Some information given to us courtesy of Dawgs by Nature’s Chris Pokorny.
In preparing for Sunday’s divisional matchup, Dawgs By Nature’s Chris Pokorny and I sat down for a Q&A for one another’s publications.
To read my answers to Chris’ questions, please check out Dawgs By Nature.
The Browns are making two significant changes this week offensively, with Jameis Winston now the starting quarterback and Offensive Coordinator Ken Dorsey taking over as the play caller. What, to you, does this mean for the Browns’ offense?
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“It literally can’t be worse than the performance that Deshaun Watson was giving week in and week out. The Browns may be 1-6, and I didn’t wish an injury to Watson, but I believe the Browns would be 5-2 or 4-3 if they had Joe Flacco back on the team. That’s the degree of detriment that I attribute to Watson over these first seven games. Watson was slow with his mannerisms and decision-making, which often led to short passes that defenders were ready for. And then any time Watson tried to throw the ball deep, it was just overthrown. With Jameis Winston, the Browns return to more of that gunslinger mentality — a guy who isn’t afraid to rip 15- to 20-yard passes on every given play. I think we’ll actually get to see an offense as opposed to one that is lucky to get one touchdown per game. As for Ken Dorsey being the playcaller, I don’t know what to expect there. I liked Kevin Stefanski’s offense in previous years, and I feel they hired Dorsey this offseason to try to run an offense that was more comfortable for Watson. But, that offense sucked, and now Watson is gone. With that said, if you bring a guy in to have big influence over the offense, then I think it makes sense to let that guy call the plays. It’ll also be interesting to see how Stefanski can focus on other areas of being a head coach when he’s not consumed with calling plays.”
Sticking with the offense, there are two more impactful changes. First, wide receiver Amari Cooper will not be on the field after being traded to the Buffalo Bills. Also, running back Nick Chubb is back after seeing his first game action last week as he ramps up. How will the team miss Cooper? Do you expect Chubb to be ramped-up to a full workload?
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“We loved Amari Cooper, but something was clearly off this season with the number of dropped passes he had. I think it was a factor of the team just not having any faith in Watson, and they didn’t have that degree of focus that they should have had. Last week, it allowed someone like Cedric Tillman to step up and be involved a lot more as a receiver. Cleveland has drafted a few guys like Tillman and Jamari Thrash in recent years, but they never get playing time; so if our record is bad and Cooper won’t be back next season, it makes sense to let these younger guys get some valuable reps. As for Nick Chubb, he basically only played the first half last week. You could see a little bit of rust at first, with him being tripped up on plays he would usually break free on. This week, I think we’ll see him get the full workload.”
Defensively, the Browns are solid. They are No. 17 by DVOA and No. 15 in total yards. How much do you think this team can improve by having an offense that can stay on the field? Do you think the offensive changes can invigorate the defense?
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“It certainly can’t hurt to have the offense putting more points on the board, and I think the defense can also be invigorated by better offensive play. However, there’s a caveat to that. On one hand, I do think the defense is sometimes trying to make a special play instead of a fundamental play, to make up for the poor offense, and then it comes back to bite them. On the other hand, fans have to remember that even when Joe Flacco was lighting up opposing teams at the end of last season for Cleveland, the defense was allowing a lot of points. Many teams have figured out how to get under the Browns’ skin with things like end arounds, excessive misdirections, and other little things that counteract the aggressiveness of the defense. All of that considered, we’ve seen the defense play solid for much of this season, but, the secondary is not winning the one-on-one battles with receivers on a few big plays that end up turning those 7-3 games into a 14-3 deficit. Allowing 14 points normally isn’t a big deal, but when the offense can’t even reach 20 points once this season, then it feels like they’re defeated.”
Who are two players (one offense, one defense) Ravens fans should know about heading into this game?
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“As I mentioned earlier, I’ll go with wide receiver Cedric Tillman on offense. He was a third-round pick last year, but has seldom been used. With Amari Cooper being traded, Tillman had 8 catches for 81 yards on 12 targets, after having 3 catches for 9 yards prior to that in 2024. Tillman had some issues in 2023 with a badly-timed drop or running the wrong route, but now it seems like he will get a chance to show what he’s made of. On defense, I’ll go with linebacker Mohamoud Diabate. He returned from injury a couple weeks ago, and has paired well with linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah as an aggressive player in pursuit of the ballcarrier. With veteran linebacker Jordan Hicks set to miss another game, Diabate should see significant action for the third straight week and has been a bit of a Pro Football Focus darling.”
The Ravens are nearly double-digit favorites for this game. Do you agree with the oddsmakers? What are your thoughts on this matchup?
“When Cleveland is 1-6, hasn’t reached 20 points once this season, and Baltimore is hit on their five-game winning streak, the large spread is appropriate, so I agree with the oddsmakers. I’m picking the Ravens to win. Now, as a fan, when we’ve been wanting to see Deshaun Watson gone from the offense, it obviously adds some more anticipation heading into the game. A new quarterback, our star running back being a full-go, and (hopefully) the team morale being higher if the offense shows they can do something finally. It happened with Flacco last year, so it’s not the craziest possibility to hope for. However, again, with how hot the Ravens’ offense has been, it’s just hard to predict that everything will go in Cleveland’s favor. The Browns need to prove themselves again before we can take them seriously.”