Browns, 3-1 and Alone in First in AFC North, Spend Mini-Bye Watching Scoreboard

Cleveland sits alone atop the AFC North at 3-1 after a Thursday win, with a Mason Graham injury update, Todd Monken's comments on Deshaun Watson and a full Sunday viewing slate.

There is no Cleveland Browns game on this Sunday's schedule. The Browns improved to 3-1 and moved alone into first place in the AFC North with a Thursday night win, and that schedule slot comes with a mini-bye: the team takes four days off while the rest of the league plays.

For fans scanning Sunday's slate, TheOBR.com's Watercooler preview names Jacksonville at Cincinnati the game of the day. The outlet's weekly rooting guide, retitled "Path to the Playoffs" this week, lists the results Cleveland backers want: Jaguars over Bengals, Titans over Ravens — an outcome Jack Duffin concedes is "highly unlikely" — Bills over Patriots, Chiefs over Raiders, Cowboys over Texans and Commanders over Colts in London, where, in Duffin's words, "weird results can happen overseas."

The new title tracks the start. Duffin's numbers have Cleveland's playoff odds moving from +600 before Week 1 to +900 after the opener, then +725, and +300 heading into Sunday. "I said if the Browns went 3-1, then we would take making the playoffs as a serious consideration," he wrote.

The turnaround reaches the draft board as well. Cleveland was favored before the season to land a top-three pick; the current order has the Browns picking 27th, while the Rams — whose first-round pick Cleveland holds from the Myles Garrett trade — pick 15th. The guide still charts first-overall-pick odds each week. Rooting for Jacksonville also has history: the clubs' 2025 draft trade down is why Mason Graham, KC Concepcion and Quinshon Judkins are on the Browns.

Graham is the injury worth watching. Mary Kay Cabot reports a source would not be surprised if he returns for the Ravens game on Oct. 18, which would mean missing only next Sunday's game against the Jets. The team's "week to week" wording points to an absence of fewer than four games, making the inactive list more likely than injured reserve; readers are already applying the same math to Dillon Gabriel and Kalia Davis.

Head coach Todd Monken, speaking to Cabot, revisited Watson's sack on the game-winning drive Thursday, the play that pushed Andre Szmyt into a 56-yard kick. His first reaction was profane — "What are you doing, for God's sakes?" — before the tape showed Patrick Queen sitting in the slant lane. "You look back and you go, 'you know what? He might have thrown a pick there.'" Of Watson, Monken added: "He thinks he's right 100% of the time. He's not right 100% of the time, but he's right a lot."

Monken also took responsibility for one of Watson's two turnovers, a zone read that T.J. Watt baited into a strip. "My fault, for God's sakes, you ought to know better," Monken said, calling Watt "that crafty son of a gun."

Through four games, Watson is completing 69.6 percent of his passes with six touchdowns, two interceptions, a 101.2 rating and 11 sacks. The early contract chatter includes a subscriber's projection of roughly 3,600 yards and 26 touchdowns over a full season; Duffin would offer a one-year bridge deal, "potentially playing the whole year (Smith/Mahomes style)." Pete Smith is more skeptical: "Nothing I've seen from Watson looks reliable or sustainable. He's functional." Smith also noted that without a roughing call in Jacksonville and Szmyt's kicking Thursday, "Watson likely faces far more scrutiny."

The calendar ahead: the Jets next Sunday, then the Ravens on Oct. 18 — the date circled for Graham's possible return. Watson, 31 and two Achilles surgeries into his career, has readers holding final judgment until Week 9.