Will Cramming For Week 1 Work Out For the Browns?
Credit: Scott Galvin-USA TODAY Sports
It will be a late one for all the hardcore Cleveland Browns fans who will watch every second of the final preseason game this weekend in Seattle. Unfortunately, with the time change, the Browns won’t be kicking off until 10 PM EST.
So it’s a good thing the starters play early? Kevin Stefanski has hinted that he wants to get his starters a look for at least the first quarter, which is surprising, but at least we get rewarded for staying up late by getting to watch an NFL offense. His comments on Tuesday indicated his plans included Deshaun Watson taking the field for at least one series as well.
So far it has been a bleak preseason as the Browns have been dominated by the Packers and Vikings, but the team has also been extremely short-handed during those games. Players like Watson, Amari Cooper, Myles Garrett, and Denzel Ward haven’t even been dressed.
Because of this, it’s been hard to overreact to looking bad in the preseason, but it’s understandable to feel the poor performance is a cause for concern. Apparently, Stefanski feels this to some extent, because the Browns are basically resorting to cramming for the regular season in their preseason finale. He has a point: players need to find some sort of groove before the Dallas Cowboys come to town in Week 1. If they aren’t ready to play, things could get ugly quickly.
But if you’re looking for this team to magically put it all together in Seattle, you might need to check your expectations a bit. For one, the team is traveling across the country to play a game at 10 PM local time. Obviously, they’ll do their best to adjust, but this kind of game is a classic letdown situation in the regular season, let alone a game that doesn’t even matter.
Additionally, while Stefanski seems willing to throw his starters out there for a bit, he can’t keep them out for too long. Certainly not with all the injuries this team has already faced. The offensive tackles are shaping up to be their fifth and sixth options on the depth chart. Is that really who they want out there blocking for Watson?
The reports all week at joint practices with Minnesota were that Watson and the offense looked good when he had time, but there were too many instances where he was came under pressure. Given he is a $230 million player coming off a season-ending shoulder injury, it’s hard to think it’s wise to throw him out there knowing that his protection will be lackluster at best.
On the defensive side of the ball, we have seen injuries to Za’Darius Smith, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Ward, Greg Newsome, and others. As good as this unit was last season, is it going to be worth sticking those guys out there and run the risk of yet another injury in a meaningless game?
Unfortunately, it feels like another season of Cleveland holding its collective breath each and every week to see who will or won’t be active. Every team gets injuries, true, but Cleveland isn’t dealing with their run-of-the-mill players constantly battling injuries. Just right now, it’s their top three offensive tackles and three of their top five defenders.
We won’t sit here and tell you that we’re not nervous about this team’s poor performance over the last two weeks, but also, come on, it’s preseason. It’s nothing to lose sleep over. There is no one in the organization with more pressure than Andrew Berry, meaning he will do whatever it takes to make this season successful. While this last-minute Hail Mary to get some offensive cohesion might not work, we can count on Berry to figure out something that will.
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