The Cleveland Guardians have hit nine home runs in eight games during the American League postseason. The Cleveland Browns offense has scored seven touchdowns in six 2024 games.
As more and more believe a quarterback change is long overdue, the Browns (1-5) need a home win over the Bengals (2-4) on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS) to avoid their worst start in seven years. And while Baltimore, Washington and Seattle are the three NFL teams to reach 20 points in every game this year, Cleveland is the league’s only team that has yet to reach that mark.
“The Browns continue to project an evidence-free belief that things will get better for Watson if they stay the course,” wrote ESPN insider Dan Graziano on Wednesday. “At this point, their only way out of his contract appears to be if the league suspends him again.”
The NFL suspended Watson for the first 11 games of the 2022 season for violation of its personal conduct policy. After another accusation surfaced this year, Watson reportedly settled the latest lawsuit. But commissioner Roger Goodell said this week that the settlement does not preclude the league from suspending Watson again.
“We’re continuing our review like we would,” Goodell told the Associated Press Tuesday at the NFL’s fall meeting. “As you know, we take the personal conduct policy seriously so our people are working diligently.”
Cleveland’s defense is also working diligently. Not only does that unit shoulder more pressure with the lack of offensive production, it also gets Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins this week. After a slow start, the Bengals are hitting their offensive stride, especially in the red zone after halftime. Still not out of the MVP race, Burrow leads the NFL with a 110.3 passer rating and ranks tied for second with 12 touchdown passes. Chase is second in the league with 565 receiving yards, and Higgins has at least six catches and 60 yards in each of his last three games.
However, Myles Garrett has affected Burrow more than any other defender during the quarterback’s five-year NFL career. Per beat writer Ben Baby, Garrett leads the league with eight sacks of Burrow and has limited Burrow to a 28.6 completion percentage when pressuring him.
Sunday marks the Browns’ first game without wide receiver Amari Cooper, traded Tuesday to Buffalo, but it also features the long-awaited return of running back Nick Chubb. After an arduous and painful road back, Chubb wrote an emotional letter to fans this week.
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