LANDOVER, Md. — It’s the primary week of October and the Browns’ season has ended earlier than the Guardians season.
At 1-4, that is it. It feels prefer it’s already over, lengthy earlier than the leaves change, earlier than the bye week, earlier than a pumpkin is carved, earlier than the NBA season begins and earlier than the Guardians’ baseball destiny has been decided.
Even by Browns requirements, that is awfully early for an obituary.
But right here is the place they have been laid to relaxation, a awful group buried 34-13 in a awful stadium 12 miles outdoors of the nation’s capital.
GO DEEPER
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There are fires in every single place and never sufficient hoses to go round. The protection is a large number. The offense is totally damaged, void of any id and any idea of the right way to transfer the ball successfully on this new scheme that the personnel doesn’t match.
The Browns couldn’t even get lined up correctly on both facet of the ball, a first-degree teaching felony. They have been flagged twice on protection for too many gamers on the sphere on the identical drive, and the offense couldn’t go for it on fourth-and-goal from the two as a result of that they had too many gamers within the huddle. They needed to eat a penalty and as a substitute kick a subject purpose. That’s teaching.
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They couldn’t shield, significantly on the appropriate facet of the offensive line. Dawand Jones has been unhealthy all 12 months at proper sort out, and Wyatt Teller picked a foul time on the schedule for a knee harm.
Rookie Zak Zinter may ultimately be an excellent guard within the NFL, however proper now he’s a rookie getting chewed up by a tough stretch of wonderful NFC East defensive tackles: the Giants’ Dexter Lawrence, the Commanders’ Daron Payne, and subsequent week is the Eagles’ Jalen Carter.
All of that’s essential context. It isn’t only one participant.
And but one thing has to alter. They’ll’t go one other three months like this or nobody will survive.
It’s time. It’s time to finish the Deshaun Watson catastrophe. That’s the one phrase to explain each a part of this transaction. The commerce that introduced him to Cleveland was an entire failure, the contract an albatross, a choke maintain round a franchise that’s dropping oxygen.
Let me be clear: Watson isn’t the one downside on this group. However he’s undoubtedly not the answer, both. Now we have sufficient proof now.
Watson was a large number in opposition to the Washington Commanders: 15-of-28 for 125 yards and a landing. He was sacked seven extra occasions and the offense didn’t convert a 3rd down till the fourth quarter.
Stefanksi NOT pleased with Watson.
Kudus to him for protecting his mouth…dealt with it fairly effectively contemplating all issues pic.twitter.com/1lLZJYokIX
— Chase Daniel (@ChaseDaniel) October 6, 2024
In a league of 32 quarterbacks, he’s thirty third in move EPA (anticipated factors added) per dropback. He’s twenty eighth in passer score. He has been sacked a league-leading 26 occasions, 9 greater than every other quarterback.
Even when he had time on Sunday, he left clear pockets. Jerry Jeudy dropped a landing in the long run zone, though the sport was already determined at that time. I’m attempting to be affordable whereas additionally being lifelike.
A franchise quarterback is meant to assist an offense and a group overcome a few of these obstacles.
Watson is making it worse.
He isn’t serving to this offense. He isn’t serving to this soccer group.
Kevin Stefanski, in fact, isn’t able to have this dialog.
“We’re not altering quarterbacks,” Stefanski stated after the sport.
Even when he wished to — how may he not at this level? — possession wouldn’t permit it. The Haslams are nonetheless bailing water and paddling furiously on the S.S. Watson, hell-bent on taking all of it the best way to the underside of the ocean.
We’re almost there.
Final 12 months confirmed what Stefanski’s offense can seem like with a respectable quarterback when Joe Flacco resurrected the group. Quite than utilizing that as a blueprint to indicate Watson how good Stefanski’s offense can look when executed accurately, they as a substitute executed the offense and the offensive coordinator. They broke one thing that didn’t want fixing to placate their quarterback.
Now the offense is averaging 3.8 yards per play by means of 5 video games, in accordance with Stathead, the worst for any NFL offense since 2018. This offense is hovering within the neighborhood of the 1999 enlargement Browns (3.65). It’s worse than unhealthy. It’s deplorable.
GO DEEPER
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It isn’t all Watson’s fault, however he’s the explanation they’re caught operating a system that doesn’t match any of their ability gamers and one Stefanski is clearly uncomfortable calling. I wrote a few weeks in the past about how the Browns have a number of the slowest receivers within the league who wrestle at creating separation. That doesn’t imply you possibly can’t win with them, nevertheless it clearly means you possibly can’t win with them taking part in like this.
Watson has grow to be an an infection within the franchise with no identified treatment. They’ll’t minimize him. They’ll’t commerce him. They refuse to bench him and let him money his checks in anonymity. So that they’ll proceed operating him on the market on Sundays whereas the remainder of the physique dies.
The actual fact this all got here in opposition to Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels was a bit ironic. Daniels performs precisely just like the quarterback the Browns thought they have been buying in Watson. Daniels is poised, he glides away from strain. He can roll out of the pocket and throw dimes down the sphere, as he did on a wonderful 66-yard strike to Terry McLaurin within the first quarter.
Daniels has uplifted a determined franchise. He has lined the sins of a flawed protection. The Commanders have already matched their win complete from final 12 months primarily as a result of their quarterback is taking part in at an elite stage. That’s what the nice ones can do.
The Browns don’t have an excellent one. They’ve an an infection. And the physique is slowly dying.
(Picture of Deshaun Watson: Timothy Nwachukwu / Getty Pictures)
