Cleveland Browns 2022 opponent preview: Atlanta Falcons

The Cleveland Browns will have a mini-bye after their first Thursday Night game in Week 3 to prepare for the Atlanta Falcons in early October

As we enter June, the Cleveland Browns are working toward the 2022 season as they continue to work through their OTAs.

They’re working in new players, new game plans, and figuring out who will make their 53-man roster.

While they focus on this, we can look ahead to each of their opponents in the 2022 season and today, we are on the Atlanta Falcons — their fourth opponent of the year.

Falcons 2021 season

The Falcons weren’t great in 2021. They started out 1-3 and kind of traded wins and losses from then on. Their wins came against bad teams but when they played stronger opponents they would end up getting blown out — they lost 43-3 to Dallas in Week 10 and 25-0 to New England in Week 11.

Overall, they were 7-10 in their first season under Arthur Smith and they now seem to be in a rebuild mode.

Key offseason moves

The Atlanta Falcons will look like a whole new team with Matt Ryan gone. In his place is Marcus Mariota, who was a former No. 2 overall pick. However, he didn’t live up to that status and spent the past couple of seasons as a backup for the Raiders.

They also lost Foyesade Oluokon which will hurt their defense but they did add some talent in the draft. Their biggest addition was Drake London who was their top draft pick but Arnold Ebiketie could also end up being a playmaker for them on the defensive side of the ball.

When do the teams meet?

The Falcons and Browns meet in Atlanta in Week 4 (Oct. 2), in another 1:00 pm EST game for Cleveland.

Last time the Cleveland Browns played Atlanta

The Atlanta Falcons and Cleveland Browns last faced off — at least in the regular season — in 2018 which ended up being a memorable game. Not only did Cleveland shock the visiting Falcons with a 28-16 win, but that was also the game where Baker Mayfield famously said he “woke up feeling dangerous.”

More important than that, Nick Chubb went off with 176 yards and set a franchise record with a 92-yard touchdown run. A lot has changed since then for both teams, but this could still he a fun one nonetheless.

Player to watch

Cordarrelle Patterson is the main guy to watch on Atlanta. He was a major weapon for them in 2021 with 618 yards and six touchdowns as a runner and 548 yards and five touchdowns as a receiver.

Having said that, he’s a journeyman without a true position and with him being the most dangerous weapon on the team, that might tell you all you need to know about the Browns opponent in Week 4.