Wednesday Morning QB (Week 3)
There was certainly a lot of hype surrounding the Cleveland Browns this year as they came into the season as the darlings of the league.
The end of their 2018 campaign saw a lot of promising things as Baker Mayfield was looking like the answer at quarterback and the defence was coming around.
It made them look like a team that might actually compete if they found a few key pieces and kept their momentum going.
In the offseason, the team went to work trying to add what they needed to compete and they did that in bringing in Odell Beckham Jr.
It was another piece to an offence that was developing under Freddie Kitchens who took over as the head coach midway through the 2018 season and was made the permanent head coach in the offseason.
The defence was looking promising with a number of young players including some new pieces in the draft that were going to make them a better team.
Everything was looking good for a comeback as the Browns became a team that everyone was talking about before the season began.
If Mayfield continued to develop alongside the defence there was plenty on this team to make a true difference in the league.
They made the cover of Sports Illustrated and saw a schedule where they would be featured often.
It was going to be an interesting season as they were not likely to win a Super Bowl but making the playoffs was a real possibility.
Questions in their division made it only more a reality as the teams were not going to give them as a big of a challenge this time around.
Week 1 came and the Browns opened up against the Tennessee Titans in a game that they could win if things went as well as many expected.
That didn’t work though as the Browns struggled to put up any points losing 43-13 in a disappointing start to their season.
The was not what they wanted but often the biggest hyped teams can struggle out of the gate.
After the last two weeks, it seems like most of the hype wasn’t going to come true as the Browns have continued to struggle through the start of the season.
A win over the somewhat more inept Jets and a loss this week have begun to bring doubt to the Browns and that is a familiar feeling for Browns fans.
Cleveland hasn’t been a good team since they returned to the league in 1999 but there have been plenty of times where the talk before the season what that they might be better than what most people think.
It has never been like this though as this was the best team on paper that the Browns have had in two decades.
They are young and they are talented but they are missing one key piece to their team that will need to be fixed if they hope to climb out of a 1-2 deficit.
The offensive line is their week point and without an offensive line, they can’t operate the offence that they are hoping to operate.
Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry put together one of the best one-two punches in the league but Mayfield is struggling to get them the ball.
He is running around behind a line that allows the defence through way too often.
It is becoming such a problem that the Mayfield is losing trust in his line and not staying in the pocket long enough even when the pressure is minimal.
The Browns hung in there this week competing with the Los Angeles Rams right until the end of the game.
That game showed that the Browns have the talent to compete with some of the best teams in the league.
They are right there in terms of the people on the team but they are suffering from a few key issues.
The hype was warranted based on the flashes that have been seen so far but unless they can fix their issues they won’t be making a run.
It will be just another year where the Browns are disappointed despite all of their potential coming into the year.
Fifth Quarter
The Next Chapter
It has been an up-and-down year for Antonio Brown as he seemed to have a new lease on life after being traded to Oakland. He was going to be in a better situation but from the start of training camp, it was not working with Brown continually causing problems. It all seemed to be part of a plan to get out of a situation he never chose to be in and move on to a new team. He got his wish when he was released by Oakland and signed by New England where he was headed to a winning situation. Then came the accusations of sexual assault from one woman claiming that Brown had raped her and abused her. A second woman came forward and the NFL began an investigation leading to a lot of question about Brown and what his future would be in the league. The Patriots aren’t fans of those distractions so they cut him this week leaving him without a team and claiming that he didn’t want to play ever again in the league.
One Gain and One Loss
The New York Giants started a new era this week as they started rookie QB Daniel Jones for the first time and benched Eli Manning. The Jones era began well with the Jones leading the Giants to a comeback win late in the game and creating a buzz around the first-round pick. It was the official start to a promising era that followed the start to an era in the backfield that began last season with Saquon Barkley. That era will take a pause though as Jones began to take over the game and Barkley watched from the sidelines on crutches. Just as the Giants found some promise in the quarterback position they lost their biggest offensive star to an high-ankle sprain. Barkley will miss several weeks with the injury as jones will have less support to take over this team.
The Sport Addiction 