The hits keep coming for the Cleveland Browns as they try to climb to the top of football’s best division.
The team announced on Friday, November 10, that rookie right tackle Dawand Jones will miss Sunday’s road game against the Baltimore Ravens due to injury. Jones missed practice all week due to knee and shoulder injuries that will keep him out for at least one game, according to the Browns’ official injury report.
Jones, a fourth-round rookie out of Ohio State, took over as starter less than halfway through his first NFL game after Jack Conklin suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Cleveland also placed starting left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. on the injured reserve list (IR) this week due to a knee injury, which will keep him out for at least the next four games.
Browns are short on offensive linemen and are keeping their plans against the Ravens under wraps.
The Browns must now travel to face the NFL’s second-ranked defense without their top three offensive tackles, a risk made more dangerous by the nagging shoulder injury that has plagued starting quarterback Deshaun Watson since Week 3.
The only other tackle on the team’s active roster is James Hudson III, who will most likely start on one side or the other. It’s unclear who the Browns will move to the other tackle spot, and head coach Kevin Stefanski refused to reveal that information to the media during a press conference on Friday.
“#Browns coach Kevin Stefanski won’t say who will start at tackle against the #Ravens,” Browns Zone’s Scott Petrak wrote on X.
“We have a good feeling about where we’re going,” Stefanski said. “Worked hard at it.”
The Browns will face a difficult task against the elite Ravens defense.
Whatever Stefanski and the rest of the organization think about the offensive line situation heading into Sunday, it’s almost certain that the Ravens do.
The Browns have the best defense in football, but if there is another team that can legitimately claim that title, it is Baltimore. The Ravens are second in the league in yards allowed per game with 262.6, trailing the Browns by about 28 yards. However, Baltimore allows opponents only 13.8 points per game, which is the best mark in the NFL.
This season, the Ravens have forced 13 turnovers and have the most sacks in the league with 35. Cleveland’s lack of tackles will provide more opportunities for Baltimore’s pass rushers to get home against Watson, and more sacks means more turnovers.
The Browns’ offensive game plan this week will have to be deliberate, focusing on running the ball to control the clock — something they have done about as well as anyone in the NFL through the first half of the season — and relying on their own exceptional defense to slow down a high-powered Ravens attack.
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