Mid-week thoughts

Browns General Manager Andrew Berry shared his thoughts about the status of his 2-2 team with the media the other day during the bye week and covered a wide range of topics. A few of the big ones will be discussed further here.

The one that really jumped out involved one member of an offensive line that has not come even close to living up to its advanced billing as one of the best in the National Football League. It has, in fact, fallen to barely above average.

The player in question is Jedrick Wills Jr., a left tackle who hasn't developed any level of consistency in his three-plus seasons at the second-most important position on that side of the football. And it  apparently has taken this long for Berry to notice.

"I think Jed would be the first to tell you he hasn't played as consistently as he knows he's capable of playing," he said, "and he's capable of playing better. He will play better." 

No he isn't and no he won't because he is incapable of fulfilling his GM's wishes. He hasn't been since the day he was selected in the first round of the college draft in 2020 with All-Pro Tristan Wirfs (now with Tampa Bay) still on the board. It has been a constant uphill battle for him to become just adequate and even that's a stretch.

Wills has been a distinct liability in pass protection. He is easily overpowered at the snap despite a drop step that should but fails to provide a solid anchor base. His run-game performance is just a teeny bit better. His overall game grades consistently land him in the lower tier in PFF rankings.

He can't get any better because if he could, he would have by now. What you see now is the best Wills offers. Berry is giving him too much credit. He doesn't deserve it. If anything, Berry is making excuses for him.

It's a situation that needs to be addressed before the whole Cleveland offense falls apart. The line is already missing All-Pro right tackle Jack Conklin for the season. Rookie Dawand Jones is doing a good job filling in for Conklin, certainly playing much better than Wills already.

In order for this otherwise talented offense to become more dangerous, it requires a certain precision and rhythm from a timing standpoint. It doesn't exist right now. All it takes is one mistake within the framework of a play to blow it up. The Browns have been out of synch on offense most of the season.

Have you noticed how much more pressure Deshaun Watson -- and rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson last Sunday -- have been under this season, especially from the blind side? Wonder why? Rhetorical question. As a result, both have left the pocket prematurely, often resulting in a negative play.

The Browns contributed mightily to Wills' problems by moving him to left tackle after a high school and college career at Alabama strictly at right tackle. He was Tua Tagovailoa's personal protector for the Crimson Tide and was good at it.

But Browns offensive line coach Bill Callahan, considered one of the gurus of that unit in the league, said no. He's going to play left tackle. He can make the switch. Here we are in season four and he is still a work in progress. How much more poor play do the Browns need to see before making a move they should have made as early as 2021?

The O line definitely needs to be strengthened. Here's one suggestion: Move Joel Bitonio over one spot to left tackle, bring Michael Dunn off the bench to replace Bitonio and put Wills, whose fifth-year option was foolishly picked up by the Browns, where he belongs. On the bench.

Bitonio was a tackle in college. He's arguably the best guard in the league, but he can do the job outside. He's that good. A line of Bitonio, Dunn, center Ethan Pocic, right guard Wyatt Teller and Jones at right tackle is a whole lot better than the unit they have now.

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It was reported -- and verified by the Browns -- that Watson was medically cleared to play against the Ravens Sunday. So why didn't he? And why was he medically cleared if he didn't? Inquiring minds want to know. This one gets murky.

Berry said Watson, who bruised his right shoulder during a scramble in the Tennessee victory, had trouble driving the ball (assuming that means cutting it loose) in pre-game warmups. Okay, that sounds plausible. But let's get back to the original question? Why was he cleared medically if he couldn't drive the ball?

He said the decision was arrived at through organizational consensus rather than Watson's decision he  couldn't play. Sounds like a left-hand/right-hand situation where not everyone is on the same page.

One member of that organization was Stefanski, who originally said of Watson's decision to sit this one out, "It wasn't a matter of pain tolerance or anything," he said. "He just didn't feel like he had all his faculties." Remember that beauty?

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Berry said there will be "no major changes" in the quarterbacks room after DTR's extremely disappointing starting debut against the Ravens. 

"Experience is a hard teacher because it gives the first test and the lesson afterward," he said. "Certainly challenging circumstances. This is the role of the backup. (We) continue to learn from it and move forward."

All of which seemingly means he is not scouring the free-agent landscape for a veteran quarterback in the event Watson either isn't ready for the San Francisco 49ers a week from Sunday at home or suffers another injury later in the season

In either event, it might behoove head coach Kevin Stefanski to have his backup quarterback ready to go schematically next time rather than hamstring him with another quarterback's plays. It wasn't fair to give his rookie quarterback plays Watson can execute more efficiently.

That's not why the Browns lost the game. Pin that one on a defense that played its worst football of the season for about 20 minutes. The kid played like a rookie making his starting professional debut. Wasn't his fault. Next time, Stefanski should remember to give him a game that better fits his skills.

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Finally . . .  One area of agreement. Ten turnovers in four games. "Quite honestly, that's not a sustainable way to win football games," Berry said. "That's . . . the first thing we have to correct." Got that right. . . . Speaking of correction, I've got a couple to apologize for: In the game prediction piece Saturday, I wrote Ravens head coach John Harbaugh was 35-13 against the Browns. It should have been 24-6. And in the gamer for Sunday, I incorrectly blamed safety Juan Thornhill for whiffing on a tackle of Ravens tight end Mark Andrews that turned a short gain into a 36-yarder. The blame goes to cornerback Greg Newsome II.