Dawgs By Nature
Cleveland gets blown out by a solid team, dropping to 1-4.
People were asking me leading into this week’s game if I was optimistic about Deshaun Watson this week, given his performance against the Raiders last week. I said “no,” because until he started proving something regularly, how could you have faith in him? Even in a decent effort last week, the Browns still didn’t reach 20 points.
This week was a deplorable and embarrassing effort. The defense tried to make a few plays, but they were victimized too by their constant overaggressive play. But all eyes were again on Watson and his inability to do anything productive with the offense. When you compare his performance to a rookie on the other side, the rookie was comfortable and at ease, while Watson looked like he doesn’t belong anywhere near the NFL. The result was the Browns being crushed 34-13; let’s get to the full game recap.
The Browns received the opening kickoff, and got an immediate first down off of a short pass to TE David Njoku. That was followed by a swing pass to RB Jerome Ford, setting up a 2nd-and-3. A deep shot to WR Amari Cooper was overthrown, though, and then a run by Ford set up a long 4th-and-1 at their own 47 yard line. Cleveland decided to go for it, bringing in backup QB Jameis Winston. He pitched the ball to RB D’Onta Foreman, who faced a rush in the backfield and couldn’t dodge it enough, leading to a turnover on downs.
The defense responded, stuffing the opening run for a loss, and then stopping QB Jayden Daniels’ scramble for a short gain. On 3rd-and-10, DE Za’Darius Smith sacked Daniels for a loss of 9 yards, leading to a punt. Cleveland took back over at the 28 yard line. The Browns’ second drive started poorly, as they tried a delayed screen pass to Ford in the flat, but the defense was all over it, resulting in an 8-yard loss.
P Corey Bojorquez got off a nice 61-yard punt to flip the field, but CB Mike Ford didn’t see the fair catch being signaled by the receiver, resulting in a 15-yard penalty and Washington starting their next drive at the 34 yard line instead of the 19 yard line.
The Browns’ defense started the next drive good by registering a 3-yard loss off of a screen by Washington. Then on second down, the defense got a good hit on the receiver to jar the ball loose for an incomplete pass. On third down, though, Cleveland had two defenders ready to sack Daniels, but he was able to avoid it and get outside the pocket before launching a 66-yard completion to WR Terry McLaurin, down to the 3 yard line.
The defense came up with two goal line stops, on 3rd-and-goal at the 5 yard line, Daniels was picked off at the 1 yard line by LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah to keep points off the...
