5 Studs and Duds for the Cleveland Browns on Sunday

There is a lot to be excited about if you are a Cleveland Browns fan

It has been over a decade since a Cleveland Browns fan woke up on Monday morning with their team on a four-game win streak. Not only that, it has been since 1994 since the Browns have been 4-1, which was under the great Bill Belichick. And while the first three games were against subpar teams, the Browns beat a talented Indianapolis Colts squad on Sunday.

First-year head coach Kevin Stefanski was dealt an extremely tough hand. Not only did he inherit a team that lacked discipline, but he also had to get this team to gel without a ton of “in-person” interaction. COVID-19 has pretty much changed everything in 2020. The entire NFL offseason was virtual, there was no preseason, and training camp was substantially shorter.

Stefanski was able to get veterans, rookies, and entire new coaching staff prepared under those circumstances and lead the team to a 4-1 start. Most fans (other than Brown’s fans) would have taken the under on the Browns having four wins through the first five weeks. An extremely disappointing 2019 season had most down on the entire organization.

What was best about Sunday was finally seeing the defense show up. The offense has put together a few strong performances in the last three games and previously was forced to drag the defense along. This week, the offense struggled for a portion of the second half and the defense was there to pick them up with timely turnovers and third-down stops.  And boy, was that refreshing.

While there is always bad to take away from games, it was mostly all good in this Week 5 victory.  Let’s look at the “studs and duds” of the week five victory. Spoiler Alert: It’s more good news than bad this week as I find myself in a rather cheerful mood this Monday morning (as most Browns fans surely do).