Cleveland Browns: Moving Out of the Bye Week

With the Browns having an early week 5 bye this season there was a lot of speculation that it would do more harm than good for the team. However, With Deshaun Watson being hurt in week 3 against the Titans and missing the week 4 game against the Ravens this provides some much-needed rest for Watson and anybody else on the team who may have been shaken up early. Myles Garett is another player that comes to mind as he suffered a minor injury in the game against the Ravens. Having the bye this early in the season seems like it’s a blessing in disguise where the Browns are able to rest their guys and prepare for a difficult week 6 game against the San Francisco 49ers.

Onto the 9ers

The 49ers are the league favorite to win the Superbowl this season and they boast a defensive line that rails the Browns in every way. With the injuries to our O-Line, this is going to be a big test for our rookie RT Dawand Jones. The 9ers like to move their pieces around similar to the Browns so he will likely be matched up with Nick Bosa for some of the offensive snaps we take, and if he isn’t on Bosa then Jones will have to deal with Randy Gregory who the 9ers just acquired in a trade with the Broncos.

Offensively I’d like to see the Browns try to get David Njoku involved more because his catch-and-run potential could rival some of the best TEs in the league. Another player who I’d like to see get involved more especially in this game would be Elijah Moore, the Browns have been trying to get some big plays out of him but nothing has really clicked yet so moving through the season I’d like to see them feed him the ball and hopefully have him start to catch fire because then that will open more big play opportunity for the run and pass game as we could use him in both.

Defense is Key

To win this game the Browns are going to need to play stellar defense. Christian McCaffrey leads the league in rushing and is dangerous in open space so tackling needs to be perfect when he has the ball. On top of that, I expect to see JOK step it up against George Kittle in the passing game while Denzel Ward and Greg Newsome are going to have their hands full all game guarding Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk. This is going to be the best example of a game where we need to get to the QB in order to stop plays from developing downfield with how explosive their offense is. Second-year 49ers QB Brock Purdy was drafted as Mr. Irrelevant and has lit the league on fire. As of today, he has yet to lose a regular season game.