The Browns have the Las Vegas Raiders to close out the first half of their season and this is who needs to step up for the team to get a win.
The Browns have the Las Vegas Raiders at home this week, their last game before their bye week. The Browns are poised to head into the break with their best record after eight games in decades. To make sure the record says 6-2 and not 5-3, however, will require an offense that can keep up with the Raiders’ high-octane pass-happy offense. The Browns have proven to be a top-five team in the league in scoring, so keeping up with the Raiders, on paper, won’t be hard.
The interesting thing about this is that both teams have similar setups. They’re both high powered offenses with great scoring potential, the only difference is that the Raiders favor passing, while the Browns are more balanced. Both team’s defenses aren’t great, and both team’s offensive lines are known for protecting their quarterback (most of the time).
The Browns are going to need a few regulars to pop up as usual, but a whole new set of guys will need to follow suit. A guy like Rashard Higgins, Harrison Bryant, Kareem Hunt, Chris Hubbard, and others are going to be relied upon to help lessen the blows of mounting injuries.
The Browns have a real chance of winning here, they just need to make sure to not turn over the ball and limit their offensive mistakes. Defensively, you just hope they can make a play or two in order to slow down the Raiders. Stopping them doesn’t seem likely, not with this defense, but maybe they can just get in the way enough to allow the Browns to hop out to a lead.
Baker Mayfield
Expecting Baker Mayfield to go 22-22 for 300 yards and five touchdowns isn’t realistic each week. That doesn’t mean he’s not going to be vital for the team to succeed, nor does it mean he won’t have a big game. Mayfield should hit near 300 yards even with the heavy focus on the run, and with his swagger (hopefully) being back, Mayfield should have a multi-touchdown game.
The good thing to also note is that the Raiders defense isn’t very good. They’re not going to be able to get after Mayfield as other teams have done, and that means the offensive line should be able to give him time to throw. With his accuracy being at an all-time high, and his very good third year netting the Browns their best record in decades, the odds that Mayfield falls off against the Raiders isn’t high.
Still, we’d all prefer he not wait until the second quarter to come out firing. While it made for entertaining television and what Browns fan doesn’t love that drama, it’s still to blow a team out. So let’s hope the Browns start early, start fast and Mayfield throws a few daggers to break the will of the Raiders.
Rashard Higgins
The Browns have more to worry about than Rashard Higgins replacing Odell Beckham Jr. Jarvis Landry is not playing well, and his surgically repaired hip isn’t healed. He’s playing far below expectations. Higgins won’t just have to replace Beckham’s production but possibly Landry’s as well. While Landry will continue to play, probably against a physician’s advice, that doesn’t mean he’s as good as he was the last two seasons.
Higgins will need to be able to make an impact at the same rate he did last week. There’s simply no other way this offense will be as consistent as it needs to be to win without Higgins stepping up huge. The Browns are without Beckham, Nick Chubb, Wyatt Teller, and Austin Hooper for the game. Landry’s still in obvious pain, and that Kareem Hunt has not been a great replacement for Chubb. The Browns may need Higgins more than they realize.
That may not be fair to put all that on Higgins, as Harrison Bryant will also need to step up as well, but Bryant has shown he can. Higgins is coming off of his best game in two and a half years. So there’s more pressure on Higgins to prove it wasn’t a fluke.
The non-Myles Garrett defensive linemen
The defensive line officially sucks. The linebackers suck. The secondary sucks. Did Andrew Berry get anyone who can help this defense in the offseason? Don’t come at me with the “YEAH BUT HE DRAFTED…”, if they’re not helping, they’re hurting. No-one acquired in the offseason is helping the defense, ergo, they’re hurting the defense. There aren’t layers to this, folks. You’re either making plays or plays are being made against you.
The Browns have two good/great players at least in Denzel Ward and Myles Garrett. Garrett’s been carrying the load of the defense but also proving an old adage to be wrong; turns out Garrett isn’t “making his teammates better”. The defense needs to acquire three players at the deadline, that’s not even debatable.
Until then, the Browns will need to hope beyond hope that guys like Larry Ogunjobi and Porter Gustin can do what their fellow linemen can’t and that gets pressure. The defensive line isn’t making plays in the backfield, nor are they getting to the quarterback.
Vernon’s lack of physical production has even shown how awful the “pressure” stat is, as he continues to do well in that category but he can’t actually get sacks or tackles. Hell, he can’t even hit the opposing quarterback. What a terrible acquisition.