I will say, I always have high hopes for my Cleveland Browns and every year I’m almost always disappointed, season in and season out…but I just can’t quit them. It’s exhausting at times to invest in a team that never does well, so I definitely understand bandwagon fans; it just makes life easier. This Week 1 opener, though, probably hurt the worst. With all the absolutely great additions Jimmy Haslam made this off-season, how couldn’t you get excited? I mean as far as Jimmy Haslam’s off-seasons go (which usually suck),this was a great off-season.
We hired a great Head Coach in Kevin Stefanksi. We actually addressed the one thing that kept the Browns from reaching the 2019 preseason hype which was the horrific Offensive Line by signing Jack Conklin and drafting Jedrick Wills Jr. with our first round pick. We even stole Grant Delpit in the 2nd round of that same draft to stack an already dangerous secondary!
In Cleveland Browns fashion, however, it unraveled just as soon as it started. It started with Grant Delpit getting injured in practice with a season ending injury, making us have to trade for Ronnie Harrison from Jacksonville, which was less than ideal. Odell Beckham Jr. was also caught in a media firestorm with “Poop Gate” (just look it up). This was all before the very first game!
Now, let’s get to the game…
The Browns offensive line held their own against the Ravens rugged D-Line and pass rush in the opening drive, but in Baker Mayfield fashion a tipped pass by Calais Campbell and a quick scoop before the ball hit the turf turned into an INT by Marlon Humphrey, which ended the Browns very first 2020 drive. In the Browns second drive, they (for whatever reason) decided to go for it on 4th Down with a fake punt and the “Scottish Hammer” got pounded by the Ravens, resulting in a fumble and yet another turnover.
The game continued and eventually the Browns scored on a pass from Baker Mayfield to David Njoku (who doesn’t even want to be in Cleveland) and of course our kicker, Austin Seibert, missed the XP… (palm to face). The Browns woes continued as the game progressed. Jedrick Wills Jr. left the game with a leg injury, which has since come back negative and is believed to be a bruise. “Nodell” Beckham Jr. couldn’t catch a cold and dropped a gimmie catch and a very important 3&2. And Baker Mayfield just wasn’t good. He did deal with a lot of important dropped passes and offensive line injuries, but he panicked way too much and made really bad throws down field. Nick Chubb also had a fumble in a much needed drive which was recovered by the Ravens. The only bright spots the Browns had were two players… Kareem Hunt and Jarvis Landry.
This doesn’t look good. I said before Baker Mayfield has no excuse to not succeed this season with the O-Line and skill talent he has with him; but if the O-Line can’t stay healthy and our “superstar” skill players like “Nodell” Beckham Jr. can’t catch a fucking cold, is Baker really in a position to succeed?
I usually have great optimism for the Browns throughout the season, but this season opener looked very rough. As of right now, I think at best we go 5-11 based on how we played. I fully expect Case Keenum to be starting QB this year if Baker can't figure it out; but hey, Kevin Stefanski got the best out of Case Keenum the year the Vikings went on that run and maybe that is what the Browns need: a journeyman veteran to grab the reins for a season and draft a new QB in 2021. But then again, what do you do with Baker Mayfield? His stat line isn’t necessarily trade bait. The Browns aren’t in a good position right now; Baker Mayfield needs to figure it out, and quick, because the Browns are almost back to rebuild mode, and we have never even succeeded yet to technically be in a rebuild mode!
As always GO BROWNS!
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