Cleveland Browns must be careful or risk falling to 3-4

The Cleveland Browns suffered a tough loss on Sunday. They must rebound quickly or they could be at risk of losing two straight and moving to 3-4.

The Cleveland Browns suffered one of the toughest losses I can remember in recent history on Sunday. In an offensive shootout, Baker Mayfield and the offense came up just short on a final drive as the Browns fell 47-42 to the Los Angeles Chargers.

The defense struggled once again, especially on third and fourth down, but also the officiating was mediocre at best. One specific pass interference call on a fourth-down really changed the momentum of the game.

Not to mention, injuries continue to pile up.  Denzel Ward, Greedy Williams, Greg Newsome, and Jadaveon Clowney all missed most of the game on Sunday. Jack Conklin also left the game on Sunday leaving the Cleveland Browns with two backup tackles.

The Browns are still in good shape at 3-2. The Bengals lost on Sunday to move to 3-2 and the Steelers won, but are still 2-3. A big help the Browns could use, the Colt upsetting the Ravens tonight to keep them at 3-2 as well.

Cleveland is fine as of now, but the schedule does them absolutely no favors as they host the 5-0 Arizona Cardinals next Sunday. A bit of a surprise so far in 2021, the Cardinals are perhaps the hottest team in the NFL beating the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers in back-to-back weeks.

The following Thursday Night the Browns will host the Denver Broncos. Although they just lost to the Steelers, the Broncos are still 3-2 and have proven to have one of the best defenses in the league.

This is a game the Browns will be favored in but will be no easy task. The Cleveland Browns can’t afford to lose back-to-back games at home and move to 3-4. The wheels could start to fall off the wagon if that occurred.

Let’s not panic yet, the good news, Baker Mayfield finally looked accurate on Sunday.  Although the final drive was a complete disaster with time management, he finally looked sharp again.

You can only worry about one game at a time, so at this point, let’s focus on beating the Cardinals.  If the injury news is bad once again, it will likely need to be an offensive shootout again.