Do the Rams stand a chance against mighty Cleveland?

rushmore

Long-time Browns fan. Here’s what I know about Sunday night’s game and the Browns:

The Browns are not yet ready for prime time. I expect your side to win – though not by the margin some of the posters here suggest. Obviously I hope to be wrong, but I think the Browns are meeting the Rams too early in the season to have much of a chance against a more experienced coach and a team that has played together for a longer period of time. But make no mistake – the Browns are progressing from a terrible team to one that has a chance to be very special. I DO expect the latter half of the season to be a much better indicator of who the Browns can be. And I think – given our division – that we’ll be in the discussion to be AFCN champs. The team that *may* go to the playoffs for once is going to be much stronger than what you saw in Week 1.

Baker. Very strong arm, very accurate. But he’s young and sometimes overly aggressive. And if we fall behind, he’s shown an initial tendency to push for a quick strike or score rather than settle for the checkdown. THAT is what has led to too many picks. But if the game is close or if the Browns go up, don’t expect him to throw too many bad balls.

Don’t underestimate the DL. Myles is not the only threat. That is very much the strength of this team and – yeah it was the Jets – but Week 2 is closer to what you should expect than the poor (penalty-strewn) effort in Week 1. Goff will not have a lot of time to get the ball out and we’ve been stout against the run. Again, I expect a Rams win, I expect Goff to be up to the task of getting the ball out quickly – but he WILL need to get it out fast or he’s going to eat grass. Often.

There are two issues affecting the Browns. One is getting fixed quickly – time will take care of this teams inexperience with each other and the OBJ effect. The second problem is the OL and TE positions. We don’t have a pass catching threat at TE now that Njoku is down for a while and the OL has been struggling. So as much as Goff needs to get the ball out, Baker needs to do it more – Donald is a frickin’ nightmare matchup for the Browns right now and unless the coaching staff can scheme something spectacular to offset him, it could be a long day to be wearing number 6 in Cleveland.

There are negatives with the Browns and I don’t think they’re growing fast enough to compete with the Rams yet. But do not mistake their inexperience for a lack of talent – there is a *ton* of skill talent on the roster and if the Rams overlook the Browns at all, they could be in for a surprise. Stranger things have happened and it would be a huge step forward for the Browns to eke out a victory by virtue of turnovers / mistakes / bounces.