CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – We didn’t even get to mid-October and this season is toast for the Cleveland Browns.
Rookie Jayden Daniels showed Deshaun Watson and the Browns what a dual threat quarterback is supposed to look like as Daniels and the Commanders embarrassed Cleveland 34-13 Sunday afternoon.
Here’s the ‘Taps’ in Week 5 version of Brownie Bites.
It’s over – It’s gut check, come to Jesus, time to look in the mirror and be honest with themselves time for the Browns. There is no recovering from this 1-4 start. Ken Dorsey’s offense is a complete catastrophe. Deshaun Watson, who has yet to throw for 200 yards in a game this season, can’t play quarterback at an elite level anymore. The offensive line can’t block. They run the ball in spurts. The receivers can’t catch with any semblance of consistency. There was better execution and effort from the 2016-2017 Browns teams, and they went 1-31. The shame of this is those teams had very little talent and this year’s team has a ton of it. According to Stathead via Zac Jackson of The Athletic, at 3.8 yards per play through five games, the Browns have the worst offense that the NFL has seen to this point in the season since the 2018 Bills. Really, there is absolutely nothing this offense does well. Nothing.
Not ready for primetime – The NFL can go ahead and flex the Browns out of the December 2 at Denver, December 19 at Cincinnati and December 29 against the Dolphins games. No need to make the rest of the country suffer through this hapless exercise in professional football happening in Cleveland this year. Apologies to the nation in advance – you’re stuck with the November 21 game against the Steelers.
The gap – Watson, who elevates no one around him and is getting little help from the supporting cast, was a special kind of awful against what was a bottom third defense in the NFL while Daniels dazzled. Watson went 15 of 28 for 125 yards, a garbage time touchdown to tight end Jordan Akins, and a fumble. He was sacked seven times. Daniels threw for 238 yards and a touchdown while completing 14 of 25 passes and rushing for another 82 yards on 11 carries. Washington had eight plays go for 20 or more yards while the Browns had just one. The Browns are stuck with Watson and essentially lit six draft picks and $230 million on fire to bring him to Cleveland. Browns fans don’t deserve this but there is an argument to be made that as an organization, the Browns deserve every bit of Watson’s failure.
3rd down blues – The Browns started 0-12 on third down with Watson at the helm and finished 1-13. They faced third-and-3, third-and-16, third-and-6, third-and-10, third-and-15, third-and-8, third-and-5, third-and-2, third-and-goal at the 7, third-and-5, third-and-14 and third-and-10. That’s losing football.
Comedy of errors – The mistakes by the Browns are laughable at this point. Rookie Zak Zinter came on at left tight end, didn’t seal the edge and D’Onta Foreman got tripped up short of converting a fourth-and-1. Mike Ford Jr. got flagged for running into a Washington returner on a punt. Commanders running back Brian Robinson Jr. scored a four-yard touchdown to put the home team up for good, 7-0, after Grant Delpit whiffed on a tackle in the backfield. Daniels made Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, who had an interception and forced a fumble, fall on his face, then ran for 34 yards to convert a fourth-and-2 to give the rookie the most rushing yards by a QB in his first five games in NFL history. Commanders receiver Dyami Brown cooked Martin Emerson Jr. with a 41-yard touchdown catch that made it 24-3. Cleveland’s defense got flagged for 12 men twice in three plays. In the third quarter came the most damning sequence for Kevin Stefanski. Watson found Amari Cooper for 19 yards to the 2. Then Zinter was flagged for a false start moving them back to the 7. A timeout was burned to avoid another penalty because the offense was disorganized. Watson is immediately sacked on first down. Receiver Jerry Jeudy dropped a touchdown pass on second down. Watson was forced to throw it away on third down. Stefanski wanted to go for it on fourth down, but Watson couldn’t organize the offense again and they had to kick a 31-yard field goal instead. Watson would later be strip sacked on another third down failure. Just a complete disaster for this team and there are 12 more of these to go. Oy vey.
Injury report – CB Denzel Ward (hamstring), LS Charley Hughlett (ribs), Ogbo Okoronkwo (illness), Grant Delpit (concussion check), Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (cramps), TE David Njoku (knee), C Ethan Pocic (knee)