On Sunday September 15h ,2024, the Cleveland Browns will travel to Jacksonville Florida to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars for their second game of the season. Cleveland is a 3.5-point underdog in this matchup. This was the point spread after the release of the midweek injury report. Unfortunately, injuries are not the only concern for the Cleveland Browns.

In last week’s season opener, the Cleveland Browns had an abysmal offensive performance. This was especially in the first half of the game. By halftime last week the Browns offense mustered 3 points, 1 first down and a total of 47 yards. And we cannot forget the late second quarter turnover that led to a halftime score of Dallas 20 and Cleveland 3. In the second half the offensive stats did improve. The Browns finished the game with 17 points, 15 first downs, and 235 yards of total offense. The immediate reaction to the bad offensive performance is to blame the quarterback.

Although Deshaun Watson is not free from responsibility of the awful game last Sunday. The problems on offense were broader than just the quarterback. The offense as a unit played a bad game. The Cleveland Browns had 14 offensive possessions in the season opener. 8 of those possessions had sloppy penalties to put the offense behind the sticks. Passes were dropped on crucial 3rd downs. Pass protection broke down on key plays. The run blocking was subpar as well. It appeared that the offense was not at all prepared to play the game.

Much criticism was pointed to the Cleveland Browns for not playing starters in the preseason. That may be part of the reason for the bad offense to start the season. But the Browns defense played a much better game on Sunday, and they didn’t play much in the preseason either. The silver lining at this point is that the offense can be fixed with coaching and reps. How much can be fixed this week? We will have to wait and see.