Midweek thoughts

All right, so what do we have after the Browns took a hard pass at the National Football League trading deadline?

Well, for starters, we have a pretty good offense that performs very well against teams with marginal defenses at best. That offense is going to get a well-needed shot of talent after the bye with the expected return of Nick Chubb, Austin Hooper and Wyatt Teller.

As for the defense, it's a matter of holding on for dear life in the second half of the season because it is not going to get any better. Better than what, you ask? Excellent question for which I do not have an answer, adequate or otherwise. Just better, I guess, comparatively. How much worse can it get? Rhetorical question.

Joe Woods has one of the most thankless jobs in professional football as the architect of this talentless -- trying to be nice here -- bunch. With the exception of cornerback Denzel Ward and defensive end Myles Garrett, the talent cupboard is bare.

It is not Woods' fault the Browns embarrass themselves just about every time that unit takes the field. Blame the guys in the front office who rounded up this crew of underachievers. He can go only with what he's got.

He has tried everything. Standard four-man pass rush. Blitzing from just about every conceivable angle. Combination coverages. Eight men in the box. You name it and he's probably called it. Not much works because the talent quotient on that side of the football is severely limited.

It's going to be that way until the next college football draft in Cleveland next April. General Manager Andrew Berry had the opportunity to inject some real talent on defense recently, but passed on edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue and cornerback/kick returner Desmond King.

Each could have been had for mid- to late-round draft picks. Each would have plugged vital holes in the passing game. Instead, both wound up with contending teams, Ngakoue with Baltimore and King with Tennessee. Missed opportunities.

Berry is not a rank amateur, although this is his first gig as the big boss of a roster. Got to cut him some slack and assume he knows what he's doing. But there are times when I wonder.

If there is a method to his madness for allowing Ngakoue and King to wind up elsewhere, I cannot detect it. We'll find out next spring. If defense is not emphasized with his right-now 10 selections, he invites ultra-close scrutinization.

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Now for the offense. The return of Hooper, Teller and Chubb automatically makes the Browns one of the most dangerous teams in the NFL on that side of the football. Assuming all are healthy and ready to jump right in, they once again become a sizable ground-game threat.

Teller clearly upgrades the offensive line at right guard, relegating Chris Hubbard to the bench, and reunites an offensive line that thrived when he was healthy. Hooper most likely drops David Njoku to No. 3 at tight end behind rookie Harrison Bryant.

Chubb's return is, of course, the most important because it allows head coach/playcaller Kevin Stefanski to restore his beloved ground game, which serves as the buttress for the balanced attack that was so successful during that four-game winning streak earlier in the season.

The bruising running of Chubb, which probably would have made a difference in the 16-6 loss Sunday (although we'll never really know), sets up utilization of so many other possibilities in Stefanski's playbook.

It forces the opposition to pay much closer attention to him because he is a constant threat to break a long run on just about every carry, which in turn makes Kareem Hunt more valuable in the ground and passing games. It also makes Baker Mayfield much more effective in the play-action game, a phase at which he has become quite adroit. 

It in theory should enable the Browns to successfully overcome the deficiencies of the defense as they seek to qualify for the postseason for the first time since 2002, and only the second time since the resurrection in 1999.