The Cleveland Browns will have plenty of drama during the 2024 NFL season as they try to end a two-year playoff drought and advance past the Divisional Round for the first time since—avert your eyes if you have a sensitive stomach—Bernie Kosar led the charge under center back in 1989.
Kevin Stefanski’s team is clinging to life in the AFC playoff picture after an abysmal defensive performance led to a 36-19 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
With a 7-5 record heading into Week 14, the Browns are one of four non-division-leading AFC teams on the right side of the tiebreaker equation, sitting in the third and final wild-card spot.
They can still beat the 7-5 Pittsburgh Steelers (and, if all goes well, the 9-3 Baltimore Ravens) in the AFC North, but they must also beat the 7-5 Houston Texans, the 6-6 Denver Broncos, the 6-6 Buffalo Bills, and the 6-6 Cincinnati Bengals.
The Browns received both good and bad news from their Week 14 opponent’s initial injury messaging as they prepared for a tough matchup with the fourth-seeded Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Good News: Christian Kirk Will Not Dismantle the Defense
Early in the December 4 Monday Night Football game, Christian Kirk found himself exposed within a gap in the opposing scheme, as he frequently does. Trevor Lawrence hit Kirk for a 26-yard gain after delivering a perfectly thrown football above the middle layer of the Cleveland defense but short of the hard-closing safety.
However, the dynamic wide receiver rose slowly before hobbling off the field and into the locker room, lacking his trademark speed. He didn’t return, and Jacksonville head coach Doug Pederson revealed Tuesday, according to NFL insider Adam Schefter, that he’d suffered a core injury that would keep him out for “some time” and necessitate surgery.
Except for a certain Bountygate-era New Orleans Saints team, no team wishes for opponent injuries. However, given Kirk’s prominence in the Jacksonville offense and their own strength defending the deep ball, the Browns won’t be too concerned about this development.
Cleveland leads the league in passing yards allowed and ranks fourth in passing touchdowns allowed. According to Pro Football Reference, only Baltimore has allowed fewer net yards per passing attempt in 2023.
Kirk, on the other hand, ranks second among Jacksonville’s receiving options in targets (85), receptions (57), and receiving touchdowns (3), while leading the pack in receiving yards (787). Without him, the Browns can devote more defensive attention to Calvin Ridley and Evan Engram while forcing the Jaguars to throw more dump-off passes to Travis Etienne when they aren’t relying on Zay Jones, Parker Washington, and the rest of an unimpressive receiving corps.
It’s the classic case of a strength becoming even stronger before a crucial matchup.
The Bad News: Trevor Lawrence is still in the running.
Given the strength of Cleveland’s pass defense and the weakness of Jacksonville’s pass-catching options, this may not matter. The Browns, on the other hand, would much rather face the uninspiring C.J. Beathard than the dynamic right arm of Trevor Lawrence, who has been gaining steam in his third season.
Lawrence, like Kirk before him, was injured during Jacksonville’s Monday Night Football loss.
He dropped back on 3rd-and-11 with 5:44 left in the fourth quarter and the score tied at 28 apiece when left tackle Walker Little stepped on his ankle. He was bent backward as he fell to the ground, potentially exacerbating the problem. He received assistance for his own slow-motion exit to the locker room after attempting to walk off the field and slamming his helmet into the grass.
Despite the aftermath of his injury and the initial speculation from the collective NFL fanbase and a slew of social-media-residing wannabe doctors that it could be a season-ender—or, at the very least, cost him significant time—Lawrence has yet to be ruled out for even Week 14’s game against the Browns.
Perhaps this is Pederson’s game, forcing Stefanski to prepare his troops for Lawrence’s big arm and ability to throw on the move. After all, high-ankle sprains are known to cause multiple-week absences.
But, whether this is a ruse or a genuine update providing more evidence that Lawrence’s limbs, joints, and tendons are made of rubber, it’s not ideal for the Browns as they try to keep their playoff hopes alive.
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