Getty Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah of the Cleveland Browns looks on before a game against the New York Jets at FirstEnergy Stadium on September 18, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)
The Cleveland Browns will be missing a major player on each side of the football against the Miami Dolphins this Sunday in something close to a must-win matchup.
The bye week arrived at a fortuitous time for the Browns, coming off of a blowout victory over the Cincinnati Bengals that broke a four-game losing streak. The extra week of time will have helped the defense prepare for the vaunted Miami attack, led by wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. However, the 14-day rest period proved insufficient to help two key starters recuperate from lingering injuries.
Tight end David Njoku and linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah will both miss Sunday’s contest, per the team’s official injury report. Njoku sat out the Bengals matchup with an ankle injury and was unable to practice at all this week. Owusu-Koramoah was sidelined against Cincinnati with a knee injury and only found his way onto the practice field once in a limited capacity on Friday.
Browns’ LB Sione Takitaki, WR Amari Cooper Picked up Slack Against Bengals
Getty ImagesDefensive end Myles Garrett (left) and Sione Takitaki (right) of the Cleveland Browns celebrate after a defensive play.
The good news for the Browns is that they were able to hammer their division rivals without either Njoku or Owusu-Koramoah. That was due less to backups stepping up to fill their roles and more to fellow starters either adjusting their positions and/or picking up the statistical slack.
Linebacker Sione Takitaki spent a good chunk of time filling in for Owusu-Koramoah on the weak side, where he produced easily his best game of the season. Takitaki registered 13 tackles, including a tackle for loss, and forced a fumble.
Tight ends Harrison Bryant and Pharaoh Brown split duties, but while they played 78 snaps between them, neither was targeted even once by quarterback Jacoby Brissett. Instead, the Browns chose to hammer the ball on the ground a season-high 44 times for 172 yards and three touchdowns.
When Brissett did look to throw, it was almost exclusively to wide receivers Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones, as well as to running back Kareem Hunt. The three of them logged a combined 13 catches on 15 targets. Brissett threw the football just 20 times total on the day.
Browns’ Season Hangs in Balance Over Next Three Weeks
Getty ImagesCleveland Browns tight end David Njoku will miss the team’s Week 10 matchup against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, November 13, 2022 due to an ankle injury.
For most of the last month and a half, the Browns’ 2022 campaign felt like a season destined to be defined by the question: What could have been?
Cleveland suffered and unthinkable loss to the New York Jets in Week 2, blowing a 13-point lead with fewer than two minutes to play. The team later fell to the Los Angeles Chargers and the Atlanta Falcons after late-game interceptions by Brissett that probably cost the Browns at least one win, if not two.
But the victory against the Bengals offers Cleveland some hope for the season, as quarterback Deshaun Watson is scheduled to miss just three more games before his suspension is finally complete.
The Browns play the Dolphins, Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the next three weeks. A win on Sunday, and a win in one of the next two outings, could change the definition of Cleveland’s season to better fit the question: What could be?
The Dolphins look difficult to stop on offense, but have played four consecutive one-score games over the last month. Bills quarterback Josh Allen missed every practice this week with a sprained elbow and could well be hampered, if not sidelined, for several contests moving forward. The Bucs, meanwhile, are lucky to be 4-5 after age and injury appear to have caught up with QB Tom Brady and the rest of the offense.
A win on Sunday moves the Browns to 4-5 on the year and puts them back into contention for a Wildcard Playoff berth in the AFC, with Watson waiting in the wings and the roster trending toward healthy with the return of Pro-Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward this weekend.