Cleveland Browns are hoping to get as healthy as possible heading into the playoffs
BEREA, Ohio — When the NFL announced the slate of the games for the final week of the regular season on Sunday Night, including the date and time for the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals regular season finale, the Browns already knew the game would have no playoff implications for them.
The Browns have a chance to win 12 games for the first time since 1986 with a win over the Bengals this week.
The question would be do the Browns use the game as a sort of ‘bye’ themselves to try and heal up their walking wounded from season to date. On Friday, the day after clinching a playoff spot with a win over the Jets, Kevin Stefanski did not give any indication as to what the Browns would do with their starters, in terms of resting some players.
The Browns did not know until the weekend’s games played out if they would still have a chance to win the AFC North or not.
On Monday, Stefanski still would not disclose his plans.
“We’re working through all those things,” he said. “We’ll have a plan. Obviously, like I mentioned you guys before, we want to finish strong, so we’ll have a plan moving forward, but I’ll update you guys as we get going through the week.”
Stefanski emphasized the fact that he wants the Browns to finish strong, having won four-straight, but wants to do what is best for the team.
“I think every decision you make, you’re just trying to make what is best, what is in the best interest of your football team, whether you play your guys, rest, your guys, and as you know, you can’t rest everybody,” he said. “There’s roster limitations to that, so we took care of business last week, but we have to finish strong. That’s our mentality. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
The Browns will travel to Cincinnati to close out the regular season on Sunday, Jan. 7 at 1 pm. against the Bengals.
The game has no playoff implications for either team as the Bengals were eliminated from any possible playoff spot by virtue of their loss to the Chiefs earlier on Sunday. The Browns locked up the No. 5 seed or the top wild card spot in the AFC due to their 37-20 win over the Jets and the other results of the games in Week 17.
Stefanski was asked how to balance whether to play key players or rest them, given all of the injuries this season.
“You’re trying to obviously, balance all those things as you make decisions for your football team,” he said. “Like I said, it’s important for us to finish strong, so that’s what we’re going to do. And then we will get as healthy as we can going into the next season.”
The Ravens locked up the No. 1 seed and a bye in the first-round of the playoffs. The No. 2 seed will be determined by the winner of the Dolphins and Bills next Sunday night at 8:20 pm. and the No. 6 and No. 7 spots will be determined by the results of the remainder of the games. The teams vying for the final playoff spots are the Dolphins (11-5), Bills (10-6), Jaguars (9-7), Colts (9-7), Texans (9-7) and Steelers (9-7). The Steelers are playing the Ravens on Saturday at 4:30 pm in Baltimore.
It remains to be seen if Stefanski will choose to rest some of the Browns starters or key contributors as the Browns enter the playoffs with no break between the regular season and the playoffs.
Running back Jerome Ford said the team is taking the same approach as they always do.
“We pretty much just been same focus as every other game,” he said. “We’re looking to go 1-0. This week we have an opponent in our division and we know they’re going to come out and give us their best shot, so we ‘regoing to go out there and put it on film and go out there and give our best shot.”
Linebacker Sione Takitaki echoed Ford’s comments that the Browns are focusing on the Bengals this week.
“Very exciting times for the Cleveland Browns, but our focus this week is for the Bengals and going 1-0 this week,” he said. “It’s easy to look forward, but our whole focus right now this week is to go win and be 1-0 against the Bengals.”
Who Starts at QB; One of the decisions that Stefanski has to make is whether to start QB Joe Flacco or rest him.
“I mean you talk to Joe every day, but this decision I’ll make for what’s best for every position, everybody on the team,” he said. “Joe’s certainly a veteran that does a great job in the meeting room, does a great job on game day of letting you know what he’s seeing. He sees it really well. But I think it’s really important that you listen to your guys both in this building when you’re working and you’re in meetings and you’re out there in the practice field. I think it’s important to listen to him on game day, as well.”
If he chooses to rest Flacco, will he go with QB P.J. Walker or recently signed QB Jeff Driskel, who was signed to the practice squad after QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson was placed on injured reserve?
“Working through all those things,” Stefanski said. “(Driskel’s) a guy that we felt good about bringing in. (Offensive Coordinator Alex Van Pelt) AVP has been with him before he was in Arizona, so there’s a lot of carryover from what we do and what they do in terms of terminology. So with Dorian’s injury, getting a guy in here that we felt good about, but we’ll see on all that.”
Moore, Cooper Doing Better: Stefanski gave an update on WR Amari Cooper and WR Elijah Moore. Cooper missed last week’s game with a heel injury as a game-time decision and Moore left at the end of the first half with a concussion.
“Amari is feeling better,” Stefanski said. “So again, we’ll see how he does throughout this week, but he’s definitely feeling better. And then same with Elijah continues to make progress, so we will see how that goes again over these days. But very, very excited about that.”
Moore spent the night in the hospital and is in the concussion protocol. He stepped into the No. 1 role at wide receiver with Cooper being made inactive prior to the game with a heel injury. Moore caught five passes for 61 yards and a touchdown. including a long reception of 24 yards.
“He’s done a great job for us and with Amari going down, put him over there in that spot and didn’t miss a beat,” Stefanski said. “I mean the play he made to break up was almost an interception. Break it up, grab it. He was outstanding.”
On the season, Moore 59 receptions for 640 yards (10.8 avg.) with two touchdowns. He also has 11 yards rushing.
Hopkins, Walker, Ogbo, Delpit for Playoffs?: Stefanski was asked the status of the injured players and the prospects of them of returning for the playoffs. K Dustin Hopkins (hamstring), LB Anthony Walker (knee), DE Ogbonnia Okoronkwo (pectoral), S Grant Delpit (groin) and P Corey Bojorquez (left quad) all missed last week’s game with the Jets.
“I don’t know,” Stefanski said. “Obviously, we’ll see how all those guys progress over the course of the next couple of weeks. You want to get all those guys back, obviously, but we’ll just have to see how they do over the next seven, 14 days.”
CB Mike Ford left last week’s game in the first half with a calf injury and did not return. Ford is a core special teams player and he recovered a fumble on a kickoff return.
“Mike Ford has a calf injury,” Stefanski said. “We will update that as we get back more information in the next few days.”
Prepping for Playoffs: Stefanski was asked if the Browns will spend any time preparing for the first-round of the playoffs, given they have played all three of their possible opponents in the Jaguars, Colts or Texans.
“I think we faced all of them,” he said. “They faced us, so it’ll be the second time versus all those opponents. So as you know, we’re going to go back and watch those games. They’re going to go back and watch the game we played them. So it’s similar to a division game in that regard when you play that team for the second time around. But I don’t know that there’s an advantage to either side.”
The Browns defeated all three of those teams in earlier games this season.
As the No. 5 seed, the Browns will play the winner of the AFC South, the No. 4 seed, which will be determined next weekend. The Jaguars, Colts and Texans are all tied at 9-7, but the Jaguars have the tie breakers with the other two teams. If the Jaguars win, the Browns will travel to Jacksonville to play the Jaguars.
The Jaguars play the Titans (5-11) on the road at 1 pm on Sunday, while the Texans take on the Colts in Indianapolis on Saturday night at 8:15 pm ET.
If the Jaguars lose or tie, the winner of the game between the Texans and Colts would clinch the division and host the Browns in the wildcard round. The Colts won the first matchup in Houston, 31-20, but that was back in week two. The Titans cannot make the postseason and will attempt to prevent the Jaguars from winning the division. The Jaguars won the first game between the two teams, 34-14.
