Bengals vs Browns Expert's Take: Cleveland's passing game has unexpected hope following Amari Cooper trade

The Battle of Ohio can never be normal. Perpetual animosity between the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns will always make for intense contests and unexpected results.

Enter this Sunday as both teams have a combined three wins through six weeks, one of the best players from both sides will make his long-awaited debut, and the disparity at quarterback couldn't be greater. Sounds like a recipe for chaos.

To be weed through the noise, let's chat with A to Z Sports Cleveland beat writer Brandon Little to get his take on what kind of team Cincinnati will be facing on Sunday.

JS: There's a giant elephant in the room and it's the starting quarterback. The numbers for Deshaun Watson obviously aren't good, but what specifically is he struggling with this year when watching him play? There's gotta be some things that happen between the lowlights.

BL: Watson is not a starting-level quarterback and that’ll likely always be the case unless he miraculously finds his career again. I doubt that happens and he hasn’t given a reason to believe he will find that play he once was capable of. In terms of where things are going the worst, it has to be processing.

Watson is in full-blown panic mode often from the moment the ball is snapped. He is a rash in the pocket, looks to bail early, and finds danger far too quickly. The offense as a whole has been really bad, but Watson is driving that train.

Everything can go right during a play — Watson will get through his progressions — then he fails to hit a simple backside dig. It has happened far too often. Watson is absolutely cooked on the mental side and the physical side isn’t what it once was.

JS: Trading Amari Cooper felt inevitable for some time, and it's pretty clear he didn't get along with his former quarterback. Is there optimism that the passing game could operate more smoothly now that a tarnished relationship between QB1 and WR1 is now caput?

BL: Actually, yes there is some optimism that Cooper being gone is best for the passing offense. At times I was getting a Baker Mayfield vibe from when he used to try to force the ball to Odell Beckham Jr. It didn’t work and he looked lost in the process of doing it. That is the same thing here.

Cooper caught just 24-of-53 targets that went his way. That is a lot of wasted plays that had no business going his way much of the time. With Cooper away, the feeling is that Watson can focus on spreading the ball around and not worrying about feeding the No. 1 option.

Again, there is no reason to believe that it will matter much at all. Watson is what he is until he can prove different.

JS: Let's say this game is close, classic AFC North style. Around how many carries do you expect Nick Chubb to get in his debut?

BL: Kevin Stefanski said he will see how Chubb practices this week before making a decision, but I expect there to be a semi-heavy pitch count on him in his first game. If he has double-digit carries I might would be a little surprised.

The Browns have never been a team to hand him the ball 20 or more times. I think it is fair to expect him to have an RB2 style workload in his first game back. I could see him having seven or eight runs, then maybe a screen or two. On the other hand, nothing Chubb does is surprising. If he came back and ran the ball 15 times for 140 yards it would be believable.

JS: Bill Callahan offensive lines have done a number on the Bengals for the past several years. The Browns no longer have Zac Taylor's former head coach on staff, but obviously more has happened to that unit than losing its coach. What's the state of the offensive line?

BL: Callahan designed the run game for the Browns and they started the year off without Chubb, so the Browns were always going to be taking a step back this year on the offensive line likely.

However, the lingering injuries just won’t go away from the offensive line. Jedrick Wills and Jack Conklin were not ready to start the season. Last week against the Philadelphia Eagles was the tackle duo’s first start together this season. Cleveland lost swing tackle James Hudson to a season-ending injury and the same can be said with backup center Nick Harris.

Wyatt Teller has been out the last three games on the injured reserve and the Browns are starting rookie guard Zak Zinter, who just isn’t ready to be an NFL starter. It is unclear whether starting center Ethan Pocic will be able to play this week after missing the Eagles game.

Injuries have kept the Browns from building any chemistry with a new offensive line coach and a new running scheme. Cleveland’s offensive line was once their staple, but that is no longer the case.

JS: Myles Garrett is still banged up but that doesn't seem to be slowing him down. Aside from him, who else has stepped up to make games competitive with the offense slacking?

BL: The best player on this defense this season outside of Garrett is easily linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. JOK has been a top-five linebacker in all of football this season and he is an absolute menace on the field. Not many players read and react in a bolt like he can.

Owusu-Koramoah is a load to deal with around the line of scrimmage and he is a tackle-for-loss artist. The Notre Dame product flies all over the field and you could argue that he is just as important as cornerback Denzel Ward is to this defense.