Dawgs By Nature
The season is unfolding before our eyes, although the pictures remain blurry.
The Cleveland Browns are a team with their season on the brink, and their fate may be sealed with a loss on the road today to the Washington Commanders. So far, the Browns offense has been putrid and the defense has been unsound at tackling while being overly aggressive to a fault.
The team stands at 1-3 after the first four games of the season, which is far short of their expectations coming in. After losing to the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 4, the team reportedly held a players-only meeting to air out their problems.
Time will tell if it’s enough to get back on track, but for now, the story of the 2024 season is unfolding before our eyes, although the pictures remain blurry. We all learned in elementary school that every story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Today feels like an inflection point in the season, and we can finally close the awful opening chapter. There are several subplots that all have their protagonist, however, the main storyline that will ultimately be the measure of the season is all about quarterback Deshaun Watson returning to an elite player at the position.
Right or wrong, what is now clear is that everything has been all about Watson since the end of the fairytale that happened in 2023 for Cleveland. It started with the organization’s decision to turn over most of the offensive staff and construct an entirely new offense.
To complicate the matter, Watson would also be attempting a comeback from a season-ending shoulder injury that required surgery. To mitigate that risk, the team decided to sign Jameis Winston as the backup.
The Browns always contended that Watson would be ready for the offseason program and training camp. While that was true, the team was very careful with the workload that he would receive at the behest of the medical staff.
The number of throws and distance of throws were being managed daily as the team attempted to install that new offense we mentioned earlier. In retrospect, it’s easy to see how that might have been an inconvenience for a coaching staff who knew that every rep was precious to getting on the same page.
To make it even worse, the Browns had two starting offensive tackles who were not cleared to return to practice until the regular season after we all thought they would be ready for the preseason.
Rather than file the claim with the insurance they purchased in Winston, a calculated decision was made to allow Watson to get as many first-team reps as possible and work around his rehabbed shoulder. Intensity isn’t something that can be simulated, and you have to wonder if that lack of intensity permeated into the entire team.
The Browns decided not to play Watson at all during preseason games, which led to his first live reps in over ten months happening in the...
