Grading a team at the halfway point depends on what you choose to measure. Some evaluators look only at the standings, while others dig into how those wins and losses actually happened. The two approaches can produce very different verdicts for the same team. The Browns are a perfect example, and the latest national report card lands somewhere in between.
Jared Dubin of CBS Sports gave the Browns a B+ in his midseason grades for all 32 teams.
“The Browns are 5-4, which would make you think they should get an ‘A’ relative to expectations. But when you look at the context of those games, and the fact that they each required a game-winning drive in the final five minutes, you see that the record isn’t as impressive as it looks on the surface. Still, the wins count, and five is probably more than many people expected them to get coming into the year,” Dubin wrote.
Dubin’s point about close games is the heart of the debate around this team. Every one of Cleveland’s 5 wins came on a score in the final minutes, making the Browns only the 2nd team since 1970 to start a season that way. Deshaun Watson leads the NFL with 5 game-winning drives, and the Browns’ 3 home wins were each decided by exactly 3 points.
That kind of record can be read 2 ways. It shows a team that finds a way to win when it matters, and Todd Monken deserves credit for that. It also shows a team living on a razor’s edge, where a missed kick or a dropped pass could have flipped several results.
The underlying numbers lean toward caution. The Browns rank 24th in EPA per play, the offense scored only 13 touchdowns in its first 8 games and the team leads the league in penalties. The last 2 weeks showed how quickly close games can swing the other way, with a 27-6 loss in Pittsburgh and a 23-22 overtime defeat in New Orleans.
The B+ still puts Cleveland in good company. Dubin handed out only 3 solid A grades across the league, with the Buffalo Bills among the highest-rated teams. The Los Angeles Chargers, still winless, received an F, while the Philadelphia Eagles were named one of the year’s biggest disappointments.
The Browns can strengthen their case Sunday. A win over the Houston Texans would snap the 2-game skid and give Cleveland its first 4-0 home start since 1963.
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