The Cleveland Browns are on their bye week, which makes today the last Sunday without Browns football until Week 18 of the regular season. That makes for a quiet and anxiety-free day for Browns fans, although there are still games worth keeping an eye on.
In the early slate, will the Indianapolis Colts be the latest team to expose the over-priced and over-hyped defense of the Pittsburgh Steelers? Will Joe Flacco continue to enjoy throwing the ball to Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins as the Cincinnati
Bengals host the Chicago Bears? Can the New England Patriots continue to feast on an incredibly favorable schedule as they play the Atlanta Falcons?
The marquee game of the day comes in the late window as the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Buffalo Bills, who have won four of the five meetings between the teams in the regular season. (What, you thought we were going to say the Jacksonville Jaguars against the Las Vegas Raiders?)
Let’s start the day with the latest news and notes about the Cleveland Browns and the NFL in today’s edition of the Sunday Dawg Chow.
Dawgs By Nature:
- NFL Week 9 schedule: Browns rooting guide including 2026 NFL draft positioning (Jared Mueller) – The Cleveland Browns are on a bye in Week 9 of the 2025 NFL season, but their 2026 NFL draft position means there are teams to root against today.
- Browns season: What was the goal this season? Tanking? (Abby Mueller) – Is the Cleveland Browns organization intentionally tanking this season, or can their struggles be explained by something else?
- NFL, American football history: The “center” isn’t really, rules for snap are dynamic (Barry Shuck) – The game of football has evolved over the decades, with the NFL history of the center and snapper unique.
Cleveland Browns:
- Grading Mason Graham, Shedeur Sanders and Browns 2025 rookie draft class at bye week (Beacon Journal) – The Cleveland Browns have placed a lot of faith in their rookie class in 2025, which is led by the seven players they drafted in April.
- Looking back at the big draft deal. Trading Myles Garrett? (Terry Pluto) – Jacksonville placed WR/CB Travis Hunter on the injured list Friday with a knee injury. Even before that happened, I planned to take a midseason look at the draft-day trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
- Despite early struggles, Dillon Gabriel deserves more time to prove himself (Browns Zone) – Dillon Gabriel hasn’t had enough time. And I’m not talking about seconds in a compromised pocket. A rookie quarterback can’t be properly evaluated on four starts. The sample size is simply too small.
- Cleveland Browns must prepare for cloudy 2026 quarterback class (Orange and Brown Report) – The Cleveland Browns need a quarterback, but the 2026 NFL Draft class, once thought to have been loaded with high-end QB talent, is now extremely cloudy more than halfway through the college football season.
NFL:
- Trey Lance has cost $7m per start. Is there any hope of reclaiming a once hyped prospect? (The Guardian) – Quarterbacks such as Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield have gone from busts to MVP candidates. The Los Angeles Chargers backup is in the ideal place to make a similar journey.
- Caleb Williams, Bears need to fix critical red zone issues (ESPN) – The Chicago Bears used half of the first quarter in Baltimore as they reached the red zone for the first time on their initial drive in Week 8. Throughout the opening frame in a 30-16 loss that snapped a four-game win streak, Chicago dominated. The Bears controlled the clock, ran 22 plays and picked up nine first downs. But what has become a common theme in the red zone since Week 4 plagued Chicago once again.
- Bengals QB Joe Flacco trending toward playing despite painful shoulder sprain (The Sporting News) – Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco appears to be making solid progress as the team prepares for its Week 9 matchup against the Chicago Bears. The 40-year-old veteran, who is nursing a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder, told reporters he felt “pretty good” after throwing earlier in the week.
