The losses are piling up for the Browns — in the standings, an

BEREA Joe Thomas Jersey , Ohio (AP) —d on the sideline.On Wednesday, two defensive starters were added to the stack.Cleveland placed linebacker Christian Kirksey and cornerback E.J. Gaines on injured reserve, ending their seasons with seven games remaining and putting further strain on a unit lacking quality depth and experience.“Those two guys, they really set a precedent for what we wanted to do as a team, as a defense,” said cornerback T.J. Carrie. “And, of course, they’ll still be here sparingly in and out throughout the week, but it’s a lot different when they were on the field fighting with you, blood, sweat and tears with you, through the trenches.“We’re going to definitely miss that. Those are two players that we can’t replace.”One of the team’s captains, Kirksey injured his left hamstring in the second quarter Sunday as the Browns (2-6-1) lost their fourth straight game, 37-21 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.Gaines sustained his second concussion in three weeks when he took a knee to the helmet while trying to make a tackle in the first quarter.The loss of Kirksey is especially damaging because he’s one of the team’s leaders. The fifth-year pro has played on the weak side and in the middle this season, making 43 tackles and two interceptions.“Kirko is kind of the heart and soul of the defense, heart and soul of the team in the locker room, on the field, just how he goes about his business,” said linebacker Joe Schobert Chris Hubbard Color Rush Jersey , a 2017 Pro Bowler who returned to practice after missing three games with a hamstring injury. “It’s the next-man-up mentality, but there’s things that you’re going to miss.”Schobert’s return will help ease the loss of Kirksey, and the Browns are expected to have defensive back Damarious Randall for Sunday’s game against Atlanta after he missed last week’s game with a groin injury.Linebacker Jamie Collins (ankle) and rookie cornerback Denzel Ward (hip) were limited in practice, but interim coach Gregg Williams expects both back on the field Thursday.Randall, who has played cornerback and free safety, felt he was healthy enough to play last week, but Williams kept him out so he would have the versatile defensive back for multiple games. Randall’s absence became magnified when Ward and Gaines went down on the Chiefs’ opening drive, forcing Williams to adjust his game plan against the NFL’s most electrifying offense and play seldom-used reserves Denzel Rice and Tavierre Thomas.“It’s very hard,” Carrie said of losing two key players. “It changes the game plan. It changes a lot of things because you can only give practice reps to so many guys, and so you get guys that come in and they’re athletes, but it’s hard when you don’t know the schematics of the little details that we put in for that game.”And, as luck would have it, the banged-up Browns will have to deal with a talented Atlanta team that has overcome its own injury issues and reeled off three straight wins.Needing seasoned secondary help, the Browns claimed Phillip Gaines off waivers from Buffalo and Jermaine Whitehead from Green Bay. To make roster room, Rice was waived.Gaines spent four years with Kansas City before signing with Buffalo. Whitehead played in 19 games with the Packers from 2016-18.Schobert’s return is vital to Cleveland’s defense as he’s the one responsible for calling out Williams’ pre-snap schemes and getting his teammates organized — an on-field coach.After missing three weeks, getting back on the field will be a welcomed change for Schobert, who had played every defensive snap since the start of the 2017 season until he got hurt on Oct. 21 at Tampa Bay.“It is just different. It is weird,” Schobert said of being inactive. “Especially with a hamstring. You just walk around on the sideline feeling good and watching people on the field thinking you can be out there — wishing you could be out there. You just have to kind of suck it up and take it into your own role however you can help a team in that aspect.“That is what I was doing. Just kind of jumped right into more of a coaching aspect, trying to keep myself involved that way. I think it helped.”NOTES: Rookie LT Desmond Harrison was limited in practice after missing last week’s game with an undisclosed illness. Greg Robinson stepped in and played well in his first start for Cleveland. Williams hasn’t decided who he’ll play against the Falcons. “What we will do is every day is an interview and both of them are taking reps,” he said. “By the end of the week https://www.brownsfanshop.com/Seth-Devalve-Jersey , we will make what is best and it is good — the fact that you have depth. Guys can compete and get ready to roll.” … The Browns signed DB Juston Burris to the active roster off the Jets‘ practice squad. A fourth-round pick in 2016, he appeared in 34 games for New York. HOUSTON (AP) — The Cleveland Browns have done a great job of protecting Baker Mayfield recently, and have the longest active streak in the NFL by not allowing a sack in 125 snaps.Things will get more difficult for the Browns (4-6-1) on Sunday when they visit the Houston Texans (8-3) and their defense led by pass-rushing stars J.J. Watt and Jadeveon Clowney. Watt is tied for second in the NFL with 11 1/2 sacks and has 19 quarterback hits, and Clowney has seven sacks and 15 quarterback hits.“I have a job to do and that’s my job to go out there and hopefully end that streak,” Watt said. “They’ve obviously been doing a good job. It’s going to be a good battle.”Mayfield, who hasn’t been sacked in two games, said he’s watched Watt play since the quarterback was in high school and knows he’ll have to account for him and Clowney on every play.“I have to get it out very quick,” Mayfield said. “They have two of the best defensive ends in the league. That is not discrediting any of the other guys, but they are talented. The emphasis has to be on getting the ball out, which we have been trying to do these past weeks. We have to keep doing it.”The Texans know the key to stretching their franchise-record winning streak to nine games will be slowing down Mayfield, the top overall pick in this year’s draft. Mayfield has 17 touchdowns and seven interceptions in eight starts this season and is coming off a season-best four touchdown performance in Cleveland’s 35-20 win at Cincinnati last week.“Baker’s a winner,” Houston coach Bill O’Brien said. “He’s a competitor, very accurate, has a great instinct for the game, excellent ability to keep plays alive. I can just tell you we hold him in very high regard.”While Houston attempts to contain Mayfield, the Browns will try and limit the Texans’ young quarterback Deshaun Watson, who is also coming off a good game. Watson threw two touchdown passes and ran for a career-high 70 yards and a score in a 34-17 win over Tennessee on Monday.Cleveland interim coach Gregg Williams has been impressed with Watson’s improvement in his second season after playing just seven games as a rookie before suffering a season-ending knee injury.“I think the game’s slowing down for him,” Williams said. “You can see that he’s more relaxed. He never did show any stress or panic, but you can see he’s more comfortable in what he’s doing … you can see as the season’s gone on, each week he’s more and more comfortable with how he’s playing physically (and) mentally.”Some things to look for when the Browns visit the Texans:RUNNING WILDThe Texans are averaging the fourth-most yards rushing a game in the NFL after running for a franchise-record 281 yards on Monday night. Lamar Miller led the way with 162 yards rushing and a 97-yard touchdown against the Titans. The 27-year-old Miller is having a solid season after being slowed by minor injuries last year. He has three 100-yard rushing games after not rushing for more than 75 yards in a game last season.“(Miller) is hitting the hole and he is hitting it fast and violent Kevin Zeitler Jersey , and he is breaking arm tackles,” Browns linebacker Joe Schobert said. “There are linebackers and D-line are in the holes and just trying to reach out trying to bring him down. He is running through it, and you see he has the speed to take it all the way to the house like we saw the other day.”ROAD WOESCleveland’s win at Cincinnati last week snapped a 25-game road losing streak and was its first victory away from Cleveland since Oct. 11, 2015. Now the Browns will try to win consecutive road games in a season for the first time since they beat San Francisco and Pittsburgh on Sept. 21 and Oct. 5, 2003.While the Browns have been terrible on the road, they haven’t been much better at home. Sunday’s victory marked the first time they’d won two straight games overall since 2014, when they won three in a row.QB REUNIONOnce foes, Watson and Mayfield are now friends.The quarterbacks will have an on-field reunion Sunday, meeting for the first time since the 2016 Orange Bowl when Watson led Clemson to a 37-17 win over Mayfield and the Oklahoma Sooners. Watson and Mayfield are part of the NFL’s next wave of star quarterbacks, and the pair already shares a mutual respect.“He’s going to have a bright future, a bright career, win a lot of games, win championships and do a lot of things for himself and that organization,” Watson said of Mayfield. “I’m a big Baker fan and everything that he has been doing for a long time. It’s going to be very exciting to see him pregame and compete against him. I’ll talk to him later this week and probably jersey swap with him.”The Browns passed on a chance to draft Watson in 2017. But if they had taken him, Mayfield would be elsewhere. As he develops, Cleveland’s rookie QB has been impressed with what Watson has already accomplished.“Deshaun is an incredible quarterback, incredible athlete, a great leader,” Mayfield said. “He’s been playing at a very high level. He’s a huge reason why they’ve won eight in a row. It’s always great to play great competition. You always look forward to that.”