5 questions about the Browns with our friends at Dawgs By Nature
The Las Vegas Raiders and Cleveland Browns head into Week 4 at 1-2, so both teams desperately need a win this Sunday to keep their postseason hopes alive.
To preview the matchup for Raider Nation, Silver and Black Pride reached out to our friends at Dawgs By Nature and Chris Pokorny was kind enough to answer five questions about the Browns.
1) The discourse surrounding Deshaun Watson makes it seem like he’s been one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the NFL this season. Has he really been that bad or is the chatter more a result of his contract and the off-the-field issues? Is there any talk about Watson getting benched for Jameis Winston?
I think Watson has been one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the NFL this season, but it’s also the same story of what we’ve seen in spurts from him over the past two seasons. He is slow in his decision-making, and oftentimes slow in his delivery. I think his mechanics and footwork are pretty poor too.
The offensive line hasn’t been good, but the issues have been magnified because of the way Watson is operating the offense. You’re not going to see him throwing interceptions left and right, and he can still make some good throws — but his reaction time is not good.
Unfortunately, the team has so much invested in him, so they are just going to ride it out to eternity as opposed to benching him for Jameis Winston.
2) Amari Cooper was once a top-five pick by the Raiders and had a few good years with the Silver and Black. What has he brought to Cleveland’s offense over the last three seasons? Also, it looks like he was quiet in the Browns’ first two games of the year but exploded last week with seven catches for 86 yards and two touchdowns. What was the difference between Weeks 1-2 and Week 3?
Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
The first two weeks were an anomaly — it appears that he’s had a couple of stretches like that during his career before snapping out of it. Last week, he was back to the Amari Cooper that Browns fans have come to love. I wish I had a more advanced explanation than that.
Overall, though, Cooper has been a clear No. 1 receiver for the Browns over the last three seasons. His route running is very good, he shows good concentration, footwork, and strength when making catches when a defender is draped on him, and he can stretch the defense at times.
Occasionally, he’ll have an easy catch that he drops, but we live with that with all of the good that comes with him.
3) From a distance, it seems like the Browns’ defense has regressed so far this season as the unit isn’t as dominant as it was a year ago. Would you agree with that statement? If so, what changed from 2023? If not, can you elaborate on what us outsiders who don’t catch as many Browns games are missing?
I wouldn’t agree with that statement.
Last year, the Browns’ defense had a really dominant first month of the season in which they stifled opponents so badly in yardage, that it helped them rank No. 1 in the league in several categories.
After that, the Browns maintained their aggressiveness and were a threat in any given week for sacks, turnovers, and generating tackles for losses, but quite a few teams were still able to figure them out (misdirection plays). The defense also had difficulty stopping anyone in the red zone or goal-to-go situations last year.
This year, the defense has maintained that same level of aggressiveness and goes through stretches in which they shut down the opposing offense entirely. However, they always have those one or two drives in which their aggressiveness comes back to bite them.
Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images
Also, they’ve had the misfortune of a lot of 50-50 plays going their way. For example, last week, the defense shut down the Giants for the entire second half. In the first half, on both of the Giants’ sustained drives, the defense had interceptions in their hands that did not work out.
They are right on the tip of having a complete shutdown-style game, but teams that game plan wisely can use their aggressiveness against them.
4) At the time of writing, reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett’s status for Sunday is up in the air. If Garrett can’t go, who do you expect to step up and fill the void? On a similar note, even if Garrett plays, can you shine some light on another defensive lineman who Raiders fans should know about heading into the game?
As the week has progressed, we’ve learned this: his MRI came back clean, but his foot hurts, and because he’s compensating for that, it also has his leg hurting. Still, Myles Garrett said he is going to play, and his rest will just wait until the bye week.
The way Cleveland has adjusted is by reducing his snaps: instead of playing 85% of the snaps per week, you’ll probably see him in for 60% of the snaps. Even though he didn’t register a sack last week against the Giants, he still had three quarterback hits and was graded in the 92+ range by Pro Football Focus for another dominant performance. He will still be able to play and play well, but he has to deal with the pain.
When Garrett is getting a rest, Alex Smith will see action in his place. Smith isn’t going to be a dominant player by any means, but he’s shown a knack over the span of last season, and in at least one moment this season (registering a safety against the Jaguars) in which he comes up with a sack.
5) Denzel Ward has been a very good cornerback over the last several years, but how do you think he’ll fare against an elite wide receiver like Davante Adams? Will Jim Schwartz have Ward shadow Adams?
[Editor’s note: Adams was ruled out for Sunday after this was written.]
Ward plays receivers like a glove and contests a lot of passes. It’ll be a give-and-take if he lines up against Davante Adams.
In Week 1, early in the game against CeeDee Lamb, a perfect pass beat Ward, but then he responded shortly after that by knocking two passes away. I can’t answer for sure if Jim Schwartz will have him shadow Adams.
I wanted Ward to shadow Malik Nabers last week, but instead, they stuck with the left/right philosophy of their cornerbacks, just trusting them to deliver. Nabers went off in the first half without Ward there.
In the second half, Ward seemed to shadow him, and the Giants didn’t even bother trying him. I know Cleveland has faith in their top three cornerbacks as if they were all Pro Bowl-caliber cornerbacks, so it wouldn’t surprise me if we see a mixture of people covering Adams.