Cleveland Browns vs Houston Texans: 5 questions with House of Houston

The Cleveland Browns head to Houston, Texas in hopes of their first win of the season. FanSided’s Houston’s locals affiliate sat down and discussed Week 6’s game.

Another week of Cleveland Browns football is upon us and not surprisingly, there’s a lot of changes to look for. Not only that, but they are still looking for their first win of the season!

To get more on their Week 6 game versus the Houston Texans, House of Houston Site Expert Brian Patterson gave insight into this weekend’s game.

FoS: In general, looking ahead to April’s draft specifically, are Texans fans happy with what they acquired thanks to the trades they have made within the last year.

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BP: Absolutely! Overwhelmingly happy. I regularly attend the Texans annual Draft Party at NRG Stadium so when it was announced that when the team was trading up to the 12th, I knew at that moment we were going after him (Deshaun Watson).

My feelings were one of excitement as well as hope that we finally hit on a dominant quarterback.

Although I thought Tom Savage would complete this season and DW4 start the next, the fact that we had to unleashed him early has yielded positive results.

Our once left-for-dead, antiquated offense is now a robust, well-oiled machine and there’s no turning back now. I can’t find a Texans that doesn’t think having him here isn’t a good idea. If anybody does, they just don’t know football.

FoS: Deshaun Watson has been impressive in recent weeks. If DeShone Kizer was in Houston, do you believe he would have achieved similar success up through this point?

BP: DeShone Kizer can’t hold a candle to the level of the play of the great Deshaun Watson. He can be a solid QB in this league but he declared for the draft too early and should’ve stayed in college.

Although he can be exciting at times, he’s definitely not the answer to your QB woes. I would’ve been disappointed if the Texans drafted him and tried to sell us on him being a franchise QB. We literally got the best QB in the draft and that’s that.

FoS: Speaking of Watson, with what he’s achieved, he appears to be destined to have a Dak Prescott-like rookie season. That said, how should Cleveland go about limiting his impact?

BP: I honestly think that nobody has been able to figure him out yet. You can try to contain him but I don’t think you can stop him. The only thing you can do is exert as much pressure on him as much as possible and hope for the best in terms of him making a bad decision.

But he was 8-for-16 last week on throws under pressure with one touchdown against the Chiefs. He’s so elusive that even your fastest linemen could get torched when trying to chase him around the field. The Titans blitzed him the week before and he was able to beat that so I honestly not sure what can’t this guy do.

FoS: The Browns have a lot of talent in their front seven on defense. Is that the biggest concern from the Texans point of view? If not, then what is and why?

BP: It is. That’s the strongest point of your team where otherwise there a lot of holes that eventually will be filled with talent.

Myles Garrett is going to be a terrific football player and he gives the most concern getting through our OL Chris Clark and Xavier Su’a-Filo to get to Deshaun.

It’s incredible that he got a sack on his first NFL snap last week!

Larry Ogunjobi, Jamie Meder, Emmanuel Ogbah and Jason McCourty are all fine additions to your front. Briean Boddy-Calhoun is a nice fit if you guys line up in nickel formation but if I’m Deshaun, I’m throwing as much as possible to Jamar Taylor, who has been absolutely terrible.

He had a good 2016 but keeps continuing to get picked on. So that would be my plan I were Bill O’Brien.

FoS: Without multiple key Texans’ defenders, the road to a win is easier for the Browns. However, if there is one specific thing Cleveland must do against Houston to put themselves in that position, what would it be?

BP: The loss of J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus are certainly a let-down and we could not be a top five defense without them. But with guys like Benardrick McKinney, Zach Cunningham, Christian Covington, Dylan Cole and new signees Lamarr Houston and Kendall Langford, we may still be quite productive.

One can’t replace the production of two excellent defenders but I think we’ll still be quite solid. You guys have to be consistent on the pass rush because we’re now in position where the tables have turned where the offense is now carrying us rather than the defense.

If you all limit the movement of our chains and then force some turnovers then I think it’s very possible. Also, if you think you can shut down Lamar Miller and D’Onta Foreman, that’s also pivotal to winning this game. But you have stay on the task at hand because we move quickly and if we burn you, that’s usually going to result in you paying dearly.

Kevin Hogan has been quite productive in spurts but I just don’t think you all have enough offensive weapons to triumph. You’re 21st in offense, averaging 320.6 yards per game.

Next: As losses mount, what's next for the Browns?

We thank Brian for his input and contributions. The Browns are up against a wall as they look to obtain that first win. With Hogan starting for the first time, not having much on offense, and going up against Watson and DeAndre Hopkins, Cleveland certainly will have to earn that W. Maybe, just maybe it happens in Week 6 but don’t plan on it.

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