The key to defeating the Ravens will be the Browns offensive line

The Browns’ offensive line will determine if they defeat the Ravens.

Fun fact, the quarterback is not the most important position in football. It’s the offensive line. If your offensive line is bad, you don’t only fail to have a passing game but no rushing game as well. The Browns offensive line is three-fifths great. Joel Bitonio, J.C. Tretter, and Wyatt Teller are among the best in the league at their positions.

Jedrick Wills and whoever they have at right tackle? Anything but. Now, if Jack Conklin was healthy, we’d be fine. He’s a top-five tackle in the league and a player the Browns constantly run off of when he’s healthy. When he’s not, the team can’t seem to run like they normally do. Why? Because they can’t rely on Wills to do what Conklin does. So things tend to fall apart at that point.

Blake Hance, who’s been filling in for Conklin recently, will likely not start on Sunday but who will is up in the air. Head coach Kevin Stefanski isn’t revealing who’s starting so he can keep some sort of competitive advantage. Seriously. Things are made worse by the fact the Browns are going to be down three of their four tight ends. Stephen Carlson was put in IR in the pre-season, making him ineligible to play this year, Harrison Bryant is out due to a concussion and David Njoku is out due to COVID protocols.

The Browns will have to get creative on Sunday

The Browns have one semi-reliable wide receiver and a quarterback with more injuries than there are creative ways of saying he has a lot of injuries. To say the Browns offense is in trouble is already a valid statement, to say it’s even worse due to the lack of protection is fair and justified.

Maybe against the Bengals or the Steelers, this isn’t an issue but the Ravens’ front seven is a different beast than the Steelers or Bengals. They’re among the best run-stopping teams in the league and considering Stefanki’s offense is as predictable as they come, we shouldn’t expect the Browns to all of a sudden pull out 300 yards rushing.

How Cleveland intends on mustering offense behind this patch-work line is going to be something to watch. It’s not exactly like the team has thrived even without injuries to the line. Stefanski has taken a lot of heat over the year for his play-calling, something he refuses to relinquish. If the Browns can in fact stack the line with enough fullbacks, tight ends, and third-string tackles to slow down the Ravens, they’ll still have to contend with Stefanski’s play-calling.

Hopefully, the line holds, with whoever is on it. The Browns need a win on Sunday to stay in the hunt for the playoffs.