Don’t Yell At Us, But Browns Should Have Taken The Tie

First, let’s discuss the decision. Browns’ coach Todd Monken received many virtual pats on the back tor going for the win in Sunday’s 23-22 loss to the New Orleans Saints. We believe that’s because by and large, football people are aggressive and they like players and coaches to be aggressive. They want them to “go for it!”

And frankly, if the Browns came into the contest 2-6 or 3-5 instead of 5-3, going for the win would have been the correct call. But the reality is they did have a winning record for the season. Look, a tie is better than a loss in a playoff race.

As of this moment, the Browns are tied with New England for the seventh and final spot in the AFC playoffs. It’s unexpected for sure. But, if they’d have tied on Sunday, guess what? They’d be in the 7th spot all by themselves. There’s a time and place to push the envelope and with a minute to go in overtime with the Saints having no timeouts, that wasn’t it.

Remember, the Browns were also stopped inside the five earlier in the game so we had no confidence they could get two yards when needed.

And yes, we said that live. This is not a second guess.

Now, as for the actual action, the old problem plagued the Browns again, that is, they can’t run the ball and they can’t stop the run. Mike Rutenberg’s unit allowed 160 yards rushing, the third straight week over 140 yards and over the last five contests, the Cleveland defense has allowed an average of 144.4 yards on the ground.

They are 6th worst in the league against the run, ahead of only the Raiders, Cowboys, Colts, Saints and Panthers. And none of those teams have winning records. As good as the Browns’ secondary is, they are rendered useless if the other team doesn’t have to throw the ball to succeed.

And for the people saying Saints’ QB Tyler Shough had 51 of those yards, yes, that is a product of playing man-to-man defense, but since they play that way (a better way to play, by the way) the pass rushers have to contain him in the pocket.

Conversely, Cleveland’s rushing attack continues to be uninspiring. The Browns have rushed for over 100 yards just three times (all wins) and is in the bottom 10 in the NFL in that category.

The Browns have offensive line issues, but we felt before the season that maybe the team needs to do better than Quinshon Judkins, who is averaging just 3.3 yards per carry and doesn’t seem to have good vision in finding lanes to run.

The lack of the running game keeps putting the quarterback, either Deshaun Watson or Shedeur Sanders in bad situations and with a shaky line, that means the defensive line can pin their ears back and go after the passer.

The Browns next four games are at home starting Sunday against Houston (their GM is former University School and John Carroll grad Nick Caserio). The Texans are 3-5, but were a playoff team a year ago. Do we have confidence in this team? Not really.

Monken’s team hasn’t been great, but they are in the hunt at 5-4. If there is a decent blocking tight end out there, the Browns should be trying to get him, because they need Harold Fannin, who is averaging 12.2 yards per reception with a team high four TDs to be a receiver, not a blocker.

And on that note, please get the ball to Denzel Boston more.

More Embarrassing, The Browns’ Play Or The Taunting Down By 21?

Obviously, we don’t know Todd Monken, but we do think as a coach, he will have a lot of teaching points after Sunday’s 27-6 beatdown of the Cleveland Browns by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The first lesson? The Browns aren’t as good as they think they are. There was a lot of good feelings after another comeback win over a bad Tennessee Titans team the week before, and certain players on the defense started running their mouths now that the Browns came into this game with a 5-2 record.

The most embarrassing thing that occurred in a game where Monken’s team was outgained on the ground 200-34 might have been two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties for taunting with the Steelers up by three touchdowns. That will likely irritate the head coach the most.

Deshaun Watson played much like he did with the Texans in 2020. He put up a ton of yardage, throwing for over 300 yards for the second straight week, but in a loss. Watson led the NFL in passing yards in that season, but his team was 4-12.

He was also sacked eight more times and continues to lead the league with 33. Yes, the offensive line struggled (again 34 yards rushing), but there is no question he either runs himself into sacks or doesn’t throw the ball away to avoid a loss of yardage.

Besides, he’s not putting up a great deal of points. Ignoring the game against the terrible Titans’ defense, the Browns have scored 12 (vs. the Jets), 13, and 6 points in their last three games. Not much of a change from last season.

Perhaps the only Cleveland player who had a good game was TE Harold Fannin, who hauled in 10 passes for 154 yards, but even he committed a turnover, fumbling in the first quarter. The two rookie wideouts, Denzel Boston and KC Concepcion both contributed just 37 yards each. Something has to be done to get each of them the ball on a regular basis.

As for the defense, the old adage is you have to be able to stop the run to be effective and the Browns have allowed more than 130 yards on the ground in three of the last four games. Coordinator Mike Rutenberg did a good job fixing things after the hammering on opening day against Jacksonville, and he has a new project. He has to figure out stopping the run.

That adage also says if you can’t run the ball, you can’t be a good team and the Browns continue to have difficulties. After 183 yards rushing last week, to get only 34 isn’t good and it’s the second time under 50 this season.

Quinshon Judkins had only 25 yards on 11 carries, and for the season, is at just 3.4 yards per carry. Of course, last year, he had just 3.6 per attempt. Monken has to get more production out of the ground attack.

So, the coaching staff has a lot of ammunition to discuss this week before heading to New Orleans to play a Saints’ team coming off a bye week. The biggest thing to fix is stopping the run, but being able to put points on the board is going to be a must because the Saints can put points up.

Hopefully, after that whooping, the staff will have the full attention of the players.

How? We Don’t Know, But Browns Keep Winning Games

It’s complimentary football, we guess. The Cleveland Browns’ defense didn’t play well on Sunday, giving up 322 yards of total offense to one of the worst attacks in the NFL. The Tennessee Titans had a season high in total yards and scored more than 20 points for only the third time this season.

It didn’t matter, because Browns’ offense went wild, tying their season high with 27 points and rolling up almost 500 yards in total offense (491) in a 27-24 win over the Titans.

Todd Monken’s squad is now 5-2 and although no one gave a second thought about the next week’s visit to Pittsburgh at the beginning of the season, the contest is now a showdown for first place in the AFC North.

Let that sink in for a minute.

In his 26th start with the Browns, spanning five seasons, Deshawn Watson finally had his first 300-yard passing game, completed 25 of 36 throws for 308 yards and running three times for 19 yards, including a TD run.

He was aided greatly by a ground game which totaled 183 yards on the ground, led by Quinshon Judkins 96. Dylan Sampson returned from the injured list to add 45 more on six carries and caught three more throws for 32 yards.

Rookie receiver KC Concepcion had his best game yet, catching 8 passes for 129 yards, and TE Harold Fannin caught 6 throws for 91 yards, including a 36-yard catch and run which set up Andre Szmyt’s game winning field goal.

Give credit where it is due, it was clearly Watson’s best game as a Brown. But the announcers being quick to absolve him from blame for his first quarter interception was crazy. Did Denzel Boston allow the defensive back to undercut the route? Yes, but if you see a defender there, you don’t have to throw the pass.

The defense gave up a game opening touchdown drive again, and that is something we are sure coordinator Mike Rutenberg isn’t happy with and will be looking to fix. However, we do have to credit the unit for the goal line stand in the 2nd quarter and with winning the turnover game, with an interception by Denzel Ward and a fumble caused by Tyson Campbell and recovered by Ronnie Hickman.

The question that keep being asked regarding the Browns is “is this sustainable?” It’s probably not, but who cares, they are winning. And not to get ahead of anything, but with ten games left, if they split them, they would finish at 10-7, which will likely land them a playoff spot.

They have been helped by having the division match up with the mediocre NFC South, but everyone in the AFC North has feasted on that. The latter has a 7-1 record against the South, the only loss being to the Saints by the Baltimore Ravens.

Of course, nothing guarantees that trend will continue, but…

We are sure only the most optimistic of Browns’ fans would have thought next Sunday’s contest in Pittsburgh would be for first place in the division. After all, Sunday’s win matched the win total for all of last season at five.

But here we are, a very important regular season game at a venue where Cleveland teams historically have had little success. With their defense, the Browns can very much win, especially if the running game can come close to performing like it did vs. Tennessee.

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.

A Good Night On The Lakefront For The Browns

We figured a successful season for the Cleveland Browns this year would be around five or six victories. However, despite a brutal opening game blowout loss to Jacksonville, the Browns amazingly sit at 3-1 after a 27-24 win over Pittsburgh on Thursday night.

Many experts said Todd Monken’s squad could compete with competent play from the quarterback, and that was on display in this one as Deshaun Watson was excellent in the first half and finished with 24 completions in 33 throws for 268 yards and a TD toss to TE Harold Fannin.

The yardage was Watson’s third highest in his Browns’ career, and the most since 2023 when he threw for 289 in a 27-3 win over Tennessee. It is also the most points Cleveland has scored in a game he played since the 33-31 victory over Baltimore in ’23, the game he injured his shoulder.

The first half was a dominant display of football. After a long scoring drive by the Steelers on their first possession, the defense clamped down had held Pittsburgh to a mere field goal at the end of the half, while the offense scored three touchdowns and the Browns led 21-10 at the intermission.

Quinshon Judkins ran harder, and accounted for 96 yards from scrimmage, but 43 of them came catching 6 passes. However, in the third quarter, the running game started to get it going and gained 34 yards on a drive, but Watson fumbled on a read option to give the Steelers the ball and killed a chance to put the game away.

Early in the 4th quarter Watson threw an interception on a tipped ball, and Pittsburgh turned in a seven play, 65-yard drive to get back in the game.

We don’t want to give the impression the defense let them back in the game because overall they performed very well despite the loss of Mason Graham in the first half.

In last season’s penultimate game, Carson Schwesinger was injured against the Steelers, but stayed in the game and finished it, the result being a Browns’ win. Some thought Schwesinger should have come out since it was a meaningless game for Cleveland, but we loved it. He was showing leadership and toughness. If he could go, he was going to stay out there for his teammates.

We thought about that with Mike Hall Thursday night. Hall left the game in the first half with an apparent ankle injury. He left on a cart. But he came back in the second half and recorded a sack.

Did what Schwesinger did last December play a part here? Maybe not, but it shows the attitude of this defense and perhaps this team. Character and leadership mean something.

We also have to talk about the kicking game. Of course, Andre Szmyt made the game winning 56-yard field goal that likely would have been good from 70 yards, but Corey Bojorquez averaged 62.8 yards per punt, including an 81 yarder in the 4th quarter.

Szmyt is the most reliable field goal kicker the Browns have had since Phil Dawson, really should be considered as a solid bet to make anything from 60 yards and in.

We thought the Browns needed an experienced coach to replace Kevin Stefanski and Monken looks like we might be correct. The players seem to respect and like him (both are important) and he has restored Watson’s confidence in himself.

The 3-1 start is shocking to say the least. The tanking talk around town can cease.

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.

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?

Monken Puts Himself In The Glare With His Decision

Coaches have egos too. A lot of them get into the profession to teach younger guys how to play the particular sport they are involved in the right way. The start is usually to teach the fundamentals and go from there.

But they also like to win, and they also like to look like they are smart. And if they can do that, it’s icing on the cake. They like to be innovators. Think of Bill Walsh, who developed the “west coast offense”, and used it to transform the San Francisco 49ers from also rans to three Super Bowl titles and is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Earl Weaver was among the first, if not the first to use statistics to make out his lineup card, charting what hitters did against certain pitchers, and has a long run of success as the manager of the Baltimore Orioles.

As we said, coaches like winning and they don’t mind getting credit for it. It’s a great thing to have people recognize you are good at your job and that you impacted the success of the place you work.

Now consider Todd Monken, a 60-year-old coaching lifer getting his first shot a being a head coach in the NFL. He wants to win, but he also wants to show he can do something no one thinks is possible, fixing Deshaun Watson, a player who hasn’t been an effective NFL quarterback since 2020.

Maybe that’s the reason for the decision to go with a guy who has made just 19 starts since 2021 and hasn’t thrown for over 300 yards in any of them.

Instead, the coach has told everyone that the reason for naming Watson as the starter is because the rest of us don’t see the tape, which is a comment with the corollary “you never played the game”. Monken is correct, the media and fans don’t see the coaching film and we freely admit, a lot of what we think we see on a football field isn’t true.

For example, a wide receiver is open, and they see a defensive back desperately trying to get there, but many times, he’s not the player who was beaten, he’s merely trying to cover for a teammate who was outmatched or blew a coverage.

However, our eyes show us a quarterback that is throwing the ball into the ground often, one that has “happy feet” in the pocket, and one that takes an exceedingly high number of sacks since he’s been a Brown.

In Watson’s first year with the Browns, he took 20 sacks in his six starts. Jacoby Brissett, who started the first 11 games that year, was sacked 24 times. The following year, in which Cleveland made the playoffs, Watson was sacked 17 times in his six starts, one of which he barely played. The other four QBs who played in 2023, Joe Flacco, P.J. Walker, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, and Jeff Driskel, were sacked 28 times in the other 11 games.

And the last year Watson played, 2024, Browns’ QBs were sacked a whopping 66 times, 33 of them being in Watson’s seven starts. Jameis Winston made the same number of starts and was tackled behind the line of scrimmage nine less times.

While fans don’t see “the inside game”, many longtime fans know what good quarterback play looks like, and that isn’t showing up with Deshaun Watson.

Former coach Jerry Glanville’s comment about if a coach is trying to please the fans, he will soon be sitting with them is true, but thinking they are all stupid is also a flaw. Monken made his decision, but if Watson doesn’t play better, he’s setting himself up for a rough time from the people who buy tickets.

Unless, like his employers, he doesn’t care about them.