Dawgs By Nature
It is Week 2, and this week, the Cleveland Browns had an average power ranking of 28.3, which is nearly two spots higher than they ranked to open the season. That is what an early-season morale victory does for you, but that ranking would have probably been several spots higher had Cleveland actually been able to pull off the win. Like we saw, the impression was that the Browns should have won against the Bengals with a strong defensive effort, and also putting themselves in position to score a few more times. In typical Cleveland fashion, it didn’t pan out.
Here is a summary of how the Cleveland Browns are viewed across mainstream media outlets in NFL Power Rankings heading into Week 2 of the 2025 NFL season.
The defense did its part against the Bengals, but the offense didn’t score enough. The kicker didn’t help, either.
Best newcomer performance: TE Harold Fannin Jr.
Fannin, a third-round pick, caught seven passes Sunday. He is technically the Browns’ second tight end behind David Njoku, but he was a de facto starter since they used 12 personnel (two tight ends) on half of their plays. They were effective with it, scoring a touchdown and registering a 45.7% success rate on 35 such plays.
I don’t think you can be too angry with how the Browns played if you’re a fan of the team. But the last thing a limited squad such as Cleveland needed was a shaky kicker. You can look squarely at the missed field-goal and extra-point tries in the second half as big reasons why they lost. Of course, the dropped passes didn’t help. One from rookie Harold Fannin Jr. (who had some positives in this game) turned into an interception, which turned into a Cincinnati field goal. Those were the only points the Bengals scored in the final 34 minutes of the game, which was enough for them to win. With Fannin, Dylan Sampson and a capable passing operation led by Joe Flacco, Cleveland might be a little better than I imagined, but it won’t translate to more wins with the caliber of execution displayed on Sunday.
The Browns played tough defense vs. Cincinnati powered by Myles Garrett but were kind of all over the place around Joe Flacco with their offense, caught between promising youth and reliable veterans.
The Browns should have won. They outgained the Bengals 327-141 and had twice as many first downs (22-11). If the Browns’ defense plays like that all season, Cleveland will be a tough out. The Browns need to find a reliable kicker though, and Joe Flacco throwing 45 times vs. 24 runs as a team is a bad idea.
