The NFL’s Week 4 kicks off with a big AFC North matchup on Thursday Night Football as the Cleveland Browns (2-1) host the Pittsburgh Steelers (2-1). Ahead of the game, I chatted with Chris Pokorny of Dawgs by Nature, SB Nation’s Browns site, to learn more about Cleveland ahead of the game.
You can read my questions and his answers below:
1. The Browns defense is hovering around the middle of the pack when it comes to defensive metrics. How does this group look without Myles Garrett? And what are your thoughts on the trade a few games into the season?
Week 1 was a disaster against the Jaguars. Mistakes were being made left and right, there was no pressure to be found, and man coverage seemed to take a backseat to zone
coverage. Right away, fans were thinking, “Oh, boy — it looks like we can’t do anything without Myles Garrett.” The last two weeks have painted a far different picture. The defense is bringing more creative blitzes than the previous coaching staff, and they’ve generated enough pressures to where fans aren’t even noticing that Myles Garrett is missing now. Instead of it being a one-man show with Garrett, everyone on the defensive line seems to be taking their turn with generating pressure. Jared Verse has played the selfless role of helping draw more eyes to free up other people, and defensive tackle Mason Graham has taken a huge step forward in year two. He was the No. 5 overall pick last year, and he looks dominant against the run and at rushing the passer. He has a sack in each of his first three games and four sacks total.
As far as my thoughts on the trade go, I liked Garrett, but he had spent enough years here to where I think it was fair for him to try finding a winning opportunity elsewhere. And in return, the Browns got a stellar pass-rusher, a first round pick in 2027, and other draft assets to where they’ll have some leverage to trade up for their quarterback of the future. Right now, I’m not even thinking about the trade. In hindsight, it probably also makes it easier to digest when you see that Garrett is having knee issues.
2. NFL fans wanted to proclaim the Browns’ season as over following a big Week 1 loss. Now, Cleveland is 2-1. How expected/unexpected has the recent winning streak been for those who follow the Browns?
It’s not unexpected that the defense turned things around. Also, with the sad state that the NFC South was last year, it’s not lost on me that both of the Browns’ victories came against that division. Nonetheless, the surprising factor that has shocked everyone is that for the first time in a Browns uniform, Deshaun Watson looks competent. I don’t want to delve too much into Watson yet, since I see your next question focuses on his play, but no one really saw his improved play coming. It was a foregone conclusion that, ‘Yeah, Watson will struggle in Week 2 again, and then Shedeur Sanders will start the home opener so we don’t have to deal with fans booing the hell out of Watson the whole game.’ With Cleveland having one of the easiest schedules in the NFL, fans are back on board with being optimistic for contending this season, and having those assets to continue improving in 2027 and beyond.
3. On a similar note, not many expected Deshaun Watson to start the entire season, but he currently has a 4-0 touchdown-interception ratio over the last two weeks. How has he been playing?
Deshaun Watson was really sharp in Week 2 against the Buccaneers. In Week 3, he faced accuracy issues and definitely could have been better, but he still played well in the elements of his game beyond that. When we talk about Watson, we have to understand how awful he’s been during his time in Cleveland, up until this year. Ever since the off-the-field issues, it looked like he was always ‘off.’ I don’t think he could shake the mental hurdle of that, and nothing came off natural with him. As soon as I saw Watson play a little bit this preseason, I immediately went, “Hmm, that’s interesting.” And it was because I could tell that he seemed to be completely immersed in the game, as if he had let loose. It’s hard to put into words, but it’s something the eye test of watching him these past few years can pick up on right away. Now, in training camp and the first game (where he threw an interception), he would still struggle with reading a defender who dropped underneath a deeper route, but even getting to that decision was honestly a step beyond what he was delivering in the past.
The most impressive element of Watson’s game these past two weeks is how effective he has been when running the ball, recognizing when to step up. In the red zone, he’s also done a good job coming off of his first read, buying time, and finding the eventual open man for a touchdown. The Watson we’re seeing right now is playing very much like a game manager. He’s not yet slinging it all over the field. But with the confidence we’ve seen grow over the past couple weeks, maybe he’ll continue to play well and get back to the player he used to be.
4. It’s the first year for Todd Monken as the Browns’ head coach. How has his leadership and scheme differed from the Kevin Stefanski era?
There have been a few things that Todd Monken has done to turn heads in a bad way, like the handling of the quarterback competition in training camp, how unprepared the team looked in Week 1, and some questionable short-yardage situations where he has gone for it on fourth down already (and of course, the two questionable calls did not get converted). However, one of my favorite things from any head coach that I look for is, ‘How many adjustments is a coaching staff willing to make, or are they doing to be so darn stubborn?’ With Kevin Stefanski, he was a good guy, but I thought he was horrible at week-to-week and in-game adjustments. Former defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz — I loved the guy and think he did great, but the one element I disliked was that I thought he refused to pivot from his bread-and-butter philosophy against teams that might have been more equipped to beat it. There were no adjustments.
Under Monken, I saw the team get their butts whooped in Week 1, with a lot of pre-snap penalties or timeouts related to delay of games. Prior to Week 2, we heard the offensive coordinator mention that they adjusted things in practice by shortening the play clock to 35 seconds, and focusing on how to make offensive substitutions quicker. While the offensive line has still been plagued by a ridiculous number of false starts, all of the procedure penalties that could contribute to a delay of game seem to have been cleaned up quickly. Defensively, we’ve seen the Browns go back to man coverage in some situations, but also utilizes blitzes from a variety of directions. I get the feeling that our new defensive coordinator, Mike Rutenberg, wants to actually devise a strategy each week based on his opponent, as opposed to just calling it the same way each week. So those are some encouraging things thus far.
5. The Browns are currently slim underdogs against the Steelers. What’s your final score prediction, and why? Does Cleveland earn another Thursday Night Football win over the Steelers?
While the offense has gained traction, they are methodical in what they do. They aren’t yet built to run-and-gun up and down the field. I’m still a bit caught off guard on how the Steelers exploded offensively last week, but overall, I don’t perceive them to be a juggernaut. The Steelers have been terrible on Thursday Night Football over the years, for whatever reason. I know much of that was under Mike Tomlin’s watch, but that tips the scale to Cleveland’s favor here. I’ll take the Browns to win and cover by a score of 20-17.
