The Cleveland Browns not only lost the game to the Cincinnati Bengals, but they have also lost quarterback Deshaun Watson for the season.
What looked like a popped achilles in the second quarter, the Browns replaced Watson with second-year quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson. He also left the game with a finger injury while emergency third quarterback Jameis Winston finished the game (and looked the best).
The return of running back Nick Chubb was marred, although he did score a touchdown in his return to the field. On a pitch count, Chubb finished with just 22 yards on 11 carries, adding another 10 yards on one catch. He will look to get it rolling next week against the Baltimore Ravens.
Tight end David Njoku led the team in catches with 10 for 76 and a touchdown, wide receiver Cedric Tillman led the team in yards with 81 on eight catches, and Jerry Jeudy failed to get anything going.
Ultimately the Browns lost the game 21-14 to fall to 1-6 on the season. What instant analysis stood out from this game? Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly from this Week 7 loss:
The good: The defense withstood the test in this one for the Browns
The Browns’ defense, outside of getting caught by Ja’Marr Chase on a one-on-one matchup (as happens to every team once per game), played a strong game against the Bengals. Creating turnovers remains a massive issue, but they held the Cincinnati offense to just 14 points on the day.
Defensive linemen Shelby Harris and defensive end Za’Darius Smith both came away with sacks of Joe Burrow in this one. Second-year defensive end Isaiah McGuire and defensive tackle Maurice Hurst II split a sack as well.
Sitting at 1-6, defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is going to have to find a way to keep these guys locked in and motivated as the season looks completely lost already. However, there are still contract extensions on the line and young players who will see playing time.
Linebacker Mohamoud Diabate is an emerging player, defensive tackle Mike Hall Jr. needs live reps, and cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. is going to have to prove he is worth a contract extension after a slow start to the season. Some of these guys even have Pro Bowl clauses in their contracts.
There are still players who need to play hard. We’ll see what else happens after that.
The bad: The Browns now have one healthy quarterback
So not only is Deshaun Watson out for the season, and likely done in a Cleveland Browns uniform (and likely the end to his NFL career), but backup quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson left the game after hitting his finger on the helmet of a defender.
This left just Jameis Winston, who led an offensive scoring drive for the Browns to give them a shot to win at the end of the game. It’s evident that Winston deserves to start for the Browns the rest of the way out, but who will back him up if Thompson-Robinson has to miss time?
The ugly: What is left to save from a 1-6 start and who else could be traded?
Let’s call it like it is. The Browns need to play their younger players, they need to trade players who are on the other side of 30 with less than two years left on their contract, and they need to look forward to evaluating the guys who will actually be a part of their future.
This leaves players like defensive end Za’Darius Smith, who has already been a rumored target of the Detroit Lions, defensive tackles Dalvin Tomlinson and Shelby Harris, offensive tackle Jack Conklin, and more on the chopping block to be traded.
Even starting Winston is a risk because he can actually win you games and hurt draft positioning. However, the only way to really evaluate the other players on the offensive side is the ball is with a functional quarterback, and Winston seems like the only one on the roster.