Not yet for Flacco

Is there any question the Browns, notably head coach Kevin Stefanski, enter Sunday's game in Los Angeles against the Rams in desperation mode?

Stop and think about it. The starting quarterback will be Joe Flacco, who spent the last few months in a forced retirement. He wanted to keep going after 15 seasons of plying his craft in the National Football League. Not one bite.

He's no longer the quarterback who led the Baltimore Ravens to numerous playoff victories, including a Super Bowl title and MVP honor. But at the moment, who cares? He is healthy and vertical, which makes him the perfect candidate to work under center for Cleveland at this point.

Deshaun Watson is gone for the season. Rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson is (a) not ready for prime time and (b) still recovering from a savage blow to the head last Sunday in Denver. And P. J. Walker is not NFL material.

This still-talented offense, despite losing their starters at running back and both offensive tackles, needed a quarterback. Desperately. When desperate, moves of desperation are required. So ready or not, here comes Joe Flacco. 

So when the Browns became the team on the NFL landscape desperate enough to go after not just any  free-agent quarterback a couple of weeks ago when Watson was placed on injured reserve, choosing Flacco's his months-long wait. was rewarded. 

Sure he's 38 years old. But he's a young 38, a vibrant 38 whose yearning to play the game he loved was not ready to accept retirement. Nineteen comeback victories and 25 game-winning drives still burned in his memory.

He caught the eye in recent practices of offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, a former quarterback himself, who cited Flacco's "elite arm" when prompted to evaluate the newcomer. He can still bring it, which is all Stefanski needed to hear when deciding on Sunday's starter.

He knows his offense is struggling to put points on the scoreboard lately, especially by players not named Dustin Hopkins. That stems from Watson's absence and woefully insufficient help from other members of the quarterbacks room.

So here comes Flacco, in the twilight of his career, eager to unlock the mystery that has brought this offense to a near dead stop. One look at third-down statistics on offense tells you all you need to know. 

When it comes to third-down conversions, the life blood of any offense, the Browns know what misery feels like. They are 30th in the NFL at 31.33%. In the last three games (Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Denver), they are a putrid 23.08%. And yet they are 2-1 in those games, thanks to Hopkins. 

Stefanski, of course, gets the blame for these awful stats, although we know poor execution is really to blame. Fine line here: Someone has to be responsible for that, too. So why not Stefanski? Nothing is getting fixed. 

He has tried just about everything to kick that side of the ball loose from the doldrums. As stated in the last rant, about the only thing he hasn't tried is fundamentally sound football. Basic stuff with a just a few variations. And none of the cute stuff.

What he needs to do is focus on winning first and second downs to avoid reaching the dreaded third down. With backs like Kareem Hunt, who specializes in short-yardage situations, and Jerome Ford whose speed is underutilized, that shouldn't be a problem.

The Rams enter the game Sunday on a little bit of a roll with consecutive victories over Seattle (for the second time this season) and hapless Arizona after dropping four of the previous five. They have the kind of offense that could seriously challenge the Cleveland pass defense.

Veteran gunslinger Matthew Stafford is the ringmaster of a passing game that features arguably the best group of receivers the Browns' secondary will face this season. Head coach Sean McVay dials up passes nearly two-thirds of the time.

Rookie wide receiver Puka Nacua, who has amassed 73 receptions for 924 yards but just three touchdowns, heads this talented group. He's got four 100-yard games already.

Veteran Cooper Kupp, who has missed at least a dozen games the past two seasons with injuries, has slowly worked his way back into the rotation of late and is still considered dangerous, as are wideout Tutu Atwell and tight end Tyler Higbee.

The hottest Ram right now is pro sophomore running back Kyren Williams, who owns three 100-yard games in just seven starts. He returned last Sunday after being sidelined for four games with an ankle injury and posted a 143-yard afternoon on the ground on just 16 carries and caught every one of his six targets for another 61 yards.

It should be noted here the Browns, especially the defense, have not been road warriors this season. They have been singed for 60 points in the last two road games, 84 in the last three and 122 overall in the last four. Strangely, they are 2-2.

The key ingredient that was missing from the Cleveland offense in last week's loss in Denver was the ground game. Way too many second and 10s because of incomplete passes on first down with DTR at quarterback. Gotta coach smarter than that.

Now with Flacco at the controls, it will be interesting to see if Stefanski sticks with a heavily-laden pass-on-first-down game plan or has learned his lesson and brings back the very good infantry attack.

At this point of the season, Stefanski needs to win this one. Falling to 7-5 significantly damages the Browns' chances of qualifying for the postseason and buttresses the notion by some in Browns Nation that Stefanski is on the edge of a slippery slope.

This will be the fourth time this season the Browns face the possibility of losing two in a row. They won the next game in the first three against Tennessee, Indianapolis and Arizona. The Rams are better than those teams.

One certainty about this one. Flacco most likely will struggle early before getting used to the speed of the game after being off for nearly a year. He will throw at least one interception, be sacked at least twice and connect at least once with Amari Cooper for a touchdown. 

The Cleveland defense, without an effective Myles Garrett and a seemingly worn-down defensive line, has only one takeaway in the last two games. That number will not change. Flacco's return is a step in the right direction. It gives legitimacy to that side of the football. It won't be enough Sunday. Make it:

Rams 23, Browns 14