THE LINE ON A TOUGH, CLOSE LOSS

By STEVE KING

The Browns did more than enough defensively – much, much, much more than enough, in fact, especially considering all the injuries on that side of the ball – to beat the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football at FirstEnergy Stadium.

But they did not do nearly enough offensively, especially with their line play, and therein lies the reason they lost 20-13.

Going into the season, the line was the weak link of the team. Despite  the huge addition the Browns made to their offensive skills position group in the offseason with the trade for wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., and to their defense with the addition of linemen Olivier Vernon and Sheldon Richardson, the o-line remained suspect at best. Oh, sure, the line was good enough for the Browns to be average, but they have their sights set on being so much more than just mediocre.

Browns General Manager John Dorsey went into the regular season knowing the line had issues. So did head coach Freddie Kitchens. But there is only so much anyone – even someone like Dorsey – can change a team in the offseason.

The Browns struggled with that line in the season-opening rout of a loss, 43-13, to the Tennessee Titans, and they struggled once more against the Rams, a team that, for all the attention given to their offense, are actually even better – a whole lot better, actually – defensively, particularly in their front seven. That front seven dominated the Cleveland offensive line, and in doing so dominated – bottled up – quarterback Baker Mayfield.

There are a lot of other things that went on during the game, but that’s the gist of it.

The shame of it all is that this Browns defense deserved better. Despite all four of its starting defensive backs being made inactive for the game because of injuries, their replacements, and the defense overall, was outstanding. It was – and still is – championship-worthy.

But the offense?

Not so much — not yet at least – because of the line.

But there are 13 regular-season games left, and this AFC North is winnable. The 1-2 Browns are in second place all by themselves, just a game behind the defending champion Baltimore Ravens (2-1), who host them on Sunday. How do the Browns fortify that line enough to get them through the season and capture the division title?

Ah, that’s for Dorsey and Kitchens to figure out.