It’s not how you start that counts

If there were any doubts left that it is extremely painful to be a fan of the Cleveland Browns, let those doubts be firmly dispelled after what happened to them Sunday in their home opener against the Baltimore Ravens.

The final score read Baltimore 25, Cleveland 20, but how the teams arrived at that verdict challenges belief in many ways.

For example, who would have believed the Browns would storm to a 20-0 lead with four minutes and 34 seconds left in the opening quarter. One might say they sure played a great game in the first quarter.

The home folks were giddy and somewhat stunned at the same time. Were these really the Cleveland Browns? The sad-sack, probably-lose-just-about-all-of-their-games-this-season Cleveland Browns? Everything, it seemed, clicked in the first 10 minutes.

Rookie Corey Coleman hauled in a 31-yard scoring strike from Josh McCown to climax a 75-yard drive to open the game; Isaiah Crowell rambled 85 yards on the first play of the second possession for a score; and the first of Joe Haden’s two interceptions set up Coleman’s second score on an 11-yard connection.

What’s going on here? Three possessions, three touchdowns. The Browns looked like the Ravens, who in turn looked like the Browns. It was role reversal out of control.

The Cleveland defense made Joe Flacco and his cohorts look rather inept. This certainly wasn’t the Flacco who owned a 13-2 record against Cleveland.

So when Lawrence Guy blocked Patrick Murray’s extra-point attempt after the third touchdown and Tavon Young ran it back all the way to put the Ravens on the board, it looked so innocent. The Browns were in charge, right? Momentary belch.

So who would have believed the Browns’ contributions to the scoreboard were finished for the afternoon at that point of the game?

Certainly not the fans. Their guys had hung 20 points on the dreaded Ravens and hungrily wanted more. Expected more. Greed has no bounds when it comes to hated division rivals.

And probably not the Ravens, who looked flummoxed by the unexpected point barrage early on. Of course, they had no idea that one of the least-seen plays in the pro game turned out in some strange way to provide the momentum they needed when all looked hopeless even though more than three quarters remained.

Instead of trailing, 21-0, hope arrived in the form of the blocked point after. And from that point on, for next last 49 minutes and 26 seconds to be exact, the role reversal game disappeared and what was expected to happen before the game actually happened.

Disbelief in what they had just witnessed had to have accompanied Browns fans out of the ballpark. It was clearly the most bizarre season-opening game since Dwayne Rudd’s famous helmet toss allowed Kansas City to escape with a last-second victory in 2003.

There are numerous culprits in this latest hard-to-swallow loss, the most obvious being the five guys up front hired to protect their quarterback. After what McCown went through, even during the early onslaught, it’s a wonder he could lift his left arm after the game.

The Browns lost their stating quarterback last week when Robert Griffin III played chicken with Philadelphia cornerback Jalen Mills and lost, shelving him for at least the next two months. So it was imperative the Cleveland offensive line protect McCown, who isn’t the fastest or quickest quarterback at age 37. He is one injury away from rookie Cody Kessler becoming the starter.

The fact he finished the Ravens game at all is a testament to either his stupidity or fortitude for not coming out of the game when it was obvious he was dragging his left arm. It was so bad at one point, he couldn’t put his helmet on with both hands. Just the right. He handed off the ball with only his right hand.

He literally took one for the team as the Ravens, sensing blood in the Cleveland backfield, hammered McCown relentlessly, even after he delivered the ball. Often times, he held on to the ball too long.

His left shoulder absorbed a Ravens massaging as he fell. It would be amazing if he didn’t suffer either a separated or dislocated shoulder during the game. It got so bad, Kessler warmed up on at least two occasions.

And yet on very possession, Kessler’s helmet was off and out trotted McCown, who actually drove the Browns down to what would have been the winning touchdown in the final minute.

Adding to the bizarre nature of the game was an unusual call that snuffed out any last hope for victory.

McCown hooked up with Terrelle Pryor on a 20-yard pass to the Ravens’ 10-yard line on a first-down with about 30 seconds left in the game. The Cleveland receiver and Baltimore safety Lardarius Webb rolled out of bounds on the play.

As he stood up, Pryor appeared to blithely toss the ball to one of the officials, but it glanced off Webb. Head linesman Wayne Mackie, running down the sideline toward the play, saw it as taunting and yanked his yellow hankie.

When it landed, so did the Browns’ chances of winning this one. It was the second penalty on the play – a holding call on Webb preceded it– and resulted in offsetting penalties. It wound up as a NO PLAY in the play-by-play.

If that was taunting, Pryor should have gotten his money’s worth and jammed the ball in Webb’s facemask, making it obvious.

To make matters worse, McCown was intercepted by Ravens linebacker C. J. Mosley near the goal line on the next play with 21 seconds left. It neatly wrapped up a nice – and somewhat surprising – comeback by the Ravens.

Flacco, who completed just eight of his first 19 passes for 60 yards, hit on 17 of his next 26 for 262 yards and a pair of touchdown throws to Mike Wallace.

But his favorite target of the afternoon by far – and the guy who bailed him out of mess after mess all day – was Dennis Pitta. The big tight end did not score, but caught nine passes for 102 yards, several of them on third down when the Ravens struggled.

And the Baltimore defense, battered for 261 yards in the first 30 minutes, shaved that to just 126 yards in the second half. They held the Browns to just six first downs following intermission after surrendering 11 in the first half.

The result of this game should be a blazing neon sign for the young Browns: It’s not how you start the game that counts; it’s how you finish it. And this finish clearly did not match its beginning.

As the game unfolded, you could almost sense a shift in the momentum. Then it became more than a sense. It became a reality and then an impending nightmare.

Some losses are harder to swallow than others. This was one of the hardest and was decidedly Cleveland Brownsesque in nature.

The pain lingers in the Factory of Sadness.

No trifecta for McCown

It would be incorrect, maybe even preposterous, to suggest the Baltimore Ravens are frightened at the prospect of facing Cleveland quarterback Josh McCown in the Browns’ home opener Sunday.

After what the veteran quarterback did to the Ravens last season, one can only imagine grudging respect would be the correct approach from a Baltimore standpoint.

In splitting the season series last year, McCown put the ball up 85 times, completing 56 for 689 yards and four touchdowns. The torching of the Baltimore secondary certainly got the attention of Ravens coach John Harbaugh.

“He’s had a lot of success against us,” he said in the media run-up to the game. “He’s been on fire against us. . . . I just remember the guy having no conscience. . . . So we have a lot of respect for him. . . . ” But can he do it a third straight time?

McCown, who will helm the Cleveland offense until (a) Robert Griffin III returns from a broken shoulder or (b) he joins The Third on the sidelines with an injury, will work with a significantly different set of receivers this year.

Gone are wide receivers Travis Benjamin, Taylor Gabriel and Brian Hartline, who combined for 24 catches, 322 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the two Baltimore games. Benjamin, now with the San Diego Chargers, was 14-173-1.

In their place are Terrelle Pryor, still learning the nuances of the wide receiver position, veteran Andrew Hawkins and rookies Corey Coleman, Rashard Higgins, Ricardo Louis and Jordan Payton. In other words, it’s the Browns’ version of inexperience central.

Tight end Gary Barnidge, who burned the Ravens for 15 receptions, 230 yards and a touchdown last season, is back, of course, but his inauspicious 2016 debut (two targets, two drops last Sunday in Philadelphia) does not bode well for the immediate future. Maybe a change at quarterback will help.

The big difference for the Ravens this season will be the defense, which led the way last Sunday in the 13-7 victory over the Buffalo Bills, who were limited to 160 total yards, just 95 through the air.

The return of veteran outside linebacker Terrell Suggs has been a factor. Suggs, who has torched the Browns numerous times over the years, tore his Achilles’ heel in last season’s opening game and missed the entire season. He registered a sack last week against the Bills.

The improved pass rush figures to get even better once outside backer Elvis Dumervil recovers enough from offseason foot surgery. He will not be ready for Sunday’s game. Albert McClellan fills in.

Where the Ravens have improved the most is in the secondary, where Lardarius Webb has moved to free safety after seven seasons as a cornerback and strong safety Eric Weddle was signed as a free agent.

Factor in the very young Cleveland receiving corps and the new look Baltimore secondary and torching that group again might prove a little more difficult for McCown this time around.

Offensively, at least considering how they began the season, the Ravens are somewhat of a puzzle. Quarterback Joe Flacco, who loves to play against the Cleveland, is back after missing last season’s second game with the Browns with a torn ACL.

He has faced Cleveland 15 times and owns 13 victories, including the first 11 in a row starting with his rookie season. Both losses were 33-30 overtime verdicts. During that stretch, he has thrown 19 touchdown passes and just seven picks.

This season, the Ravens’ receivers corps has gained speed with the addition of veteran Mike Wallace and Breshad Perriman, a No. 1 pick who missed all of last season with knee problems. Wallace and Flacco hooked up on a 66-yard bomb against the Bills.

Veterans Steve Smith Sr. and Kamar Aiken along with tight ends Dennis Pitta and Crockett Gillmore give Flacco more strong options than McCown has with his young receivers. The depth at running back includes former Brown Terrance West, Justin Forsett and Buck Allen.

Where the Ravens are vulnerable offensively is up front, where rookies Ronnie Stanley and Alex Lewis operate on the left side of the line. The Bills sacked Flacco four times last Sunday and hit him on several other occasions after delivering the ball.

It’s incumbent, then, on the Cleveland defense to take advantage of that youthful presence. Oh, wait. The Browns are just as young as the Ravens along the front seven with the likes of rookies Carl Nassib, Emmanuel Ogbah and Joe Schobert.

The outcome of this one depends, in large part, on the Browns’ ability to get up close and personal with Flacco and force him to either throw before he wants or entice him to leave the pocket to avoid trouble. And to do something they couldn’t do in the season opener against the Eagles: move the ball consistently, not in fits and starts.

Cleveland coach Hue Jackson has a reputation as an offensive guru to uphold. Granted it’s just one game into the season and we don’t really know how to label his offense. One more game won’t answer that puzzle, either.

Jackson strongly hinted during training camp that he wants a balanced offense. Last Sunday, he did not achieve it with 29 called passes and 21 runs, a 58-42 ratio. That’s not even close to being Jacksonian.

A closer look shows the last three plays were runs, which accounted for 40 of the 120 yards on the ground, because time was running down and the Eagles were in a massive prevent defense while leading by 19 points.

If the Cleveland defense can get off the field often enough – and right now, that’s a huge if – and prevent the offense from getting cold on the bench, then the Browns have a shot. It also has to apply pressure on Flacco and disturb his throwing rhythm.

Now the question is whether defensive coordinator Ray Horton will dial up more blitzes against the Ravens quarterback than he did last Sunday against Eagles rookie quarterback Carson Wentz. If he goes conservative, forget it.

And now that McCown, a much better pocket passer than The Third, is in charge of the huddle for the foreseeable future, will Jackson look at what the veteran did last season against the Ravens and lean more on the forward pass to get the job done?

The fact remains the Ravens have more talent up and down the roster to withstand any upset bid the Browns. Flacco continues his mastery of the Browns by completing 16 of just 20 passes for nearly 300 yards and scoring throws to Smith and Perriman.

Why only 20 passes? Because the Ravens smartly use the ground game to set up the passing game and batter the Cleveland defensive line for 151 yards, led by West and Forsett, who each score a touchdown.

Once again, the Cleveland offense lacks consistency against an aggressive Ravens defense and controls the ball for just 49 plays, forcing Britton Colquitt to punt six times. One of those plays is a 62-yard bomb to Pryor that sets up Isaiah Crowell’s two-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter.

It ties the game at 7-7 and is as close to the lead as the Browns will get all afternoon. Make it:

Ravens 31, Browns 10

Of the coach and The Third

Catching up with Browns coach Hue Jackson and injured quarterback Robert Griffin III . . .

First, Jackson quotes to file and remember for future use.

“The fans might not like me for a while, but they’re going to love me here pretty soon,” he said the other day, less than 48 hours after the season-opening loss in Philadelphia Sunday. “That’s OK. Eventually, they will love me. I promise you that.”

And why is that? “Because,” he said, “I do plan on winning here and I do get it. I know every loss there’s another dagger that drags you down another few feet deeper. That’s OK. I’ve been there before. I’m a fighter. We’re going to get back up and we’re going to keep swinging. We’re going to be fine.”

But wait. There’s more.

The coach said he didn’t take the Cleveland job “to be average and just win a few games and go about my business. I came here to help this organization win a championship.

“How fast that is going to happen? I don’t know. I don’t know if there’s going to be a ton of struggle before there’s a ton of great times, but I don’t worry about people not being happy right now.

“I’m going to do the best job I can with our staff and these players and we’re going to keep working at it. My point is eventually (the fans) will love me because we’re going to win. We’re going to win a championship here for the Cleveland Browns.”

All this over-the-top rhetoric arrives after only one game as head coach of the Browns. One can only imagine what it’s going to be like if (when?) the Browns are still winless after, say, seven or eight games, which is a distinct possibility.

It’s almost as though Jackson senses the annual woe-is-me attitude of the fans toward the Browns and is trying to plug what he thinks is a hole in the their enthusiasm’s dike.

What he fails to realize is there are so many holes in that dike over the years, the fans have become accustomed to the perennial losing. They almost expect it. This is nothing new to them. The annual anger becomes almost commonplace to them.That’s what happens when your team wins only one season-opening game in 18 seasons and puts up only two winning seasons in that time.

But you have to give Jackson some credit. The man sure can shovel it. He is a walking, talking quote book.

At the same time, he definitely has brought a level of energy and positive thinking to Berea that has been lacking ever since the departure a dozen years ago of Butch Davis, whose own brand of motivation carried the franchise to its only playoff appearance since 1999.

Unfortunately, that energy and positive approach is difficult to translate into victories because the current talent is severely lacking in quality. Jackson obviously is not factoring in that dynamic. It was on full display against an Eagles team Sunday that will challenge the Browns for ineptitude this season.

So there you have it. File and remember the aforementioned quotes by the Cleveland coach as the season unfolds. It will be interesting to see how they change.

And now for The Third.

Remember how he wound up on injured reserve? That ferocious collision he had with Philadelphia cornerback Jalen Mills along the sideline late in the fourth quarter Sunday? The one in which he broke his left shoulder and will sit out at least two months?

It sure looked as though the Cleveland quarterback deliberately ran over Mills, who was disengaging from a block by Browns tight end Gary Barnidge at the time. He denies it, saying the collision occurred because Ron Brooks, another Eagles corner, shoved him in the back and that he wasn’t trying to run through Mills.

He defended himself by suggesting the tape of the play supports him. “I did get pushed in the back and at the last second, (Mills) came off (Barnidge) and hit me and I didn’t have the opportunity to protect myself,” he said.

The tape shows Brooks barely touched The Third and Mills did not hit him as much as absorbing the blow. He was struck just as he straightened up after shedding the Barnidge block and took 100% of the impact because the Cleveland quarterback chose a direct path to him rather than slide.

“ . . . I wasn’t trying to run anybody over or make it a bravado moment,” he said. The tape, the one he says backs up his contention, strongly suggests otherwise.

At this point, though, that situation has become moot. The Third is a spectator for the foreseeable future and has nobody to blame but himself even though he doesn’t appear to see it that way.

Monday leftovers (Eagles edition)

Well, now we know why the Browns hung on to Josh McCown as the backup quarterback to Robert Griffin III.

If you had one game in the pool to guess how long The Third would last this season, congratulations, you are the winner.

So it’s understandable why the Browns resisted any and all efforts to pry McCown loose this offseason. Maybe they had the same feeling about The Third’s durability and saw this coming. Just not so soon.

The Browns’ starting quarterback collided with – actually more like plowed into – Philadelphia cornerback Jalen Mills along the sideline after scrambling for 11 yards with about 3½ minutes left in Sunday’s 29-10 season-opening loss and broke his left shoulder.

Mills was being blocked by tight end Gary Barnidge along the sideline when The Third, declining to at least duck to absorb some of the contact, came roaring through at full steam. Mills took the major brunt of the collision.

Thinking it was merely a sprain, The Third reentered the game on the Browns’ final possession and handed off to running back Isaiah Crowell on three straight plays. An MRI Monday delivered the grim news.

The seemingly fragile quarterback was placed on injured reserve with a designation to return. McCown moves up as the starter and rookie Cody Kessler is the backup. If McCown goes down next Sunday against Baltimore in the home opener, Kessler is your quarterback.

It thus behooves McCown, who also was injured in last season’s opening game and sat out one game before returning, to remain healthy and do nothing foolish for at least the next eight weeks, or however long The Third remains on IR.

With McCown taking over, look for coach Hue Jackson to alter the offense to suit his talents, which are quite different than The Third’s. There will be fewer rollouts for the less mobile veteran.

He is also a much better pocket passer and it wouldn’t surprise to see Jackson change his offense at least against the Ravens Sunday and incorporate the running game more than he did against the Eagles.

McCown had success against the Ravens last season, splitting the two games. He was 36-of-51 for a club-record 457 yards and two touchdowns in a 33-30 overtime victory in Baltimore. In so doing, he became the only quarterback in Browns history to record three straight 300-yard games.

In the second Ravens game, he was 20-of-34 for 232 yards and two more touchdowns before leaving with a shoulder injury late in the 34-27 loss.

The only constant now that he is in charge of the huddle is that McCown will throw to the same corps of receivers, most of whom had trouble getting open against the Eagles.

It wasn’t until midway through the second quarter that The Third invited a wide receiver into the game plan, throwing exclusively to running backs and Barnidge. Andrew Hawkins and Barnidge are the only receivers who have caught passes from him.

We also might see a change in the blocking scheme up front with the less mobile McCown either under center or in shotgun formation. That could involve two tight end sets or making fullback Malcolm Johnson a full-time partner with Crowell in the backfield to afford maximum pass protection.

At this point, there is far less margin for error with Kessler as the only backup.

*       *       *

While he’s at it, Jackson might as well shelve those gimmick plays. What in the world was that ridiculous maneuver on fourth down in Cleveland territory early in the second quarter Sunday against the Eagles?

Not sure exactly what that was. It looked like a fake punt with punter Britton Colquitt and long snapper Charley Hughlett on the line of scrimmage. Duke Johnson Jr. was alone in the backfield about seven yards behind center Cameron Erving. It fooled no one and gave the Eagles a gift field goal.

Gimmicky moves are made by desperate coaches looking for anything to shake things up. What the Browns need to do is concentrate on playing fundamentally solid football first before trying to get cute. There is not enough talent on this team to get exotic. Rip those plays out of the playbook and incinerate them.

That includes the equally ridiculous play where Erving lines up over the ball flanked by guards Joel Bitonio and John Greco and everyone else splits about 12-15 yards wide on either side of the trio. Looked extremely unorthodox and equally stupid. I expected them to shift back into a more conventional set. But no. That play didn’t work, either.

Rip and incinerate.

*       *       *

One of the topics I scheduled Sunday right after the game to be discussed here was how long The Third would last this season. Since that has been answered, time to move on to another area of great concern.

That being why was Eagles rookie quarterback Carson Wentz so easily able to torch the Browns’ secondary? And why were Philadelphia receivers able to get so wide open with apparent ease?

With veterans like Joe Haden, Tramon Williams and Jamar Taylor back there, that shouldn’t be happening. And when Wentz beats Haden and Williams with his first two touchdown throws as a professional, it kind of makes one wonder just what is going on.

If as snot-nosed kid from a small college team can come in and do that, what in the world will the likes of Joe Flacco, Ben Roethlisberger and Andy Dalton going to do in the Browns’ six AFC North games this season? The mind boggles.

*       *       *

Another exhibition trend raise its ugly head in the Eagles loss. It’s the first down-number of plays-time of possession trifecta.

In the first two exhibitions, the Browns averaged 11½ first downs, 42 plays and 20:07 in time of possession. That improved somewhat in games three and four to 14 first downs, 60 plays and 28:30 time of possession.

Against the Eagles, it was 14 first downs, 50 plays and 20:40 in TOP. Those are the kinds of figures a team puts up when the offense does not – cannot? – generate anything resembling an attack and the defense can’t get off the field. Put those together and you’re asking for trouble.

Bears watching in the next 15 games.

*       *       *

Time for the good, the bad, the ugly and this week the really, really ugly from the shellacking in Philadelphia:

The good – The play of rookies Carl Nassib and Emmanuel Ogbah, new inside linebacker Demario Davis and the punting of Colquitt. Nassib, the big defensive end, seemed to be near the ball fairly often and contributed a sack. Ogbah, who should be a down lineman, was very aggressive and made a few nice plays. Davis, due mainly to the failure of the defensive line to hold the line of scrimmage, did a good job of cleaning up the mistakes in front of him. Colquitt averaged 50.2 yards on five punts.

The bad – Barnidge and nose tackle Danny Shelton get the honors here. Barnidge was targeted just twice by the Third and dropped both passes that were extremely catchable. As they say, they hit him in a bad place . . . the hands. Shelton was supposed to be a force in the middle. The only thing he’s good at is getting stood up at the line of scrimmage.

The ugly – Eagles defensive Connor Barwin embarrassed Browns offensive tackle Joe Thomas on a sack of The Third midway through the fourth quarter. It was a sack the Cleveland All-Pro would not have allowed in previous seasons.

And the really, really ugly award goes to – Erving for his shotgun snap that sailed so far over The Third’s futile leap in the third quarter and sailed into the end zone, Yao Ming could not have snagged it. It gave the Eagles a 15-10 lead at the time and, some believe, was the turning point of the game. Erving was credited with a fumble.

*       *       *
And finally: One more “good” from the game. The Browns committed only four penalties for 15 yards. There is something to be said for that. I’m not sure what, though. . . . Jackson has to figure out a way to involve Duke Johnson Jr. more into the offense. The playmaker touched the ball only six times against Philadelphia and gained 50 yards. That number needs to be much closer to 15-20 touches. . . . Statistical oddity: safeties Jordan Poyer, Ibraheim Campbell and Derrick Kindred each had six solo tackles in the game. . . . Cleveland wide receivers made only five catches on 15 targets.

Nothing new here

The way the Browns played the game of football Sunday in Philadelphia, they would have been better off forfeiting the game instead of settling for a 29-10 loss against the Eagles.

It was an exercise in futility almost from the time they exited the buses that carried them to the stadium. Practically nothing worked on both sides of the ball. It sort of looked disturbingly similar to the way they played during the exhibition season.

It was almost as though no one told them this one was for real. This one was one of the 16 that counted. If that message was, indeed, delivered, it was ignored.

The only difference between this game and the four exhibition games was the regulars played the entire game instead of sparingly. Which means this, Browns Nation, is what you can expect the rest of the way.

If the Browns cannot beat one of the worst teams in the National Football League, does that theoretically makes them worse? Well, yeah. And you’ll probably get no argument from those who watched painfully on television and are honest with themselves.

Perhaps, some might argue, this was merely a case of the Browns being the Browns in an opening game. After all, they won only one season opener in the last 17 seasons since the return in 1999.

They tried. They really tried. You can’t fault their effort. Their execution maybe, but not their effort. They are just not that good. They can’t help themselves. This, it appears, is as good as it’s going to get.

With the exception of only a few performers (more on that Monday), their best was not good enough against a team that is not nearly as good as it undoubtedly believed after the game. If the Eagles use this game as the barometer for what lies ahead, they are in for an enormously rude surprise.

Carson Wentz’s NFL debut couldn’t have gone any smoother. The rookie Eagles quarterback, passed up by the Browns in the last college draft, threw for 278 yards – it would have been much closer to 300 if not for three dropped passes – and a pair of touchdowns and did not look like someone making his professional debut.

The Cleveland defense, just like the last several seasons, had trouble getting off the field. The Eagles had 23 first downs (to Cleveland’s 14), owned the ball for nearly 40 minutes and did not turn it over. Numbers like that generally add up to a victory.

The Browns’ pass rush, non-existent in the first and fourth quarters, picked up steam in the middle two quarters and dropped Wentz twice. And the run defense? Typically poor, allowing 133 yards.

And any time your offense runs 50 plays, that’s a red flag. The again, when it comes to the Browns, it’s the byproduct of an offensive line that is just a notch or two above awful. It has problems opening running lanes for running backs and offers little, if any, protection for the quarterback.

Robert Griffin III was smacked around like a piñata most of the afternoon. On his 30 dropbacks, The Third was sacked three times, knocked down on six other occasions and hurried nine times. That, too, is on the offensive line.

He was also intercepted once on a poor throw behind rookie receiver Corey Coleman in the second quarter, but was also victimized by four dropped passes, two by the reliable Gary Barnidge. Not that they would have made a difference, but those have to be caught.

It would appear, at least based on what we’ve seen from Hue Jackson’s offense thus far, that the Cleveland attack consists of chucking the ball as far as possible in hopes of someone making a great play, and running up the middle.

The Third racked up 102 of his 190 throwing yards against the Eagles on two bombs. Terrelle Pryor made a sensational catch on a 44-yarder that gave the Browns a first-and-goal at the Philadelphia 9 en route to their only touchdown of the day, a two-yard run by Isaiah Crowell in the second quarter.

And on the first play of the second half, The Third hooked up with Coleman on a 58-yarder that was underthrown and poorly defended by three members of the Eagles’ secondary. Outside of that, the Cleveland offense stuttered and sputtered.

It ran four or fewer plays on 10 of 13 possessions and gift-wrapped two points for the Eagles on an awful shotgun snap by center Cameron Erving deep in Cleveland territory that bounced out of the end zone for a safety early in the third quarter.

Add to that two highly questionable coaching decisions – OK, they were boneheaded – by Jackson that led to 10 more Philadelphia points.

The coach called for a fake punt on a fourth-and-5 at the Cleveland 41 on the second play of the second quarter. Not the Philadelphia 41. The CLEVELAND 41. It fooled no one.

Duke Johnson Jr. took the direct snap with punter Britton Colquitt lined up on the line of scrimmage and was hit almost immediately by linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill. It led to a Caleb Sturgis field goal.

Then with 3:41 left in the game and trailing, 22-10, Jackson gambled again, this time on fourth-and-3 at the Cleveland 15. The Third, who had taken a ferocious hit to his left shoulder on an 11-yard scramble on the previous play, overthrew Andrew Hawkins in the left flat. The Eagles were in the end zone four plays later.

The Third was the Browns’ leading ground gainer until the final minute when, with the game clearly in hand, the Eagles’ defense went prevent and allowed Crowell to ramble for 40 of his 62 yards on three straight plays to close out the game.

But Wentz, rightly so, was the story of this game. Elevated to the starting position following the trade of Sam Bradford to Minnesota, he showed the poise of a veteran rather than someone making his initial NFL start.

Was he great? No. Very good? Not quite. Solid? Getting closer. Impressive? Ding, ding, ding. Then again, keep in mind against whom he was making his debut. Veteran Cleveland cornerbacks Joe Haden and Tramon Williams, each burned by a Wentz scoring pass, had to be impressed.

Then late in the fourth quarter, Wentz victimized Haden again by squeezing a pass to wide receiver Jordan Matthews into an extremely tight window on a third-and-5 near midfield to extend a drive. It might have been his best throw of the afternoon.

There is a bottom line here with the Browns even though they have played only 60 minutes of meaningful football. It’s as simple as this: If they can’t compete with a poor team like the Eagles, let alone knock them off, the 2016 season will seem like a never-ending nightmare.

After the game, Coleman summed up the afternoon this way: “We have stuff to work on. That’s it.” No kidding.

Said Jackson, “I saw a team that was sporadic to start. Then I saw a team that was fighting.” Fighting, he will find out soon enough, does not translate into winning. Fighting doesn’t count for much if you don’t have the talent to back it up and this team does not.

Off to a good start?

Under normal circumstances, the opening game on any National Football League team’s schedule should be reason enough to get excited.

After all, it signals the end of a boring, seemingly never-ending exhibition campaign and the beginning of arguably the most anticipated season on the annual sports calendar.

For every NFL team, that is, except the Browns, now entering their 18^th season since returning from a three-year hiatus caused by league incompetence. Since that return, the opening game of the regular season has been anything but a exciting.

In the previous 17 attempts to kick off a season on a positive note, this franchise has failed a miserable 16 times, a record in futility that is unlikely to be matched in a league where sustained utter ineffectiveness is virtually non-existent.

Makes no difference where the Browns start a season. For the first 11 seasons and 14 of the first 15 since the return, the league awarded them the season opener. The only blemish on an otherwise perfect record of abject futility in 17 seasons was a 20-3 victory over Baltimore at home in 2004.

So they might as well inform the league they are not going to show up and summarily forfeit Sunday’s game in Philadelphia against the Eagles because history shows they are going to lose, anyway. Why even bother making the trip?

But since league laws do not permit forfeits under such circumstances, we might as well look at what most likely will be the least cared-about game in the NFL during opening week.

It features the two worst teams in the league. That’s not an arguable point. They will wage a race to the bottom and compete for the top choice in next year’s college football draft. That’s good news for the Browns, who own the Eagles’ top pick.

The Eagles had a real good shot at winning this game until shipping veteran quarterback Sam Bradford to Minnesota last week when the Vikings lost Teddy Bridgewater to a wrecked knee. Losing Bradford substantially weakens the Eagles’ offense.

Carson Wentz, whose professional résumé consists of 39 snaps in one exhibition game a month ago before suffering a fractured rib or two, is now the man in charge of the huddle in Philadelphia.

Advantage Cleveland? Yes, depending on how respectfully the Browns’ defense treats the raw rookie, whom the Browns passed on in the last draft. And no, if there is even the tiniest morsel of respect.

If coach Hue Jackson does not allow defensive coordinator Ray Horton to throw everything at Wentz, something is terribly wrong. Horton, a Dick LeBeau disciple, loves to bring the pressure.

So why not bring everything against someone who is a rank neophyte in what real warfare is like in the NFL during the regular season? He got beat up in the one exhibition that sidelined him for the rest of the preseason.

Unload the playbook’s entire blitz package. Make Wentz feel uncomfortable on every snap. Take whatever confidence he has at the beginning of the game and toy with it every time he exits the huddle.

Confuse him with disguised coverages in the secondary. Show him one look and switch to another at the snap. Make him unload the ball before he wants to. And most of all show him absolutely no respect.

If Horton at any time veers toward a more conservative approach, all bets are off. Defense is all about aggression. Steering away from that, especially against a team that isn’t that good to begin with, is asking for trouble.

The only caveat is that Wentz, who operated a pro-style offense in college and is primarily a pocket passer, is a deceivingly good runner. Which means if the Browns do not practice good gap integrity, the kid is capable of hurting them with his legs.

As for the rest of the Philadelphia offense, the Browns should be able to shut down the running game of Ryan Mathews and Darren Sproles and render wide receivers Jordan Matthews, Nelson Agholor and Dorial Green-Beckham ineffective.

Where the Browns could encounter trouble is with the Eagles’ defense, which features a couple of solid linemen in tackle Fletcher Cox and end Connor Barwin and active cornerbacks Leodis McKelvin and Nolan Carroll.

The Eagles’ pass rush probably will give the Browns’ somewhat shaky offensive line problems, especially against Cleveland’s right side. How often the Cleveland offensive linemen get to the second level will determine how well the running game operates.

This one is shaping up as 60 minutes of futility with both clubs plumbing the depths of mediocrity. It very well could turn into a punting duel between Cleveland’s Dustin Colquitt and Donnie Jones of the Eagles. Playing between the 20-yard lines might be the norm.

Cleveland quarterback Robert Griffin III will be harassed all afternoon, rushing a majority of his passes due to the extreme pressure and winding up throwing a pair of interceptions in Eagles territory. Only his ability to escape the rush will keep his sack total to just one.

Wentz will not be as lucky. He will be dropped four times, throw three picks and cross midfield just twice. But his ability to run enables him to be his club’s leading rusher.

After a scoreless first half, during which fans will be given free packets of No-Doz, the Browns strike first midway through the third quarter following a Joe Haden interception deep in Philly territory. Patrick Murray nails a 37-yard field goal for the first points of the season.

The Eagles come right back on the Browns’ next possession, Barwin recovering an Isaiah Crowell fumble at the Cleveland 14-yard line. Caleb Sturgis’ 30-yard field goal squares the score.

The two teams lurch back into futility mode until the final two minutes, when The Third gets hot. He hooks up with tight end Gary Barnidge and rookie wide receivers Corey Coleman and Rashard Higgins on three straight passes to move the ball to the Eagles’ 25-yard line.

With a minute left, the Eagles are forced to burn all three timeouts to conserve time as the Browns resort to the ground game to get closer to the goal line. Three Crowell runs advance the ball to the 12-yard line with just seven seconds left.

Murray’s 30-yard field goal nails the victory and just like that, the Browns are 1-0 after the first game of the season for the first time since 2004. It doesn’t take mathematical wizardry to make the final:

Browns 6, Eagles 3

It will be a very long season

Some seasons for the Browns are more difficult to predict than others because the club has at least a modicum of talent on the roster. This will not be one of those seasons. Not even close.

This is a bad team through and through, the anticipated protestations from the front office notwithstanding. In all the years I have been writing about the Browns, I cannot remember being so pessimistic about a team. There is nothing remotely positive onto which one can glom.

And while I’m the kind of person who sees the glass as always half empty, that thought is relatively positive to what I see unfolding this season. It is going to be long, frustrating almost beyond belief, anger-filled and end up turning off a lot of young fans.

Major publications have forecast as few as one victory for the Browns this season, which would be an all-time low for the franchise that began in 1946. Even I don’t believe it will be that awful.

And though I’m a pessimist by nature, there is no way the Browns are going to win only one game this season, There is also no way they can play anywhere near .500 ball, as some front-office types either believe or have dreamt.

They will win more than once. Maybe even more than twice. Maybe. But that’s it. Anything beyond three victories is beyond the wildest dreams. The search for three victories thus begins on . . .

Sunday Sept. 11 – at Philadelphia, 1 p.m., CBS –If the Browns are to win just one game this season, this would be the one even though it’s on the road and they are a terrible road team. In fact, season openers have not been kind to the Browns since the resurrection in 1999. They have won only one opener (20-3 over Baltimore in 2004) in that span. The opener this season will be third straight on the road. It will not be a high–scoring game between arguably the worst two teams in the National Football League. Both have bad offenses and suspect defenses. It very likely will turn into a punting duel between Dustin Colquitt of the Browns and the Eagles’ Donnie Jones. The game will turn in the fourth quarter when the Browns intercept rookie quarterback Carson Wentz for the third time deep in Eagles territory and Cleveland kicker Patrick Murray sneaks a 25-yard field goal just inside the left upright for a 6-3 victory.

Sunday Sept. 18 – vs. Baltimore, 1 p.m., CBS – The scoring drought continues in the home opener against the Ravens. The Cleveland defense, which looked decent against the Eagles in the opener, will not fare as well against a Baltimore offense that can score in many different ways. Joe Flacco continues his career success against Cleveland with touchdown passes to Steve Smith, Mike Wallace and Breshad Perriman and Justin Forsett runs for a pair of scores in a 35-7 victory. Terrelle Pryor scores the lone Browns touchdown on the receiving end of a 72-yard bomb from Robert Griffin III.

Sunday Sept. 25 – at Miami, 1 p.m., CBS – Same old story against the Dolphins. More defensive woes as Miami quarterback Ryan Tannehill strafes the Cleveland secondary repeatedly,, racking up nearly 350 yards and scoring strikes to Jarvis Landry, DeVante Parker and former Browns tight end Jordan Cameron. The Cleveland attack, meanwhile, staggers along with no ground game against Ndamukong Suh & Co. The Third, forced to throw nearly 40 times, connects with rookies Corey Coleman and Rashard Higgins on a pair of late touchdowns passes in the 31-14 loss.

Sunday Oct. 2– at Washington, 1 p.m., CBS – A possible revenge game for The Third, whose stay in Washington ended bitterly. If nothing else, look for the Browns to be very competitive in this one, especially on offense. The Third will play what turns out to be his best game of the season, clicking on nearly 75% of his passes. Pryor, Coleman, and tight end Gary Barnidge are the major beneficiaries against a befuddled Redskins secondary. Each scores a touchdown, as does Duke Johnson Jr. on a spectacular 62-yard screen pass. The Cleveland defense does not cooperate (surprise!), making Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins look like an All Pro. Cousins keeps pace with The Third with four scoring passes, but is picked in the final moments by cornerback Joe Haden near midfield. Five plays later, Murray boots a 34-yard field with mere seconds left for a 31-28 victory, evening the record at 2-2.

Sunday Oct. 9 – vs. New England, 1 p.m., CBS – Back home with a .500 record only to greet the Patriots in a game featuring Tom Brady’s return from a four-game suspension. The future Hall of Famer shows no rust from the enforced layoff, shredding the Cleveland secondary all afternoon with absolutely no pressure from the front seven. He puts the ball up a relatively conservative 24 times and hits on all but three, connecting with Julian Edelman (twice), Rob Gronkowski and Danny Amendola on scoring passes, while LeGarrette Blount scores twice from inside the 5 in the 42-10 rout. Josh Gordon returns from the suspended list for the Browns, but is held to just two small-yardage catches.

Sunday Oct. 16 – at Tennessee, 1 p.m., CBS – The last time these teams met in the second game of last season, the Browns jumped out to a 21-0 halftime lead and coasted to a 28-14 victory at home. Johnny Manziel was the Cleveland quarterback, connecting twice with Travis Benjamin on long scoring passes. That was then; this is now. Manziel is gone, Benjamin is in San Diego, Demarco Murray is the new Titans running back and Marcus Mariota is that much more experienced as the Tennessee quarterback. Murray and rookie Derrick Henry make the Titans’ ground game a legitimate threat. And considering how poor the Cleveland run defense remains, that threat is lethal. Murray and Henry pound the defense for 174 yards, score thrice, Mariota heaves scoring passes to tight end Delanie Walker and wideout Andre Johnson and the defense limits the Browns to only 222 yards and 10 points in the 38-10 drubbing.

Sunday Oct. 23 – at Cincinnati 1 p.m., CBS – In the last 12 seasons, the Browns have traveled downstate to Cincinnati a dozen times and won only twice. After this one, it will be two victories in 13 such journeys. Even though Browns coach Hue Jackson knows the Cincinnati offense like the back of his hand, having served as the Bengals’ offensive coordinator for the past few seasons before moving up north, it won’t help on this day. All he can do is admire, probably reluctantly, as he watches what he created destroy his defense. Quarterback Andy Dalton and wide receiver A. J. Green will play pitch and catch all afternoon; Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard will run freely; and the solid Cincinnati defense will smother the Cleveland offense on yet another lopsided victory, 45-13, with The Third and Gordon hooking up for the lone Cleveland touchdown.

Sunday Oct. 30 – New York Jets, 1 p.m., CBS – Limping back home after three straight embarrassing losses, it doesn’t get any easier or more friendly against the Jets, who can beat you in a number of ways. On offense, there’s bearded, Harvard-educated quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, coming off a 3,900-yard, 31-touchdown season. He’s throwing to the likes of Eric Decker, Brandon Marshall and running back Matt Forte, looking to revive a career that took a hit last season, all operating behind a strong offensive line. On defense, Muhammad Wilkerson and Leonard Williams anchor the line in front of a solid set of linebackers. And then there’s cornerback Darrelle Revis lurking in the secondary. It will added up to yet another humiliating loss, the Browns avoiding a shutout when Josh McCown hooks up with Barnidge in the final minute of a 38-7 loss.

Sunday Nov. 6 – vs. Dallas, 1 p.m., Fox – It’s amazing how much difference one man can make in a football team. With Tony Romo at quarterback, the Cowboys are a very good football team. Good things happen on both sides of the football. When Romo is injured, which is much more frequently as he gets older, the Cowboys become a very average football team. And that’s what the Cowboys bring to Cleveland, Romo still recovering from a back injury suffered in the exhibition season. Rookie Dak Prescott has been decent, but somewhat inconsistent. Up some weeks, down other weeks. Rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott has been the bellwether of the offense with nearly 1,000 yards in the books. This one very well could produce the Browns’ best offensive output of the season. McCown, replacing an ineffective Griffin at quarterback, throws for three scoring passes to Coleman, Higgins and Gordon. But Elliott rambles for nearly 200 yards and three touchdowns and Prescott and wideout Dez Bryant collaborate for another pair of scores in a 41-27 victory.

Thursday Nov. 10 – at Baltimore, 8:25 p.m., NFL Network – Second time around for these two division rivals, this time in front of a national television audience. And the outcome will be no different than the earlier meeting. The only difference is the Browns will put up more than seven points with McCown in charge of the offense. He and Gordon will provide two of the three touchdowns with Duke Johnson Jr. scoring the other. The Ravens counter with another blistering attack against the beleaguered Cleveland defense. Flacco throws three more touchdowns to Perriman, Smith and Kamar Aiken; former Browns running back Terrance West piles up 102 of the Ravens 198 yards on the ground and scores once; and kicker Justin Tucker tacks on a pair of field goals in the 34-21 victory as the losing streak reaches six games.

Sunday Nov. 20 – vs. Pittsburgh, 1 p.m., CBS – First meeting of the season between the AFC North’s leaders and cellar dwellers. The game draws more Steelers fans than Browns fans at the former Cleveland Browns Stadium. And they are not disappointed. Ben Roethlisberger returns to wreak his usual havoc on the Cleveland defense. Big Ben, who has faced Cleveland 22 times and owns 20 victories, always seems to elevate his already superior passing game against the Browns. And this one is no different. The future Hall of Famer relentlessly picks apart the Cleveland secondary, hooking up with six different receivers, throwing scoring passes to Markus Wheaton, Darrius Heyward-Bey and Antonio Brown twice. Running backs Le’Veon Bell and DeAngelo Williams combine for 172 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The Pittsburgh defense, meanwhile, completely shackles the Browns’ offense, picking off three McCown passes and limiting it to just 187 total yards and an Isaiah Crowell touchdown in the 45-7 victory. Losing streak is now at seven games.

Sunday Nov. 27 – vs. New York Giants, 1 p.m., Fox – Sports Illustrated predicted the Browns would win only one game this season. And this one, inexplicably, was the one. Not going to happen. The Giants’ offense with Eli Manning at the controls and the likes of Odell Beckham Jr. and Victor Cruz running routes for him and Rashad Jennings and Shane Vereen running the ball is too much for a Cleveland defense that is working overtime on a weekly basis. McCown recovers from the Pittsburgh disaster and delivers scoring passes to Gordon and Barnidge and is picked off just once. Manning’s workmanlike 247 yards passing and touchdown passes to Beckham and Cruz are aided by a ground game that piles up 127 yards and a pair of scores. The Giants’ defense sacks McCown four times and holds the running game to just 72 yards in the 31-14 victory. And the losing beat goes on for the eighth straight week.

Sunday Dec. 4 – Bye – And not a moment too soon.

Sunday Dec. 11 – vs. Cincinnati, 1 p.m., CBS – Aaaah. A whole week off between games. Another whole week then to recharge the batteries and do something about that eight-game losing streak. And get ready for . . . ugh . . . the Bengals. Yep, the same team challenging Pittsburgh for the top spot in the AFC North. So much for a soft return. The last time these teams met back in week seven in Cincinnati, the Bengals spanked the Browns by 32 points. This time, the game is much closer because the Cleveland offensive line puts together its best game of the season, keeping McCown’s uniform clean all afternoon. The quarterback responds with a 300-yard day and scoring passes to Coleman and Higgins and Crowell and Duke Johnson Jr. rack up 125 yards and a Johnson TD. But the Cleveland defense is no match for the Cincinnati offensive line, which leads the way for Hill and Bernard to ramble for 184 yards and two touchdowns and permits Dalton to connect on TD passes to Green and tight end Tyler Eifert in the 31-24 victory.

Sunday Dec. 18 – at Buffalo 1 p.m., CBS – What do Buffalo and the middle of December conjure up? That’s right, snow and plenty of it blowing in off Lake Erie as a football game between the Browns and Bills begins. It winds up just about the way you would expect. With the grounds crew furiously trying to keep the playing field playable, this one turns into a game full of fumbles, bad snaps, intercepted passes, slipping and sliding and really nothing resembling a professional football game. The game is played primarily between the 20-yard lines and turns into a tactical and strategic game of field position. Neither team penetrates the red zone in the first half. The Browns finally cash in on linebacker Emmanuel Ogbah’s strip sack of Buffalo quarterback Tyrod Taylor at the Bills’ 21-yard line with Murray breaking the scoreless tie with a 25-yard field goal midway through the third quarter. On the next Cleveland series, Bills safety Aaron Williams picks off McCown inside the Cleveland 30. For once the Cleveland defense stiffens, forcing a Dan Carpenter field goal from 28 yards. With timing running down and the teams apparently heading for overtime, Crowell botches a handoff from McCown deep in Cleveland territory. Rookie defensive end Adophus Washington recovers at the Browns’ 21-yard line with less than a minute left. Three running plays later, Carpenter extends the Cleveland losing streak to 10 games with a 31-yard field goal.

Saturday Dec. 24 – San Diego, 1 p.m., CBS – Never in their long history have the Browns gone through an entire season without winning a home game. Both of this season’s victories were achieved on the road (Philadelphia and Washington). After this one, that rather dubious honor remains in tact. If you are going to play the Chargers in a season, it’s best to do so at home when it’s 18 degrees at game time, some 60 or so degrees chillier than San Diego. Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers is rendered ineffective by a gusting wind. Wind-blown passes rarely find the hands of receivers Keenan Allen, Travis Benjamin and Antonio Gates. And running back Melvin Gordon and Danny Woodhead find little traction on the icy field. The Browns, meanwhile, resort to ball control and managing the clock. For the first time this season, they win time of possession and complete a game without a turnover. It isn’t pretty, but it’s effective. McCown throws only 14 passes and guides two long drives that result in touchdowns by Crowell and fullback Malcolm Johnson. The defense, playing its best game of the season, limits the Chargers to only 68 yards on the ground and 178 through the air in the 14-6 victory.

Sunday Jan. 1 – at Pittsburgh, 1 p.m., CBS – Nothing like heading into the season finale with a victory in this victory-starved season. And wouldn’t you know it. It’s in Pittsburgh, where the Browns haven’t won a game since 2003. Twelve straight losses in the Roethlisberger era and it continues on this first day of 2017. Happy New Year, Browns, you have drawn the short straw for the last game of the season. This time, the Steelers are protecting a one-game lead in the AFC North and must win this one to gain a bye in the first round of the playoffs. No sweat. Roethlisberger again strafes the secondary to the tune of 422 yards, four touchdowns (one each to Brown, Bryant, rookie Eli Rogers and Bell) and the offensive line paves the way for a 122-yard day for Bell. The Pittsburgh defense brings McCown and his offense back down to earth with five sacks, a couple of picks and a fumble recovery in the 48-13 victory.

We’ll see soon enough on Wentz

From a dramatic standpoint, consider Carson Wentz’s professional football debut against the Browns Sunday in the regular-season opener in Philadelphia delicious irony.

Wentz, the quarterback the Eagles thought of enough to trade up for in the last college draft, will face the team they traded with to get him.

The Browns owned the second overall selection in the lottery and practically everyone in the pro football community believed they would grab one of the two top quarterbacks, Jared Goff or Wentz, to become their quarterback of the future.

When the Los Angeles Rams traded up and leapfrogged the Browns into the top spot and took Goff, the Browns decided Wentz wasn’t what they were looking for and allowed the Eagles to move up to the No. 2 slot and take him.

It appears as though Wentz, a small college quarterback who owns a pair of national small college championships, apparently failed the Browns’ eye test.

So confirmed Browns chef strategy officer (whatever that means) Paul DePodesta to ESPN Cleveland’s Tony Grossi at the beginning of training camp in late July on the thinking about trading down after the Rams selected Goff.

“We have to make judgments on individual players and we’re not always going to be right,” DePodesta said. “But in this particular case, we just didn’t feel it was necessarily the right bet to make for us at this time. . . . We will not always be right on those types of things.”

Later, he went on to say that “in a given year, there might be two or three NFL-ready quarterbacks at the college level. In another year, there might be zero. There might not be anybody in that year good enough to be a top 20 quarterback in the NFL.”

Wentz, at least from the Browns’ standpoint, did not fall into the NFL-ready category and thus the trade down with the Eagles. It’s all a matter of evaluation, good, bad or otherwise.

"We didn't draft Carson Wentz because we didn't think it was the right fit for our team at this time," Browns coach Hue jackson told Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio Tuesday. "There's nothing more to it. Obviously, that will make for great debate in the media and that's fine."

The Browns will find out Sunday whether they might have made a mistake when they get up-close-and-personal look at Wentz. Of course, it will be only a small sample of what lies ahead for the kid and in no way should be construed as anything but.

But one can only imagine what is going through Wentz’s mind right now after a rather interesting training camp and exhibition season. He rightfully believed his rookie season would be spent learning how to be a National Football League quarterback behind Sam Bradford.

Then fate – and the Minnesota Vikings – stepped in. Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater rips up a knee and just like that, the Eagles ship Bradford to the land of 10,000 lakes in a deal they couldn’t refuse and Wentz suddenly is thrust center stage.

The Eagles, expected by many experts to challenge the Browns for the worst record in the NFL this season, are taking a calculated risk by elevating Wentz so soon. It very well could be looked at as a what-have-we-got-to-lose situation.

In doing so, though, Wentz could not be any more ill prepared as any rookie making his pro debut. It’s not as if he has gone through an entire training camp and exhibition season and displayed talents that made the Bradford trade possible.

He hasn’t played a game of football since Aug. 11, when he suffered a hairline fracture of a rib or two in the opening exhibition against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a game in which he was hit hard numerous times.

His NFL résumé entering Sunday is as follows: Six possessions, 39 snaps (including three where penalties resulted in no play), 24 passes, 12 completions, 89 yards, no touchdowns, one interception and three scrambles for 15 yards.

That’s it. His best drive was an 11-play, 71-yarder that ended with the pick inside the 5-yard line.

Wentz has been recovering from the rib injury since then. His return was problematic until Monday when Eagles coach Doug Pederson, in the wake of the Bradford deal, announced the rookie was healthy and would face the Browns.

There is no question he will be as raw as any quarterback has ever been in his NFL debut. And you can bet Browns Nation will pay close attention to how he performs, remembering what their team did – or did not do – on draft day.

There is no doubt Wentz, the Browns’ snub lurking in the back of his mind, will be out to prove they made a mistake in not staying put at No. 2 and taking him. DePodesta and the rest of the Cleveland top brass will be watching. 

They’re not done yet

Well that 53-man roster didn’t last very long. It took less than 24 hours for the Browns brass to shake it up, reset it and affect the lives of 10 players, including one of their 14 draftees, in the process.

Gonzo are cornerback Trey Caldwell (the draftee – he was a fifth-round selection), linebacker Cam Johnson (reducing the Johnson presence on the roster to two), safety Rahim Moore and running backs Raheem Mostert and Terrell Watson.

Say hello, at least for the time being, to running back George Atkinson, defensive end Tyrone Holmes, linebacker Corey Lemonier and defensive backs Marcus Burley and Briean Boddy-Calhoun, all picked up off the waiver wire.

According to reports, ex-Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan, waived by Kansas City, will be added to the practice squad that now consists of tight end Connor Hamlett, offensive linemen Kaleb Johnson and Dan France and wide receiver Darius Jennings, all of whom did not survive the original cut to 53.

Hogan was drafted by the Chiefs well after the Browns took Cody Kessler in the third round last May. Both are Pac-12 quarterbacks who ran pro-style offenses. Hogan is bigger at 6-3, 220 pounds. His and Kessler’s big negative is lack of arm strength.

The most intriguing newcomer might be Atkinson, an impressive performer for the Oakland Raiders during the exhibition season. With the loss of Mostert and Watson, he is the only insurance behind running backs Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson Jr.

It appears as though Holmes is being brought in because of his production on the small college level, racking up 18 sacks at Montana last season. The analytics folks at 76 Lou Groza Blvd. are easily attracted to large production numbers.

At 6-3 and 253 pounds, Holmes is too light to play end and fits the profile of an outside linebacker in Ray Horton’s 3-4 base defense. Unless the coordinator suddenly switches to a 4-3, Holmes is more likely to hone his pass-rushing skills as a standup linebacker.

Lemonier, Boddy-Calhoun and Burley are merely roster fodder for the time being until the front office swings back into action following the Labor Day holiday as they continue to reshape the roster to suit the coaching staff.

All five newcomers are bottom-of-the-roster residents, with perhaps the exception of Atkinson, and won’t seriously affect the plans by coach Hue Jackson and his staff as they prepare for the season opener next Sunday in Philadelphia against the Eagles.

A few of them might even stick if they show any talent for playing on special teams. Atkinson, who returned a kickoff for a touchdown for the Raiders in the exhibition season, could be a candidate for that role with the Browns.

Don’t get used to the current roster just yet. The mercurial nature of it is bound to bring about more change well before the trip to Philly. It is unlikely Sashi Brown and Co. will resist tinkering with it some more. There are still too many holes to be addressed.

Stay tuned.

Wow! What a draft class

It would be folly to accuse the Browns’ front office of roster prejudice following Saturday’s whacking of said roster to 53 players. Or would it?

Perusal of the not-chiseled-in stone-yet final 53 upon closer look reveals what amounts to extreme prejudice with every selection in the last college football draft landing on the list. Yep, all 14 have been deemed ready to play in the National Football League.

It seems the analytical approach that went into reframing – some would call it rebuilding because that's what it really is – the roster has paid off handsomely. Fourteen picks have translated into 14 roster spots.

Too bad the new members of the Ivory Tower couldn’t have swung another deal or two and picked up even more future contributors to the cause.

When the final slicing and dicing was concluded, the roster looks like this: Three quarterbacks, five running backs, six wide receivers, three tight ends and eight linemen on offense; six linemen, nine linebackers and 10 backs on defense; and the special teamers, the long snapper, punter and placekicker.

Broken down even more, the roster includes 16 rookies, three other players not designated as rookies but who have never played in a regular-season NFL game, eight players in their second season and four more in their third year.

Add them up and you have 31 players with less than four years experience. That is an astonishing 52.8% of the roster.

Missing from the final cuts are wide receiver Josh Gordon and outside linebacker Armonty Bryant, who will each serve a four-game suspension at the beginning of the season.

Perhaps the most surprising move of the day involved cornerback Justin Gilbert, the Browns’ No. 1 pick a couple of years ago. Not that he didn’t make the final roster. The surprise was the Browns found a willing trade partner, shipping the third-year man to AFC North rival Pittsburgh for a sixth-round pick in 2018.

It’s extremely rare in the NFL to see an intra-division deal. The last one in memory was in 2006 when the Browns agreed to swap first-round picks (it was just a one place move down) with the Baltimore Ravens, who selected defensive lineman Haloti Ngata.

Ngata, who plays now for Detroit, went on to become a five-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro. The Browns, whose draft history since the resurrection is sketchy at best, took linebacker Kamerion Wimbley, who retired prior to the 2015 season as a member of the Oakland Raiders.

New faces on the Cleveland roster this season – there are 27 of them and, yep, that’s slightly more than half the team – include rookie free agents Tracy Howard, a cornerback, and inside linebacker Dominique Alexander.

This, of course, will not be the roster that opens the regular season a week from Sunday in Philadelphia. There most likely will be some movement once players from all around the league clear waivers and the 10-man practice squads are set.

Rumors already have the Browns signing Britton Colquitt of the famous Colquitt punting family to replace Michael Palardy, who beat out Kasey Redfern on the not-so-final 53. He was cut by Denver a few days ago after spending seven seasons as the Broncos’ punter.

Colquitt’s father Craig punted for Pittsburgh from 1978 to 1984 and older brother Dustin has been Kansas City’s punter since 2005.

The signing of veteran burly defensive tackle Stephen Paea, if nothing else, gives the defensive line some experience. The 28-year-old free agent, who logged four seasons with Chicago and played sparingly with Washington last season, has 13½ career sacks.

He arrives with the right attitude. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” he tweeted “God is good. #DAWGPOUND #Cleveland Browns.” He’ll learn soon enough.

It will be interesting to see how coordinator Ray Horton schemes his defense with Paea aboard. The lack of a decent pass rush moved Horton, a 3-4 devotee, to experiment with four-man fronts featuring rookies Carl Nassib and Emmanuel Ogbah on the flanks during the exhibition season.

Paea could be paired with Danny Shelton or Jamie Meder on the inside to provide insurance against the running game in a 4-3 set.

As for other areas, expect some movement in the heavily populated secondary as waiver scanning continues throughout the weekend. Ten is one too many back there. 

As for the offense, new quarterback Robert Griffin III will have a receivers corps in the first four games consisting of four rookies, a converted quarterback (Terrelle Pryor) still in the learning phase of his new position, and Smurfish Andrew Hawkins, who has had numerous concussions. Good luck with that.

All of which probably means coach Hue Jackson most likely will rely heavily on the ground game and a short passing game as he attempts to pump some life into what was a moribund offense in the exhibitions. Lack of a quality offensive line won't help.

If The Third is forced to throw the ball anywhere from 25 to 35 times a game, that probably will mean a rout is in progress. Judging from the roster makeup now, it looks as though that very well might be the case.