CLEVELAND — There is no time to rest in the National Football League, not at least for the Cleveland Browns before they head into their annual bye week break on October 20.
Standing in the way of the week off are quarterback Russell Wilson and a Seattle Seahawks team coming to FirstEnergy Stadium hungry to get a win and keep pace with the undefeated San Francisco 49ers in the NFC West Division.
“Another extremely good team this week,” Browns coach Freddie Kitchens said. “Seattle, they are 4-1. They have won a lot of close games. Extremely well coached. Offensively, everything goes through Russell (Wilson).
“He does a great job in the pocket and outside the pocket creating plays. They have a great running game. They are hard to run the ball against. They have great a defensive unit. They have Bobby Wagner, and he makes everything go and has been there a long time.”
Here are three things to watch for in today’s game between the Browns and Seahawks.
Odell’s influence
Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. leads the Browns with 23 receptions, which he has converted into 335 yards and one touchdown, an 89-yard score in a 23-3 win over the New York Jets in Week 2. Additionally, Beckham Jr. has rushed for 15 yards on two carries and completed one of his two passes for a 20-yard gain.
Beckham Jr. has averaged more than five touches per game since joining the Browns in the offseason, but managed just two catches in each of the last two weeks.
The Browns are out to change that against the Seahawks.
“Odell’s a very dynamic player, and anytime you can get the ball into a dynamic player’s hands, any way you can, you do it because they have the ability to make plays that sometimes, other guys can’t make,” Kitchens said.
“Everything’s on the table week to week. We’re always trying to do the best that we think will put us in good position to win the football game.”
Sense of urgency
The Browns never got on track offensively and struggled to get drive-ending stops on defense, and that combined to add up to the 28-point loss to the 49ers in a game seen by the entire country on Monday Night Football.
The Browns surrendered 275 rushing yards to the 49ers (4-0, first in NFC West) and managed 180 yards of total offense on the way to their third loss of the 2019 regular season.
But after responding to the first two losses of the season with convincing victories, the Browns believe another solid week of practice will put them in position to even their record heading into the bye before taking on the New England Patriots in a road game on October 27.
“Our sense of urgency is at an all-time high right now,” quarterback Baker Mayfield said in his weekly press conference. “I think we have guys that are locked in. We realize exactly what we need to do. We are going to take this short week and see what we can do on Sunday.”
Running back Nick Chubb added, “We’ve done it before. After every loss, we came back harder, and that’s what I expect this team to do every time. Hopefully, we can stack some wins, but I know when we do face adversity, we bounce back harder.”
The Wilson effect
Now in his eighth season with the Seahawks, Wilson has completed 114 of his 156 attempts (73.1 percent) for 1,409 yards and 12 touchdowns against no interceptions. Wilson has made 20 20-yard plays and five 40-yard throws through the first five games of the season.
All of that adds up to Wilson holding a 126.3 quarterback rating.
Wilson has guided the Seahawks to 79 wins in his seven-plus seasons with the team, which is the fourth-most ever by a quarterback in his first eight years in the NFL.
Wilson holds multiple Seahawks records, including most touchdown passes, a mark he set in just 112 games, as well as career, single-season and single-game passer rating, single-season and single-game passing yards and the most consecutive passes without an interception.
Wilson has been honored with the NFC Player of the Week Award on eight occasions, the most in franchise history, and he has engineered 29 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime, the most in the NFL since the start of the 2012 season.
Additionally, Wilson has 47 games with at least two touchdown passes and no interceptions, which is an NFL record.
“Electric. Fun to watch. Hell of a quarterback,” Browns safety Damarious Randall said. “He is talented. Very, very talented.”