With fingers crossed

If he's smart, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski should tailor his pre-game speech to his troops Sunday morning before their game in Indianapolis against the Colts in a direction Kyle Shanahan apparently didn't a week ago when his unbeaten San Francisco 49ers visited the struggling Browns.

The Niners were fresh off obliterating the Dallas Cowboys and feeling awfully good about themselves. Good enough, in fact, they subconsciously probably believed all they had to do was show up in Cleveland and stretching the undefeated streak to six games was a mere formality.

Not in the on-any-given-Sunday National Football League it isn't as the Browns proved with a shocking 19-17 victory led on offense by a practice squad quarterback. It's a triumph that could conceivably send the wrong message to the Browns, who take on the far less talented Colts.

That's what's facing Stefanski as he tries to play the schedule one game at a time. He needs to corral his team and crawl inside their heads for this trap game. Convince them that if it can happen to the best team in the league, it can happen to anybody. The 49ers victory is -- or should now be -- ancient history. 

Even with major season-ending injuries (Nick Chubb and Jack Conklin), the Browns are still the better team. And with Deshaun Watson reportedly at the point in his shoulder rehab where he is now listed as questionable, which means he'll probably start, the Cleveland offense is almost whole again.

For the third time this season, the Browns will attempt to stitch together back-to-back victories. After stunning the Cincinnati Bengals in the season opener, the offense gagged the second game against Pittsburgh.

Game three produced the best overall performance of the season against Tennessee, followed by the walloping by Baltimore as Watson sat out with a weird shoulder injury and Dorian Thompson-Robinson clearly played like a wide-eyed rookie.

The schedule thus far has unfolded rhythmically, the Browns winning on the odd weeks (1, 3, 5) and losing on the even weeks (2, 4) with game six Sunday. For the record, the Browns last won two straight games in weeks 12 and 13 last season against Tampa Bay and Houston.

This is the perfect opportunity for the Browns to step up and take charge at a point in the schedule where they become road warriors with three of the next four and five of the next seven games away from home, including two trips to the west coast.

The Cleveland defense most likely will have to deal with a Colts offense trending more toward the ground game with the return of former All-Pro running back Jonathan Taylor, back after missing most of the 2022 season with ankle miseries and a contract holdout that ended recently.

Taylor and Zack Moss, who has run for 466 yards and four touchdowns, represent a challenge for the Browns' defensive line, which has limited opposing running backs to just 75 yards a game. The whole idea is forcing Indy quarterback Gardner Minshew to throw the football.

The somewhat erratic Minshew replaced Anthony Richardson at quarterback after shoulder surgery ended the season for the club's No. 1 draft choice a few games ago. His primary targets are Michael Pittman Jr. (40-460-1), rookie Josh Downs (28-276-1), Alex Pierce (11-149), Walker and Moss.

It will be interesting to see how Stefanski utilizes Watson, should he indeed start, with the Cleveland ground game showing signs of coming around. Jerome Ford and Kareem Hunt racked up 131 of the club's 160 yards infantry style last week against the 49ers.

It's not Nick Chubb by any stretch, but it showed the cohesion that had been missing following Chubb's season-ending injury had not totally disappeared. And with Joel Bitonio returning to left guard after minor knee surgery, more of the same please might be in order.

Utilizing Ford's speed and Hunt's dogged slashing style should enable Stefanski to protect Watson to the point where he would be more of a game manager, focusing more on moving the chains and draining the game clock.

Then turn loose Jim Schwartz's defense, which has redefined the word spectacular, against a Colts offense still  learning how to play with Minshew. In theory, it should be a bountiful afternoon against a Colts offensive line that has surrendered 18 sacks.

Fighting with myself as to how to pick this one. Part of me says it's time to finally pick the Browns for the first time this season to win. They are definitely the better team. So what are you waiting for? The other part brings up the notion this defense is due for a bad game. Time to cross fingers and trust the game six result blows up the season rhythm. Make it:

Browns 23, Colts 15