by The Cleveland Browns won their first game of the 2024 regular season with a thrilling 18-13 win at Jacksonville today over the Jaguars. Several key factors went into this win, but also things come out of it that will need attention as well.
Let’s take a look at of all if it now.
Vintage Watson? Not quite, but pretty good still!
When the announcer decided to stop talking about his wife and kids long enough to focus on the game, he mentioned that Watson looked like the “Vintage” Watson he remembered playing against. Well, not quite, but still, Watson looked much better today as he went 22 of 34 for 186 yards with no touchdowns or picks. He ran the ball 5 times for 20 yards and a score, however.
Again, not great, but not terrible either. Watson needs to start stringing 4 or 5 of these games together at a time, while also eventually hitting over 300 yards on a consistent basis. He is not even coming close right now.
The Wide Receivers decided to show up today
David Bell was extremely key before getting hurt, as Bell does what Bell does best, moves the chains! Meanwhile, Jerry Jeudy looked good in flashes too with 5 catches for 73 yards. It also seemed that all 5 catches from him came at pivotal moments. If the Browns can get Cooper back to normal anytime soon, the Browns will only get better. However, Elijah Moore who was brought in last year to take the top off the defense as a downfield threat has been anything but. They need to trade him asap.
The line stood tall
Last Week Watson was sacked 6 times and ran for his life all game. Today, under the exact same line without Wills or the ALWAYS HURT Jack Conklin, the line stood tall. Watson was relatively unscathed and only sacked twice. This allowed him to be comfortable in the pocket, and make better throws.
Making the most of their time with the ball.
The Browns had the ball for over 2/3 of the first half as they dominated the TOP with 20:06 of offense. This included 3 drives, in which all of them led to points. For Cleveland, Watson led drives of 16 plays leading to a touchdown, 12 plays leading to a field goal and 8 plays leading to a field goal. 36 total plays leading to 13 points. Certainly, a better start then Week One versus Dallas.
The Browns cannot guard the deep ball.
The biggest weakness of the Cleveland Browns defense since Schwartz arrived is their weakness at covering the deep ball. It burned them again today at the tail end of the third quarter when Trevor Lawrence hit Brian Thomas Jr on a 66-yard strike that led to a touchdown, and instantly changed the momentum of the game to Jacksonville. This has to be rectified and quickly if the Browns want any chance at returning to the playoffs.
Goal line stand in the fourth quarter.
A big moment in this game was the Browns defense forcing the Jaguars to settle for a field goal after earning a 1rst and goal. By getting the stop it kept them in front 16-13, instead of giving up a touchdown that would have put them behind 17-16 with 7 minutes to play. A key stop at the time. This was a 13 play drive that soaked up over 6 minutes and only resulted in 3 points.
Winston went 3 for 3 on Fourth Downs
Winston came in for 3 fourth and shorts, picking all of them including two with his feet. It’s the little things that lead to wins.
The Punt that turned into a safety
Kevin Stefanski passed up on a 58-yard field goal at the two-minute warning. Instead, Bojorquez went for the coffin corner punt and nailed it. On the very next play, the Browns got to Trevor Lawrence and came up with a huge safety to increase their lead to 18-13 with 1:44 to go. Great special teams led to the game sealing safety.
Stefanski has their number!
Since arriving in 2020, Kevin Stefanski is now 3-0 against Jacksonville, with the 3 wins coming by a combined margin of 11 points. They may not win by a lot against Jacksonville, or pretty, but they just win when Stefanski is in charge.
Final thoughts on page two
