So far so good for the Browns overall. The Steeler game was a big bag of ugliness, but a nice win at home over the Titans got things back in balance. The talk of the NFL right now (except for Taylor Swift) is the Browns defense. So far it has been beyond great, and that's a huge relief.
But let's be honest. Week one Cincy - Burrow clearly not right, bad weather, at home, and not the Bengals we will see the last week of the season. Week two Pittsburgh - Weak offense there, Pickett average at best and their defense outscored their own offense. Week three Tennessee - Very average offense to say the least with a marginal QB at home again.
But this is interesting. Look ahead at much of the Browns remaining games. A lot of average QB's and offenses to deal with. True, Lemar comes to town this week, and we'll see him again. Burrow week 18, and the San Francisco offense with Purdy and a lot of play makers in a truly great system, but that's at home. Beyond that, who else? Aaron Rogers is out for the year and a lot of your road schedule is easier than most. There are rookie QB's too and Jacksonville with Lawrence? Yeah, he's good but so far they haven't put it together. This is the seasonal schedule that you would hope for and this is year to get it done. It WILL NOT line up like this again.
So here's the formula. Get out front. Get the lead in games and in the division and let others try to catch us. This is smart for a few reasons. One, we are NOT a come from behind team under Stefanski. I think its 1-24 when we trail by 4 or more points in the fourth quarter. Worst in the NFL. But with this defense, if we have a fourth quarter lead, I'm feeling pretty good. When the Browns went up 17-3 last week with plenty of game to go, I knew the game was over. Titans mediocre offense and our defense. Done! After decades of blowing late game leads, it feels good to feel that's not going to happen this season.
In the division too. This week if you win, you'll be 3-1, in first place and 2-1 in the division. But if you lose, you are caught in the pack of the 2-2 er's and 1-2 in the division and you're doing it the hard way again. With this defense, this teams biggest priority should be to get any kind of lead in games and the standings and make others try climb over our elite defense. I feel that it came from the very top about our embarrassing defense, that last year was unacceptable and jobs were on the line, get it fixed.
We will score enough points to win. I'm not worried about Watson, he'll be good enough with this defense. He needs to quit thinking it's all on him. It's not, with our defense, he's just a player now not a savior. And expensive one, but just a darn good player. What's sad is, if they would have worried about having a defense this good a couple years ago, they could have saved at least 100 million and a bunch of draft picks. But that is the danger of hiring a strictly offensive minded head coach. Watson and Stefanski now above everything else, have to be smart. But, that could be a big ask. Lots of ego on the line there, but it's imperative for success.
Just get a lead, be smart, and get wins. That's all that matters. It's the ultimate irony. A coach that has distanced himself from it, now has a team that is built on and will rely heavily on - defense. Some things don't change. In this Superbowl Era, many teams that have won the most titles have been defense heavy - Steelers, Giants, Cowboys, 49ers, Ravens, Bucs, even the Chiefs today don't give up a lot of points. And some of those teams don't get the credit for being great defensively, but they were.
For the first time in a very long time, be the team that is being chased. You have the tools now to do it.
GO BROWNS!
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