Cleveland Browns News and Rumors 10/17/26: It's a Law
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CLEVELAND, OHIO (TheOBR.com) - Good morning, Cleveland Browns fans!
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THE DAILY BLOVIATION
KatDawg dropped this into Friday Musings on the Watercooler yesterday, and I haven't been able to shake it:
"I knew the Browns would screw the pooch last week. We can't have two teams doing good things at the same time. It's a law."
I've been doing this long enough to respect the law. On Thursday afternoon, Petey Halpin's two-run homer beat the Rays 3-2 and gave the Guardians a 2-1 lead in the ALCS. The Browns spent that same week explaining eight sacks and a punt snap that slipped through Corey Bojorquez's hands and set up the Jets' winning touchdown. Law upheld.
Then it rained, and the ultimate test of the KatDawg Law looks set to come to pass.
Game 4 was postponed Friday night, the first ALCS rainout since 2019, and MLB shoved the rest of the series into our weekend. Game 4 is tonight at 8. Game 5 is Sunday at 5 at Progressive Field, on the same day the Browns host the Ravens at 1 down the street. There's a freeze watch for Sunday morning, because of course there is.
So for about eight hours on Sunday, both of our teams play big games in the same downtown. A Browns win moves them into a first-place tie in the AFC North. If the Guards win tonight, their Sunday game could send them to the World Series. Somebody's going to find out whether KatDawg's law has a loophole, and I've decided it's going to be us.
Now, because I have no other ideas, here’s a “This and That” from a Browns week that finally produced some good news...
STRICTLY BUSINESS: Lamar Jackson was ruled out Friday with his sprained ankle after missing all three practices. Quincy Williams, via Scott Petrak: "Great news. Great news." Grant Delpit: "I'm trying to win. I'll take it." Lamar is 10-5 against us, so yes, gentlemen. Me too.
Todd Monken spent three years as Baltimore's offensive coordinator and has been asked about it every day this week. On Friday, a reporter relayed Derrick Henry's theory that Monken is quietly talking trash about the Ravens to his players. Monken's answer: "I saw that about 18 people sent me that. Like, I'm not even on social media and you guys send me this sh*t." Then he settled on a position. "It's not personal. It's strictly business. I'll do the whole Godfather thing."
Be careful what you wish for.
SNOOP, AGAIN: So it's Tyler Huntley, making his second straight start. And here's a fun one from ESPN's Jamison Hensley: the Browns cut Snoop before the 2025 season and kept four other quarterbacks on the 53. Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. Baltimore took him back, and since the start of 2025 he has the league's highest QBR (79.7) and completion rate (77.8 percent) among starters with at least three starts. He's 3-0 in that span, and the Ravens have averaged 33.7 points in those games.
Hmmm… about Jackson’s absence being good news? Maybe not as good as we might think.
Of the four guys we kept, Gabriel is out Sunday with his back, Shedeur just changed agents, and Flacco and Pickett left the building a long time ago. Snoop is leading the division. Strictly business.
Monken coached him last season and talks about him like a proud uncle. "There's a reason why they signed him back. Right? You don't sign back players that you don't have a lot of trust in and plan on them playing well."
Sure, Todd. Some of us cut them first.
There's hope in the fine print. Petrak dug up Huntley's line against the Browns: four appearances, 70.2 percent completions, two touchdowns, one interception, 10 sacks and four fumbles, two of them lost. Williams thinks the job gets simpler without Lamar: "He'll give up 15 yards just to have a chance to make the play or get a gain. So Snoop, it's not like that. Get the ball out." Delpit's scouting report was shorter. "The biggest difference? One is Lamar Jackson."
QUESTIONABLE, WITH FEELING: Mason Graham, Carson Schwesinger, Quinshon Judkins and Derek Barnett all got back on the practice field Friday and are listed as questionable. Mike Hall Jr., Teven Jenkins, Kalia Davis, Dillon Gabriel and Dylan Sampson are out, although Sampson practiced alongside Judkins for the first time since the opener. Monken: "We were able to see what we needed to see with all of them." On Graham and Schwesinger: "They're wired the right way. They just are. If they can go, they're going to go."
Yesterday I ranked the middle of the defensive line as the injury that hurts most against Henry, so Graham in pads on Friday was the best thing I saw all week. Delpit was careful about him. "I know his is a little bit more serious, so I don't know. Hopefully we get at least one of the two back." About Schwesinger he had no doubts at all: "The dude don't even like me helping him up off the ground when we're playing." Williams went further. "Not Carson. Never. He'll probably get out there in the scooter or something like that."
If Carson rolls out of the tunnel on a scooter, I'm buying the scooter.
Fred Greetham has the whole Friday report, and Jack Duffin is predicting the inactives for VIPs this morning. In the NFL, "questionable" is Latin for "check back at 11:30 Sunday."
THE AP CAN'T DECIDE: The AP preview has one matchup worth circling. Denzel Boston leads NFL rookies with 330 receiving yards, mostly on deep throws. Opponents have thrown only seven passes of 20 or more air yards against Baltimore, second fewest in the league, and the Ravens are one of three teams that haven't allowed a deep touchdown. Somebody gets embarrassed there.
QUICKLY: The Browns worked out seven players Friday, including former Patriots fifth-rounder Bradyn Swinson. Jack Duffin's Path to the Playoffs has the Browns just outside the AFC field if the season ended today, and he's rooting for a Buccaneers backup quarterback against the Steelers, which is how you know it's October. In Ask the Insiders, a subscriber has a problem most of us would have killed for in August: we have "a shocking number of wins" and he wants to know how we still get a quarterback in 2027.
So that's the weekend. The Guards tonight at 8. The Browns at 1 on Sunday, the Guards again at 5, and a whole lot of people in orange, brown, navy and red trying to find a parking space in between. KatDawg says two Cleveland teams can't do good things at the same time. Fine. Nobody ever tested that law with Tyler Huntley at quarterback.
Have a good one! GO BROWNS! (And go Guards. And Bckeyes.)
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When not still recovering from last sports weekend as this one dawns, Barry McBride is the Publisher and Founder of the OBR and bloviates this nonsense every morning. You can follow him on Twitter @barrymcbride or write him at [email protected] if you are so compelled.
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