On Sunday September 8th ,2024, at 4:25 pm eastern time, the Cleveland Browns hosted the Dallas Cowboys to open the 2024 season. This season opening game was a nationally televised game on the FOX Network. It was also the broadcasting debut of NFL quarterback legend Tom Brady. Over 90% of the country was watching this game. The question that had to be answered was, are the Cleveland Browns contenders or pretenders in 2024?

Much scrutiny was put on Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson going into this game. He and the rest of the team’s goal was to start silencing their critics. Watson and the Cleveland Browns all thought the best way to quiet the critics was to be successful on the field. But they failed to do that in this game. In the first half of this game, the Cleveland Browns offense had only 1 first down and 47 yards of total offense. At halftime the Cleveland Browns trailed the Dallas Cowboys by a score of 20-3. In the second half the Browns defense only gave up 6 points and a Cowboys punt return went for a touchdown. The offense was able to make it respectable for a final score of Dallas winning 33-17. The offense did not compliment the defense in this game.  And the stats do not tell the story of how bad this game was for the Cleveland offense.

The Browns defense only gave up 265 yards of total offense to the Dallas Cowboys.  The Browns had 230 yards of offense. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott went 19 for 32, with 179 yards passing.  and 1 touchdown with no interceptions. Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson was 24 for 45, with 169 yards passing, and 1 touchdown with 2 interceptions. The Browns offense looked terrible in this game. Drive killing penalties, dropped passes, and sloppy play told the story of the day for the Browns offensive execution.

The good news for Browns fans is that it is only the first game of the season. The bad news for Browns fans is that the season has already started. Next week the Browns travel to Jacksonville Florida to play the Jacksonville Jaguars.  With the amount of money and talent on this Browns offense, there is no excuse for this performance. The Browns offense needs to figure it and start executing. And that needs to happen next week in Florida. Or this season of high expectations could get away from this team fast.