Who would've thought?
Back in the offseason, if you had stood there and said the Cleveland Browns would be sitting at 4-2 after six weeks with a pair of victories over division rivals Pittsburgh and Baltimore, you might've been laughed out of most sports bars in America. Alas, head coach Todd Monken may not be divine, but he and his staff are working miracles.
The Browns are in first place in the AFC North, due in large part to their ferociously stout defense, which currently ranks seventh in the league in points allowed. They're obviously still a work in progress — as a 24-point loss to the Jaguars and a Week 5 slip against the Jets illustrate — but folks are starting to take notice.
FanSided's Jason La Canfora published his weekly power rankings and had the Browns at a respectable 13th, a 10-spot jump from Week 5. His logic also explains precisely why Cleveland will be a force to be reckoned with as the season goes on, and why something unconventional may be worth exploring.
"They didn’t play close to their best game on offense Sunday," La Canfora wrote. "Deshaun Watson really is not it at QB, but the defense is the star and they shut down Derrick Henry utterly and completely without two of their best defensive tackles. If they get Mason Graham back soon and he picks up where he leaves off, it’s a playoff defense."
The Browns are winning in spite of their offense, but their defense is playoff-caliber
I am not usually one to advocate meddling when things are going well. Nonetheless, the same process-driven mentality that requires separating process from result needs to be applied consistently, even when the results are positive. In other words, just because the Browns are winning doesn't mean they should be complacent.
Deshaun Watson has eclipsed 250 yards passing just once this season. While he deserves credit for taking care of the football, he's been mostly mediocre or worse, with far too few glimpses of above-average play. The Browns are averaging 17.7 points per game, a figure that ranks 28th. Watson's as responsible as anyone else for that.
The Browns aren't doing a great job of making any part of their offensive operation look easy. They aren't running or passing it well. While it may be too early for any major changes, Monken and crew should start giving some thought to a pivot to Shedeur Sanders.
I know, I know. There's no way to know how he'll perform until he takes the grass, and it's more than fair to wonder if it would be an improvement. Still, it's genuinely debatable if Watson is providing much of anything for the Browns. The chance of Sanders being slightly more accurate and making a timely splash play every now and then is an alluring possibility that could make the 2026 Browns story much more compelling.
All I'm saying is, there aren't any rules against spelling Watson with a Sanders drive every now and then. If it fails, Monken can put the package on ice. There's no harm in trying, if for nothing else than to truly look under every rock in search of an offensive spark.
Wacky times call for funky measures. If platooning at quarterback gets the Browns closer to league-average scoring (22–24 points per game), they'll be a tough out for anybody going forward.
Add us as a preferred source on Google