Cleveland Browns New Offense Takes Notable Strides In Win Over Jaguars

The Browns held off a late rally from Jacksonville to improve to 1-1 on the season

Sep 15, 2024; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) drops to throws against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first quarter at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Reper-Imagn Images / Jeremy Reper-Imagn Images

Much of the Cleveland Browns locker room spent the lead up to Week 2 of the season telling everyone publicly that an embarrassing Week 1 loss to the Cowboys wouldn't define their season.

They followed through on that promise in Jacksonville, holding off the Jaguars 18-13 to improve to 1-1 on the season. It was a night-and-day performance from what the Browns showcased one week prior, particularly on offense.

Cleveland spent much of the offseason advertising this new-Deshaun Watson friendly system under new offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey. It was supposed to feature plenty of pre-snap motion and more shots down field. It was rolled out with a thud in Week 1.

Week 2, however, showcased more of those elements synonymous with Dorsey. It started on the Browns opening drive of the game.

Backed up at their own three, Watson marched the unit he captains 97 yards, on 16 plays, while eating up over nine minutes of game clock in the process. The series had a little bit of everything.

Kevin Stefanski brought in interior offensive lineman Zak Zinter and Nick Harris as players up front and made them eligible on the first play from scrimmage. The motion that was missing in action in Week 1, was prominent almost immediately with tight ends and receivers both shifting across the formation.

Most importantly though, Watson looked poised in the pocket – a far cry from the rattled, hesitant quarterback that was bruised and battered against Dallas. He punctuated the opening series with a one-yard touchdown run on a quarterback draw. He got in that position by going 7-of-8, for 83 yards in the air.

The defense had a hand in the domination as well. Aside from a 66-yard bomb from Trevor Lawrence to rookie phenom Brian Thomas Jr. late in the third quarter, the Browns held Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars offense in check for most of the day, then sealed the deal late with a safety in the final two minutes of play.

It certainly wasn't perfect, however. After scoring 13 points across their first three drives of the game, they manged to produce just one second half scoring drive. They were a putrid 2-of-14 on third down for the game. A first half that saw Cleveland outgain Jacksonville 195-to-81, paved the way for a second half where they were outgained 242-102.

Penalties and general sloppiness threatened to gift the Jaguars a win late. After Jacksonville kicked a field goal at the 7:34 mark of the fourth quarter to cut Cleveland's lead to three, Watson marched the Browns to the Jags 24 looking for a dagger. Then the yellow flags came pouring down like the rain that dampened Jacksonville over the two weeks before the game.

An offensive facemask. A holding. A holding. Suddenly Cleveland was setup in third-and-36. Thankfully Corey Bojorquez pinned the ball at the one on the ensuing punt, and set the defense up to finish the job with Alex Wright's sack of Lawrence for a safety.

The Jekyll and Hyde halves for the Browns offense nearly proved costly. But a win is a win, as they say. These first few weeks of the season are all about teams figuring out their identities, and the Browns took some big steps towards figuring out theirs on Sunday.

Fortunately they did it in a win.