Just as good as some felt after week 1, this feels just as bad as that did good..
I know you can’t say it this early but this almost felt like a must win if the Browns wanted to be taken seriously this year.. All the history was in the Steelers favor and the Browns even had some injury luck with Heyward and Johnson out and Cooper playing — this was the time to eradicate the past..
So to see them go out the way they did and take Chubb down with them, is excruciating..
The Browns finally seem to have the defense this year and a solidified special teams yet it always comes back to the offense..
The Steelers kept trying to give the Browns the game and the Browns would give it right back.. So many self inflicted wounds that inhibited any type of consistent momentum..
Post Chubb, the offense was totally inept on the first two downs and were consistently behind the sticks on third down.. Any time they would get something going, somehow they would shut it right down..
Even worse, this was the game for Watson to really show he’s worth the investment and if anything, it’s furthered fears that what we’ve seen is more in line than what we hoped..
Watson has always held the ball for long periods and taken some negative plays, but the explosive offensive plays to make up for that isn’t there, nor is the consistent intermediate or anticipatory passes.. There’s maybe a few passes every game that give you hope and then there’s a handful of head scratchers..
Adding insult to all the injuries the Browns sustained, it’s hard to understand what they can hang their hats on.. Right now it’s more hope than reality and that’s a scary feeling..
I never thought an early bye week could be a positive but it seems like it’s needed at this point..
The only way to recover from this loss is taking the next two..
All the optimism thinking this team was going to be different, seems to have subsided after a game like that with so many of the mistakes from teams past — turnovers, penalties, poor decisions, unreal luck and trying to figure out how the Browns ended up in the situation they did..
Where do the Browns go from here? Nowhere without even average QB play now, which they can’t seem to get and even with average QB they probably are 2-0..
The good news is there’s a dearth of RB options out there to help the bad news is this puts even more on Watson to step up..
If Watson is in there somewhere, it’s going to take us to see it before we believe it..
A win at least covers some of the stink from this game; a loss just seems to magnify all of the issues even further..
Not sure I’ve felt this defeated from a game in a long time..
