Browns Do Just Enough Offensively, Now Sit At 4-2

As we were watching the first half of Sunday’s Browns-Ravens game, we were wondering how long the head coach Todd Monken could stay with Deshaun Watson at QB. It was that bad.

We wondered why the Browns weren’t running the football. They had a few decent gains, especially giving Jaleel McLaughlin the ball, and the passing game simply wasn’t doing anything. And Watson was doing was he seems to do a lot, that is, running himself into sacks.

But somehow, again, the fourth quarter came and the Browns’ offense came to life, scoring 10 points to win 13-10 and run their record to 4-2. We don’t know how sustainable this style of play is, but as always, we subscribe to the Bill Parcells’ theory of you are what your record says you are.

One thing that allows these fourth quarter comebacks is the Cleveland defense, which remains one of the best in the league. After spotting the Ravens a 10-0 advantage in the first quarter, our thought was the Browns needed to score next, certainly falling behind 17-0, would be too much to overcome.

But Mike Rutenberg’s unit rose to the occasion again, holding Baltimore (without Lamar Jackson) to 235 yards, limiting Derrick Henry to just 58 on the ground and forcing a fumble by Henry in the 4th quarter to set up the tying touchdown.

We keep bringing up how Carson Schwesinger gutted out a late season game a year ago vs. Pittsburgh on an ankle sprain, which was a display of grit and toughness often missing from the Browns in recent years. The reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year was all over the field yesterday and forced the fumble by Henry in the last quarter.

He made a tremendous open field tackle on the elusive Tay Flowers earlier. He was a tremendous pick by Andrew Berry, and in addition to his tremendous play, he provides great leadership.

We also can’t say enough about the secondary led by Denzel Ward and Tyson Campbell. Grant Delpit has been great too but missed most of the game with a concussion. And even without Myles Garrett, they still put pressure on the QB. Three more yesterday, all by different players. Maliek Collins (now 3.5 for the season), Quincy Williams, and Isaiah McGuire (now 3 on the year).

As we said before, the running game wasn’t as bad to us. McLaughlin had 41 yards on nine carries and made us think we might not be wrong in thinking the issue with the ground game just might be that Quinshon Judkins is either still hurt, or just not a big time NFL back.

And although we criticize him at times, kudos to Jerry Jeudy, who made two big fourth quarter catches and was the leading receiver with 4 catches for 69 yards. That doesn’t mean Denzel Boston shouldn’t be targeted more. Only five targets on Sunday, about half of what he should be getting.

Can this continue? It’s doubtful, but why not ride it as long as you can. The next three for the Browns are on the road, but the next week’s game vs. Tennessee is almost a must-win if Monken’s squad is to be considered a playoff contender.

That would have been crazy to think before the season, but here we are…

No Excuses. Browns Drop One They Should Have Won

We aren’t going to blame the weather, and we aren’t going to make excuses for the Cleveland Browns in losing Sunday to the New York Jets 17-12 in the Meadowlands.

The Jets are not a good football team. They came into the contest at 1-3 and were 3-14 last season, a worse regular season team than the Browns. So, after they won on Sunday, they are 5-17 since the beginning of last season and two of those wins are against Cleveland.

We don’t care about the conditions; this was a contest where the Browns were the better team and they lost. Good teams don’t allow that to happen, with the insinuation being Todd Monken’s squad isn’t a good football team.

Going into the season, we wrote about being concerned about the depth of the Browns and the lack of it showed up against the Jets. RT Tytus Howard was injured during the game which put Daward Jones out there.

That contributed to Deshaun Watson being sacked eight times, although to be fair, that number would be less if Watson would throw the ball away at times instead of trying to make something happen. That would seem to be a good trait, but he runs himself into a boatload of sacks.

And not having Mason Graham and Mike Hall at defensive tackle certainly didn’t help the defense, who outside of the first drive of the game, played pretty well, allowing less than 300 yards of total offense and forcing two turnovers.

Quincy Williams was all over the field and his fellow linebacker, Carson Schwesinger was excellent as usual. Both forced fumbles, the latter on a huge sack in the fourth quarter. And DT Maliek Collins had 1.5 sacks during the game.

The winning touchdown for the Jets was set up by a botched snap on a punt, giving New York a short field of 28 yards.

We know the Browns scored 20 or more points in their three wins, which means we have to address scoring just 10 and 12 points in the two losses. The biggest issue is the lack of a consistent running game. As a team, Cleveland averages just 3.7 yards per carry and if you take out Watson’s numbers (37 attempts for 167 yards), the average dips to just 3.4 per attempt.

That’s simply not good enough. Quinshon Judkins is getting just three yards per carry, yet the other running backs on the roster (Rocket Sanders and Jaleel McLaughlin) have just nine attempts.

Perhaps it’s the ineffective run blocking by the line, or a combination of that and just poor vision by the runners, but it’s not a good thing to have the QB be your best running threat.

On the other hand, when will the offensive coaches make getting the ball to Denzel Boston a priority? Through five games, the rookie has 16 receptions for a 20.6 average yards per catch. He had seven targets, the same number as Isaiah Bond (who dropped two passes) and Jerry Jeudy. That’s a head scratcher for sure.

By the way, TE Harold Fannin had just four targets. We aren’t geniuses but maybe try to get the ball to your best receivers more often and make that a priority.

Also, let’s not pin any flowers on Watson either. He had just 155 yards passing, the second time in three weeks that happened and although he had 205 in the season opener, a good bulk of that was in garbage time.

He’s been under the 200-yard threshold in 10 of his last 12 starts. Just sayin’

The Browns come home for a date with the first place Ravens (4-1) next Sunday with a chance to get back on top in the AFC North.

Again, it’s back on the coaches to clean up the mistakes and fix the problems, particularly on offense.

Another Fourth Quarter Rally Makes The Browns 2-1

Complementary football, coaches talk about it all the time and what they mean is they want all of the units, offense, defense, and special teams to support each other. The Cleveland Browns were failing in this regard in the second half on Sunday.

Leading 10-3 at halftime against the Carolina Panthers, the special teams failed when Malachi Corley fumbled the second half kickoff, leading to a Panthers’ field goal to cut the lead to 10-6.

From there, the offense had three consecutive three and outs which had the defense on the field for all but four minutes in the third quarter. The defense was growing wearier, allowing two more field goals to give Carolina a 12-10, before the Browns finally put a drive together for an Andre Szmyt 46-yard field goal.

That was followed by the Panthers going through the tired defense like a hot knife through butter, 72 yards in six plays resulted in an 18-13 deficit for the home team.

And then, the offense woke up. Heading into the fourth quarter, Deshaun Watson had frankly been terrible. He was fortunate to not throw a pick six in the first half. Missed an open KC Concepcion in the third quarter with a throw behind him.

He had completed just 8 of 19 throws for 67 yards to that point. But in the fourth quarter, Watson started making plays. He completed three of four throws for 43 yards on the drive to take back the lead at 13-12 and also ran for 11 yards on two carries.

Then, coming back into the game trailing 18-13, he moved the team hitting five of nine throws with a key scramble of 21 yards. He did throw an interception which was nullified by a roughing the passer call, but completed a TD pass to Harold Fannin to give the Browns a lead they would not relinquish.

The running game was much more effective, as Cleveland gained 132 yards on the ground, with Quinshon Judkins getting 70 on 18 carries and Watson getting 45 more. Todd Monken and offensive coordinator Travis Switzer have to get the ball to Denzel Boston more. He was targeted just four times on Sunday compared to nine each for Concepcion and Fannin.

We like both of those latter names, but Boston should be getting about 10 targets per game in our eyes. He’s the best wide receiver on the team.

Monken gave the game ball to defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg and deservedly so. We complained about playing zone so often in the first game, but Sunday, he put Denzel Ward on Tet McMillan, and he caught two passes for 17 yards.

As we said before, because the unit was on the field much of the third quarter, the overall numbers are skewed, but Quincy Williams was all over the field and Mason Graham was disruptive as well, getting two more sacks to give him four on the young season.

Mike Hall and Jared Verse also were impressive and remember, Cleveland was without starting cornerback Tyson Campbell, who is very good in man-to-man coverage.

It was tough to watch this game at times because the officiating crew seemed to want to make the game about them, as there were 19 accepted penalties. No one wants to watch a flagfest.

A short week for the Browns, who are tied for first in the AFC North with everyone else and take on the Steelers Thursday night. We imagine winning these last two games are difficult for the tank for a QB crowd, but we hate that kind of thinking, so we love it.

Seeing Good Things In A Browns Victory

Last week, we said this would be a big week for Browns’ defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg because of the way his unit was gashed in the opening week loss to Jacksonville. We thought it was a test of a coaches’ ego, he wanted to play a certain way and would he adapt after the poor performance.

Good for the coach and head coach Todd Monken that they made adjustments, and the result was a 23-19 victory over Tampa Bay and raised their record to 1-1 on the young season. The Browns’ defense was better, causing the game’s only turnover, an interception by Myles Harden, and allowed the Buccaneers to cross the goal line just once.

As for the offense, Monken said he simplified things on that side of the ball, which is great coaching. After getting blown out in game one, there was a lot of improvement and that’s a good thing to see if you are a fan.

For all of the quarterback talk during the week and even prior to kickoff, Deshaun Watson played well, not tremendously, but well, and that’s not a criticism. He didn’t turn the ball over, was sacked just twice, keeping the negative plays to a minimum.

He mostly dinked and dunked, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, completing 24 of 30 throws for 238 yards, and two TDs. He completed only three passes for over 15 yards, and two of them were the scoring throws. He also led the team in rushing for the second straight week, which is not a good thing, but more on that later.

The running game was nonexistent, getting just 44 yards on 23 rushing attempts with Quinshon Judkins getting only 21 yards on 12 carries, with an early carry being his longest, that of nine yards.

We have our doubts on how long the offense can be effective with no running game to speak of and a QB who doesn’t seem to want to push the ball down the field. But it worked against Tampa and a win is most definitely a win.

One player who has caught our eye on offense is rookie WR Denzel Boston. We were disappointed when the Browns chose KC Concepcion in the first round because we thought the team needed a big wideout but were thrilled getting him in the second round. He’s caught 7 passes in the first two games for 154 yards and two touchdowns.

In the second half, Cleveland was faced with a third and seven (or so) situation and our thought was find Boston. Watson did for a key first down. Monken and offensive coordinator Travis Switzer should be trying to get the ball in his hands more often.

On the defensive side, last year’s first round pick, Mason Graham looks like a standout. He had a sack for the second week in a row, and the reigning defensive rookie of the year, Carson Schwesinger, had ten tackles and a big play on the final drive when he corralled Baker Mayfield on a key third down.

The best thing about the win is a week off from talking about tanking and replacing the QB. Watson needs to continue to play well, avoiding turnovers and not sacking himself. Can he do that? We will see.

Besides, tanking is stupid and doesn’t work.

Monken’s crew finally comes home to take on Carolina next Sunday. Hopefully, this game is something to build on.

Browns Want Winning To Be Easy. It Just Doesn’t Happen That Way.

Comedian Steve Martin used to do a bit where he would tell the audience he could make a million dollars and not pay taxes. His first step was “get a million dollars”, like that’s the easiest thing in the world.

We bring this up because we think that’s how the Cleveland Browns view winning in the National Football League and they base every decision they make on one principal: Get a franchise quarterback.

But in reality, it’s not that easy. It’s not easy to find a great QB and once you have him, it’s not easy to achieve success.

You want proof? Under the Haslam family ownership, the Browns already went through a plan to tear the roster down to the studs to get the signal caller the franchise has been lacking since Bernie Kosar was unceremoniously released by Bill Belichick.

They went 1-15 in 2016, drafted Myles Garrett, the cornerstone of some great Browns’ defenses and the best defensive player in Cleveland history and followed that up by going 0-16 the following year and drafted Baker Mayfield, who will be at the helm today for Tampa Bay against his old team.

The Browns went 7-8-1 in Mayfield’s rookie season and there was hope the franchise could be contenders once again. They went to the playoffs in 2020 at 11-5 and even won a playoff game in Pittsburgh. But we guess making progress from that wasn’t easy enough, and after the following season the Browns went in hot pursuit of Deshaun Watson, a three-time Pro Bowl selection who led the NFL in passing yards in ’20, the same year Mayfield was guiding the team to the playoffs.

Why go after Watson? Because the front office thought he was better, and therefore it would be easier to make a run at the playoffs every season.

Again, let’s go back to 2020. The worst record in the NFL that season belonged to Jacksonville at 1-15 and they selected Trevor Lawrence as the first overall pick. They went 3-14, followed by making the playoffs at 9-8 and winning a playoff game under Doug Pederson. They had the same record in Lawrence’s third season, before dropping to 4-13.

The Jags didn’t give up on Lawrence and go after some shiny new keys jangled in their direction, but changed coaches bringing in Liam Coen, and went 13-4 last season. We don’t know how it will play out, but Lawrence looks like a player worthy of the first overall pick.

As for Mayfield, he’s directed the Buccaneers to two playoff appearances and a win in his three seasons, and if probably in the top half at the position in the sport. The shiny new toy in Watson? Browns fans know all too well how that’s working out.

Yes, you need a quarterback, but there is so much more a franchise needs to win consistently year in and year out. And tanking is a ridiculous way to try. We bring this up all the time, look at the best QBs in the league right now, how many were taken with a top three pick? The list is short, Matthew Stafford and Joe Burrow. Lawrence might be on the cusp.

Here’s another example. The Miami Dolphins had Dan Marino and Don Shula, arguably the best coach in NFL history together. They made it to one Super Bowl, in Marino’s rookie season.

So, note to the front office. It’s not easy and stop thinking getting your QB solves all your problems. A solid roster, offense, defense, depth, good coaching are all parts of the puzzle. Until you get all the pieces, the puzzle isn’t complete.

Pressure On Rutenberg And The Defense Too.

As we wrote a couple of weeks ago, coaches have egos. They like to put their stamp on things, to show they made a difference. We are sure that Browns’ defensive coordinator, Mike Rutenberg, is no different.

Rutenberg will be 45 next month and this is his first gig as a defensive coordinator. He started as an intern with Washington at age 22, went to the college ranks, and has been in the NFL since 2013 where he was an assistant defensive backs coach with the Jaguars. So, he’s a guy who has worked his way up the coaching ranks and getting his first opportunity to run a professional defense.

On the other hand, he took over a Cleveland defense that just a year ago, Steelers’ coach Mike Tomlin said was the best unit in the AFC North. ranking in the top five defenses in the league three times in the last five years under Jim Schwartz.

In the words of Charles Barkley, “if it ain’t broke, don’t break it”.

To be fair, Rutenberg was put a little behind the eight ball when the Browns traded the two-time Defensive Player of the Year in Myles Garrett. But they did replace Garrett with a Pro Bowl player in Jared Verse. Still, that’s a drop off.

But the nature of coach’s egos is making something better. And we raised an eyebrow during training camp when Rutenberg said he wanted to play more zone defense, even though his starting cornerbacks, All Pro Denzel Ward and Tyson Campbell, both excel in playing man-to-man.

We believe that in both football and basketball, man-to-man is the preferred style of defense. Zone defense is used because you can’t play man-to-man. And we understand in football, you can’t play man on every down.

In the season opener, the Browns’ defense, previously the strength of the team, was shredded by Jacksonville, giving up 360 yards, including 126 on the ground. And that was with the Jaguars taking their foot off the gas in the fourth quarter.

Watching the Jaguars’ completions down field, many of them were against a zone defense, which will happen if you can’t put pressure on the QB, and Cleveland had only one sack. Any decent passer, given time, will find the holes in a zone.

We bring all of this up because this week we will see what kind of defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg will be. Will he be so sure of his convictions that the Browns will use the same schemes this week against Tampa Bay? Or will he listen to his players, some of whom seemed puzzled by all of the zone looks.

A lot of the focus will be on the quarterback, and has there been improvement at that position from week one, but the game against the Jaguars was a blowout because the defense was terrible, allowing 24 points in the first half.

If that unit isn’t better, it will really be a long season because most experts figured the defense could keep the Browns in games.

No pressure on the new coach though.

Didn’t Have High Expectations, But Browns Looked Worse

We weren’t very optimistic about the Cleveland Browns’ chance last Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, but quite frankly the game was worse than we thought.

This one was over at halftime with the Jaguars holding a 24-0 advantage in route to cruising to a 34-10 beatdown in Todd Monken’s head coaching debut. It was everything the biggest Browns’ pessimist could have feared.

The second half was a bunch of garbage time so the end of game stats don’t look as bad as it was. Deshaun Watson wound up completing 16 of 22 throws for 205 yards and a 46 yard touchdown pass to rookie Denzel Boston, who wasn’t a factor in the first half for some unknown reason.

The game started okay with a good kickoff return by Dylan Sampson and Watson clicking on some short throws and moving the Browns for a couple of first downs. Then came the big mistake, an interception by Foyesade Oluokun on a pass over the middle where it seemed like Watson never saw him. There have been reports of similar plays throughout training camp by the folks who cover the team on a daily basis.

We were concerned about the defense with the loss of veteran coordinator Jim Schwartz and the best defensive player in the league (and franchise history) Myles Garrett, and those fears were warranted. The new guy in charge, Mike Rutenberg, said he was going to play more zone, and Jags’ QB Trevor Lawrence chewed up that coverage, targeting the weaker links in the secondary, outside of one play where Tyson Campbell had good coverage.

It will be interesting to see what Rutenberg learns from the defeat and goes back to more man coverage. Because it seems the personnel is more suited to that style. By the way, the Browns had only one sack, by Mason Graham and didn’t put much pressure on Lawrence, so maybe Garrett was missed even though he didn’t show leadership.

Offensively, beside Watson’s issues, we believe Monken wants to run the ball, but when you fall behind by 17 points midway through the second quarter, that plan goes out the window. Quinshon Judkins had just 33 yards on 12 carries, as Watson led Cleveland in rushing with 38 yards.

It does seem crazy to have a QB who had three serious injuries over the past four years running read option plays, but that’s a question for the coaching staff.

Watson was sacked five times, but we didn’t think the rebuilt offensive line was visibly bad. As usual, the QB sacked himself a few times, and former NFL offensive lineman LeCharles Bentley (Iggy grad) pointed out he retreated after taking the snap in the shotgun. That doesn’t help the linemen.

As we said before, Boston seemed an afterthought in the first half, perhaps because the quarterback can’t make the sideline throw from the pocket and he was lined up outside. The other rookie receiver, KC Concepcion caught four passes for 43 yards and ran three times for 15 more.

Last year’s leading receiver, Harold Fannin, also was missing in the first half, and caught two balls after halftime when again the Jaguars’ defense was playing very loose.

It couldn’t have gone worse for the new coaching staff in their debut, and the first test comes next week against Tampa Bay with an angry QB in Baker Mayfield and coming off a loss in their opener. Will Monken and Rutenberg stubbornly stay with what didn’t work or will they start taking advantage of what talent they have?

Looking At Browns. Don’t See A Lot Of Wins

The joke around northeast Ohio is that the day before Labor Day would be the last Sunday the Cleveland Browns would not ruin for sports fans for almost five months. Yes, it’s a joke but you know the old saying about there is a bit of truth in every one liner.

The Browns open their 2026 season this Sunday with the first of two games in Florida, the first against the Jacksonville Jaguars. They have a new coach in Todd Monken, who is guiding his own professional team for the first time at age 60. But they also have the same problem they have had for pretty much every year since 1999.

They have an issue at quarterback.

We all know the Browns have cast their lot with the player they traded three first round picks for in 2022, and then gave a huge, guaranteed contract in Deshaun Watson. Sunday will mark Watson’s 20th start with Cleveland and perhaps he will throw for 300 yards or more, which would mark the first time he has done so in the orange and brown.

GM Andrew Berry used high draft capital to bring in two wide receivers, KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston, and both look very promising, but with a word of caution. Both will be playing in games that count for real this week.

We liked Boston because the Browns have needed a big wide receiver for years, after choosing a bunch of guys who are small but fast and hoping they could make big plays. The rookie from the University of Washington provides someone who can shield off opposing defensive backs to make plays.

Cleveland has some weapons in the two wideouts, and second year players TE Harold Fannin and RB Quinshon Judkins, but they are also starting a brand-new offensive line and there isn’t a lot of depth on the roster.

So, the keys will be how quickly the line gels and what kind of production they get out of the quarterback position, be it Watson, Shedeur Sanders, or even Dillon Gabriel (when he is back) or rookie Taylen Green. They need someone to provide solid play if they want to be competitive.

The defense is another question, again due to the seeming lack of depth, and of course, because they traded the best defensive player in the history of the franchise, and according to NFL Network, the best player in the entire league in Myles Garrett.

We believe the front office treats this as a rebuilding year, part of their “Free Beer Tomorrow” plan the sell their fans on every year. Unfortunately, hiring a guy like Monken, who no doubt wants to win in his first opportunity, flies in the face of that.

Can Monken run an offense that puts points on the board? We used to joke that the reason Cleveland scored 17 points per game the last couple of years under Kevin Stefanski, was that was it was designed to do.

With the defense probably not being the dominant unit it was the past few years, if more points can’t be generated, it could get ugly quick. The other question will be if Watson does not return to being the player he was in Houston, when will Monken pull the trigger?

Remember, what other QB in the history of the NFL come back from a long period of inactivity and returned to form after six years? We guess you can make a case for Jim Plunkett (look him up), but we can’t think of anyone else.

So, even with an easier schedule, playing the NFC South makes it easier, it is difficult to see more than five wins there for this year’s Cleveland Browns.

Get ready for quarterback draft talk by the end of September?

No Real Surprises On Browns’ Cuts Would Indicate Lack Of Depth

After watching the football games that didn’t count, the fact the Cleveland Browns were boat raced in the second half of each of the first two games indicated to us that depth might be a problem. That fear was confirmed when the team pared down the roster to 53 and there really wasn’t any big surprises.

Offensive lineman KT Levenson was a bit of an eyebrow raiser, but only because new offensive line coach George Warhop moved him to guard early in camp and reportedly was impressed. But Levenson struggled all last year when pressed into duty so it’s not as though they were cutting a starting player. And he was added to the practice squad.

We believe everyone was rooting for WR Luke Floreia, from Mentor, after his preseason performance, and his situation was a little complicated for us. We don’t see a world in which Jerry Jeudy will be happy being fourth on the depth chart behind rookies KC Concepcion, Denzel Boston, and second year player Isaiah Bond.

The Browns don’t need headaches in their locker room, so we would have seen what we could have gotten for him on the trade market.

The big news was the back injury for Dillon Gabriel that put him on injured reverse for four weeks and make rookie Taylen Green the third QB. We realize Green is raw, but after the way he played in the last exhibition game, the Browns had to keep him. He’s just that good of an athlete and we have no doubt a good NFL organization would have found a way to use him.

In fact, the Browns should figure out a way to use him in certain situations.

He may never be a starting quarterback in the NFL, but when you are downtrodden franchise, his talent is something they can’t pass up.

Speaking of the quarterbacks, a friend commented after the New England game that of the four QBs who played, Deshaun Watson played the worst. Of course, that’s why he was named the starter for the opener.

While the initial cuts were not surprising, we figured the Browns would be active in picking up players cut by other teams in order to build some of that depth. However, they only claimed one player, Toriano Pride, a cornerback who was the Bills 7th round pick in April.

This comes after they picked up Mekhi Blackmon from Indianapolis last week.

We are anxious to see the defense under new coordinator Mike Rutenberg with all the parts playing. We didn’t see much if any of the unit’s best players, DE Jared Verse, LB Carson Schwesinger, and CBs Denzel Ward and Tyson Campbell.

That the front office picked up two corners in the last couple of weeks should tell you their replacements didn’t flash in the preseason. On the other hand, in today’s NFL, you can never have too many cornerbacks.

There is still almost two weeks until the season opener at Jacksonville, and we would anticipate Andrew Berry, and his staff will be looking for players who can help. They would seem to need a lot of that.

Browns Created The Mess. Now, They Lean Into It.

Make no mistake, the Cleveland Browns did it to themselves. It’s not the fans’ fault. It’s not the media’s fault. And really, it says a lot about the current organization that they couldn’t see the whole situation coming.

All summer long and into training camp, people wondered. It was the national media, the local media, fans (including us) asking what the upside is of playing Deshaun Watson. Yes, we know the Browns paid him a lot of money for little production. But this is the last year on the horrific deal and there was no way the Browns were going to reup with him.

The only possible good scenario would be for Watson to be spectacular, something that hasn’t happened in six seasons and lead Todd Monken’s squad to a division title and playoff berth with 10+ wins. And in that situation, you don’t find out whether or not Shedeur Sanders is an NFL quarterback.

Watson has never embraced being here, and if you remember, he took Cleveland out of the equation when the Texans were trading him. It was only after the front office guaranteed the money did he agree to play for the Browns.

He’s made 19 starts for the franchise with a record of 9-10 in those starts. Amazingly, he’s never thrown for 300 yards in any of them, his high being 289 in a 27-3 win over Tennessee. He’s thrown three touchdown passes exactly one, in his first year after serving an 11-game suspension.

So, despite this lack of production, the new coach has decided Watson will be under center for the team’s opener against Jacksonville. Playing against what was basically Buffalo’s third unit, Watson completed five of 12 throws for 36 yards and an interception.

In the two exhibition games to date, the former first round pick has hit on 16 of 27 passes (59.2%) for 162 yards. His supposed competition for the job, completed 15 of 22 throws (68.1%) for 163 yards. So, Sanders has a better completion percentage and a better average yards per attempt.

Monken has talked about the “operation” a lot. And that means getting the play call in and the players to the line of scrimmage. He also talks about using cadence to draw teams offside.

We know coaches can be strange about stuff like this (we used to coach) but should stuff like that matter more than moving the football and completing passes? Part of us thinks the coach has convinced himself that he can get something out of Watson and is hell bent on proving it.

Meanwhile, the people who suffer most are Browns’ fans. This front office is consistently tripping over themselves to make bad decisions. Just since the beginning of 2025, the Browns have drafted two QBs in the same draft, traded the best defensive player in the history of the franchise, and named a starting QB who doesn’t want to be here and frankly offers little hope of competent play.

Yet, they are still the most popular team in town by far. It’s either amazing or sick, depending on how you look at things.

We criticize the Dolan family for not doing much for their fan base, but we guess doing nothing is better than taking a huge crap on the people who buy tickets.

And they are getting their palace in Brookpark anyway, which to them is probably the most important thing. You wonder why they think they are smarter than everyone else?