Week 13 stock report: Browns offense on the rise, defense sliding

A year ago, many questioned if the Cleveland Browns offense was capable of pushing through the adversity it had already faced for a final playoff push to the end the season. Through four different starting quarterbacks, Kevin Stefanski led the Browns into the post season with the final effort from Joe Flacco.

The offense, however, was rarely the topic of debate for as to why the Browns were a good football team as they owned the NFL's number one defense.

This year has been a completely different story, as the defense as been a shell of its former self, and the offense has only recently begun to take off under QB Jameis Winston and play caller Ken Dorsey.

The key difference between 2023, and 2024 has been the play of starting QB Deshaun Watson to start the season, questionable play calling, and a defense incapable of bailing the team out anymore. All of which is led to a recipe for disaster for the Browns in 2024.

On Monday Night Football, the Browns were humbled by the Denver Broncos as they lost 32-41 to Broncos rookie QB Bo Nix who played like a seasoned pro.

The game in and of itself wasn't terrible, there was a lot of bad plays, good plays, strengths and weaknesses that were exposed during Week 13 for the Browns, but Cleveland needed to play near perfect football to close out the season if the playoffs were at all a goal. Regardless, let's review three players whose stalk in rising, and three whose are falling after Wek 13.

Honorable Mention: Jameis Winston

Winston is probably the most difficult player to put on either list after Mondays game. For the majority of the game, he played sound and arguably flawless football. He threw for almost 500 yards and four touchdowns; in any instance you'd expect that to be the performance of a winning QB. The issue is that he also threw three interceptions, two of which were returned for TDs.

Consistency has plagued Winston's career and typically were talking about games where he's hot and games where he's not, but in a strange game on Monday, Winston played at both an MVP caliber level, and at a level in which Cleveland could even potentially justify moving onto Dorian Thompson-Robinson for the remainder of the season to evaluate him.

Read more: Jameis Winston has earned the chance to be the Browns' starting quarterback

I am a huge Winston fan of Winston, and still believe in him as the QB for the Browns in 2024 and beyond. His attitude is infectious, and play-by-play analyst, Troy Aikman, made a valid point; Cleveland would likely be sitting in a completely different scenario if Winston was the starter earlier in the season.

Late in the fourth quarter, Winston began forcing the ball to try and make something happen. On his second interception, it wasn't necessary, but the third one could argue the game was all but over at that point anyways.

1. Stock Up: Jerry Jeudy

Talk about a homecoming. Jerry Jeudy absolutely shined in his return to Denver against his former team. Jeudy caught nine of 13 targets for 235 yards and a touchdown. The Browns gained 552 yards on Monday night, which means that Jeudy accounted for roughly half the Browns total offense.

Jeudy was an absolute monster and looked every bit the player Cleveland traded for in the offseason, and accomplished his goal of making Denver regret their decision. He was simply the best player on the field Monday from both teams. Jeudy certainly had fun Monday, and enjoyed hearing the boos from the Broncos fans after each play he made.

Even Jeudy's historical game wasn't enough for Cleveland to escape with a victory, but it was extremely promising for the Browns offense to see him finally have his breakout game. He was very boastful after the game, but did explain that he would trade his massive stat line in for a victory if he could.

Nevertheless, Jeudy set an NFL record for most yards receiving against his former team, breaking Terrell Owens former record of 213.

2. Stock Down: Nick Chubb

I am not sure if there was something wrong with Nick Chubb, apart from the fact that he's still easing his way back from massive reconstructive knee surgery that ended his 2023 season. You would think that as the season progresses, Chubb would be getting more carries as he eases his way back into his former All-Pro status.

However, on Monday night, Chubb played only 33 percent of the offensive snaps which marks the second lowest of the season. His first game back in Week 8, Chubb played in 35.7 percent during a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, and his 33 percent was nearly half of the 65.5 percent he posted Week 12 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

It's upsetting to place Nick Chubb on this list given what he means to the Browns organization, the fans, and the city of Cleveland. The reality is though that Chubb has looked like a shell of himself in the seven games since his return. He is averaging roughly 2.96 yards per carry, and is being brought down by defenders he would typically run over.

I don't want to admit it, and I have a lot of hope that Chubb still can return to All-Pro form, but at 28 years old, and a major knee injury, Nick Chubbs best days may be behind him. Still, I do believe Cleveland should re-sign him in the off-season, and draft a young back in the early rounds to help take the pressure off of him. Jerrome Ford is not that guy and often move out of an open lane right into the warm embrace of an opposing defender.

3. Stock Up: Corey Bojorquez

For the umpteenth time this season, Browns punter Corey Bojorquez had an outstanding game. He was able to pin the Broncos within their own ten-yard line twice, and a total of three punts were downed within the 20-yard line. Only one punt was a touchback, and his longest punt was 63 yards.

Through 14 weeks, Bojorquez leads the NFL in punts with 64, and his average of 50.5 yards is good for seventh best. The average is skewed due to the Pittsburgh game where he averaged 30.7 yards per attempt in the blizzard.

He currently has the longest punt in the NFL at 84 yards and is third in total punts downed within the 20 with 28. While Cleveland has cleaned up their punt coverage in recent weeks, Bojorquez has turned into a bright spot of special teams and quite the specialist.

4. Stock Down: Dustin Hopkins

Praised for his consistency in 2023, Cleveland kicker Dustin Hopkins has been anything of the sort this season. On Monday, Hopkins added to his season struggled by missing his first field goal attempt from 47 yards. In 2023, Hopkins had a successful season nailing roughly 92 percent of his attempts, and in 2024 he has made only 69 percent of his attempts.

In July, the Browns and Hopkins negotiated a contract extension that locked Hopkins in Cleveland for the next three years. At the time, the move made sense for both sides and time will only tell if Hopkins is able to shake the kicking struggles.

After his seventh missed field goal of the season, he has become so unreliable that many have urged the Browns to release him. Regardless, Hopkins has been a contributing factor to the Browns nine losses on the season.

5. Stock Up: Ken Dorsey

Prior to head coach Kevin Stefanski giving up play calling, I among many others were very critical of the two time NFL Coach of the Year. However, I believed then, and still believe now, that he is the right man to lead the Browns into the future.

I was always skeptical of Ken Dorsey, and while there have been questionable play calls, and the offensive resurgence hasn't led to wins; there is no doubt that the Browns offense has taken a major step forward since he assumed play calling duties.

During the first seven weeks, under Stefanski's play calling, the Browns averaged roughly 255 yards on offense and scored 15.7 point per game. The Browns played only two teams with a winning record, and their opponents combined record is 33-52.

The Browns played three different teams, the New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders, and the Jacksonville Jaguars who own a 2-10 record, and for two of the teams one of their two wins are against the Browns.

Since Dorsey assumed play calling duties, the Browns have averaged 398 yards on offense and 22 points per game. The real kicker is that every single team the Browns have played in Week 8 through Week 13, have been playoff caliber teams with Cleveland beating both Pittsburgh and Baltimore during their current stretch.

Cleveland should have won Monday, they certainly played well enough, but failed to come through late in the game. Regardless, it appears that Dorsey has unlocked a level to the offense that Stefanski was unable, or unwilling to do prior to Week 8.

Deshaun Watson's play could be a big factor in the lackluster offense to begin the year, but I believe it's somewhere between mismanagement and Stefanski trying to run his offense with Dorseys passing scheme.

6. Stock Down: Jim Schwartz

In 2023 the Browns owned the number one defense in the NFL, and were the sole reason they were able to make a late season playoff push and secure a wild card slot in the post season. In 2024 however, the Browns defense has been a contributing factor to their poor record.

When Cleveland's offense is clicking on all cylinders, the defense has looked lost and extremely mistake prone. It could be the Browns defense being worn out from having to carry the team in the beginning of the season, or it could be that whatever Cleveland was successful in 2023 was exposed during the wild card game in Houston.

Either way, the blame has to fall on someone, and we can only blame the players for so long when confusion, missed assignments, and blown coverages become a constant.

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