The Cleveland Browns were expected to make some strides this season under new head coach Hue Jackson, but progress has been slow. Painfully slow, and not at all helped by the fact that Robert Griffin III, the free agent quarterback they invested in this offseason, was injured early in the season and didn't get much of a chance to prove himself.
Jets vs. Browns 2016: Game time, how to watch online, and live TV schedule
Ryan Fitzpatrick is back in the lineup, and he says he’s angry.
Cleveland went back to square one, a phrase which here means "0-7 and likely to lose to the 2-5 New York Jets on Sunday." Cleveland will play host to New York, a team helmed by quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who in his own words will be very angry when he faces them. Sunday's game will be broadcast by CBS, with a live stream available only via an online Sunday Ticket subscription.
Fitzpatrick was benched after head coach Todd Bowles had seen enough turnovers -- he leads the league in interceptions -- and despite initially suggesting the benching was temporary, named Geno Smith the team's starting quarterback. Smith, unfortunately, sustained a torn ACL in his right knee in last week's game against the Baltimore Ravens and Fitzpatrick is now the starter again.
It’s been a very rough season for Fitzpatrick, who looked like he’d finally found a long-time home in New York after impressing in a big way last season. When he hit the open market this offseason, it was always clear the Jets would re-sign him as he held more value to them than any other team, even if it took awhile to get a deal done. But Fitzpatrick has been anything but the consistently solid player who started for the team in 2015.
Fitzpatrick, 33, thew 31 touchdowns against 15 interceptions a season ago, but has just six touchdowns to 11 interceptions in seven games played this year. He’s only completed 57.4 percent of his passes for 1,561 yards.
On Sunday, he’ll duel another long-time journeyman quarterback who thought he’d found a long-term starting role with a franchise due to his strong play a year ago in Josh McCown. But McCown, despite breaking franchise records while throwing 12 touchdowns and just four interceptions in eight games last season, was benched in favor of Griffin.
When Griffin went down, McCown got back in on the action ... and then went down himself. The Browns were forced to turn to rookie Cody Kessler, who was very poor in his outings. Now McCown is healthy and back in the lineup and the Browns are hoping it will help them turn their fortunes around after a disastrous start.
Jackson will likely get some time to turn things around in Cleveland, but a winless first season could be very bad for him. The Browns likely wouldn’t fire him after such a season, but confidence in him would shrink considerably, even knowing what he had to face when taking over the tough duty of leading the Browns.
How to Watch Jets vs. Browns on Sunday
Time: 1 p.m. ET
Location: FirstEnergy Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio
TV: CBS
Announcers: Kevin Harlan, Rich Gannon
Online Streaming: Sunday Ticket
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