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.

Another Loss And A New QB For Browns

The Cleveland Browns’ season just keeps going downhill faster and faster. Last Sunday’s loss started with the Bengals taking the opening kickoff back for a touchdown, and although the defense played pretty well, the Browns fell to 1-6 with a 21-14 loss to Cincinnati.

The other significant event in the game was QB Deshaun Watson apparently tearing his achilles tendon on a non-contact injury in the second quarter thus ending his season. Watson has now been with Cleveland three years and has yet to play in more than seven games in a season.

Inexplicably, that did not give veteran Jameis Winston a shot at playing QB. Winston was demoted to the #3 quarterback, available only if the first two passers were injured. Dorian Thompson-Robinson was designated as the backup and was lackluster at best, completing 11 of 24 throws for a paltry 82 yards.

After the game, we saw a number of media people touting Thompson-Robinson (DTR) as the starter next week, with the opinion that the Browns need to see what they have in him.

We don’t get it. First, he was a fifth-round draft pick, so he was far from highly regarded coming into the NFL. Second, what has he shown when he has been on the field to make anyone think he can be a viable NFL quarterback?

We know he didn’t prepare as a starter last week, but when he comes into the game, he looks like a gimmicky, run first QB. He’s doesn’t seem real accurate, and so far, six of his 136 NFL throws have been picked off.

As a comparison, Watson has had three interceptions in 216 passes this season.

Wouldn’t it be better to see if Winston can have a comeback to his career like Geno Smith, Baker Mayfield, Jared Goff, or Sam Darnold? And if the losing continues, they can always play DTR in the last couple of games.

Look, more than likely, the Browns are going to draft a QB with their first round pick next spring. Perhaps Winston can be your bridge quarterback to open next season if Watson isn’t ready or another move is made with him.

Anyway, back to the game. There were more mistakes. Motion penalties, illegal shifts, lining up offsides. We know the coaches don’t coach this, but there has to be consequences to habitual offenders. Perhaps the loss of some playing time would allow the message for these players to soak in.

The Browns couldn’t run the ball either, gaining just 77 yards on the ground with 44 of those yards on runs by Thompson-Robinson. The only good thing was seeing Nick Chubb back on the field, getting 22 yards on 11 carries. His longest run was five yards, but still it was great to see him back on the field after his terrible knee injury last year.

The defense played well mostly, although one of the Bengals’ touchdowns was a pass to Ja’Marr Chase with big play magnet Greg Newsome II in coverage. The defensive back just can’t avoid giving up a big play pretty much every week.

We would guess more players who were brought in for this season, veterans on one-year deals will be (and should be if possible) moved for draft picks before the trade deadline. We have no problem with that.

However, we don’t want to hear the word tanking. It breeds a losing environment that is tough to get rid of. Browns fans more than anyone else should understand that.

What needs to be done is getting a victory and getting back to the philosophy that worked for the most part over the last four seasons.

It won’t be easy for sure

Time To Make A Tough Decision On Watson

And the Cleveland Browns thought they were finished with dysfunction when they hired Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry as coach and general manager, respectively.

But we guess a leopard can’t change its spots, and the franchise is back to being talked about by the national NFL media, and not for a good reason.

Of course, all of the controversy and discussion surrounds the team’s quarterback, Deshaun Watson. The Browns gave up a tremendous amount of draft capital, primarily the three first round draft picks, and guaranteed his entire contract when they made the move to get Watson from Houston, and they have received little return on their investment.

This season, Watson isn’t even playing at an average level, ranking 28th in the league in passer rating, ranking ahead of only Jacoby Brissett, Will Levis, Bo Nix, and Anthony Richardson. His QBR rating? Last among qualified passers.

However, there are many people who believe the choice to start Jameis Winston or Dorian Thompson-Robinson for that matter, doesn’t rest in the hands of the head coach. That’s how dysfunctional franchises behave.

That’s amazing to us because of the success Stefanski has had here. We know he hasn’t won any Super Bowls or even advanced to a conference championship game, but he has won the most games since the Browns returned to the NFL in 1999, winning 38. The next best? Romeo Crennel and Butch Davis with 24.

He’s been the NFL coach of the year twice in his four seasons at the helm.

We know publicly Stefanski has defended Watson, saying every aspect of the team has to get better, and saying it is his decision as to who starts at QB. But we also know he doesn’t say anything in his dealings with the media. He doesn’t criticize his players in the press, so he’s certainly not going to say the front office is holding him hostage.

And if the front office is indeed telling Stefanski he has to make it work with Watson and the new offensive coordinator brought in to improve the quarterback’s performance, maybe they should come down and make it work.

Instead, they should be working on what is the best and least painful way out for the franchise. If the team were to release him right now, they would be stuck with a $200 million bill in dead money on the salary cap.

If they were to tell him to go home and he will be released after June 1st next year, that dead money amount falls to $119 million. That’s the best option.

Why should the Browns bench Watson? The best reason would be to see if the problems on offense are truly because of the quarterback, and to identify any more glaring holes that need to be fixed this off-season.

We understand the problem that could be developed if you bench Watson and have him watching from the sideline, it would be awkward and could be divisive to the team. That’s why you make a clean break.

A trade is out of the question because no one is taking that kind of cap hit.

Look, you have to pay Watson no matter what. You can either pay him to have a negative effect (by his play) or you can send him home and he would have no effect. Which is better?

And the worst thing you can do when you make a mistake is to keep trying to justify the move. Admit you made a bad move and proceed.

Can the season be salvaged? Probably not, but let’s say Winston starts this week and the Browns win, and then they come home and beat Cincinnati. They’d be 3-4 and have hope.

Isn’t that worth making the change?

Browns’ Season In Ruins? All Signs Point to Yes

It is hard to believe that just nine short months ago, the Cleveland Browns were getting ready to take on the Houston Texans in the playoffs and hopes were high after they won four of their last five regular season games, scoring over 30 points in three of those wins.

We bring that up because we highly doubt the man who coached that team, Kevin Stefanski suddenly lost the skill to lead this team during the summer.

On the other hand, we asked this question all summer long. This Browns’ team to win now, and what would happen if the team got off to a poor start. Would the organization have the stomach to replace Deshaun Watson if he were not playing well?

Well, that time has arrived and at least after the game, Stefanski said he would continue with Watson at quarterback. He is staying with him despite him not throwing for over 200 yards in any of the five games Cleveland has played this season.

Several members of the media, both local and national, have wondered if Stefanski even has the authority to make the change, considering the amount of draft capital and money the franchise has invested in Watson.

If that’s the case, it should tip everyone off as to why this franchise has trouble winning consistently. Presumably, Stefanski, GM Andrew Berry, and the rest of the front office, save for the “strategy department” were hired because of their football acumen, yet their ability to make decisions is compromised.

It seems that the focus of the franchise has shifted from a year ago. Last year, it was about winning, making the playoffs. Over the off-season, it shifted to making a player happy and justifying a bad trade.

That’s the only reason for firing Alex Van Pelt as offensive coordinator and bringing in Ken Dorsey. By the way, could the latter be the first OC to be fired in mid-season two years in a row?

That’s not to hold the coaching staff blameless. The number of stupid penalties grows every week. We don’t believe they are coaching players to commit errors, but maybe there needs to be more accountability.

Sunday was no different. Mike Ford was flagged for running into the return man fielding a punt when he clearly signaled for a fair catch. There were multiple occurrences of having 12 men on the field, causing either a penalty or Stefanski having to take a timeout.

When you are losing, those mistakes are glaring.

Washington came into the game with one of the worst defenses against the pass in the league. The Browns threw for 108 yards. The Cleveland defense allowed 215 yards on the ground, another recipe for defeat in the NFL.

The defense started very well, getting an interception on the goal line by Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and confusing rookie QB Jayden Daniels, who came into the game completing 82% of his throws.

He hit on only 56% Sunday, but had completions of 66, 41, and 33 yards, and the Commanders had runs of 50, 34, and 28 yards. There were big plays all over the place.

And really, the game turned on the 33-yard run by Daniels on 4th and 3 with the score 10-3 and a little over three minutes left in the first half.

The road show continues next week in Philadelphia, but if there anyone left in the fan base or worse on the coaching staff that the Browns can generate any offense with Watson playing quarterback?

Trying to bring out the best in him when it wasn’t there to begin with seems to have derailed a season that should have been ending in a playoff berth.

Browns Flounder Through “Easy” Part Of The Schedule

When the NFL schedule was released, it appeared the first four games of the slate were the soft part of the season for the Cleveland Browns. Well, they now sit at 1-3 on the year after a 20-16 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, and it is getting late pretty quickly.

Now you never know for sure what is going to happen. We doubt many thought that out of the balance of the games before the bye week (Washington, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Baltimore, LA Chargers), that the Commanders would have the best record (3-1) at this point.

The Browns look like a team that hasn’t had a first-round pick for the last three years. They lack depth, particularly on the offensive line and at running back. As for the latter, don’t you think after Nick Chubb went down last season, the organization would have searched for a similar type of back?

We say that knowing Chubb is incredible, but we are talking about someone who can run effectively inside the tackles.

We continue to repeat the old football adage that remains true even though today’s NFL is a passing league: If you can’t run the ball and can’t stop the run, you are a bad football team.

Cleveland has run for 100 yards in a game this season just once, and true to form, it was the game they won, running for 125 against the Jaguars. Defensively, they have allowed 100 yards in every game, and it has deteriorated week by week, allowing a season low 102 in week one, and 152 last Sunday.

The pass rush still seems to be based solely on Myles Garrett, who is battling multiple injuries and still was the Browns’ best defender. He had the team’s only two sacks and half of the tackles for loss against the Raiders.

All that being said, the defense hasn’t allowed a lot of points after the season opener, and ranks 11th in yards allowed, a respectable ranking.

Which leads us back to the offense, which hasn’t scored 20 points in a game through four weeks, scoring a high of a paltry 17 points against the Jags. They have yet to gain 300 yards in a game, something they did 13 times last year, including five times with Watson at the helm before his shoulder injury.

Yes, the offensive line is banged up, but that doesn’t explain the total lack of production on this side of the ball. They still have Joel Bitonio and Ethan Pocic (although he was injured on Sunday) and Nick Harris has played before without issues.

And besides, they play well on the first drive of the game, so what happens after that?

The problem still comes back to the Deshaun Watson trade. The Browns could have drafted an offensive lineman, another pass rusher, and perhaps another running back with the pick moved to Houston to get Watson.

And it would have been worth it if they were getting a top five quarterback, but Watson has yet to show that, and at this point, he probably never will.

But how many other moves were made to protect the investment in that deal? They replaced a viable offensive coordinator. They let go a solid veteran backup quarterback.

The front office also keeps chasing stars in terms of playmaking hoping the coaching staff can keep producing quality offensive linemen.

Is the season over and should fans start looking to the 2025 NFL Draft? Not yet, but there has to be serious soul searching in Berea this week. And that should reach all the way to the top of the organization.

A Browns’ Functional Offense Can Win Games

When the Cleveland Browns were in negotiations to trade for Deshaun Watson, it was reported that the quarterback’s interactions with head coach Kevin Stefanski went amazingly well.

The two talked football, x’s and o’s, and Stefanski showed him ideas and the concepts of what he would like to do, and Watson appeared to be in agreement that it would be a beneficial relationship for both of them.

There is no doubt in our mind that Stefanski was excited. That’s how coaches are. Without any negative baggage people are aware of, coaches think they can get the best out of any player, that’s how they are wired.

Stefanski has had success running offenses as a coach in Minnesota and Cleveland, and we are sure he felt what he liked to do would mesh well with a passer who had several big seasons and a couple of playoff appearances in Houston.

And we are sure Watson was equally excited to have a coach whose offenses have had plenty of success in the NFL.

But offenses have changed in the NFL since 2018-2020, Watson’s heyday in Houston. The Kansas City Chiefs, who have won three Super Bowls since that period, do not run the same attack as they did in Patrick Mahomes’ first year as a starter.

So, hoping the Watson who played for the Texans is magically going to return wearing a Browns’ uniform is probably a wish that isn’t going to come true.

Meanwhile, while Watson was out due to suspension and injury over the last two years, the Browns’ offense has performed pretty well, ranking in the middle of the pack in ’22 (18th) and landing in the top ten (10th) last season.

Stefanski likes to run the football and throw off of play action. That usually means the QB has to play under center. Watson prefers to be in the shotgun. Stefanski likes to be ahead of the chains, usually going with a short pass on first down to gain five yards or so, and then be able to run the ball on 2nd and possible 3rd down.

Watson likes to take shots down the field, usually after he buys time in the backfield by using his legs. He also takes a lot of sacks, leading the league in 2018 and was sacked over 40 times in both ’19 and ’20.

That puts his team in obvious pass situations. Stefanski doesn’t like those situations.

The point is in spite of both people’s intentions, what they both like to do is in direct contrast with each other.

After last season, the organization decided to bring in a new offensive coordinator, Ken Dorsey, who has experience with mobile QBs, but physically, Cam Newton and Josh Allen, the players Dorsey worked with, are much bigger and would seem to be able to take more hits because of that size.

With the injuries on the offensive line, it would seem the best offense for the Browns to win with would be to run the Stefanski attack, keep the QB out of bad down and distance situations and running the football and take downfield shots with play action.

Can Watson run that offense effectively and better yet, can he be fulfilled running the attack in that fashion?

We think the Browns can have success if the offense plays at a league average level. The defense is that strong. Winning is the object of the sport, no one should forget that.

Bad Loss For Browns, Who Need To Get Back To Basics

There are bad losses in the NFL, and there are really bad losses, and the latter is what happened to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, losing to the New York Giants 21-15.

The Giants came into the games having allowed 215 yards on the ground to Washington the previous week, and 111 in their opener. But the Browns decided to run the ball just 18 times, and four of those were by Deshaun Watson, so let’s say Cleveland ran about 16 running plays.

Why? It’s a mystery.

The game started well enough. New York fumbled the opening kickoff, the Browns recovered and scored on the next play, a 24-yard pass to Amari Cooper, and it looked like it was supposed to be, an easy Browns’ win at home.

On New York’s second drive, Ronnie Hickman picked off a Daniel Jones throw, but Greg Newsome was called for roughing the passer (Jones wasn’t even knocked down), and the Giants boat raced Cleveland the rest of the first half.

They put together two long drives and then with the first half running down, Watson fumbled with 27 seconds left, New York recovered on the Cleveland 30 and scored again to make it 21-3 at the half.

The decision to eschew the running game after a solid effort against Jacksonville was curious. In the first half, Cleveland ran the ball on their second first down (a 4-yard run by Jerome Ford), and on the next first down (3-yard run by D’Onta Foreman). They ran it just two other plays, not counting a QB sneak by Jameis Winston.

With the Giants’ blitzing on pretty much every play, not doing anything to slow down the rush is the fault of the game plan.

The defense hasn’t played great, although again, in the second half they shutout the Giants, but the offense seems broken, as the Browns haven’t scored more than 18 points in any of their three games this season.

Compare that to the end of last season when the Browns averaged 23.3 points a game to rank 10th in the NFL. And in the last five game, they scored 27.6 points per contest.

And that was without Nick Chubb.

And it was also after Jedrick Wills Jr. was injured and Geron Christian was played left tackle.

We have said this before, but the Browns’ offense wasn’t a problem, but they changed coordinators and some other coaches to put together an offense more suited to Watson, who played maybe two good games in the dozen he started?

What can they do going forward? Simply, they need to run the football and stick with the ground game. They have only run the ball for over 100 yards once this year, and not surprisingly, it was the game they won, rushing for 125.

Running the ball slows down the pass rush, and allows you to run play action, a staple of Stefanski’s offense. It may not be the high-flying attack they thought they could have with Watson, but it helps you win football games.

And that’s the name of the game. Everyone has to put their egos aside and do what is best for this football team. You have a two-time coach of the year on the sideline, whether people in Cleveland agree with that or not.

Maybe it’s time to do what he wants to do with the offense?

Regarding The Browns’ Offense…

In the off-season, the Cleveland Browns replaced offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt with Ken Dorsey, and the reason given for the move was Dorsey was more familiar working with dual threat quarterback, having worked with Josh Allen in Buffalo and Cam Newton in Carolina.

It was part of the Browns’ quest to “unlock” Deshaun Watson and have him return to the guy who had passer ratings over 100 in Houston from 2017 to 2020.

Since he joined the Browns, Watson’s highest rating was the 84.3 he achieved last season, in which he played just six games. This year, after two contests, his rating is just 63.0.

Kevin Stefanski and Van Pelt ran a good offense as well. In terms of yardage, the Vikings’ offense in Stefanski’s year as offensive coordinator ranked 16th in yards gained, and with the Browns, the attack was solid, with ranks ranging from 14th to 16th.

Dorsey’s offenses in Buffalo were 2nd and 4th in his two years as OC, but remember, he was let go last season during the year.

Both like to run the football. Stefanski had Dalvin Cook in Minnesota and then Nick Chubb in Cleveland, and until 2023, those teams were in the top ten in the league in running the ball.

So were Dorsey’s attacks in his two years in Buffalo.

The biggest difference we think is who does the running in each offense. Dorsey had quarterbacks who ran for over 700 yards three times in the ten seasons he has been quarterback coach or offensive coordinator. The QBs ran for more than 500 yards in two more years.

Watson ran for more than 400 yards in three of his four seasons in Houston. But he is really the first dual threat passer that Stefanski has handled.

The quarterbacks Stefanski had in Minnesota and Cleveland have all done well. Here are their passer ratings (although that stat just measures passing efficiency):

2017 Minnesota QB coach: Case Keenum 98.3
2018 Minnesota QB coach: Kirk Cousins 99.7
2019 Minnesota offensive coordinator: Cousins 107.4
2020 Browns Head Coach: Baker Mayfield 95.9
2021 Browns Head Coach: Mayfield (83.1), Keenum (91.3)
2022 Browns Head Coach: Jacoby Brissett (88.9), Watson (79.1)
2023 Browns Head Coach: Joe Flacco (90.2), Watson (84.3)

For Cousins, the ’19 season was his best as a pro, as was the case for Mayfield’s 2020 campaign, Brissett’s ’22 year, and for Keenum as well in ’17. For Flacco, it was his best season since 2014 with the Ravens.

Only Watson hasn’t thrived under Kevin Stefanski. Stefanski likes to work in a lot of play action, and Watson’s best (and longest) completion on Sunday was off a fake and resulted in a 30-yard pass to Jerry Jeudy.

Perhaps that’s what the basis of the offense should be right now. By all measures, the vertical passing game is disappearing in the NFL as defenses have adjusted.

We also think the coaching staff and front office would like Watson to cut down on running the ball himself unless absolutely necessary. Heck, in QB sneak situations, Cleveland put Jameis Winston in to take the snaps.

The point is this–Charles Barkley once said, “if it’s not broke, don’t break it”. Maybe that’s what the Cleveland Browns did with their offense. It’s something to keep an eye on week to week.

Browns Use Old Offense To Beat Jags.

Last week, we said it was just one game in referring to the Cleveland Browns’ loss to Dallas in the season opener.

This week, we will reach into the cliche bag and tell everyone a win is a win. The Browns played a very good first half of football and held on to beat Jacksonville 18-13 to raise their record to 1-1.

After hiring a new offensive coordinator in Ken Dorsey, who was bringing in an attack more friendly to a dual threat quarterback, the Cleveland offense looked much like the same as it had the previous years under Alex Van Pelt.

The brown and orange came out trying to work the running game. After having just 19 running plays vs. Dallas, and some of those were Deshaun Watson scrambles after escaping the pass rush, they ran the ball 29 times for 125 yards.

D’Onta Foreman started and had the most carries, toting the ball 14 times for 42 yards, and had a huge run in the fourth quarter that unfortunately was called back when he grabbed a defender’s face mask. Jerome Ford looked much better than he did in week one to us and seemed to run harder hitting the holes.

He had 64 yards on seven carries, including a big 36-yard on a fourth down play.

The offense looked a lot like the same kind of system used when Jacoby Brissett was behind center. It appeared the coaching staff told Watson to take care of the football, and indeed Cleveland did not turn it over all day.

There weren’t a lot of high-risk throws. Perhaps the one play that stands out was Watson at the end of a scramble throwing the football into a crowd and somehow Jerry Jeudy came down with it on the sidelines.

Watson would up 22 of 34 for 186 yards and ran the ball five times for 20 yards. It was interesting to see Stefanski use Jameis Winston, a bigger QB, in some short yardage situations for quarterback sneaks.

The defense allowed two big plays, the 66-yard pass from Trevor Lawrence to Brian Thomas and Lawrence’s 33-yard run, otherwise, the Jaguars were bottled up all game. The Browns sacked Lawrence four times, including a safety on Alex Wright’s sack, which should have salted away the game.

Ultimately, that sack followed the play of the game, the punt by Corey Bojorquez which went out of bounds on the one-yard line late in the fourth quarter. Stefanski decided to punt rather than have Dustin Hopkins try a 58-yard field goal, and that was the correct decision.

Speaking of Stefanski’s decisions, we also believe the last offensive play was not supposed to end in a pass, he wanted Watson to roll out, gain as many yards as he could, and then go down and keep the clock running.

We are sure some will focus on the penalties, which Cleveland accumulated 13 flags during the game. It needs to be cleaned up, but there seems to be another “point of emphasis” with officials to call motion penalties. And according to people who know football better than us, a few flags against the Browns were not merited.

But again, a win is a win, and the Browns should be expected to win next Sunday at home against the 0-2 Giants. It will be interesting to see what the offense looks like. Will it be run oriented at the start or throwing a lot.

Either way, Cleveland got a win they needed after a terrible first game showing. And that’s a good thing.

A Week One Stinker For Watson And The Browns

It’s just one game.

That’s the best thing we can say about the Browns’ 33-17 loss to Dallas in their season opener on Sunday. There are 16 more games and hopefully, Kevin Stefanski’s squad played their worst one in week one.

Under Stefanski’s tenure, the Browns have always had a strong running game, led by Nick Chubb. Last season, when Chubb missed most of the season, Cleveland ranked 12th in the league in rushing.

Early in Sunday’s contest, the Browns couldn’t run the ball, and that led to Dallas being able to ignore the possibility of a ground game and they put all kinds of pressure on Deshaun Watson, who didn’t handle it well.

Yes, we know the Browns were missing both of their starting tackles. But Dallas was starting two rookies on their offensive line, and Dak Prescott was sacked three times (Watson was sacked six) and gained four yards per carry when running the football.

Cleveland had one first down in the first half. One! Watson seemed confused and hesitant at most times during the game. As we said earlier, he was sacked six times, but a few of those times he sacked himself because he didn’t get rid of the football.

The Browns didn’t get the ball to their primary playmakers either. Amari Cooper caught two passes for 16 yards. David Njoku did catch four passes and was involved in the longest offensive play for Cleveland, 29 yards, but he left with an ankle injury.

Heralded off-season acquisition Jerry Jeudy caught three passes for 25 yards and did score the Browns’ first touchdown.

The Cleveland offense gained just 230 yards, most of that in the second half when the game was already decided.

Let’s not forget the special teams, which gave up a 60-yard punt return to KaVontae Turpin which pretty much iced the game for Dallas, making the score 27-3 early in the second half.

The defense wasn’t dominant, but actually played the best of any of the units. They held Dallas to just 265 yards of total offense, but gave up two long scoring drives, both in the first half, allowing a TD drive of 70 yards and a second one of 74.

Otherwise, as we said before, the Cowboys scored on a punt return, and field goal drives of 17, 1, 19, and 20 yards. Cleveland wound up winning the time of possession, but again, stats were misleading. When your offense gets one first down in a half, your defense is on the field a lot.

They weren’t great, but they were far from being awful.

However, fair or not, it still comes down to quarterback play for the Browns. Remember, it’s been four years since Watson has been one of the better passers in the NFL, and he didn’t look any different than the way he’s played normally since coming the Cleveland.

He was 0 for 10 in throws of more than 15 yards on Sunday, making him essentially a dink and dunk passer. Those guys are a dime a dozen in the NFL. Watson is paid to make big plays.

There has to be improvement on offense, and it needs to begin next week in Jacksonville. And not just Watson, the running game has to be better, and the offensive line needs to be do the same. Perhaps either Jack Conklin or Jedrick Wills will be back.

We would also like to see D’Onta Foreman and Pierre Strong get some more carries from scrimmage.

It’s just one game. Hopefully, we will have the same thought about Sunday after next week’s game.