The Cleveland Browns season has not started the way they would have liked. While their three losses have been to two very good teams and the Kansas City Chiefs (at 3 – 4 hard to call them “very good” at this point), their four victories haven’t been overwhelming successes either.
Dealing with a defense with a ton of new starters, injury upon injury and some tough opponents has kept the Browns from excelling the way many would have hoped. The next two weeks could really set the table for the season to turn around or could create a load of questions. Week 8 against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Week 9 against the (tied) AFC leading Cincinnati Bengals are just that important.
While the record and production on the field are not what Cleveland wanted to see, Pro Football Focus (subscriber, $) shockingly has them graded as the second-best team overall for the 2021 season through seven weeks:
There is a lot of information available to subscribers of the site but this could be the most shocking right now.
The Browns are the fifth-ranked team according to offensive grade, third-ranked on defense and sixth-ranked on special teams. Having all three rankings within the top six helps their overall grade tremendously. The Arizona Cardinals, as the only undefeated team, are top six on offense and defense but are 13th on special teams.
Cleveland’s lowest grade is 63.9 for their tackling while their highest score, 90.4, comes on special teams.
In the end, the only thing that will matter will be Cleveland’s record at the end of the season. Despite some early struggles and a lot of injuries, PFF has liked what they have seen on the field.