Heartbreaking early exit for Browns backup center in Week 6

C Nick Harris, who was stepping in for an inactive Ethan Pocic in the Cleveland Browns Week 6 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, went down on the third down played by the Browns offense. Harris seemed to hurt his knee or leg when blocking for QB Deshaun Watson on the play, which ended on a dropped pass from WR Amari Cooper. Harris joins a long list of injured offensive lineman for Cleveland this season. Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reported that Harris suffered an ankle injury on the play and would be out for the contest.

The story of the day for this Browns offense and its O-line was the return of All-Pro T Jack Conklin to the lineup. Conklin had missed the entire season so far after going down in the first game of the 2023 season with a knee injury, so having him back to regain chemistry with the team was huge and positive news. But, now with Harris out and carted off the field with his teammates around him, it looks like yet another hole has formed on this O-line.

The Browns depth chart shows that they have no other centers to throw out onto the field, but the Browns inserted G Michael Dunn to snap to Watson.

This is just another blow to Cleveland's O-line as it desperately needs to protect Watson and provide a clean pocket to find any success in the air. With Harris out, the team will likely need to shuffle its O-line around to place a guard like Dunn under center at all times to still, also, provide that pass protection.

Defense doing its thing versus Eagles in first quarter

In the first quarter, the script was similar to Week 6 in that the Browns defense was getting big stops on Jalen Hurts on crucial third down plays. CB Denzel Ward, who was actually hurt in that Week 6 contest, had a very cool stop on DeVonta Smith that almost led to a pick. There was pass interference called on the play initially, but it was overruled and the stop was given to the Browns defense.

RB Saquon Barkley and Hurts were both struggling to get their rushing game going against the Browns defensive line, with Za'Darius Smith and Myles Garrett stuffing the Eagles that were trying to squeeze up the middle. The defense keeps setting Cleveland's offense up well, so it's just a matter of Watson and company making smart decisions and protecting the football so the team can build some yards against this Philadelphia defense.

Harris not the only injury early in game

RB Jerome Ford was out early in the first quarter of the game as well, leaving the game after making a decent gain on a drive from Cleveland. He looked explosive, but was limping off to the sideline after the run and was seen by FOX cameras walking to the locker room after the play. Now, Cleveland has to rely on D'Onta Foreman and Pierre Strong Jr. to piece together a run game as they await reinforcements in the form of Nick Chubb and Nyheim Hines in coming weeks.