Every Cleveland Browns player with rising and falling stocks after the Baltimore Ravens win
By Chad Porto
The Cleveland Browns are 2-1 in their last three but the team isn’t playing up to its standard
The Cleveland Browns are 2-1 in their last three since embattled quarterback Deshaun Watson took over the reins of the team but the team as a whole has not been playing up to their usual standard. The team is lacking offensively, averaging just four points per contest on that side of the ball since Watson took over, and has only mustered two touchdowns.
Kevin Stefanski is deferring his usual trope of making bone-ahead fourth-and-go-for-its and is actually kicking the ball, so that’s part of the reason why the offensive output may be lower than usual. Granted, the special teams haven’t been doing their job either, with kicker Cade York still getting acclimated to the windy weather in Cleveland Browns Stadium.
Defensively the team is playing better, though two of their best players in Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward either only show up once in a while during a game or are so wildly inconsistent, you don’t know which version of the player you’re going to get game-to-game.
As a whole, there’s not a lot to be optimistic about. The Browns beat the worst team in football and couldn’t score a touchdown on them, and then lucked into a Ravens team that was 1) missing Lamar Jackson and 2) missing a clue.
How do you not just run the ball if you’re that effective at it? Even the Atlanta Falcons knew to do that… So because of the uneven play, some stocks are up, some are down and we’re going to talk about them.
No noticeable gains or drops:
Deshaun Watson
He’s playing fine. Mediocre in fact. Winnable football is being seen here. The problem is that the Browns didn’t trade three first rounds and paid the man $240 million for that kind of football. If he and Baker Mayfield are putting up similar stat lines, something needs to change.
Daylen Baldwin
PFF gave him a ludicrous 83.3 for two catches in 12 plays. I’m sorry, but that’s just stupid. The man made very little impact in any facet of the game.
Myles Garrett
Myles Garrett took advantage of bad quarterback play, and that may seem like he did his job, but I expect guys like Perrion Winfrey and Tommy Togiai to “take advantage of bad quarterback play”. I expect Myles Garrett to prove he’s the best defensive end in the league and do something other than look at guys running past him. A sack and a half are great. Do you know what’s better? Being good at all aspects of your job, like stopping the run.