On Saturday August 17th at 4:25 pm the Cleveland Browns hosted the Minnesota Vikings for the second week of the 2024 preseason. On Wednesday and Thursday of that week the teams held joint practices. So, starters from either team did not play any significant time. The game was for fans to get the opportunity to see the depth players. And what we saw was nothing that was great or spectacular. It was backups playing vanilla offense and vanilla defense.

I will give some credit that the team did play better than last week versus the Green Bay Packers. I did see better execution and game intensity. I also found the reports from the joint practices encouraging when the starters played against each other.

It was reported that the Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell asked Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz to start letting up on his team’s offense. The Browns defensive starters dominated the Vikings offensive starters. In contrast the Browns offensive line starters did struggle against the Vikings defensive line starters according to reports from joint practices. This what we didn’t see by watching this preseason game. 39 players on the Cleveland Browns training camp roster did not play in this game.

Seeing players like Jamari Thrash, Dorian Thomson-Robinson, and Devin Bush be productive in live game action is encouraging. And they were productive, but they didn’t do anything earth shattering.  The 2024 Cleveland Browns success can and will be determined on the overall health and depth of the team. In 2023 injuries did not deter the Cleveland Browns playoff season. And in 2024 the team and their fans are hoping for more success with much less adversity.

Next Saturday August 24th, 2024, at 10:25 pm eastern time, the Cleveland Browns will be traveling to Seattle Washington to play the Seahawks for the final preseason game. The starters for the Cleveland Browns on both offense and defense are expected to get extensive playing time.  It could be considered a dress rehearsal for the season opener. And Browns fans can hope for a better outcome and no injuries.