INDIANAPOLIS — The Browns had a little bit of a white-knuckler, but in the end held on to beat the Indianapolis Colts 21-18 to move to 2-0 in the preseason.
Early in the game, they were very good, and all of a sudden Garrett Gilbert has given the Browns an interesting dilemma. I don't know if the team coming into the year thought they were going to keep three quarterbacks on the roster, choosing to settle for just starter Baker Mayfield and veteran backup Drew Stanton. However, Gilbert has played very, very well, improving Saturday after an earlier solid performance against the Redskins.
Gilbert got the start (with Mayfield and most other starters sitting), played the first half, moved the offense efficiently, and threw a couple of touchdown passes. The ball always went to the right receiver. It's at the point where you would have to say the Browns need to keep him at least as the third-string QB, and might he be the choice to be the backup to Mayfield.
The workload went to rookie running back D'Ernest Johnson out of South Florida. He did everything: He carried the ball, he was on special teams, he returned punts, he returned kickoffs, he caught the ball out of the backfield. Johnson played with Gilbert on the Orlando Apollos of the now-defunct Alliance of American Football, and the Browns have done some good work scouting those two players and bringing them onto their roster.
Kareem Hunt finally got in. He looked pretty good, which is expected after all the video game-like highlights he put up with the Kansas City Chiefs. He can dart, he can dash, he's hard to find, he's hard to tackle, and he looks as though he's getting into shape. The Browns probably will play him next week in Tampa and in the fourth exhibition against the Lions before waiting for him to serve his eight-week suspension.
And yet, we keep closing our eyes and saying, "When we wake up, we'll have a kicker. One of these guys will win the job." But when you wake up tomorrow morning, they still don't have a kicker. Greg Joseph missed, and so did Austin Seibert. It's starting to get late, and kickers are starting to go to other teams. The Browns have got to be on the market to be prepared to find another guy come in here and at least compete, if not take the job, at the start of the year.
All in all, 2-0, heading to Tampa on Friday.