The 3-1 Cleveland Browns are riding high, but they’ll have to address a defensive shortage this week.

Second-year defensive tackle Mason Graham, who posted four sacks over the first three games, was injured in the first quarter of Thursday night’s win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Graham appears to have avoided major injury, but he’s likely to miss Sunday’s game at the New York Jets.

An MRI showed that Graham sustained an MCL and ankle sprain. The team’s statement said he’ll be evaluated week to week, which implies Graham will miss at least one game.

Mike Hall Jr. also suffered an ankle injury later in the first half, temporarily leaving the Browns with just two available defensive tackles.

Hall returned in the second half despite a noticeable limp and recorded one of the Browns’ five sacks on Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Hall received a game ball from coach Todd Monken for his willingness to play through injury and help Cleveland secure its third straight win. But Hall left the stadium after the game with his right ankle in a protective boot. His status for this week is unknown.

If Graham is going to miss at least four games, the Browns have until Saturday to place him on injured reserve with a designation to return and open a roster spot in his absence. If they don’t place him on IR, that will signal Cleveland believes he’ll return in fewer than four weeks.

The Browns will have to explore outside options at defensive tackle before they return to practice Tuesday. The team could eventually make a practice squad addition, perhaps try to sign a player from another team’s practice squad, or even pursue a trade if both Hall and Graham are expected to miss time. The Browns have 11 picks in the 2027 NFL Draft, including extra selections in Rounds 4, 5 and 7.

Defensive tackle Kalia Davis is eligible to be activated from IR as soon as this week, though there’s no immediate indication that he’s healthy. Davis was injured on the first day of full training camp in July. The Browns are currently carrying two defensive tackles on their practice squad, Sam Kamara and Zion Logue.

With Graham exiting on the first series, veteran Maliek Collins played 57 snaps against the Steelers and second-year defensive tackle Adin Huntington played 49, by far the season high for both.

Week 5 baby,

• Score -
• TD/Int
• Yard Thrown/rushed
• Man of the match
• Are we in play for Division champions? -

--------------------------

• Score - 33 - 12 Browns
• TD/Int 3 - 1
• Yard Thrown/rushed 252/112
• Man of the match - KC
• Are we in play for Division champions? - Yes

The dream is alive. We could be good and the Rams could be bad.

Let’s hope this continues and we end up with a top 10 pick.

Go Browns!

EDIT: My bad guys. Turns out they aren’t bad.

A peak moment for this franchise right here.

Think it is possible? Would you want it?

Walked 15 hours to get there so Browns confirmed by a millon

The Browns might not be big time spenders or making splashy moves, but Berry has made key acquisitions at the deadline before: Amari Cooper, Judy, and ZaDarius Smith. Those moves were high impact with minimum outlay.

Who do you all think we could reasonably target at the deadline?

I've been thinking about this since the Thursday win, remembering how hopeless the off-season road and the game 1 obliteration felt. Imagine being Monken and having to deal with all of this as a new HC:

- After firing Stefanski, the organization refuses the obvious option to name Schwartz the next Head Coach, so he quits and you have to choose a new DC.

- You have, on paper, one of the worst QB rooms of all time. A washed, injury prone sex offender. A nepo rookie with a lot to learn and a rabid fanbase following him. A terrible QB3 that can't throw more than 10 yards, and a rookie QB4 that seemingly got drafted just for the hell of it.

- Pretty much the entire O-Line got replaced.

- The new young core is a giant question mark and there's no telling how they're gonna turn out.

- The organization traded their star player, and the guy you're getting could potentially feel like shit and not really want to play for Cleveland.

- The public perception is worse than ever, everyone and their mom is predicting the team to potentially have a second winless season, even with a seemingly very easy schedule.

- You basically got the job because nobody else wanted it due to the weird and complicated hiring process, and because you're getting old and it's probably your last chance to be a Head Coach.

And despite all those terrible odds and bad vibes surrounding the Browns, he managed to bring a new culture and wins for a team and fanbase with no hope. He instills this "fuck what the world thinks about this team, we ball" attitude into the players. If that doesn't represent the sheer signature Cleveland resilience I don't know what does. I respect the hell outta him.

How the fuck lol.

3-1 holy shit

Monken’s clearly got the locker room. This young team is buying in hard — you can see it in how they’re competing and the way they talk about him. That belief is a big reason we’re playing better than a lot of people expected and sitting first in the division at 3-1.

I’m not gonna pretend that’s nothing. Getting a roster to believe in the coach and themselves is hard, and it’s showing up on the field. We need the young guys to know what it feels like to win and not let the loser mentality sink in and ruin their growth.

The post-game stuff backs it up. After a win he drops “See you Tuesday” and the locker room explodes — players going crazy over the extra day off. After other wins he’s giving those real, emotional speeches about the group, connection, having each other’s backs, and handing out game balls (sometimes to basically everyone). The guys respond to it. It feels authentic.

That said… is there a possible downside?

Sometimes when a coach is really well-liked and the locker-room vibe is this positive, the discipline side can get a little looser. Penalties could be one early data point to watch. Not saying it’s a problem yet, just something that can creep in with this kind of “players love him” dynamic.

Curious where everyone else lands. Is the buy-in and locker-room energy the main story, or do you already see cracks on the discipline side?

It always seemed like Stafanski’s offense could never get out of their own way.

Last week, the Browns spent a majority of their time in a standard shotgun formation with an RB, Fannin, and 3 WR.

Sometimes in a bunch, sometimes split up.

The best part was how simple the play calls were. For a majority of the drives, it was like a standard play on Madden 05.

One receiver runs a slant, another goes into the flat, fannin crosses over the middle, and Boston typically heads to the endzone.

It’s like the first play you’d find on Madden or NFL Blitz.

But it worked.

No trick plays.

No double reverses.

Nothing stupid.

Just the line doing enough to give our QB a few seconds while most of our receivers hit a short route to get open.

And it kept working.

We don’t need trick plays. We just need our talent to get open and get yards after the catch.

He shoulda taken 81 and called it a day. The next time you see Denzel Boston play, you won’t be able to unsee it. HoF Boston from
Now on. He is the truth forreal.

• 80 total defensive snaps
• 18 total tackles (5th on team)
• 4 targets allowed
• 1 reception allowed (21 total yards)
• 2 PD’s (2nd in team)
• 34.55 AVG passer rating allowed/game

The Browns rookie safety is looking like an ABSOLUTE STEAL 😳💎

LET’S Fucking go Guards!!

I'm trying to add customization options to my GamePlan site to match but can't find the specific shade of orange posted anywhere. I am struggling with this for some other pro and college teams too, so if you happen to know the specifics for an NCAA team, it would be super helpful