The Cleveland Browns calmed the storm surrounding the team with last week’s victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The defense stepped up when it mattered in the fourth quarter, stopping the Buccaneers on their final drive. The run game was still a mess – just 1.9 yards per carry – but quarterback Deshaun Watson made up for it by not being a complete disaster, which has to be labeled as a positive.
Speaking of Watson, he made good use of his playmakers, as 16 of his 24 completions went to Denzel Boston,
Harold Fannin Jr., and KC Concepcion. That is a solid plan for a quarterback who, to use a once-unpopular phrase for a Cleveland quarterback, clearly has “diminishing skills” since arriving in town.
Cleveland opens the home portion of its schedule on Sunday when they host the Carolina Panthers, who come to town with a surprisingly effective offense that is averaging 35.5 points a game with quarterback Bryce Young running the show.
There is no such thing as an easy day at work for the Browns, especially if the defense can’t keep the Panthers out of the end zone, so here are a few takeaways from the coaches about the upcoming game.
The grind is real on defense.
Carolina is averaging 312.5 passing yards and has 10 pass plays of 20 or more yards, which is the second most in the league. Cleveland will counter with a defense that has not allowed a 300-yard passer in 47 consecutive games, but one that has also been burned by the big play (six completions of 20 yards or more) through the first two games.
If the Browns are to contain Carolina’s offense, they need to keep grinding, according to defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg:
“I think everybody’s got to have a foundation, right? And for us, our defensive foundation is heart, mind, fist. And I’ve talked about it, and the heart and the fist were there, and we made a commitment to constantly improving the mind, coaches and players. And when you can look in the mirror and say, I can do better, it’s week to week, whether you get your ass kicked or whether you have a win.
“It’s about all of us working our asses off each week, grinding, making this Thursday better than last Thursday, making this meeting that we’re coming up to better than the last meeting, getting this game better than the last game. And it’s about our style of play and the level of execution. That’s the truth about the way this league goes. It’s such a marathon, and we’re in week three of that marathon right now, and our whole goal is to play better than we did last week and hopefully do enough to help the Browns win.”
When will the run game take off?
Cleveland averaged a workable four yards per carry against Jacksonville in Week 1 before bottoming out in Week 2 against the Buccaneers. Watson is the team’s leading rusher, which is completely unsustainable, while No. 1 running back Quinshon Judkins is averaging just 2.3 yards per carry.
With nothing really working, offensive coordinator Travis Switzer said he is looking at every aspect of the run game for answers:
“The first two weeks, we’re not where we want to be, so we’re looking at everything that goes into that, and everyone involved. I have to look at it schematically. Certainly, there was a play too, from the game the other day where I’m looking at it like, you know what, I didn’t put us in a great position there. And then we’re looking at just the execution of it by all parties, right, the blockers and the fundamentals and the things that we’re working at up there, the runners and just trusting their eyes and seeing it. But yeah, we’re looking at all parts of that.
“But certainly, we’re going to have to run the ball into loaded boxes at times. If you want to be a dominant team and a good running team, you’re going to have to do that. So, yeah, there are different things schematically you can do, whether it’s different run schemes, whether it’s opening it up, whether it’s using the quarterback like we’ve been talking about, there’s different things you can do there, but we’re going to need to run the ball into those looks.”
To boo or not to boo. That is the question.
Sunday will mark Deshaun Watson’s first start in a regular-season game in front of the home fans since October 20, 2024, the day he suffered the first of two Achilles tendon injuries. There has been a lot of talk about how the home fans will greet Watson when he hits the field for the first offensive play, and how he will react to the response if it is a negative one.
The surest way to avoid any unpleasantries, or at least limit them, is to simply play well. And after his performance against Tampa, Watson’s confidence should be on the way up, according to head coach Todd Monken:
“He’s had his best week (of practice), you know, he really has. And I think that’s been building; I think that’s been building from becoming the starter after the first week being disappointed and the second half that he played last week. And I think, I mean, you’d have to speak to him, but I think his confidence should be at an all-time high, you know, and the excitement of an opportunity, a third opportunity to continue to just grow and develop as a player. Because again, he’s just scratching the surface, the last couple of days, couple weeks.”
The Browns and Panthers kick off Sunday at 1 p.m. from Huntington Bank Field. Stay with Dawgs By Nature all weekend for everything related to the game.
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