Game Thoughts: Different Offense, DTR Shines, York's Misses Continue

The Browns showed a few clues in regard to their offense in Friday night's game against the Commanders. Meanwhile, rookie quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson continues to shine and Cade York continues to miss field goals.

For Cleveland Browns fans who definitely know all about patiently waiting, they were forced to wait through a severe weather delay that lasted seventy-six minutes before the game finally kicked off on Friday night. The Browns would eventually fall to the Washington Commanders, 17-15, in a game that had its share of exciting plays but was also marred by injuries and slippery field conditions. 

The Browns trailed 14-2 at halftime but managed some second half fireworks to close the game to 17-15. With one minute and thirty-six seconds to go Kellen Mond connected on a late touchdown pass to Mike Harley Jr. The Browns would later fail on the two-point conversion. Instead of attempting an onside kick, Head Coach Kevin Stefanski decided to kick the ball away, bringing and end to everybody's long night with a 17-15 final score. 

There were plenty of thoughts I have to take away from this one, so let's get to it.

Browns playbook full of empty

The theme of the offseason was about adapting the offensive scheme to what Deshaun Watson is most comfortable with. On the first and only drive for Watson and the starters the team snapped the ball from an empty backfield look with Watson in the gun on three out of the twelve plays. 

Watson thrived during his time in Houston out of empty sets as it allows him to spread out the field and forces the defense to show more of their cards pre-snap. This coupled with the multiple runs that we saw from the gun, has me excited that we will truly see an evolved offense from Stefanski.

Can DTR be the backup this year?

Browns rookie quarterback, Dorian Thompson-Robinson continues to shine in preseason action as he finished the game 9-10, 102 yards, 1 TD. He capped off an impressive drive by hitting David Bell on a slant for a seven yard touchdown. 

He seems to bring an energy and tempo when he enters the game. He also flashed a nice chemistry with newly acquired tight end Miller Forristall, who ended up second on the team receiving for the night.

Thus far this preseason DTR has completed over 80% of his passes and should get another extensive look on Thursday night against the Eagles. If he puts in another performance like the previous two, you have to start asking if he is ahead of schedule to become the teams backup quarterback.

 I will write more about this in the next couple of days but I will leave you with this teaser: Josh Dobbs is here to stay.

Cade York, is it time to panic?

York has had his issues with missed kicks going back to last year but after starting the year 0/2, on field goals, is it time to bring in another kicker to the fold? My answer is no, and things would have to go drastically south over the next two weeks for me to change my mind. The Browns have invested a lot in the talent that the young kicker possesses and they need to give him every opportunity to work through it with new special teams coach Bubba Ventrone. To me his issues are correctible.