Browns: 3 good things and 3 awful things from Week 5
By Chad Porto
The Cleveland Browns defeated the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday to a tune of 32-23 in a game that saw mounting injuries and poor play.
The Cleveland Browns defeated the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday with a score of 32-23, making it the fourth win in a row and the fourth game in a row where the Browns have put up 30+ points on offense. The game was largely an ugly slugfest with both teams making big mistakes and both defenses getting beat up for a half but at the end of the day, the Browns were the ones able to pull off the win.
The Browns are now 4-1 for the first time since the Bill Belichick era and are now in a unique place to start 5-1. Something they haven’t done since 1994 (they started 6-1 that year). The Browns are one of the best-coached teams in the league right now and have made the most of specific backups in spite of injuries; which is the keyword of the day.
The Browns were plagued by injuries all day. Jarvis Landry, Baker Mayfield, Wyatt Teller, Sheldon Richardson, and a few others were all banged up to some degree throughout the game. Some seem to be more significant than others, like Ronnie Harrison who may have a concussion. That doesn’t even count for the guys still on the injured list.
The Browns probably aren’t going to be that lucky against the Steelers next Sunday when the team travels to Pittsburgh for Week 6. They’ll need to be at their full strength, or as close to it as possible. The Steelers are going to be the hardest test of the year, and not because they’re a better team than the Browns. They aren’t. They’re just healthier.
That said, let’s look at the three best and three worst things from the Browns Week 5 victory.