Cleveland Browns ready to battle frigid temperatures, New Orleans Saints

CLEVELAND − The weather outside is going to be frightful Saturday afternoon. Whether or not the results on the field are frightful for the Browns is a whole different question only they can answer.

The temperatures will be in the single digits to low teens, with the wind chills dipping below minus-20 when the Browns close out their home schedule against the New Orleans Saints. It's not going to be a fun climate to play in, even for those who grew up in cold-weather climates, let alone warm-weather natives such as quarterback Deshaun Watson.

For a player who acknowledged during his pre-trade conversations with Browns ownership a dislike for that kind of weather, a forecast like that certainly has to play mind games of sorts. Or does it?

“Nah, not at all," Watson said this week. "My main job is just going out there and like I said before, executing the game plan and trying to win. Not so much of what the weather is going to because I can't control that.”

What Watson can have some control over is the Browns' prospects to not have their final home game of the season also be their final time to hold any hope for a winning season or a playoff berth, however dim the chances may be for the latter. At 6-8, they have to win out over their final three games to assure the former, while they need to do that and get a lot of help to open the door for the latter.

Which turns the story back to Watson, who's going to make his fourth start for the Browns since returning from his 11-game suspension due to more than two-dozen allegations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct during massage appointments during his time with the Houston Texans. It's going to be his second consecutive home start, and the second consecutive one in which he's experienced the always-unique December weather in Cleveland, having seen snow by the end of last Saturday's win over the Baltimore Ravens.

Watson had arguably his best start of the three against the Ravens. It wasn't so much the statistics − 18-of-28 for 161 yards and a touchdown − as it was the overall command he started to show running the offense, including an impressive 94-yard TD drive while going no-huddle.

"My main thing is just operating the offense," Watson said. "So whatever it takes, if it's running the ball 30 times, if it's passing the ball 40 times, whatever it takes to be able to get that win. That’s the ultimate goal. I know a lot of people want highlights and the big shots that people were seeing the last time I played and that's naturally going to come but we can't force that issue and you’ve got to understand that the defense and other teams that we play understand that, too."

That goes for the way both teams will attack Saturday's game. It's not so much the arctic temperatures that will impact their game plans as it is the wind, which is forecasted to average 29 mph, with gusts up to 45 mph.

Browns fans with long memories can recall a Sunday in Cincinnati right before Christmas in 2007 when a game plan that called for throwing the ball nearly 50 times despite winds gusting at nearly that speed cost Cleveland a playoff berth. A decade-and-a-half later, a different staff is at least acknowledging that would not be a wise decision in similar conditions.

"If it is one of those days that you can’t even take a shotgun snap because the wind is blowing too hard, we will adjust and adapt," offensive staff Alex Van Pelt said. "I think we have a good plan going in and contingency plans if it is one of those days where you just can’t really do anything but get under center and run the ball. We are ready for that. If we get lucky and it is not as windy as they are calling for, we are ready for that."

What that likely means is that the game could turn into an old-school battle of ground games. The Browns got some good news on Thursday to that end when Nick Chubb, the league's third-leading rusher, returned to practice after missing Tuesday and Wednesday with a foot injury.

The Saints' overall rushing offense only ranked 22nd in the league at 111.3 yards per game. However, it does boast one of the most versatile backs in Alvin Kamara, who's as much a receiving threat as he is rushing one.

“He is a unique player in his own right just because he is a very good runner but you can see they put him in different places," defensive coordinator Joe Woods said. "When he gets out on routes, he is hard to deal with. You have to have a plan just because of what he is able to do in the passing game against him. The run game, there is obviously coverage pressure, but when he gets out in the pass game, you better have a couple of different ways to try to cover him.”

Matchup to watch: Saints QB/RB/TE/WR Taysom Hill vs. Browns defense

Andy Dalton has rejuvenated himself as the Saints' starting quarterback of their last 11 games. However, considering the conditions, it may very well be sixth-year pro Taysom Hill − not technically even Dalton's backup − who plays a bigger role in the game's outcome. Hill came out of BYU as a quarterback, and still comes onto the field in certain packages to play the position. On the roster, though, he's listed as a tight end, which also doesn't do his role on the team justice. Hill's the second-leading rusher on the team, has seven catches for 66 yards lining up both at tight end and receiver, returned three kickoffs and also plays the primary protector role on the punt team. So, basically, any time Hill is on the field, he's a player the Browns have to be cognizant of what he can do. That's running, throwing, catching or, even, tackling.

Cleveland Browns player to watch: K Cade York

The weather conditions scream that this will devolve into a low-scoring, every-possession-counts kind of game. Those games are, so often, decided by the kicker. That means the focus falls on Cade York, the Browns' fourth-round pick who has had the definition of a roller-coaster rookie season through 14 games. The season started with him as AFC Special Teams Player of the Week after a game-winning 58-yard field goal to beat Carolina. However, since that high, there's been plenty of wild shifts in luck. He's 22-of-30 on field goals, including 9-of-15 at home, and 29-of-31 on point-after kicks. A week ago, York made his first two kicks, including a 47-yarder, before missing his last two in the swirling snow of the fourth quarter.

New Orleans Saints player to watch: RB Alvin Kamara

As mentioned earlier, Kamara is solid running the ball. He leads the team with 641 rushing yards on 164 carries. However, Kamara's value to the Saints is, as Browns safety John Johnson III said, "Almost more as a receiver. Catching balls out of the backfield, option routes, he's a quarterback's best friend. He's going to get open. He can turn a check-down into an explosive play. He's kind of like a smooth, silky, deceptive runner." The sixth-year pro is second on the team in both catches (53) and receiving yards (446), but is the top available pass catcher with rookie Chris Olave having been ruled out with a hamstring injury.

Three numbers: Andy Dalton's Big Easy renaissance

98.1

Andy Dalton was a three-time Pro Bowl quarterback early in his career with the Cincinnati Bengals, whom he led to two AFC North championships and four total playoff appearances. However, after his 2016 Pro Bowl appearance with the Bengals, his career deteriorated and he eventually left Cincinnati after the 2019 season. He spent time the previous two seasons with Dallas (2020) and Chicago (2021) before landing with the Saints this season. Dalton, since replacing an injured Jameis Winston in Week 4, has thrived. He's seventh in the league in passer rating at 98.1 − ahead of Buffalo's Josh Allen, Detroit's Jared Goff and Las Vegas' Derek Carr − while completing 66.8% of his passes for 2,403 yards with 17 TDs and seven interceptions.

6

Myles Garrett has once again posted a dominant season rushing the passer for the Browns. Even after missing a game following his one-car accident, and dealing with the injuries he sustained in it throughout the season, he's had six multi-sack games this year. That's tied for the most in the league. Of those, five have come since Oct. 16, his second game back after the accident. He's recorded 13.5 sacks on the season, two shy of the league lead and 2.5 off his single-season franchise record set a year ago.

Minus-36

The wind chill for Saturday's game at kickoff is forecasted to be minus-20, with an actual air temperature of 10 degrees. While that's going to be brutally cold, it's not close to the coldest game by wind chill in Browns history. That would be the infamous "Red Right 88" AFC wild card game against the Oakland Raiders on Jan. 4, 1981. The temperature at game time was 4 degrees, but the wind chill was minus-36, making it, at the time, the coldest NFL game since the 1967 "Ice Bowl" between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers, which was minus-13 in air temperature and minus-48 in wind chill. It would hold that mark for a year until the San Diego Chargers and Cincinnati Bengals' played − obviously not in San Diego − a Jan. 10, 1982 AFC playoff game in minus-9 air temperature and minus-59 wind chill.

Contact Chris at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com.

On Twitter: @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Browns battle frigid temperatures, New Orleans Saints