How good are the Cleveland Browns?
Last week’s 19-17 upset of the San Francisco 49ers with a backup quarterback leading the offense seems to say that at their best, they’re good enough to beat anyone in the NFL. But at 3-2 and trailing the Baltimore Ravens by a half-game in the AFC North, Cleveland is clearly not infallible.
One way for the Browns to reinforce what some are calling the best win since the franchise restarted in 1999 is to go win again on Sunday when they visit the Indianapolis Colts.
“That’s a good football team,” Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski said of San Francisco. “And the truth is, we’re a good football team. We’re not perfect. We know that. But we fought like crazy.”
One argument in the Browns’ favor is that they have established an identity as a team that has an outstanding defense and can run the ball — two factors that make sense for a squad that often plays its home games in cold weather.
Last week, Cleveland held the 49ers to 215 total yards and hassled Brock Purdy into his first bad game. Purdy was just 12 of 27 for 125 yards with a touchdown, an interception and three sacks. And the Browns ran for 160 yards, 84 by Jerome Ford and 47 by Kareem Hunt.
“I believe we are a run-first team no matter what,” said Hunt. “We need to run the football to open up the pass game. We need teams to fear the run.”
Particularly if Deshaun Watson (rotator cuff) isn’t able to go again this week. While P.J. Walker threw for 192 yards against San Francisco, he also mixed in two interceptions and nearly fired a third late in the game. Watson said Wednesday he couldn’t put a timetable on his return.
While Watson is uncertain, Indianapolis knows it’s going to hitch its hopes to backup quarterback Gardner Minshew for the season’s remainder. That’s because rookie Anthony Richardson (shoulder) is headed for season-ending surgery after getting injured in an Oct. 8 win over Tennessee.
Minshew, a former starter for parts of two years with Jacksonville, tossed three interceptions in last week’s 37-20 loss at Jacksonville that dropped the Colts (3-3) a game behind the Jaguars in the AFC South. He’ll have to be more careful with the ball against a defense that can get after the passer and force mistakes.
“At the end of the day, I was careless with the ball,” Minshew said. “I didn’t do a good enough job taking care of it. I put our team in a really bad spot and it’s not fair to the rest of the guys so I’m really going to look at those, hold myself accountable.”
Indianapolis got other bad news this week when starting defensive tackle Grover Stewart drew a six-game suspension from the NFL for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs. Stewart started the team’s previous 69 games.
Offensive tackle Braden Smith (hip/wrist), tight end Kylen Granson (concussion), receiver Alec Pierce (shoulder) and cornerback Tony Brown (back) all missed practice Wednesday for the Colts.
For the Browns, Watson (shoulder) and Hunt (thigh) were among those who did not practice, joining starting CB Greg Newsome (hamstring), linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. (concussion) and TE Harrison Bryant (hip). Four others sat out practice for rest/personal. Left guard Joel Bitonio (knee) was limited.
The teams’ all-time regular season series is knotted at 15 games each, with Cleveland taking a 32-23 win in the last matchup three years ago.
–Field Level Media