As the 4-3 Cleveland Browns prepare to host the 1-7 Arizona Cardinals Sunday, both coaching staffs are preparing, not knowing who the other team’s starting quarterback will be.
Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson was limited in practice Wednesday, and he has missed three full games while leaving a game against the Colts late in the first quarter because of a rotator cuff injury. The Browns are 2-2 in those four games, and he was credited with the win over Indianapolis because he started.
P.J. Walker is expected to be the starter if Watson doesn’t play. Walker has thrown five interceptions in only 97 pass attempts and has a passer rating of 51.8. Fifth-round pick Dorian Thompson-Robinson started one game and had three interceptions.
“All of those turnovers are costly, and that’s frustrating,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “We lead the league in giveaways right now with 17, and it’s hard. It’s hard to win in the NFL, period. It’s hard to win when you turn the ball over.
“So, we have to really, really commit ourselves as an offense not to give that thing away. Obviously, it’s a team stat in terms of takeaways. That can happen on defense and special teams. But first things first, we have to take care of that football.”
Stefanski gave the expected response when asked how Watson is progressing when he said, “He’s continuing to come along. We’ll make those types of decisions later on in the week.”
For the Cardinals, Joshua Dobbs played all 535 offensive snaps in the first eight games, with the team’s only win coming in Week 3 against the Cowboys. Dobbs coincidentally was acquired from the Browns on Aug. 24 and started the season opener 17 days later.
However, Monday, after the Cardinals lost their fifth consecutive game, head coach Jonathan Gannon announced that either Kyler Murray or rookie fifth-round pick Clayton Tune will start against the Browns. One day later, Dobbs was traded to the Vikings, which lost quarterback Kirk Cousins for the season Sunday.
Murray, who suffered a torn ACL on Dec. 12 last season, is on reserve/physically unable to perform and is in his third week of practice. A decision on his roster status has to be made by Nov. 8.
For Murray to start, Gannon said, “He just has to keep playing football. He’s coming off a major injury. He’s had a couple weeks of work here. He’s making strides, but I just want to make sure he feels comfortable with everything that we’re asking him to do.”
Asked if Murray has to be at 100 percent to play, Gannon said,
“No. I want Kyler to feel extremely, 100 percent comfortable with what he’s doing.”
Gannon also noted that no consideration was given to making the change before a game against the Browns defense, ranked first in the NFL in total yards and passing yards allowed.
Despite that ranking, the Browns have had only 10 takeaways, and only 11 NFL teams have fewer.
The Browns have 15 players on Wednesday’s injury report, with eight listed as full or limited. The most notable DNPs were tight end David Njoku (groin), left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. (foot/ankle), right tackle Dawand Jones (shoulder) and cornerback Greg Newsome II (groin).
For the Cardinals, starters guard Trystan Colon (calf), running back Emari Demercado (toe) and wide receiver Michael Wilson shoulder) did not practice Wednesday.
–Field Level Media