The Browns lose again, falling to the Raiders in Las Vegas 20-16. And now, Cleveland is 1-3 to start the season.
Remember two weeks ago when we said this was their "winnable" stretch of games, a three-game stretch where it looked like they could really stack up some wins? Well, last week they lost to the New York Giants, and now they fall to a Raiders team that isn't very good.
0-2 to start the "winnable" stretch, and it's the Washington Commanders on deck, one of the hotter teams in the NFL, believe it or not.
So, how did we get here? It's not all on Deshaun Watson today, OK? I actually think he played better than he has. Penalties didn't help, either.
I know it's odd in today's NFL to blame a defense after only giving up 20 points, but did you watch that game? I felt like the Raiders were able to do whatever they wanted to do offensively.
They didn't always come up with points, but coming into the game, the Raiders had rushed for 153 total yards as a team on the ground. In today's game, they rushed for 152 alone.
I thought the Raiders beat the Browns in the trenches on both sides of the ball, and that's happened a few times. Watson still doesn't have much time to throw, and yeah, he's still holding onto the ball way too long, but these are just things that keep reoccurring.
Also, it did not help that Dustin Hopkins missed an extra point, which pretty much forced the Browns to go for a touchdown late rather than having the option to kick an easy field goal and probably go to overtime.
Something isn't right with this team, and I just can't put my finger on it yet. Is it coaching? Is it ultimately just on the players?
We've had a small sample size, but that small sample size isn't great: a 1-3 football team, and that's just not good enough. I mean, expectations were high for this disappointing bunch.
The goal can't just be playoffs anymore. They did that last year. The goal now has to be a deep run into January and early February, but the way things have started, they may not play a meaningful game when December rolls around.
They have to be better, they have to play better on Sunday. Offense, defense, special teams, coaching, execution, effort — it all has to be better.
Right now, this is a 1-3 football team, and it feels more than just a slow start. I just don't think this team is all that good.
Now, do they have time to turn this around? Of course they do. It's been only four weeks.
But how confident do you feel in that right now?