The rain was pouring down, and the offense was sloppy in the Cleveland Browns' loss to the New York Jets. The offense had a difficult time running the ball and protecting Deshaun Watson en route to scoring only 12 points.

The loss dropped their record to 3-2 and the Jets improved to 2-3. 

Watson did not have a good game as he held onto the ball too long, leading to eight sacks. His decision-making was slow, and he did not even get a throw off on the last play of the game. The Browns even surprised themselves with a 3-1 start, and the odds of them making the playoffs increase exponentially at 4-1. However, they lost and the season may have a different outlook. 

They fell to second place and will have to play the 4-1 Baltimore Ravens next week to try to keep pace in the division. The Jets game was considered very winnable, and the Browns should have come out victorious to make the playoffs more possible.

If the Browns’ offense continues to play poorly and losses start to mount, then they need to make a change at quarterback. Outside of a miracle, the Browns can finally move on from him after the season. They have to decide the future of the most important position in all of sports. 

Should losses start to stack up, then the Browns may be in a position to draft a top quarterback from college. They also have backup Shedeur Sanders on the roster and he has not had a chance to show what he can do in Todd Monken’s offense so far this season. If the playoffs are not in the fold for the season, they have to see what Sanders can bring to the offense. 

NFL purgatory is being “in the hunt” without making the playoffs. As the playoff contention window gets closer to shutting, then the move has to be made to evaluate Sanders. 

The Browns also have two more games before having to make a decision on activating Dillon Gabriel from the injured list or shutting him down for the season with the injury designation. In the next two games, the Browns play the Ravens and the Tennessee Titans. 

If the Browns lose both games, their record would drop to 3-4, with losses to the one-win Jets and zero-win Titans. Being under .500 pummels the odds of making the playoffs, and they would have lost to two bad teams. Watson should then be benched, and the Browns would still have time to play Sanders; if he shows he cannot play, then they can also see what they have in Gabriel. 

Although Watson has led three game-winning drives so far this season, he has still not been overly impressive. There have been long stretches in each game where the offense goes stagnant. The game against the Jets was not all his fault, as the offensive line was bad, the receivers dropped good passes, and there was no running game, but he did not do enough to win. 

They are still over .500 and one game should not alter the season, but winning will get more difficult if the offense continues to look like it did on Sunday. Todd Monken claimed that Watson gives the team the best chance to win, which he did for the first quarter of the season. If he cannot continue to win, then the Browns have to move on.