Aug 17, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Cleveland Browns helmet on the sidelines against the Philadelphia Eagles during the second quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
The Cleveland Browns have been the league’s worst offensive team this season, having yet to score 20 points in a game through their first five games.
There is a lot of blame to go around in the offense, and the biggest person at fault is quarterback Deshaun Watson, who has played poorly so far this season.
Cleveland has not shown any interest in benching Watson yet, and there is a great chance they won’t do it, no matter how badly he plays.
Cleveland Browns Offseason Move Backfires
This offseason, the Browns made a move on the offensive side of the ball, firing their offensive coordinator, Alex Van Pelt, and replacing him with Ken Dorsey, the fired Bills OC.
Like the Bengals, the Cleveland Browns sit at 1-4. Unlike Cincinnati, Cleveland can’t hang its proverbial hat on a potent offense.
In fact, the Browns might have the worst offense in the entire NFL right now. Cleveland ranks dead-last in net yards per pass attempt, 30th in passing yards, 32nd in total yards and 30th in scoring. Quarterback Deshaun Watson (74.8 passer rating) has played horribly. That’s not what decision-makers in Cleveland envisioned when they fired offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and replaced him with Ken Dorsey.
“The reason [Van Pelt] was let go in Cleveland was because ownership and [CEO] Paul DePodesta, not Kevin Stefanski, ownership and Paul DePodesta were frustrated with the progress Deshaun Watson had made,” Sports Illustrated‘s Albert Breer told 98.5’s Zolak & Bertrand in February.
Granted, Watson hadn’t played well often under Van Pelt, but Cleveland’s offense—which has its plays called by Stefanski—was at least functional. Watson was 8-4 as a starter under Van Pelt, and he’s now 1-4 under Dorsey, and his play has been markedly worse.
And Watson’s poor play has only been part of the issue. Trying to marry Stefanski’s play-calling with Dorsey’s system has yielded an offense that is sloppy, inefficient and lacks identity.
The Browns have yet to score more than 18 points in a game this season.
While there was certainly no guarantee that Watson would show more growth under Van Pelt, the current offense gives Cleveland no shot at returning to the postseason in 2024. In fact, this decision might have slammed the Browns’ playoff window shut entirely.
The Browns probably wish they could redo the Dorsey hire from this offseason, but at the same time, the offense has been so bad at quarterback and an offensive line that nobody even knows how the offense would look if they had a quarterback that was at least decent.
When the offensive line and quarterback are both bad, the offense will be awful no matter what plays you call, so there is a chance Dorsey will be back next season, but with a new quarterback and more help on the offensive line.
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Daniel Fisher is a sports writer for Gridiron Heroics covering the NFL and College Football. He has been covering the NFL and College Football for the past two years and with a focus on the Cleveland Browns and Ohio State Buckeyes.