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Week 5 - Washington Commanders (3-1) vs. Cleveland Browns (1-3)
Nuts & Bolts
Date: October 6, 2024
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET
Venue: Northwest Stadium, Landover, MD
How to Watch: FOX
Matchup History: Cleveland leads all-time series 35-12-1
Last Meeting: Cleveland def. Washington 24-10 on 1/1/23
Betting Lines: Via DraftKings
Spread: Washington -3
Over/Under: 43.5
Prediction: Washington 26, Cleveland 23
Official Game Notes: HERE
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Head Coach: Dan Quinn (1st season, 3-1 record in Washington)
Record: 3-1 (1-0, 1st in NFC East)
Last Time Out: Won @ Arizona 42-14 on 9/29/24
Highlights HERE
Player to Watch: Jayden Daniels
Sunday’s game in Landover feels like the most anticipated Commanders home game in a very long time.
Washington is returning home riding a three game winning streak, including back-to-back impressive wins on the road in Cincinnati on Monday Night Football followed by a 42-14 shellacking of the Arizona Cardinals this past weekend.
Now, Washington returns home as the team expected to perform. Jayden Daniels is the early candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year and has looked like the clear top QB from the 2024 NFL draft.
This week, the wild stat that has been circulating is that the Commanders offense has had more scoring drives (23) than Jayden Daniels has thrown incomplete passes (18).
Undoubtedly, that trend will change. However, he has been the most efficient quarterback in NFL history in a four game span and has taken the league by storm with his dynamic running and throwing ability. Pair that with a myriad of offensive weapons, both young and old, and the Washington offense has been the best in the league through four weeks.
On the flipside, Washington hosts a Cleveland team on Sunday that has struggled to a 1-3 record largely due to the regression of quarterback Deshaun Waston.
However, the way the NFL has gone this season (and always goes) always seems to do the opposite of what everyone is thinking, and right now everyone is thinking this will be a cake walk for the Commanders.
Should be a beautiful day in the DMV on Sunday and I couldn’t be more excited to be attending the game to see Jayden Daniels and co. in-person.
Head Coach: Kevin Stefanski (5th season, 38-33 record in Cleveland)
Record: 1-3 (0-0, T-3rd in AFC North)
Last Time Out: Lost @ Las Vegas 20-16 on 9/29/24
Highlights HERE
Player to Watch: Myles Garrett
The Deshaun Watson experiment in Cleveland may be crashing toward a fiery conclusion.
In 2022 , Watson signed a 5 year, $230 million fully-guaranteed contract with the Browns, an unprecedented type of contract with an unprecedented amount of guaranteed money.
In his first two seasons with the Browns, he only played a total of 12 games, six total in both 2022 and 2023.
Last year, before his season-ending injury, he led the Browns to a 5-1 record in games he started, yet the narrative persisted that he was holding the team back.
That narrative only intensified when the team turned to 39-year old free agent Joe Flacco to take over at QB after problems at the position persisted later in the season, only for Flacco to lead the team to the playoffs and Head Coach Kevin Stefanski to earn the NFL Coach of the Year award.
Now in year three of that 5 year deal, Watson and the Browns are off to a 1-3 start and enter Sunday’s game fresh off a 20-16 loss to the Raiders who were missing their two best players in Maxx Crosby and Davante Adams. The week before, Cleveland lost at home to the Giants 21-15 as New York earned its first win of the year.
Through four games, Watson has not eclipsed 200 yards in a game while throwing a total of 4 touchdowns and 3 interceptions while taking a league-high 19 sacks. He sits 24th in passing yards and 27th in QBR, sandwiched between Jacoby Brissett and Tyler Huntley in the category.
Normally, when quarterback play is not up to the standard of the rest of the team, a move will be made to a different QB. For the Browns, it will likely take a lot more games like we’ve seen the last two weeks out of Watson before a change is made, entirely for contractual reasons.
The Browns essentially have to make this work. If Cleveland were to release him following the conclusion of this season, they would take a cap hit of nearly $73 million each of the next two years, crippling the team financially during that time.
As crazy as it is to say, they are likely better off keeping him at the moment. Fortunately for him, he faces a Washington defense on Sunday that has struggled throughout the year keeping opponents out of the endzone.
If he doesn’t perform much better soon, the Browns might be left with no choice.
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