It Was Always Going To Be Flacco, And Other Stuff…

The least shocking news of the week came on Monday when Browns’ coach Kevin Stefanski named Joe Flacco the starting quarterback for the season opener against Cincinnati. This was inevitable since the team signed the 40-year-old veteran in the spring.

And again, for all of those you want to see Kenny Pickett as the starter, or for the Browns to repeat their awful recent history by starting a third round or fifth round rookie behind center, remember the Browns have a lot of accomplished veterans on the roster.

Make no mistake, not starting Flacco, who we would bet has the confidence of most of the team, would erode the trust players like Myles Garrett, Denzel Ward, Joel Bitonio, Wyatt Teller, and David Njoku among others, had in the head coach and for that matter the entire coaching staff.

Dillon Gabriel got his chance last weekend against the Eagles and did okay, completing 13 of 18 passes for 143 yards, really a similar type of performance to what Shedeur Sanders did in week one. The big difference was the two turnovers, whether or not whose fault it was, the Browns turned the ball over way too much last season, and they can’t have it this year.

The bottom line is Gabriel was out there for two series where the offense turned it over. Fair or not, that has to be taken into consideration.

While everyone wants to talk QB, if this team is going to exceed the not-so-great expectations the experts have put on them, it’s going to be because of the defense. It was encouraging to hear about the pass rush in the organized practices against a pretty solid Eagles’ offensive line.

Remember, they will start two rookies in DT Mason Graham and LB Carson Schwesinger. If the secondary can hold up their part of the bargain, the defense will keep the Browns in most games.

One guy we continue to watch is running back Ahmani Marshall, who gained 25 yards in six carries against Philadelphia. If you want to have a power running game, which Stefanski likes, we would rather have bigger backs, and Marshall, an undrafted free agent out of Appalachian State, is 6’1″ and 225 pounds.

The unsigned second round draft pick, Quinshon Judkins, weighs 221 lbs. The other rookie runner Cleveland drafted, Dylan Sampson is a smaller, “change of pace” back, listed at 5’8″, 200 pounds.

The incumbent, Jerome Ford, is kind of in between Judkins, Marshall, and Sampson at 5’10” and 210 pounds. Remember, Nick Chubb was listed at 227.

We get the whole pre-season thing, and we’ve never been a fan of Ford because although he’s a home run threat, he does get the four or five runs in between the tackles, but maybe you can get a draft pick for Ford, who is on the last year of his contract anyway.

Only one more of these games left, although this week we will likely see all four quarterbacks get some playing time because Flacco wants to play a series or two. After that, fans will likely see a lot of players fighting to make an NFL team.

Then the Bengals come in to start the season.

With Pick #2, Gotta Go QB

The Cleveland Browns will have the second overall pick in this spring’s NFL Draft. No doubt the area’s sports talk show will devote hundreds upon hundreds of hours discussing who the team should take with that selection.

The Browns need to draft a quarterback. They have to find the right person after all these years and properly get him ready to be the starter for many years to come.

We aren’t going to pretend we are football scouts and tell everyone who should be the choice. And if the Browns would have stayed around the fifth overall pick, we would have advised trading down because the team needs to get younger and faster.

Currently, the organization has 23 players 29 or older on the team. True, two of them, Dustin Hopkins and Charley Hughlett are specialists, and another, Rodney McLeod, is retiring, but there are many key players in that group.

Among them are Joel Bitonio, who may retire, Jack Conklin, Wyatt Teller, Ethan Pocic, Juan Thornhill, and Nick Chubb. And of course, the best player on the roster and the best defensive player in the league, Myles Garrett.

Another one is Deshaun Watson, but he likely will never play another down in the brown and orange, so there’s that.

When you finish 3-14 you have holes in your roster, but in listing those players, you can see more holes are about to pop up in the not-too-distant future.

But since they moved up to second, you have to identify and draft a quarterback and then be patient enough to probably not use him for the 2025 campaign.

We are aware two rookie QBs have guided their squads to the post-season in Jayden Daniels with Washington and Bo Nix in Denver. And yes, C.J. Stroud has guided the Texans to the playoffs in each of his first two seasons.

Still, more often than not, rookies struggle at the most important position in sports, so getting an opportunity to sit and watch and be mentored should be the plan.

Everyone talks about two passers in particular, Colorado’s Shadeur Sanders and Miami’s Cam Ward.

Sanders played two years at Jackson State and then two years at Colorado, while Ward started two seasons Washington State, before transferring to the Hurricanes this season.

Both have played a lot of college football, much like Daniels and Nix.

There are others who could and probably will put their names in the conversation.

We aren’t sure who will be deemed worthy of the selection by the Browns, but we do know we will hear ad nauseum about their personal workout days when they throw passes without a defense present, and media folks and fans will ooh and aah about guys completing 63 of 65 passes.

We could do the same in our backyard.

A former college quarterback once told me the most important thing a QB needs to do if read defenses. It doesn’t matter if you have a big arm or not, or how mobile you are if you know what the defense is going to do and can counter it.

As for the Browns, they can’t keep trying to patch a flat tire at that position. Many people thought they solved the problem when they drafted Baker Mayfield, but for whatever reason, the organization soured on him.

It says volumes that the last “franchise” player at the spot was Bernie Kosar, and he was drafted in 1985.

It’s time to identify and pick a player who can handle the spot for the next ten years. It just has to be done.

Browns Don’t Need To Tank Again

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Biggest Browns Issue? Stop Turning Over the Football

Cleveland Browns’ fans still have to be shaken up after the season ending injury to Nick Chubb in Monday night’s loss to Pittsburgh. We know Chubb had a severe knee injury in his college days, but he seemed indestructible since coming to the Browns.

The organization won’t give up on the season though, so there are still 15 games remaining and the focal point of the offense now has to be QB Deshaun Watson.

We said before the year started that the fate of the season depended on how well Watson played, and if he didn’t play well, the Browns were essentially screwed.

It’s only two games, but Watson is still struggling, completing just 55.1% of his passes, just 5.6 yards per attempt and a quarterback rating of 69.1, which is 30th in the league, ahead of just rookie Bryce Young and Zach Wilson.

He’s behind Kenny Pickett, who looked terrible against the Browns on Monday.

He has to be better than that if the Browns want to make the playoffs.

Of course, after a Browns’ loss, the critics of Kevin Stefanski have returned complaining about play calling. What if we told you Cleveland ranked sixth in the NFL in yards gained after two weeks?

That’s where they are. They are moving the football. The problem is turnovers, as the Browns’ six have them just one behind the Vikings for the most in the league. Stop turning it over, and we think the offense will be just fine.

Besides turnovers, we have to talk about the offensive line. The interior of the line is fine with guards Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller and center Ethan Pocic. Rookie Dawand Jones has stepped in for Jack Conklin and has more than held his own.

But like a lot of units, it is only as good as its weakest member and right now Jedrick Wills is not playing well. Pittsburgh put a lot of pressure on Watson. Now, we understand Watson sacks himself at times, and he is fifth in being sacked with nine.

At what point though does Stefanski and offensive line coach Bill Callahan make Wills accountable for his play? It appears he is the weak link in an otherwise pretty strong unit. We don’t know what the alternative would be, but it will be a problem going forward because that’s where opponents are going to attack.

We recognize the Steelers do not have a high-powered offense, but it certainly looks like the Cleveland defense is approaching elite status if they remain healthy. Pittsburgh basically had one good offensive play all night, and the unit has allowed less than 100 yards rushing in both games.

That’s a vast improvement from the sieve against the run it was last year.

Certainly, the Browns will see offenses better than Pittsburgh in the coming weeks, but it appears the new coordinator and the new personnel have made a great difference in this unit.

As for the loss of Chubb, there is no replacing him. That’s what happens when you are the best at what you do. But we are sure Stefanski will still want to run the football and Andrew Berry will find another running back to help pick up the slack.

That said, the focal point of the offense is gone, and it is up to everyone else, particularly Watson to improve. That doesn’t mean he needs to throw for 400 yards every week though.

For us, we think the next most explosive player the Browns have on offense is TE David Njoku and Cleveland needs to find a way to get him the ball more often.

Cleveland suffered a blow with the injury to Chubb, but it becomes a worse situation if they let his absence ruin what should be a promising season.

Browns Use Free Agency To Balance Roster

Back in the late 70’s or early 80’s, we remember an essay in Bill James’ Baseball Abstract about the Montreal Expos. The Expos at the time had Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Tim Wallach, Ellis Valentine, and Warren Cromartie (look them up), but couldn’t get over the hump to win the division.

James’ theory was even though Montreal had these five great players, the rest of their everyday lineup was so poor, it offset how good the stars were.

You may ask what that has to do with football. We thought about this in evaluating what the Cleveland Browns did in free agency.

You see, the Browns have star players. Myles Garrett is one of the best defensive players in the NFL, and Nick Chubb is arguably the best running back.

They have their quarterback now after trading for Deshaun Watson, and have a pair of Pro Bowl guards in Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller. Amari Cooper is an upper echelon wide receiver, Denzel Ward is one of the better cover corners in the league, and David Njoku is showing flashes of becoming an excellent receiving tight end.

But after those stars, the roster fell off pretty quickly in terms of quality.

So, although many Browns’ fans felt there were no big splashes in terms of free agency (Jessie Bates or Javon Hargrave), they signed a lot of solid players with upside, so the balance of the roster went from a “2” to a “5”, and that is probably what is needed.

GM Andrew Berry redid the defensive line, signing Dalvin Tomlinson and Ogbonnia Okoronkwo initially, and then added two more defensive tackles as wild cards, low risk, high reward players to improve the depth.

They didn’t get the kind of production out of John Johnson III the past two years, so they signed Juan Thornhill, more of a pass defending safety, and one rated higher by Pro Football Focus, for whatever that is worth.

They had two solid wide receivers in Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones, but they lacked speed, a guy who could take a short pass and make it a big gain. So Berry traded for disgruntled WR Elijah Moore, the 34th overall pick two years ago, and followed that up by signing veteran Marquise Goodwin, late of Seattle.

Cleveland also added a tight end who has worked with Watson before in Jordan Akins.

They traded the 42nd overall pick for Moore but got a third-round pick back. Some of criticized dealing the pick, the highest Cleveland had, but moving it for someone who is 22-years-old and has had two productive seasons in the NFL already? No brainer.

They also upgraded the special teams, adding Matt Adams, Mike Ford, and Jordan Kunaszyk.

We understand all teams think they are better after the free agent period, no team plans to get worse by adding talent. But the Browns had a very top heavy roster in 2022, and Berry and the front office needed to balance it out for this year.

Didn’t they see this last season? It’s a good question, because we thought the organization seemed to punt in ’22 because of Watson’s suspension. It seems odd to do this when you haven’t won an NFL title since 1964, but…

The Cleveland Browns made a lot of changes since the end of the season. Two coordinators have been changed, and a good part of the roster has too. Unfortunately, we have to wait until fall to find out if the latest plan worked.

Are Browns “All In”? It’s About Time!

The latest sports topic making the rounds is whether or not the Cleveland Browns should go “all in” for the 2023 season. When you think about it, it’s kind of ridiculous.

Unless a team is clearly rebuilding, they should always be trying to win, particularly in the NFL where teams go from last place to first place every year. Just this past season, Jacksonville went from 3-14 to 9-8 and the AFC South title and won a game in the wild card round.

We have been critical in the past of the Browns’ sign in the bar mentality at times, you know, “Free Beer Tomorrow”. We feel it creeped in last year when Deshaun Watson was suspended, it seemed like the attitude at times was that because Watson would only be available for six games, the organization was better off looking toward next year.

When Jimmy Haslam and Andrew Berry traded three first-round picks for Watson and guaranteed him over $200 million, it signaled that the Browns have to make the playoffs for any season to be successful.

And remember, Cleveland also has Myles Garrett in his prime. Nick Chubb, probably the league’s best running back over the past few years is coming off a career best season. Denzel Ward is a top cornerback. And on the offensive line, let’s just say Joel Bitonio, Wyatt Teller, and Jack Conklin, all very good or All Pro players in Bitonio’s case, aren’t getting any younger.

And with the replacement of both defensive coordinator Joe Woods and special teams coach Mike Preifer, head coach Kevin Stefanski knows the Browns have to be either in the post-season or miss it by a tie breaker with a really good record.

What we mean there is although it is unlikely, let’s say the Browns finish 11-6 and still don’t qualify, we highly doubt ownership and the front office is going to fire the head coach.

However, the coaching staff changes, particularly two coordinators, signals this is a make-or-break year for this regime. We all know what former coach Jerry Glanville said about what NFL stands for: Not For Long.

We will continue to say the Browns have a good roster. They had a terrible defense last season, and despite Watson’s struggles when he did come back, the defense is the reason Cleveland was 7-10.

They hired an experienced defensive coach with a track record of success in Jim Schwartz and frankly even if no personnel changes are made, and we know there will be, the defense will be better because of the new coordinator.

As for the concern about Watson, if he’s not the quarterback he was in Houston, the Browns are screwed, and it will take them years to recover. We aren’t looking at those six games as a representation of what he will be going forward. And people currently ranking him in the 16th-20th range among QB’s seem to have an axe to grind, or are caught in the “it’s the Browns” mentality

We believe he will return to form though. He will only be 28 when the season starts.

We would bet everyone, from Paul DePodesta, to Andrew Berry, to Kevin Stefanski knows that barring catastrophic injuries, the Browns better have a very good season.

And it’s about time for that.

Browns Best Game Shows They Can Do It. Will They?

With the backs against the wall, the Cleveland Browns played their best game of the season Monday night, whipping the Cincinnati Bengals, 32-13 to raise their record to 3-5 on the season, with the bye week arriving next weekend.

The week off should help getting Denzel Ward, Wyatt Teller, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, and perhaps even David Njoku back for the last nine games, and of course, Deshaun Watson returns for the December 4th tilt against Houston.

The biggest question we had from Monday night’s rout was why can’t the Browns play like that more often, if not every week.

The defense, gashed for more than 399 yards in a game three times in 2022, held the Bengals to just 229, improving on the then season low 254 yards allowed to Baltimore the week before.

Talk about “Jekyll and Hyde”! In their eight games this season, they’ve allowed 400 yards (well, 399 to New England) three times, and less than 308 four times. The league average is 345 yards per game, so much like the little girl with the curl, they are either very good or very bad.

It was also the first game this season where the defense caused more than one turnover, forcing an interception and a fumble by Cincinnati. When the Browns win or tie the turnover battle this season, their record is 3-1. Pretty simple, right?

Of course, the game didn’t get off to a great start for the defense and special teams. A penalty for too many men on the field on the first play of the game? And Cade York’s first field goal attempt was blocked.

But midway through the second quarter, Kevin Stefanski’s crew put everything together and really dominated the Bengals on both sides of the ball.

Offensively, it was the second best game of the season in terms of yardage, the 440 yards exceeded only by the 443 gained against the Chargers.

We know everyone reaches for the low hanging fruit of play calling in terms of the problems with the team (because everyone is a master play caller on Madden), but when the Browns have the ball, they are much more consistent.

The lowest total gained thus far was the 328 gained vs. New England with the 336 against Baltimore ranking next. Again, the league average is 345, so even when the offense hasn’t been at its best, it’s pretty much league average.

It was also the Browns’ fifth game with over 170 yards rushing, but the first since the loss to the Chargers. At this point, the organization should realize this is the team’s profile. They need to come out each and every game and run, and then run some more.

Now, it’s up to the team to maintain this level of play, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. The last two games show maybe they’ve turned a corner. If the Browns want to make the games Watson does play relevant, they need to continue to hold their opponents down.

It would be difficult to see a win vs. Buffalo, but the other games Jacoby Brissett will start (Miami and Tampa Bay) appear winnable.

Being 5-6 when Watson returns, and with three divisional games remaining would put Cleveland in a decent spot.

Our other thought after Monday’s game? Man, it would be nice to have that Jets’ game back now.

Browns Need Solutions During Week Off

We have decided there is something involved with NFL telecasts that cause people to lose their collective minds. There is no other explanation for what we hear from people, both personally and on social media after the Cleveland Browns lose a football game.

Rather than blame the coaching staff and the quarterback, knee-jerk reactions for many, we prefer to look at other areas as to why a team that had Super Bowl aspirations coming into the season is instead sitting at 6-6.

This isn’t to say Kevin Stefanski hasn’t made mistakes and/or Baker Mayfield is playing at an All-Pro level. That isn’t true. However, it is far from the only or even main reason this football team is in a funk.

Offensively, the play of the wide receiving corps leaves a lot to be desired, and quite frankly, the Patriots and Ravens have given the rest of the NFL the blueprint to defend the Cleveland running game.

Simply put, it is load the box and dare one of the Browns’ receivers to get open. Outside of the occasional Jarvis Landry play, they can’t do it.

Think about the first drive on Sunday night. Mayfield had a completion to the Baltimore 10, but Donovan Peoples-Jones dropped it. Could the Browns punched it into the end zone from there? Maybe, and if they did, how different is that game.

The Browns are said to have a great offensive line, and certainly the middle of that unit, C J.C. Tretter and guards Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller are excellent players. However, the tackles are not at that same level, and we say that understanding Jack Conklin has missed a lot of the year with injuries.

To be frank, last year’s first round pick, Jedrick Wills, has had a disappointing sophomore season. He missed some time with an ankle injury earlier, but he is not providing the blind side protection Mayfield (or any quarterback needs).

And Blake Hance is a reserve on the other side.

This leaves the Browns vulnerable to outside speed rushers and is one reason Stefanski favors quick throws as part of the attack, to ease the pressure on his tackles.

We aren’t giving up on Wills, but it will be interesting to see if his spot is addressed in the draft.

We also keep coming back to the defense. Yes, yes, we know they forced four turnovers against the Ravens. Want to know what they didn’t do?

Stop the run. Again. Baltimore rushed for 148 yards, and when it counted in the fourth quarter, shoved it down the defenses throat, eating five minutes off the clock.

Isn’t that the same as Mayfield having big stats, but then failing to lead a fourth quarter comeback?

It is the sixth time in the last eight games, the defense has allowed more than 100 yards on the ground, and that’s a killer.

And the 148 yards by Baltimore is the LEAST gained running the ball in the last three weeks.

If you cannot stop the run in the NFL, you have a big problem. If you look at the teams allowing the most rushing yards, it’s a lot of losing teams, the Lions, Texans, Jets, and Giants among them.

The Chargers, Vikings, and Steelers are also in this group. LA has the best record on the group at 6-5.

Yes, it’s a passing league, but you must stop the run.

The remaining schedule isn’t easy, but a win after the bye in the rematch against Baltimore puts the Browns back on the periphery of contention. As the head coach said, it’s a week to week battle right now.

Hopefully, some solutions will be found in the week off.

Browns’ Playoffs Starts Today!

For fans of the Cleveland Browns who wanted the team to get in the playoffs, they kind of got their wish. Because the playoffs start this afternoon for Kevin Stefanski’s crew at First Energy Stadium against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Win, and the Browns advance to the post-season. Lose, and it would take a lot of circumstances for Cleveland to play next weekend in a post-season game.

And make no mistake, it would be a disappointment if the team doesn’t make the playoffs. If you look in a prism before the season started, no question fans and the organization would have been pleased with a 10-6 season, their first winning season since 2007.

That would have been a huge step forward, and after treading water for many years, people would be happy with the improvement.

However, after starting the season at 10-4 following a workmanlike performance against the Giants, the Browns were the top wild card and had a shot at the AFC North title. To not qualify after that should be a disappointment to everyone.

And to go through a season not being able to claim a win against the top dogs in the division, the Steelers and Ravens, would be equally demoralizing.

Stefanski didn’t make excuses for last week’s loss to the Jets even though his offensive line was riddled with injuries and his wide receiver room was basically eliminated by the coronavirus, and we love that about him.

Notice that none of the Browns players used that as a reason for the loss either. That is another example of how they have bought in to the coach’s guidance.

He isn’t using the latest cases to have cropped up in the organization to alter his focus for today’s game. He will expect the players who will participate to do their job and bring home the win and a spot in the playoffs.

Stefanski has been battling with missing key players all season long, and really hasn’t missed a beat. Nick Chubb, one of the NFL’s best running backs missed almost five games with a knee injury, the team went 3-2 in those games.

Myles Garrett, a candidate for defensive player of the year missed two games with COVID-19. Cleveland won both games.

Denzel Ward, who will miss today’s contest with COVID-19, and missed three games with a calf injury and the Browns went 2-1 in those games.

Wyatt Teller, who many feel has been the best guard in the NFL this season (despite not making the Pro Bowl), may have been the most important piece to the offense this season. Cleveland is just 1-3 in the four games he has not played.

Fortunately, he is supposed to be back in the lineup this afternoon.

Yes, the Browns have players out for this game, but their opponents will be sitting out some key players because they have clinched a playoff spot and because of the schedule changes the league had to make because of the virus, really haven’t had a week off all season.

But reserves want to make a mark in the league, so the Browns cannot take anything for granted. They have to go out and play, and they have to go out and win. There cannot be another result.

For most of the teams who have won ten or more games, the NFL playoffs start next week. That’s not the case for the Cleveland Browns.