Overreacting, underreacting and properly reacting to Browns' Week 5 loss to Commanders

LANDOVER, Md. — A three-game losing streak and a 1-4 start is the perfect petri dish for reactions from across the spectrum to develop.

That's exactly where the Browns are as the fifth week of the NFL regular season comes to a conclusion. A 34-13 loss at the Washington Commanders was the kind of jarring result that laid bare a whole lot of things about a football team.

It's also the kind of result that opened up a whole bunch of takes. Some are well-grounded, and some are way over the top, but they all come out at 1-4 with the last game a 21-point loss to a team among the worst in the league last year.

It's not last year, though, and in quarterback Jayden Daniels the Commanders found themselves a critical piece of any team's foundation with the No. 2 pick in the draft. Speaking of that position, it's where this week's three reactions begin.

Proper reaction: Quarterback Deshaun Watson has been central to the offensive struggles

Sunday's game was a stark contrast in quarterback play even if, at least passing-wise, the basic stats — save for yardage — weren't too far apart. Deshaun Watson was 15 of 28 with a touchdown, while Daniels was 14 of 25 with a score and an interception. The problem was Watson produced just 125 passing yards, and Daniels produced 238. More than that, Daniels provided way more explosive plays, both through the air and, as his 84 rushing yards attest, on the ground. There was a decisiveness in Daniels in his fifth career game that has not been present in Watson five games into his eighth — yes, he didn't play one full season in 2021, but he wasn't injured that year — NFL season. Watson seems indecisive often, like he's not trusting what his eyes are seeing. That indecisiveness either leads to late throws, or it leads to him waiting too long to take off and try to run to make something out of a play. Daniels was phenomenal at that, not just Sunday, but over his first five games. Watson has not been, not just Sunday, but over the first five games of the season. Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said he's not going to change quarterbacks — and there's 230 million reasons not to — and that's his right. However, that's only going to make the calls for that to increase, or calls for another reaction.

Overreaction: Kevin Stefanski needs to give up the play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey

Stefanski is far from a perfect play-caller. That's not what this is about. Nor does it have anything to do with Ken Dorsey's time as offensive coordinator in Buffalo ending after a year-and-a-half because of criticisms of his play-calling and general offensive production. Again, not relevant to this specific point. Let's shift the argument away from the Browns and look at two head coaches/play-callers who are universally seen as the best in the business: San Francisco 49ers' Kyle Shanahan and the Los Angeles Rams' Sean McVay. When Shanahan has a Brock Purdy or a Matt Ryan running his offense, it's one of the best in the league and ends up regularly in the Super Bowl; when it's C.J. Beathard or Nick Mullens, they end up a four- to six-win team picking at the top of the draft. When McVay has Matthew Stafford or Jared Goff running the offense, it's a Super Bowl team; when it's John Wolford, it ends up 5-12. Can Stefanski change some things schematically to try to salvage something with things in their current state? Absolutely. Can real progress be made without significant improvement in quarterback play? Not a chance.

Underreaction: Cleveland Browns defense isn't close to last year's immovable force

At some point, it's time to point out what's right in front of all of us. This Browns defense has been a shell of the fearsome group it was for stretches of last year, when it was statistically the best in the league. There are a lot of reasons why this has occurred, and a lot of them are, quite honestly, fundamental in nature. There are the missed tackles, which were called out by multiple veterans after a loss in Las Vegas to the Raiders. That was again an issue against Washington, specifically ill-timed missed tackles. Not one, but twice, Browns linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah missed on potential sacks of Daniels — one was because safety Grant Delpit ran into him as he was about to run into Daniels — that turned into a huge plays. There was a run by Washington's Austin Ekeler on which cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. was spun around by a move and couldn't make a tackle on a 57-yard gain. There were other times when it seemed the defense was just a foot or two out of line, which was the foot or two the Commanders needed to turn a loss into a gain, or even a score. It was not just Sunday — it's been the case for better part of five weeks. At that point, it starts to live up to defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz's favorite way of describing how any one individual is playing: "They're playing (insert record here)." Well, the Browns defense is playing 1-4 right now.

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Overreacting, underreacting and properly reacting to Browns' Week 5 loss to Commanders