CLEVELAND, Ohio - The worst thing about Sunday’s game is that the Browns have another one in just four days.
That’s when the Broncos visit FirstEnergy Stadium for a Thursday night game. The Browns went into Sunday’s 37-14 loss to the Cardinals with a ton of injury questions. They’re leaving with a ton, too, and not much time to get healthy.
Will starting tackles Jedrick Wills Jr. and Jack Conklin be ready to play Thursday? They weren’t on Sunday and the offensive line suffered. Baker Mayfield was sacked five times and seemed to land on his injured shoulder during the game, although he did not miss a snap.
Kareem Hunt was carted to the locker room with a calf injury in the fourth quarter, putting his immediate future in doubt. The Browns were already without Nick Chubb, ruled out earlier in the week with his own calf injury.
Odell Beckham Jr. also had to leave Sunday’s game with a shoulder injury, although he did return.
The defense was fortunate to have almost all its regular starters against the Cardinals, but Greedy Williams got the start at cornerback even though Greg Newsome II was active. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, who dealt with a throat contusion last week, headed to the locker room late in Sunday’s game.
The Browns are about to begin what most considered a favorable stretch of the schedule. Sunday’s game was the first of three straight at home, where, before the loss to the Cardinals, the Browns were 7-2, including 2-0 this season, under Kevin Stefanski.
Their upcoming opponents are not the elite of the NFL - Broncos, Bengals, Steelers, Patriots, Lions. Perhaps those teams will offer more margin for error than what the Cardinals did.
They entered the game averaging 31.4 points per game, ranked fourth. Their poor run defense never became an issue because the Browns fell behind early -- although, it’s debatable if the Browns were ever really in a position to take advantage of that with backups at both tackle positions.
The Browns could really use a bye week, but they won’t get that until Week 13. What they could get this week is Jarvis Landry, who was designated for return from injured reserve last week.
His return would be good news for the Browns. They need more good news than that right now.
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