CLEVELAND, Ohio — John Harbaugh made a bold prediction for the Browns after his Ravens beat them 41-17 in Week 2.
“I’ve said it before, [the Cleveland Browns] are going to win a lot of games this year,” he said in his postgame press conference.
Considering that Joe Flacco turned the ball over twice and that Lamar Jackson threw four touchdown passes, it smacked of gratuitous praise.
But after the Browns’ wild, come-from-behind 13-10 victory over the Packers on Sunday that got them in the win column at 1-2, it doesn’t seem nearly as farfetched.
Granted, the Browns need an offense to go along with their championship-caliber defense, but if that dominant side of the ball — ranked No. 1 in total yards allowed — continues to play like this and they start to get some production out of their offense, they might be able to make a little noise this season. As it stands, the Browns are 30th in the NFL in points scored with 15.3 per game.
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Heading into the season, Vegas had the Browns’ over/under at 4.5 — just 1.5 wins better than their three from last season. But with a defense that shut down Joe Burrow in Week 1, running back Derrick Henry in Week 2 and the Packers in Week 3, the over seems a safe bet.
Packers coach Matt LeFleur would probably agree with Harbaugh after his previously-unbeaten team mustered only 10 points against the Browns after scoring 27 in each of their first two games, victories over the Lions and Commanders.
“They did a helluva job,” LeFleur said after the game. “They were ready to play. They were gassed up. I knew it was going to be a challenge. I mean, if you look at what they did the first two weeks of the season vs. a really good Cincinnati offense; versus a really good Baltimore offense … When you look at it, I think that (41-17) score was totally misleading, when you watch just the natural progression of that game. They had a fumble return for a touchdown; they were picked down to the five-yard line. I knew going into this, it was going to be a dogfight, and it was going to be a challenge.”
Lions coach Dan Campbell, whose team beat the Ravens 38-30 on Monday night, will be preaching the same thing to his 2-1 team this week, at least as it relates to the Browns defense. On Sunday, the Browns held Packers running back Josh Jacobs to just 30 yards on 16 carries for a 1.9-yard average, and in Week 2, they held Henry to just 23 yards rushing, after he had gouged the Bills for 169 the week before. In fact, he had rushed for 162, 142, 138 and 169 in his previous four games dating back to last season.
“I don’t want to gloss over how hard it is to stop Derrick Henry, right?” Schwartz said Thursday. “I mean, the week before when he rushed for 170 with gashes all over the place, Buffalo knew he was wearing 22. It wasn’t like they weren’t trying to stop him. It’s hard to do, and our defensive tackles and our defensive ends, have played very physical.”
But the Browns defense will have to bring its A-game vs. the Lions, which dropped 426 yards of offense on the Ravens’ stout defense, including 224 on the ground. The Lions’ two-headed monster of David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs — Sonic and Knuckles — combined for 218 yards rushing and four TDs, including 151 by Montgomery, with blasts of 72 and 31 yards.
After their 27-13 loss to the Packers in Week 1, the Lions offense has woken up, scoring 52 points in their win over the Bears, and 38 against the Ravens. It means they’ve outscored the points-challenged Browns 90-30 the past two weeks.
And if the Lions can sack the Houdini-like Lamar Jackson seven times like they did Monday night — most ever allowed by the Ravens — they’ll be loaded for bear against 40-year-old Joe Flacco and his challenged offensive tackles. The Browns lost starting left tackle Dawand Jones to a season-ending knee injury against the Packers, and have been without All-Pro right tackle Jack Conklin (elbow) the past two weeks. Depending on Conklin’s availability, the Browns could be looking at second-year pro KT Leveston making his first NFL start and 12th-year journeyman Cornelius Lucas trying to hold off the likes of premier edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson and Al-Quadin Muhammad (2 1/2 sacks vs. the Ravens) this week.
Fortunately for the Browns, rookie running back Quinshon Judkins found his rhythm against the Packers’ No. 2-ranked run defense, rushing for 94 yards on 18 carries for a 5.2-yard average, with a 1-yard TD. But if Flacco can’t stretch the defense with some completions, it will be a long afternoon for the Browns.
Still, they have the potential to surprise some teams this season if they can run the ball, not turn it over, and keep playing lights-out on defense.
Even ESPN’s Pat McAfee observed on Monday that the Browns might be better than expected, especially with Myles Garrett off to a blistering start.
“The Cleveland Browns are not (expletive) at all, especially in Cleveland,” McAfee said, using the slang word for a backside. “That defense does things there that really takes the best team in ball (the Packers), maybe the most full team in ball, and takes them into the fourth quarter and makes them break at the very end.”
Greg Newsome II didn’t need the victory over the Packers to tell the Browns are a force to be reckoned with this season.
“Really, I think it gave viewers (a reason to believe),” cornerback Greg Newsome II said. “We already know what we have. We’re dominant. We know that. That’s what we pride ourselves on. So we don’t really look for outside reassurance. We know what we’ve got. So like I said, people just got to continue to tune in and watch. We’re going to find a way to win this week. We’re going to work hard this week and we’re really keep stacking them. People will join the bandwagon soon.”
Never mind that the Lions looked like a Super Bowl team in beating the Ravens Monday night. A tough, physical, take-no-prisoners, well-rounded, tail-whipping team.
“We’re resilient,” Newsome said. “No matter what happens, no matter what anyone thinks, we’re a resilient group and we always play for each other. We’re never going to back down from any challenge. The sky’s the limit for us. We just got to continue to keep our head down, keep working, and try to keep stacking wins.”
Garrett believes Sunday’s victory showed what the Browns are capable of.
“But you have to do that from week to week and we’re going to get every team’s best and we have to be at our very best,” he said. “We have to stay healthy, we have to execute at a very high level and we have to do it for 60 minutes, longer if need be. So I think we have what it takes. I think the men in the room are who we need. We’ve got to prove it week in and week out.”
Of course, the Browns need much better play from Flacco, who tumbled to 31st in the NFL with a 65.9 rating. If Flacco can’t put some points on the board soon, the Browns will turn it over to rookie Dillon Gabriel to see what he can do. He’s certainly more mobile, which is a nice trait to have when your tackles are injured, and your All-Pro left guard could barely walk heading into the Packers game.
The Browns also have the second-toughest schedule in the NFL this season based in projected win totals, according to Sharp Football, and they’ll get no breaks.
But they have a real opportunity considering they’re tied with the Ravens at 1-2, and just a game behind the 2-1 Steelers and Bengals, who are without Joe Burrow (toe surgery) for at least three months.
If they can get some decent quarterback play this season from whoever they can, they just might make Harbaugh’s lofty prediction come true.