I, for one, have to hope that the Browns current struggles on offense have to be primarily due to offensive line injuries. Running lanes have been scarce to non-existent reducing the Browns offense to a one-dimensional passing attack. This has enabled opponents to unleash pass rushes against Watson that have eliminated his time to go deep and forced him to scramble around for his life looking for someone/anyone to bail him out. We have all seen the results. If the health of the offensive line is the main problem, then we just need to hang in there until everyone gets healthy and then make a run for the playoffs. Of course if more than one offensive line piece ends up missing most of the season, we are all in big trouble. In this case only a vintage Chubb, a 2020 version of Watson and a lights out defense might be enough to take the Browns to the promise land. Don’t bet the farm on this.
As for the defense I think that their number one 2023 rating might have gone to their heads. Certainly the Browns have a couple of perennial pro-bowler and a couple of other really good players, but the rest are, if better than most, more highly regarded by Browns fans than they are by national experts and Pro Football Focus. No one should mistake them for the 1985 Bears. And while I like much of Jim Schwartz schemes, if they were really clearlysuperior to those of other teams, every team would have adopted them.
And a final word on week-to-week matchups: It is easy to say that a weekly opponent is bad against the run or the pass or a heavy pash rush or whatever and that the Browns should dominate by attacking this weakness. The other team also knows its weaknesses. They are not going to just endure them. They will try to scheme up ways to overcome them. And if the Browns are not ready with a plan B to counter these schemes, then that is poor coaching on the Browns part.
It is easy being a fan when things are going well. It’s much tougher when the team is under-performing. But when the Browns patch this thing up, the victory will be that much sweeter. GO BROWNS!