Looking ahead to the Cleveland Browns next 3 games
By Greg Newland
Although the Cleveland Browns are set atop the AFC North at 2-2, the next stretch of games is brutal. Here is a look at their next three opponents.
After two extremely disappointing losses, the Cleveland Browns have fully entered the countdown to the Deshaun Watson era. Not saying that Jacoby Brissett hasn’t been good, if not better than expected, but Watson is legitimately a top-five quarterback in the league who can’t be replaced.
The Browns sit 2-2 with a brutal seven-game stretch ahead of them, but you could make the argument they should be 1-3, but also that they could be 4-0. It took a last-second field goal to beat the Panthers, the Jets scored 14 points in under two minutes without a timeout, and the Falcons all but tried to give the game to the Browns on Sunday. The Thursday night win vs. the Steelers is the only game where Cleveland controlled the situation most of the way.
While it’s tough to just forget about the past, the Browns must do just that Forget about all the things that haven’t gone their way and focus on the future. At this point, let’s look at the next three games and see if the Browns stand a chance.
Cleveland Browns Next 3 games
Week 5 – vs. Los Angeles Chargers
While many expected the Los Angeles Chargers to be real contenders this year, so far, they are a very disappointing 2-2 with losses to the Chiefs and Jaguars and wins vs. the Raiders and Texans. Injuries have killed the Chargers as Rashawn Slater and Joey Bosa are both on injured reserve, along with Keenan Allen who has yet to play in 2022.
Star quarterback Justin Herbert hasn’t missed a game, but he is also dealing with a painful rib injury. After a few weeks to heal, this likely is on the upswing and shouldn’t be a factor for the matchup with Cleveland this weekend.
The Chargers offense could quickly march down the field on the Browns, but Brissett should be able to score some points as well. Cleveland desperately needs their defensive end tandem back to make things difficult for Herbert early.
This will be an extremely tough win, but the Chargers have been extremely inconsistent this season as well. With a difficult travel schedule to the eastern time zone, the Browns could surprise a lot of people and keep this game competitive.