scored in the American League this past season, six of them made by the post-season.

The same holds true in the National League.

So, if you are going to spend cash on something in the game, it should be on good hitters.

We aren’t saying defense isn’t important. Heck, the fifth inning of the fifth game of the World Series is proof of that. But, let’s face it, guys who can hit are extremely more difficult to come by. On the other hand, there are players who are tremendous defensively scattered all over the minor leagues.

We also say that no matter how good players are defensively, in order to hold a regular job in the big leagues, you have to be able to swing the bat.

The proof of that is the current third highest paid play on the Guardians’ payroll, Straw. Why did Straw spend most of last season at AAA and was recently outrighted to the minor leagues? He simply cannot hit.

Which brings us to Gimenez, who the Guardians will be paying $10.57 million next year, $15.57 million in 2026, and then $23.57 million in ’27, ’28, and ’29.

There is no question at all that Gimenez is the best defensive second baseman in the game. He has won three consecutive Gold Gloves and also won the Platinum Glove in 2023. The play he made in game four of the ALCS was just spectacular.

However, does he provide enough offense considering what the Guardians are paying him?

He has spent 3-1/2 years with the team and provided one excellent offense year in 2022 (.297/.371/.466/837) and one year at around league average in ’23 (.251/.314/.399/712).

Last season, his OPS slipped to 638, well below league average, mostly due a big drop off in power. Gimenez had 46 extra base hits in his very good ’22 season, and 47 in ’23. In 2024, that figure fell to just 32.

He is an excellent base stealer, swiping 80 bases in the last three seasons combined.

The Guardians probably were too quick to give him a big contract after 2022, much like they were with Straw after he came over from Houston and had a 739 OPS (.362 on base percentage) in 2021.

However, now the front office has a huge decision. If Gimenez doesn’t rebound offensively, they will be stuck with another huge contract without matching production.

We feel you need six or seven solid hitters in a contending lineup, so maybe the front office can build up the rest of the lineup so they can afford to pick Gimenez and his outstanding defense in the lineup.

And if the organization is trying to keep salaries under $100 million, and we would be surprised if they went over the threshold (not because they can’t, they could), then it might be prudent to move the second baseman this winter.

Maybe the Guardians would be better with a better bat, and a glove a tick below Andres Gimenez. Paying big cash and not getting offense doesn’t seem like a good way to allocate your resources.

Browns’ Latest Defeat Highlights The Lack Of A Running Game

The Cleveland Browns are not a good football team. That’s the only way you can put it when you have breakdowns in every phase of the game in a 27-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, dropping them to 2-7 on the season.

The optimism following last week’s win over Baltimore was short lived after another error filled contest heading into the bye week and the trading deadline. We would expect at least one move by GM Andrew Berry before 4 PM on Tuesday.

The special teams had two major gaffes, both of which set up Chargers’ touchdowns. They allowed a 53-yard punt return to provide good field position for Los Angeles’ first TD, and they allowed a blocked field goal to put the Bolts’ in position for their last score.

The defense allowed three big plays, all on third down when they could have forced either a punt or a field goal. Josh Palmer caught a 28-yard TD pass from Justin Herbert and later in the first half, Quentin Johnston got behind the defense for a 66-yard scoring play, both on what appeared to be blown coverages.

They allowed a 16-yard run by J.K. Dobbins who pretty much went into the end zone untouched. The Chargers ran 50 offensive plays, and the defense was very good for about 95% of them. That ain’t good enough.

The communication errors in the secondary overshadowed a three sack performance by Myles Garrett. And Dalvin Tomlinson had 1.5 sacks, as the Browns sacked the LA quarterback six times in the first half.

And they still allowed 20 points in that half.

Offensively? Well, let’s just say getting sacked six times and throwing three interceptions lead to putting a lot of points on the board. The only bright spot was Cedric Tillman, who hauled in six passes for 75 yards and scored the Browns’ only touchdown.

However, perhaps the biggest problem for the offense is the total lack of a running game. Cleveland ran for just 79 yards on 24 attempts, and five those were runs by Jameis Winston after being flushed out of the pocket.

That means the Browns’ running backs gained just 52 yards on 19 carries, which is under three yards a pop.

This means that a huge staple of the offense over the last five years, the play action pass is rendered useless. Defenses don’t have to bite on the fake if you can’t run the ball effectively.

This, of course, is another negative brought about by changing an offensive scheme that has worked in the recent past.

The latest defeat, Browns’ fans being Browns’ fans, have brought the people who want to blow up the roster and accumulate draft picks.

Should the team move some veterans on one-year deals for draft picks? Yes, of course. That makes sense.

Should they move players like Myles Garrett and David Njoku? No.

We understand the Browns will be severely handicapped in terms of the salary cap because of the commitment to Deshaun Watson. But we also understand that a good draft class, adding some good young players, can turn a franchise around quickly.

Look at Atlanta, Washington, and even Arizona. Building around guys like Garrett, Njoku, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Grant Delpit, etc., and Cleveland could be right back in the playoff hunt a year from now.

Besides, the results of the 1-31 two-year stretch were one playoff win in four seasons. The juice wasn’t worth the squeeze.

An Impressive Start For The Wine And Gold

We said all summer long that Cavaliers’ president of basketball operations Koby Altman’s instance on not making any roster changes, thus putting all the blame for what went wrong last season on J. B. Bickerstaff was misguided.

After the first seven games of this NBA season, we are eating a big fat excrement burger.

New coach Kenny Atkinson’s edition of the wine and gold is off to a tremendous start, winning every single one of the seven games they have played.

The Cavs opened with three non-contenders in Toronto, Detroit, and Washington, but then went to Madison Square Garden to beat the Knicks and then handled the Lakers and short-handed Orlando Magic easily, before heading back on the road to beat Milwaukee.

Last season, Cleveland scored 112.6 points per game, ranking 20th in the league in scoring. So far, although it is early, the Cavaliers are second behind Boston, scoring 122.4 points.

What’s even more impressive is they haven’t sacrificed defense in doing that. They were 7th in points allowed and 6th in defensive efficiency in 2023-24. This year, they are 5th in points allowed and 4th in defensive efficiency.

They are knocking down 40.6% of their three-point shots, up from 36% a year ago, and they are taking about the same number of shots from distance. And the only players shooting a seemingly ridiculous percentage was Caris LeVert (11 of 21) and Ty Jerome (6 of 12).

Atkinson has gotten more players involved, playing at least 10 players in each game, with no one averaging 30 minutes per game. Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell lead the team at 29.6 per night.

The most surprising contributor early on has been Jerome, who played just two games last season due to an ankle injury. We liked the signing a year ago because Jerome has point guard skills and has size at 6’5″.

He is averaging 9.9 points and 3.1 assists per contest but has a calm presence about him and doesn’t try to be spectacular, he just makes the right play more often than not.

The great start is excellent, but unfortunately for this group, the real test for these Cavs will not come until April and May, meaning the playoffs.

Barring injuries, we know this is a playoff squad, so can this style win in the post-season. The questions will be there until proven otherwise: Can the Donovan Mitchell/Darius Garland backcourt win in the playoffs and can Jarrett Allen and Mobley be on the floor together and provide an effective offensive system.

On the other hand, we love the more diversified offense, not as reliant on the pick-and-roll, while not losing the defensive focus. We also always thought Allen and Mobley can both be active on the offensive end and Atkinson has given them the ball at the free throw line and let either find open shooters.

Again, we will stress it is very early in the season. And that the Cavs brought back the same team is huge early in the season, while other squads are working in new players, Cleveland has an advantage in that they’ve all played together.

The Cavs’ best start in their history? They went 8-0 to start the 1976-77 campaign, the year after the “Miracle of Richfield”, when the NBA/ABA merger took place, and many teams had major roster shifts.

The wine and gold did not and won 16 of their first 20. Spoiler alert…they finished 43-39. Just so no one gets too carried away.

Looking At Guardians’ Pitching, Especially The Rotation

That the Cleveland Guardians finished third in the American League in ERA this season was impressive considering the state of their starting rotation for much of the year.

At the start of the year, the rotation consisted of Shane Bieber, Logan Allen, Tanner Bibee, Carlos Carrasco, and Triston McKenzie. And Carrasco was in there because Gavin Williams was out with a sore elbow.

Because of injury and/or ineffectiveness, only Bibee was still there by the beginning of July, although Williams was coming back soon.

In the playoffs, Cleveland had games started by two pitchers who hadn’t thrown a pitch in the major leagues at the time of the July 31st trading deadline in Matthew Boyd and Alex Cobb.

The strength of the pitching staff was the bullpen, led by what TBS’ Brian Anderson was calling the “Fearsome Foursome” during the playoffs: Tim Herrin, Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, and closer Emmanuel Clase.

Unfortunately, as we look ahead to 2025, the bullpen is usually the most volatile part of any baseball team. There is certainly no guarantee the relief corps will be as good as they were this season, particularly with the workload put on them.

All four of the pitchers mentioned were in the top ten in the AL in appearances.

It goes without saying that Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff need to improve the starting rotation going into next season.

We understand that Allen and McKenzie could rebound from very tough ’24 campaigns, but the organization needs to rebuild the depth they had for many seasons.

Bibee and Williams will be starters going into spring training. And they are probably the only sure things, and for a contending team, that’s simply not good enough.

Bieber is a free agent and will likely be out until June or July after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Will he sign a backloaded two-year deal with Cleveland like many pitchers in his situation do, or will he cast his lot with another team?

Boyd and Cobb are also free agents. Boyd could go for perhaps a big pay day this winter, and Cobb would be a back of the rotation arm if he comes back.

So, what can the front office do?

The closest minor league arm to the bigs is 25-year-old lefty Doug Nikhazy, who went 7-4 with a 2.98 ERA between Akron and Columbus, striking out a batter per inning.

We’ve also thought about moving Gaddis back to the rotation. Remember, he went to camp this past spring as a starter and was a starter in the minors before compiling a 1.59 ERA in ’24.

Why Gaddis? First, he’s 6’6″ and 260 pounds. But more importantly, he has a three-pitch mix, a very good fastball, slider and changeup. He wouldn’t be the first pitcher to do well out of the bullpen and become a solid starter either.

The only other alternative would be a trade. There have been several Josh Naylor rumors out there, and although the Guardians’ offense needs to improve, we could see moving him if the return is a proven starter.

Remember, the Guards do have Kyle Manzardo, who should be ready to play every day, so it would be a good, old fashioned baseball trade, not a salary dump.

We aren’t writing off pitchers like Allen and McKenzie, but the Guardians can’t really depend on them either. A team that has made it to the post-season two of the last three years and wants to get back in 2025, can’t afford a lot of questions in their rotation.

Solid QB Play Makes A Huge Difference For The Browns

As we watched the Cleveland Browns win over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, the thought they kept going through our head was it was comical.

After weeks of telling the media and fans that the team’s best chance to win was playing Deshaun Watson, it was clear during the first half that was complete and utter baloney.

Watson didn’t throw for even 200 yards in the first seven games of the season, and his replacement, Jameis Winston reached that figure midway through the third quarter.

In Watson’s three partial seasons with the franchise, he never reached 300 yards in passing. Winston reached that plateau in his first start. And couple that with the fact that Joe Flacco threw for that many yards in last four starts a year ago, and it is pretty clear Watson’s play was a huge problem for the Cleveland offense.

Oh, and another first for the season. The Browns hadn’t scored 20 points or more in 2024 and that surpassed that in the 29-24 victory.

We have been saying for the last week the Browns need to see what Winston can give them for the rest of the season. On Sunday, he looked decisive. He dropped back and threw downfield, and as we have all seen on various tape reviews on social media, receivers were open.

Winston’s style also showed the offensive line wasn’t as bad as some thought. Watson was being sacked on a ridiculous pace this season, but Winston was sacked just twice.

Yes, Wyatt Teller was back, and Jack Conklin is settling in at right tackle, but the protection seemed much better. Dawand Jones played left tackle for Jedrick Wills and outside of one false start, wasn’t noticed.

As for Wills, he might want to look up a man named Wally Pipp.

The much-maligned receiving corps looked much better with a new passer. Cedric Tillman, written off by many as another third round bust, caught seven balls for 99 yards and two touchdowns. Elijah Moore caught eight passes, and Jerry Jeudy and David Njoku each reeled in five.

The dink and dunk attack was gone, at least for that game.

Granted, the Ravens’ pass defense hasn’t been good this year, but frankly, the Browns’ passing game hasn’t frightened anyone outside of their fan base. Cleveland did just enough on the ground, getting 80 yards, with Nick Chubb getting 52 in his second game back and D’Onta Foreman picking up 26 more.

The defense lost two key players (Denzel Ward and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah) during the game and still managed to keep the Ravens from scoring after Cleveland secured the lead.

They had sacks from Owusu-Koramoah, Ogbo Okoronkwo, and Za’Darius Smith, and also got a boost for Mohamoud Diabate, who replaced Devin Bush in the starting lineup and had nine tackles.

And while Ravens’ fans will bemoan Kyle Hamilton’s dropped interception on the last TD drive by the Browns, the Cleveland secondary also dropped a few picks, notably one where Myles Garrett couldn’t find a pass batted in the air by Shelby Harris.

Will Winston look like that every week? Perhaps not, but we would expect professional quarterback play out of him. Does he throw interceptions? His career indicates he will, but Flacco threw eight in the five games he started.

But as we have written in the past, the only quarterback who hasn’t thrived under Kevin Stefanski has been Deshaun Watson. Jameis Winston reminded everyone of that last Sunday.