Fish - Browns Review

B. Edwards is starting to earn some of his signing bonus. He still occasionally has the dropsies, but he’s also making more plays when given the opportunity. Today, he had three TD grabs and two drops. I’ll take that any week.

K2 is a man among boys.

DA played well. He led the AFC in picks coming in, which is a bad sign when you’ve hardly been touched, but he did what he had to do against a porous Miami defense.

The offensive line just keeps getting better. They gave the Browns’ runners holes once again, allowing Wright and Harrison to consistently get to the second level of the defense. It doesn’t seem to matter who is running, the blocking is springing everyone free.

Now the bad news - The defense is right now the worst in football. They entered week #6 dead last in the NFL in team defense and giving up 31 points to Miami won’t help. They have allowed the most TD passes in the NFL and they have given up a 100 yard rusher in every game this fall. Here I thought it was only in five of six.

Secondly, before anyone starts talking playoffs, a little reality check - the Browns’ three wins have come against opponents with a combined winning percentage of .294 (5-12). That very favorable schedule continues coming off the bye week at St. Louis.

Like we said last week, these two games against winless teams, are MUST wins. The Browns are half way there.

What I do like is they are starting to get an identity on offense. Their size at WR and their strength up front makes for a good offense.

Winslow works the seam well, Edwards is starting to dominate on jump balls downfield and Joe. J. is solid underneath keeping the chains moving. That size at WR is creating match-up nightmares for the defense. Meanwhile, the running game has been solid.

Question: Why is all this working?

Answer: It all starts up front and always has.

Now, 3-3 isn’t bad but 4-2 would be better. That loss at Oakland hurt.

What I don’t want to hear is players, coaches and management being satisfied with a .500 mark at the break. Remember, .500 is average in sports – unless someone has changed the rules.

The bar should be set higher and I’ll make sure to remind everyone of this.

Bottom line - they should have beaten the Dolphins going away - and they did.