The Cleveland Browns came into their preseason debut with a lot of expectations. They centered around the offensive line, the wide receivers, and their defense. Some of those turned in good performances while others left a lot to be desired.
New head coach Todd Monken is going to have a lot to discuss with the team after suffering such a rough loss at the hands of the Bears. After starting the game 10-0, they surrendered 34 straight points and lost 34-10.
The defense had its moments; the quarterbacks are going to get the bulk of the discussion, but the bottom line is this team has a lot to sort out. With that in mind, we chose the good, the bad, and the ugly from the Browns’ loss to the Bears.
The Good: Deshaun Watson could’ve looked worse
This is such a…thing to write, but the good is that this game was hard to come by. For having not played in an NFL game in 664 days, coming off two torn Achilles, Deshaun Watson could have looked much worse. He showed some confidence in being able to scramble and pick up yards with his legs. He had decent velocity on his passes, and he was able to show some timing with his receivers. That said, the performance wasn’t a notable one beyond the low bar that was set considering everything.
Watson still has a long way to go in terms of installing confidence in the Browns’ passing attack with this coaching staff and fanbase. But for now, he has at least shown enough that it will get him to next week before the bright lights can leave a mark.
The Bad: The run game
The run game lacked much consistency and would have been much worse had Davon Booth not broken one for 28 yards. The team as a whole averaged 4 yards per carry, but Dylan Sampson and Quinshon Judkins combined to average just 1.9 yards per carry. The team fell short in several critical short-yardage situations, including a fourth-down situation in the redzone.
The team left points on the board, and it wasn’t all the running backs’ fault. The offensive line has got to get a better push up front to allow for those short-yardage conversions. By the time the regular season rolls around, if this team cannot run the ball effectively and the offensive line cannot get off the ball, then the quarterback play will be a moot point.
The Ugly: The pass rush
While Myles Garrett is gone, the Browns’ defense as a whole remains intact. Obviously, in the preseason, the starters do not play much. That does, however, leave the door open for rotational pass rushers to flex their muscles to show they can be a part of more third-down and pass-favored moments in the game. On 40 dropbacks, the team generated just 11 pressures and two sacks. Those numbers need to rise sharply over the rest of the preseason. The immediate reaction is the report that came out on Sunday: the team is likely to sign veteran pass rusher Za’Darius Smith for this exact purpose.
While Smith will help, the team needs to see some of these younger pass rushers step up their game over these last two preseason games.
This article originally appeared on Browns Wire: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly from the Browns’ loss to the Bears
Reporting by Andrew Harbaugh, Browns Wire / Browns Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Andrew Harbaugh, Browns Wire | USA TODAY Network
