The regular season for the Browns is half over.
That means there are only eight more opportunities in 2016 to evaluate quarterback Cody Kessler.
And that – to find out what, specifically, Kessler is and who he is and if he has any chance at all to be the quarterback this team has been desperately looking for since the expansion era started in 1999 — is the most important aspect of this season. Nothing else comes even close to that on the list of the Browns’ priorities.
Eight more opportunities aren’t a lot, which is why I hope – I pray – that Kessler is healthy enough to start against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium, and for that matter, the rest of the season. If he’s not, and the Browns have to trot Josh McCown out there once again, then paying very much attention to this game would be, in essence, a major waste of time.
Sure, it will be nice for the Browns’ young, growing players at all of the other positions to have a chance to play and get better. But that is just an opening act to the main event that is finding out about the quarterback. Nothing changes until the play at quarterback changes – until it becomes consistently good.
And that won’t happen – it can’t happen – if McCown is playing. Indeed, in a perfect world, Kessler would take every snap for the rest of the season. Let’s hope for that perfection.
