3 Big storylines for Cleveland Browns vs. Dallas Cowboys in Week 1

It's finally here. The Cleveland Browns will play a regular season football game this Sunday afternoon. To top it off, it's the first game that Tom Brady will be calling as a member of the Fox broadcast team.

The Browns had a very active offseason. They replaced nearly every offensive coach, traded for marquee receiver Jerry Jeudy, and drafted a talented defensive lineman in Mike Hall Jr. to name a few of their moves. Now it's time for the team to play and see if their changes were enough.

The following three storylines should be watched closely, as they will determine whether the Browns can pull out a win.

Deshaun Watson and the new offense

Cleveland devoted a lot of time and energy this offseason to recreating their offense. As previously mentioned, they basically replaced the entire offensive coaching staff that is headlined by the addition of Ken Dorsey.

The hope is to create an offense that is more modern and more suited to the strengths of Deshaun Watson. It's been clear throughout Watson's tenure with the Browns that he has thrived the way the team was hoping he would.

Even though it's a brand-new offense, the Browns didn't play Watson in the preseason. This means that Watson has not started an NFL game since November 12 against the Baltimore Ravens, which was his best game as a member of the Browns, making it nearly 10 months since Watson has started or played in a game.

Entering his third year for the team, fans and coaches are ready to see Watson excel. They want to see why the Browns traded three first round draft picks and more for the player. Hopefully this new offense allows for that to happen.

Offensive line injuries and the run game

This is the first game in Kevin Stefanski's tenure as the Browns head coach without former offensive line coach Bill Callahan. On top of this, they've been riddled with injuries on the offensive line, with Jedrick Wills still not practicing as of Monday this week.

If Wills is unable to go, it will be interesting to see who gets the first chance to play left tackle. Jack Conklin has been getting some practice time there this year. He might be the Browns best option, especially considering they are going up against one of the premier edge rushers in Micah Parsons.

To go off of the offensive line play, the Browns were unable to establish the run game during the preseason. There are several reasons for this, but it will be interesting to watch in the first week. Did they just not care to establish the run or was the preseason a sign of things to come for the regular season?

Hopefully the running back committee of Jerome Ford, D'Onta Foreman, and Pierre Strong Jr. can be effective and efficient. It will be interesting to see who gets the bulk of the carries and to analyze the rotation of the running backs.

Can the defense be as dominant this year?

The Browns had a dominant defense last season, especially when playing at home. Unfortunately, the year ended with a sour taste in everyone's mouth as the Houston Texans were able to do everything and anything they wanted throughout the playoff game.

No big free agents were brought in either to bolster the defense. The key addition was on the coaching side with Mike Vrabel being brought in as consultant this offseason.

It will be worth monitoring to see if Vrabel is able to help the the Browns shore up their weaknesses. One of the main issues the Browns struggled with last year were zone defense. Too often there were miscommunications in zone coverage allowing a player to break free.

The other main weakness was facing an offense that implemented pre-snap motion. The Browns struggled to disguise coverages when their opponents used motion, which made it all too easy for the quarterback to quickly dissect the coverage and know where to go with the football.

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