Stefanski Said It Best: Bad Day To Have A Bad Day

All of the problems the Cleveland Browns had this year showed up again in yesterday’s playoff loss to the Houston Texans.

Yes, the Browns had the NFL’s best defense statistically, but there was a big difference in the way they played at home and away from Cleveland Browns Stadium.

At home, they were simply dominant, but the five worst games the defense had in terms of points allowed came on the road. Indianapolis scored 38, Los Angeles put up 36, Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Denver were next.

The defense didn’t give up all 45 points Saturday, two pick sixes added 14 points, but they allowed 31, and there were big plays aplenty. The Texans ran just 44 plays, as Houston scored on offensive plays of 76 and 37 yards, and got some big chunk plays as well as they rolled up 356 total yards, which is 8.1 per play. That’s a huge number.

And the Browns’ defense didn’t get any turnovers nor any sacks. Bet no one thought that would happen. Houston stayed away from Denzel Ward and controlled Myles Garrett, picking on Greg Newsome, who struggled trying to keep up with Nico Collins.

Another issue that reared its head was not taking care of the football. The Browns amazingly made the playoffs despite leading the NFL in turning the ball over, and two interceptions for touchdowns basically ended the game.

Cleveland was trailing 24-14 at the half, but was driving in the third quarter, when QB Joe Flacco apparently trying to throw the ball away, was picked off by Steven Nelson, who returned it 82 yards for a TD.

Then on the next possession, on a 4th down play, Flacco was intercepted again by Christian Harris, who went 36 yards the other way, and suddenly a game within reach was over for all intends and purposes.

The Browns couldn’t run the ball, something that has been a problem since Nick Chubb got hurt in week two. They gained just 56 yards on 20 attempts and their longest two runs were a 14-yard run by Kareem Hunt in garbage time and an 8-yard scramble by Flacco.

That’s not to say all of the Browns had bad games. On defense, we have to point out Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, who was all over the field, with 8 tackles, several behind the line of scrimmage. He has been getting better and better each week.

David Njoku was a standout as usual, catching seven balls for 93 yards and he and Harrison Bryant were big factors in the first half. And David Bell had a strong game too, catching 8 passes, several in traffic.

As coach Kevin Stefanski said after the game, the Browns simply picked a bad day to have a bad day. After an early field goal, the Browns scored to take leads of 7-3 and 14-10, but defensively they just couldn’t stop Houston.

And as usual, the officiating didn’t help the Browns, a very questionable pass interference call on Ronnie Hickman (especially after a no call against Njoku earlier) gave Houston a first down on a third down play and would have forced a punt.

The Texans scored two plays later to make it 24-14. The NFL has an officiating problem that they care to ignore.

No question this will be a different team when training camp starts in July because of salary cap issues, but the core will remain, players like Garrett, Ward, Owusu-Koramoah, and of course, QB Deshaun Watson will be healthy.

Let’s hope the organization continues to build on this season and the attitude they adopted during this year, winning no matter what is thrown at them, continues in 2024.

It was a bitter loss because we thought this team had a chance to go deeper into the post-season. Still, it was a fun ride.

One Big Turnover Spoils Browns LA Trip

The Joe Flacco experience looked good for the Browns for about three and a half quarters. He directed a touchdown drive on the first possession, and overall played well, completing 23 of 44 throws for 254 yards and two touchdowns.

Unfortunately, in the fourth quarter, he threw a critical interception on the first play of a drive where Cleveland could have taken the lead.

The Browns lost to the Los Angeles Rams 36-19 in a game that was very much in doubt midway through the fourth quarter and dropped to 7-5 on the season.

It might have been the most disappointing defensive effort of the season by Cleveland, allowing the second most total yards of the season as the Rams put up 399 yards (Indianapolis had 456), but unlike the Colts games, the defense had no sacks and no turnovers.

The defense simply had no answer for Puka Nacua and his speed. He accounted for 105 of the Rams’ 279 passing yards, 70 coming on a first quarter strike to put LA on top 10-7, and he also ran two jet sweeps to make up 34 of the Rams’ 120 yards on the ground.

He was the problem the defense had no answer for. Having the Browns’ fastest defensive back, Denzel Ward, on the field would have made a difference we think.

If Myles Garrett is the defensive unit’s best player, then Ward is a close second and having him out, and Garrett obviously limited due to his shoulder issue, it shouldn’t have been a surprise the defensive had perhaps its worst game of the year.

Cleveland also had trouble running the ball for the second straight week, although it wasn’t as notable as last week because Flacco was moving the football through the air. Kareem Hunt and Pierre Strong started to get it going in the second half, but overall, they had just 87 yards rushing.

Now, we need to point out they only tried 23 running plays. We feel Kevin Stefanski has done a great job navigating yardage with four different quarterbacks, but perhaps the Browns need to lean on their ground attack more often.

Because Sunday’s contest will be one of the last games Cleveland will play in nice weather (Houston is on the road), perhaps the offensive staff will go back to establishing the running attack.

Back to Flacco. We have advocated playing Dorian Thompson-Robinson over P.J. Walker in recent weeks, but we would stay with the veteran going forward. Why? Because he gives you professional play at the position. We understand he’s not mobile, but he can still deliver the ball on time and with accuracy.

If Stefanski and the coaching staff want to have a functional offense for the rest of the year, and you can’t continue to depend on the defense, then he needs to play Joe Flacco.

And hopefully, Garrett will be healthier next week, and Ward can return to the field. That would help the defense greatly. We were bothered that no one else stepped up to make a big play though. We thought there was more depth added.

We still aren’t concerned about the season. Cleveland simply needs to win the game they should win (Bears, Jets, Bengals) and they should return to the playoffs.

However, they need the defense to get healthy. And it would help if it were cold and windy for Jacksonville this coming Sunday.

Key Turnovers Cost Browns (Again!)

We agree with the premise that play calling is overrated in the NFL. What this means is the execution is more important than the play call.

We are in the minority on this though, and that’s why we are sure that Browns’ coach Kevin Stefanski will be hammered throughout the week about the third down play with two minutes to go and the Browns holding a 20-17 lead in Seattle.

We know no one will want to do this, but why doesn’t the coach get credit for an offense that gained 385 yards, the second highest total all year (week 2 vs. Pittsburgh) without their starting QB and without Nick Chubb.

The Browns also controlled the clock, chewing up almost 37 minutes in time of possession.

The pass that would up being intercepted (off the helmet of a Seattle player) was a safe throw, but not executed properly. We asked someone who played QB in college and NFL Europe if it was a bad play call and was told no, the passer has to know where pressure is coming from and go somewhere else with the ball.

And there were two other receivers open.

The people saying the Browns should have run the ball in that situation are using the same logic the head coach used. Stefanski called a safe play and if Walker completes it, the Browns run out the clock and win the game.

The “should’ve called a run play” folks are assuming if the Browns do, they make the first down. There is no guarantee of that either.

And we are sure Seattle was playing run first.

While that pass was kind of flukey, having it deflect off a helmet, having P.J. Walker playing quarterback continues to be a problem because of turnovers. He was responsible for three more yesterday, giving him seven in the three games he’s appeared in this season.

FYI, that’s way too many.

Really, it’s amazing Cleveland is 4-3 on the season considering they have lost the turnover battles in six games in 2023! They are -9 on the season, and that simply isn’t a recipe for winning games in the NFL.

If Andrew Berry doesn’t trade for a veteran QB by today’s deadline, why not take another look at rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson against Arizona this Sunday? We know the rook struggled in his first start vs. Baltimore, but he didn’t get all the practice reps that week because the organization thought Deshaun Watson was going to be able to go.

Maybe, DTR can hold on to the ball better, and yes we know what he did against the Ravens.

And if you want to second guess Stefanski for something in Sunday’s game, we are curious as to why Kareem Hunt wasn’t in the game in the fourth quarter.

Hunt was Cleveland’s leading rusher on the day, and as usual, ran hard, getting 55 tough yards on 14 carries. This isn’t to denigrate Jerome Ford, who gained four yards per carry playing most of the final quarter, but Hunt is a dependable back for sure.

All in all, a victory next Sunday at home puts Cleveland at 5-3, and only the division leaders in the AFC have less losses and they all have two. Without Watson and Chubb, that’s not bad.

And we will say the same thing as we said after the week two loss to Pittsburgh. Eliminate the mistakes and things will be okay.

Turnovers, Not Coaching Is The Browns’ Problem Right Now.

The knee-jerk reaction for most Browns fans and media alike after a loss is to blame the play calling. And of course, that leads to talking about hiring a new coach.

Kevin Stefanski is no different. Add the losing to his stoic, unemotional demeanor and that he doesn’t scream on the sidelines and grab players by the facemask, and it’s easy to see why football fans in northeast Ohio haven’t embraced the Browns head coach.

Look, we aren’t saying Stefanski is the second coming of Paul Brown or Blanton Collier for that matter. Those two are #1 and #2 on the franchise’s all-time wins list for coaches. But he has won more games than Butch Davis and Romeo Crennel, both of whom have coached more games.

We wish Stefanski would change some things. We would like to see more use of David Njoku in space, and right now, he seems to have fallen in love with his new toy, that being Elijah Moore.

He has tried to make Moore an all purpose offensive threat, but in the first four games of the season, Moore has caught 17 passes for 148 yards, 8.7 per catch, and rushed 7 times for 3 yards, although he lost 20 yards on one attempt in the Baltimore game.

That has led to Donovan Peoples-Jones, who caught 61 throws for 839 yards a year ago, to be virtually ignored so far this year. He’s been targeted just 14 times, catching six passes for 75 yards.

He’s one of only three Browns to average over 10 yards per catch this year, and one of them, Kareem Hunt, has only caught two passes.

From the criticism on sports talk shows and social media, you would think the Browns were 0-4 and headed toward the first overall pick in next spring’s NFL Draft.

Instead, they are 2-2 despite losing the turnover battle in each game they’ve played this season. And as GM Andrew Berry said in his press conference last week, that’s a difficult way to win games in the NFL.

We said before the season started that despite the endless debate on the team all year in the area, the fortunes of the Cleveland Browns depended on the play of Deshaun Watson, who the organization dealt three first round draft picks and paid a king’s ransom in salary for.

If he plays well, the Browns will win and make the playoffs. If he plays like he did in the six games he appeared in last season, Cleveland will struggle, Stefanski will likely be fired and the organization will be going in a new direction.

Again.

The defense is playing at a high level. And if the offense doesn’t hand the Steelers two touchdowns in week two, Cleveland likely wins that game. And of course, last weekend they were forced to play Dorian Thompson-Robinson, a rookie fifth round draft pick, as Watson was injured.

Aaron Rodgers told Green Bay Packers fans to relax a few years ago. Browns supporters need to heed that advice. They are still 13 games left to play. If the brown and orange stop turning the ball over, they will be just fine.

For Browns, Time To Win Is Now, Even Without Watson

This Sunday, the Cleveland Browns kickoff the 2022 NFL season with a game against their old quarterback, Baker Mayfield, who is now leading the Carolina Panthers.

With suspended QB Deshaun Watson sidelined for the first 11 games of the regular season, expectations by many media people, both local and national, aren’t very high and most of the experts have Cleveland missing the playoffs.

We are not one of those people.

The Browns have talent at many positions. They have probably the best tandem or running backs in the league in Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. They have two of the best guards in the NFL, and a top wide receiver in Amari Cooper.

That’s just the offense.

The defense features perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate Myles Garrett, former first overall pick Jadeveon Clowney, and Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward.

The entire defensive backfield should be very good and along with the pass rusher should deter an aerial assault from opponents.

We would like to see the defense improve against the run. Cleveland ranked 12th against the run last season, and the old adage is even in today’s pass-happy NFL, you can’t win if you don’t stop the run.

Kevin Stefanski was Coach of the Year in 2020, but his team fell to 8-9 a year ago, and frankly, we think he needs to answer some questions this season. By the way, they doesn’t mean we want him fired, but we would like to see him grow as a head coach.

We believe Stefanski lost confidence in the offensive line after injuries hampered Jedrick Wills and took Jack Conklin out for the year, and that’s why he became reactive in his play calling. What we mean is a philosophy of “the defense is taking away the run, so we have to pass”.

And we think we ask this every year, but why can’t there be a package where Chubb and Hunt are on the field together? If you ranked the offensive skill players by ability, wouldn’t those two rank in the top three?

However, we feel the time to win for the Cleveland Browns is now, and frankly we don’t care if Watson is missing the first 11 games this year. The organization put themselves in this position, so if Cleveland winds up 7-10 this season, the blame should be put at their feet.

As for the coaching staff, come up with a scheme that moves the ball, puts points up on the scoreboard and keeps the other team off of it. That’s why they are coaching in the NFL.

The challenge for the coaches is to minimize Jacoby Brissett’s weaknesses, so the Browns can remain in contention when Watson returns to the lineup. Put players like Garrett, Ward, Chubb, Hunt, Cooper and TE David Njoku in situations where they can make an impact.

We don’t want to hear that missing the playoffs is okay because of the Watson suspension, the organization can’t be alright with writing off another season.

Winning is necessary. The Browns have the better team in our opinion this Sunday and should win the game. We won’t excuse them if they do.

The Browns aren’t an average team hoping their quarterback can lift them to playoff contention, they are a very good team that needs the QB to go along for the ride.

The Decision Is In…Maybe

So Judge Sue L. Robinson emerged from the mountain top and handed down a six-game suspension for Browns’ quarterback Deshaun Watson. Now, Cleveland football fans have to wait to see if NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will add on to the punishment.

First, it would seem to be a bad look for Goodell to add games since this is the first time the league has used Judge Robinson for this purpose, and for Goodell to overrule her would seem to be just what league was trying to avoid by hiring her.

On the other hand, this is the NFL and Goodell seems to do whatever he damn well pleases. So, we can see him adding to the punishment, perhaps adding another two games, keeping Watson on the sidelines for basically half the season.

Remember, that in a way, these kinds of proceedings can be like a game. If people are upset because Watson didn’t get a longer suspension, it may just be that the league didn’t provide the judge with enough evidence.

She can only rule on what she sees or hears.

And regardless of how fans in Cleveland feel about Watson and what he did in his massage sessions, the whole situation is a bad look for the NFL.

They’ve known about these allegations for pretty much a year and a half, so our question is why did it take so long for them to act? Yes, we understand they were collecting information from the women involved, but still, it should have been taken care of long before this.

And by the way, we aren’t condoning Watson’s actions. We have said right from the day he was acquired that we wish the Browns had not gone down this road. It’s a bad look for the organization and we understand fans that say they feel strange supporting the new quarterback.

As for the football aspect of all this, we think the Browns can be fairly certain Watson will be on the field at some point in 2022. Can the team tread water with Jacoby Brissett as the signal caller?

We would wager the offense will be much more of a ground and short passing game while Brissett is playing, with opponents getting a healthy dose of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt.

Remember, the Browns open at Carolina before coming home to take on the Jets and Steelers (on Thursday night) and then travel to Atlanta. Cleveland could be favored in all four games, even without Watson playing.

Then, the schedule gets considerably tougher with home games against the Chargers and Patriots, followed by road contests against division foes Baltimore and Cincinnati.

If the six game suspension holds, Watson would make his debut against the Ravens.

Because the commissioner has the right to review Judge Robinson’s “verdict”, Browns’ fans may have to wait three more days to find out the exact length of the quarterback’s suspension.

No doubt that will be discussed ad nauseum until Goodell makes the final decision.

Then Kevin Stefanski and his coaching staff can figure out how to proceed with reps. Since Watson hasn’t played since 2020, he needs some work, but that has to be balanced with getting Brissett ready for the regular season.

As usual, nothing is easy when it comes to the quarterback position for the Cleveland Browns.

Football 2021 Is Over, Browns Look Towards ’22

The Super Bowl is over and thankfully, a team from the AFC North did not win. Although the new league year doesn’t arrive until March 16th, the off-season has arrived and everyone should be turning their attention to the 2022 season.

First, the Cleveland Browns are not a terrible football team, in the same class as Jacksonville, Houston, etc. They didn’t go 4-13 or 5-12 during the 2021 season, they went 8-9, and with a little luck, they would have made the playoffs.

Still, having good luck isn’t a strategy any more than hope is. And there is no doubt you are what you record says you are, and the Browns were a below .500 football team.

The first challenge Andrew Berry, Paul DePodesta, and Kevin Stefanski have to do is get the roster united and cohesive. There was a little bit too much happiness for Odell Beckham Jr. being a Super Bowl champion among the current players.

On the other hand, there is a difference between being a good friend and a good guy and being someone the coaching staff can trust. Being cool among players is one thing, but for coaches and front office types, a player can be a different story.

Perhaps Beckham challenged Stefanski’s authority or complained every week about the style of football the coaches wanted to play. Maybe that’s why the wide receiver wasn’t “a good fit” here.

We aren’t going to rehash the quarterback situation again, but we will say this–the passing game as a whole has to be better. The wide receiver and tight end positions need to be addressed and improved. They need more separation, or in old school terminology, the Browns need receivers who can get open.

We would also like to see Stefanski use Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt together. They are two of the best players the team has, and using just one at a time seems foolish. Make opposing defenses account for both, and that brings us to another question.

Why not get Chubb more involved in the passing game? We understand it is a good way to keep the Pro Bowl back fresh, taking him off the field in passing situations, but the defense knows this as well.

And having Chubb catch a short pass in the secondary where he doesn’t have to contend with defensive linemen should be a benefit, no? It doesn’t seem like he has bad hands, so why not incorporate this into the offense?

These playoffs should also show the front office the importance of having a reliable field goal kicker.

In the AFC North alone resides the most accurate kicker in the Ravens’ Justin Tucker (94.6%) and the 10th ranked, Pittsburgh’s Chris Boswell (90%). Cincinnati’s rookie Evan McPherson didn’t miss a field goal in the playoffs, making two game winners.

Chase McLaughlin? He ranked 32nd in the league at 71.4%. Having a reliable field goal kicker changes how you coach and manage the game.

It doesn’t matter if it is through the draft or a free agent, the Browns have to get a more reliable field goal kicker, someone they feel comfortable with from 50 yards and in. They’ve been without one since Phil Dawson left.

When you are 8-9 and the division winner finished at 10-7, you better believe the little things, including having a solid kicker, make a big difference.

This Week Is A Good Time To Play At Their Best For Browns

With all the doom and gloom about the Cleveland Browns season in 2021, it is hard to remember they are still very much in a playoff race in the jumbled AFC standings.

Yes, they are a .500 football team, the currently the three wild cards in the conference belong to Buffalo (7-5), Cincinnati (7-5) and the Los Angeles Chargers (7-5).

The Browns lost to the Chargers, but beat the Bengals with another contest against them the last game of the season.

All in all, there are 13 teams in the AFC with six or more wins and only New England has nine, and they haven’t had their bye as of yet.

What this means, is despite all of the disappointments from Kevin Stefanski’s squad this season, if they can put together a good stretch of football to close out the season, they can definitely snag one of the seven playoffs spots in the AFC.

An 11-6 mark would certainly make it, but there will be teams with 10-7 records that will be playing on Wild Card Weekend.

Stefanski talks weekly about “one game seasons” and that is exactly how his team has to look at the balance of the schedule because getting tripped up, particularly this Sunday at home against Baltimore will put a huge dent into any post-season plans.

The coaching staff and players can’t talk about more than one game, but we can, and if the Browns can win Sunday and then beat a Las Vegas Raiders’ team that will be (hopefully) braving the cold elements along the lake the following Saturday, then Cleveland will be 8-6 and in much better shape, no?

That would give them three games remaining, at Green Bay on Christmas Day (good luck scheduling dinner around this one), at Pittsburgh on Monday night, January 3rd, and the finale at home vs. Cincinnati, which good have huge implications.

Actually, all five games feature two teams who have the playoffs on their mind, so it won’t be easy. And we never said it would be.

All of this is possible if the Browns solved the issues that have hampered their offense over the last nine games, in which they have scored 40 or more points twice, and less than 17 points in every other contest.

We have referred to the old football adage, “you can’t win unless you can run the ball and stop the run”, many times.

Since the loss to the Chargers, in which the Browns scored 42 points and ran for 230 yards, they have only run for 100 yards or more three times in the past seven contests, and have allowed opponents to exceed that figure in five of the last seven.

Not a good recipe for success.

Granted, Nick Chubb missed two of those games, but the signature of this football team is success on the ground. And although we think Stefanski has the makings of a fine coach, we are sure the analytics people are telling him he abandoned the run prematurely in a few of those games.

Still, if you remember the second half of last season, a number of those games started with success in the passing game, and then were salted away by ramming Chubb and Kareem Hunt down the throat of opponents.

Perhaps that is one thing that will be tweaked after the bye.

The defense against the run must be shored up though, and right away. The Browns’ defense has allowed 500 yards in the last three games in total. That simply cannot happen in the AFC North, and when the weather gets a little rougher.

We know this team has not played its best football to this point in the season. That has to start coming up this Sunday and continue as long as they are playing.

It sound simple and it really is.

Browns Could Use A Road Win

We had to laugh at Kevin Stefanski’s locker room comments following the Browns domination of the Chicago Bears last Sunday. The coach told his team “whoever we play” next is the biggest game of their lives, except he used more colorful language.

What was funny is that we are sure Stefanski knows exactly who they play this week, because it is a place he spent his entire coaching life before coming to Cleveland. The Minnesota Vikings.

We are sure the head coach will remind his squad they have not won on the road yet this season, and the Vikings are undefeated at home, although they’ve played in the Land of 10,000 Lakes just once this season.

And we know Stefanski doesn’t like to look ahead, but the following game against the Los Angeles Chargers, also on the road, appears to be a big game as well. The Chargers are now 2-1, coming off a victory over the Chiefs last Sunday.

We wondered in the off-season if Cleveland could have one of those offenses that could be unstoppable if they were healthy, and currently the Browns rank 7th in total yardage in the NFL, and 7th in yards per play at 6.4.

And that’s without both starting wide receivers, Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. in the lineup at the same time.

However, here’s a reminder that the Browns are still a running team, second in the league to Baltimore in gaining yards on the ground, with both Nick Chubb (3rd) and Kareem Hunt (20th) in the rushing leaders.

The Vikings have allowed the fifth most yards in the league to date, ranking better against the run (21st) than the pass (27th). So, it would figure to be another good day for the Browns’ offense, although the coach would probably remind us there is a reason why you actually play the game.

One thing is for sure, Kirk Cousins will be more difficult to defend that Justin Fields, making his first NFL start, so the Cleveland defense better be up for the challenge.

It is funny, but despite the production of the Browns’ offensive attack, the leader in receiving yards is Hunt with 104, followed by David Njoku (94), who wasn’t even targeted on Sunday.

The offense has really spread it around in the passing game, with six players having five or more receptions, led by Hunt and TE Austin Hooper with 10 each.

Hard for defenses to take away all of the weapons at Baker Mayfield’s disposal, right?

It was another week, another rookie to stand out for the brown and orange, this time LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, who was all over the field against Chicago, getting four tackles and a half sack. That’s three weeks in a row, a newly drafted players has made a big impact on the game.

And how can we not mention Myles Garrett, who set a club record with 4.5 sacks, impressive no matter who is the opponent.

The former first overall pick is now 7th (revised total occurred over the summer) in sacks all time for the franchise with 48.5 in just 54 games. Next up on the list is Michael Dean Perry, who has 51.5…in 109 games.

It’s not a stretch to think Garrett will get into the Browns’ top five (Paul Wiggin has 60.5 in 146 games) this season.

Barring injury, it’s really a matter of time before Garrett surpasses Bill Glass, the franchise leader with 77.5 in 94 games.

Stefanski will tell you every week is a challenge in the NFL, and certainly, the Vikings are a step up in class from the Browns’ two previous opponents. We are sure he would also tell you his team is capable of playing much better. They will need to in order to get a win this week.

It’s Been Awhile, But Browns Have Earned Respect

Sunday afternoon, a little after 4 PM, the Cleveland Browns will kickoff their most anticipated season since 2019. That was the year after rookie Baker Mayfield led the team to a good second half and we were all intoxicated by Freddie Kitchens’ play calling.

Heck, John Dorsey was enamored with it so much he made Kitchens the head coach that season, and remember, he interviewed a Minnesota offensive assistant named Kevin Stefanski as well that off-season.

This year feels different. First, the Browns made their first playoff appearance since 2002, and won their first playoff game since 1994, when as it is always mentioned, Bill Belichick was coaching the team.

GM Andrew Berry has constructed a helluva roster, especially on offense where the Browns have one of the top offensive lines in the sport, one of the best runners in Nick Chubb, with former rushing champ Kareem Hunt backing him up, and a talented receiving corps led by Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr.

Some still question the quarterback, but we don’t. The poor ’19 campaign by Baker Mayfield, in which he threw 21 interceptions is the outlier when looking through the context of the passer’s collegiate career at Oklahoma, and last season and his rookie year with the Browns.

While, we would not put him in the top five QB’s in the league right now, a second consecutive playoff appearance for the brown and orange would have him closing in on that ranking before next year.

Still, the NFL schedule maker didn’t do the Browns any favors scheduling them to open the season in Kansas City against the two time AFC defending champion Chiefs, who beat the Browns in the divisional playoff last year, eliminating them.

The Chiefs are the team to beat in the conference without a doubt, and let’s just say the Browns haven’t been very good in season openers since they returned to the NFL in 1999, compiling a 1-20-1 mark, with the lone win coming in 2004 against Baltimore.

Cleveland has a rebuilt defense, needed since the Browns ranked 17th in yards allowed and 21st in points allowed last season, with as many as nine new starters taking the field at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday. The only two holdovers are of course, Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward, both former first round picks.

They added some big names, former Rams standout safety John Johnson III and former first overall pick Jadeveon Clowney, and of course, spent their first round pick this past draft on a cornerback, Greg Newsome II.

Defenses generally need time to develop and become a cohesive unit, so don’t be shocked and/or ready to dismiss the team if Patrick Mahomes, probably the NFL’s top passer, has a good day on Sunday. If progress hasn’t been shown by say week four, then some criticism should be considered.

But it isn’t unusual for a defense to gel late in the season. Last year, Tampa Bay allowed 30 points or more in three of their first nine games, then didn’t do it again throughout the rest of the season, including their run to the Super Bowl.

The Browns are still a young football team, with just nine players over 30 years old, and two of them are the backup quarterback (Case Keenum) and long snapper Charley Hughlett. And only two more (Landry and Beckham) are 29.

The only player with 10 years in the league is linebacker Malcolm Smith, with Keenum and DT Malik Jackson having nine years in.

We have every reason to believe the Browns will be a very good football team this season, and we also believe they can get to the Super Bowl, their first ever berth, if the defense develops.

Just don’t micro-analyze things. Trust in the coach and the organization. They have earned that respect.