Things are not going well right now in Cleveland. It did not go well at all in the Cleveland Browns’ season opener, in which they lost to a rookie quarterback by 19 points, but it got even worse just a day later on multiple fronts, though one more serious on the other.
With the Pittsburgh Steelers’s victory last night, Cleveland is now trailing everybody else in the AFC North as the lone team in the division to fail to win their opening contest, which they dropped facing the quarterback drafted from the second-overall position that they traded away to the Eagles.
That is because they did not much believe in said quarterback, Carson Wentz, a Division I player, and because they also thought that they might have found a long-term solution at the quarterback position with the free agent acquisition of Robert Griffin III during the offseason.
Yet it seems on first blush that Wentz is going to be a pretty good quarterback, and it also seems as though Griffin’s tenure as the Browns’ starting quarterback may have already come to an end, as the {somewhat ironically} former second-overall draft pick was placed on injured reserve yesterday stemming from an injury that he suffered in the loss.
To their credit, the Browns did truly appear to believe in Griffin, as his teammates voted him as one of their captains for the season. I could make a joke here about the standards being low enough in Cleveland for that to happen, but I won’t do that. I will only point out that I could have done that.
According to reports, Griffin suffered a broken bone in his shoulder after he was hit following a run in the opener, and that he is going to be re-evaluated after three or four weeks, but there are some who seem to believe that the outcome will lean toward the pessimistic side, and that the re-evaluation may reveal that surgery is necessary.
The former Washington quarterback completed only 12 of 26 pass attempts in his lone game with the team, throwing for 190 yards, and adding another 37 on the ground, 11 of which proved to be a very fateful carry that may end his season.
Even if Griffin is able to return this season, it is not a guarantee that he will resume his starting position if Josh McCown, last year’s starting quarterback, plays well. He actually did a respectable job last season as it pertains to the stat line, but he dealt with injuries and had to miss a lot of time while the Browns tried to figure out how terrible Johnny Manziel was on and off the field.
McCown completed 186 of 292 pass attempts last season for 2109 yards and 12 touchdowns and only four interceptions in eight games, averaging 7.3 yards per pass, with a quarterback rating of 93.3. He threw 13 touchdowns and just one interception in eight games and five starts with the Bears in 2013, but of course he threw 11 touchdowns to 14 interceptions in 11 games with the Buccaneers in between, so who knows.
