Coming off their bye week, the Philadelphia Eagles are gearing up for their first home game since September 16 (and just their second true home game all season). The Birds are back at Lincoln Financial Field to take on the Cleveland Browns.
In order to preview this Week 6 matchup, I reached out to our enemies over at Dawgs By Nature. The clever Chris Pokorny kindly took the time to answer my questions about this upcoming battle. Let’s take a look at the answers. [For my answers about the Eagles, check out DBN.]
1 – Deshaun Watson has been awful. Is there any hope left or should he be benched? And do you think it actually might happen at some point?
I don’t have a ton of hope, unless he ends up getting perfect offensive line protection and running back Nick Chubb back. Even then, I’d question his decision-making and ability to motivate the offense. If the team drops a few more games, even when the offense is healthy, then I think the team could try to bench him. By that, I am referring to the possibility of right tackle Jack Conklin, Chubb, and tight end David Njoku back for a few games. In that circumstance, our offense would practically be as healthy as possible, leaving no more excuses for Watson. He should have been benched already for how horrible he has played. He just doesn’t have the recognition or consistency to be a starting NFL quarterback, and yet he’s throwing a high volume of passes.
2 – Who deserves the most blame for the Watson situation and then who will actually be held most accountable for it? Do you think Andrew Berry and/or Kevin Stefanski could be in jeopardy if the season doesn’t turn around?
If it were up to head coach Kevin Stefanski, I’m sure Watson would have been benched already. However, with all the money the organization invested in him, they are stuck. They committed to him for five years, thinking he would lead them to a Super Bowl, so they want to, if at all possible, hope he magically turns it around so they can save face. In the meantime, the fan base is alienated, and the body language from the rest of the team seems to be suffering too. I don’t see how Stefanski can be fired, given the fact that he’s a two-time NFL coach of the year, as recently as last season. Andrew Berry also comes highly touted. I don’t know who was mostly responsible for really wanting the team to go out and get Deshaun Watson years ago — was it owner Jimmy Haslam? Was it Berry? Did Paul DePodesta play a role? I don’t see any coaching or GM changes being made during the season, though. This team still has a season or two window of all their key players being here, so any changes would come after that, if necessary.
3 – What are the non-Watson issues plaguing the Browns’ offense?
The offensive line has been a mess, both with their play and with injuries. First off, I hate the offense that Cleveland has tried to deploy this year. The offensive line really excelled years ago as a zone-blocking run team, with quarterbacks often under center. It worked. Now, with Watson, they went out and got offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey and are primarily in Shotgun all game, including when they run the ball. The offensive line just doesn’t seem comfortable with that, and then you layer in the fact that the center has been banged up, our starting right tackle is on IR, our All-Pro right tackle still hasn’t returned for a game this season yet, and our starting left tackle (who is barely average to begin with) just returned last week. We’ve lost our identity by trying to cater to Watson.
4 – How do Browns fans feel about former Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and his unit entering this matchup?
Overall, I think fans are in favor of Jim Schwartz, particularly with how the Browns were the top-ranked defense in the NFL last season. This year, they aren’t the top-ranked team, and fans are wondering, “what happened?” The personnel is pretty much the same. From my perspective, it starts with the fact that more opposing teams are taking advantage of the Browns’ aggressiveness by attacking the edges, and then finding ways to extend plays so they can spring a late receiver open. Compounding that, I think the defense is pressing too much, with everyone trying to make a huge play on every play, to compensate for the offense being bad. Instead of it leading to making plays, though, it’s leading to sloppiness, and two players being in the same spot at times. My main complaint about Schwartz is that I’ve yet to see him make adjustments — it’s live or die with the aggressiveness, and no in-between.
5 – Who wins this game and why? With the Eagles currently listed as 8.5-point home favorites, what’s your score prediction? And then what’re you expecting from the rest of this Browns season?
The Browns can’t even score 20 points on offense. I don’t have a score prediction yet, but I’m not expecting Cleveland to win a game until they prove they can have some semblance of an identity on offense. I think the only hope I have this week would be the fact that Philly really slumped at the end of last season, and Jalen Hurts has struggled with turnovers. When you have two teams that unpredictably shoot themselves in the foot, maybe it opens the door for Cleveland to snap out of their slump. I’m expecting the Browns to get a boost when Chubb returns, but I can’t be overly optimistic knowing that Watson is the main guy. There is one possible saving grace: Cleveland has not played a division game yet. If something somehow clicks, the AFC North could technically still be up for grabs a bit.
