This week, the Bills take on the dreary Cleveland Browns, who are 0-4 this season. If the Bills win, it may only be putting a band-aid over an already deep wound. But if they manage to lose this game at home, it could spell a world of trouble for the people in charge at One Bills Drive. So how do the Browns stack up?

Offense

The Cleveland offensive attack has been dreadful this season. There's no way around that simple fact. Two seasons ago seem like a lifetime now, as the Browns have gone from one of the NFL's most efficient to one of the worst. Throughout four contests, the Browns have only managed to average 12.2 yards per game, the third worst in the league. When speaking in terms of yardage, it's not much better. They rank 26th in passing (172.2 YPG), 27th in rushing (90.0 YPG) and rank 29th in total yards. Much has been made about Buffalo's third down shortcomings, but Cleveland has been just as bad. They have only converted on just 15 out of 57 attempts, a chilling 26.3 percent. Part of the reason they've been so bad on offense is because they can never manage to put together solid drives due to turnovers. The Browns have a turnover ratio of minus-7 this season.

Quarterback: With all due respect to the scheming ways of Eric Mangini to hide the starting quarterback's identity, it really doesn't matter. Both Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn have been atrocious this season. But as we know, Anderson will be the starter and on a shortened leash. In relief duty last week, Anderson threw three interceptions in the second half against the Bengals. That gives Anderson a quarterback rating of 50.7 on the season, completing 55.2 percent of his passes for 361 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions this season. But still, Anderson has the ability to get hot and make some great throws as much as he turns it over. The Bills' injury plagued secondary needs to be careful with Anderson.

Running Back: With Jamal Lewis questionable, the rushing duties will fall on the shoulders of Jerome Harrison. Harrison has been utilized more so in the passing game than the running game. On the season he has carried the ball 48 times for 181 yards, but has brought in 14 catches for 88 yards out of the backfield. The other runner you may see in the backfield is rookie James Davis. A late round pick out of Clemson, Davis has incredible strength and has gotten the attention of the Browns' coaching staff.

Wide Receiver/Tight End: Trading away Braylon Edwards was surely a shock, and now Cleveland is left with not a whole lot in the cupboards. The teams leading receiver is former Detroit Lions player Mike Furrey. He's got 13 receptions in 2009 for a total of 107 yards. The player obtained in the Edwards' deal was Chansi Stuckey. Stuckey was given a chance to start with the Jets, but he quickly fell out of favor with the coaching staff. Cleveland's vertical threat is Mohammed Massaquoi, a first day pick out of Georgia. Massaquoi actually went to high school and teamed up with Giants' first round pick and wide receiver Hakeem Nicks. Massaquoi this season has 10 catches for 179 yards. The tight end duties are handled by Robert Royal, who has one of the two receiving touchdowns this season for the Browns.

Offensive Line: Cleveland's offensive line has been mediocre thus far to put it best. The group of Joe Thomas, Eric Steinbach, Alex Mack, Hank Fraley and John St. Clair have allowed 13 sacks through four games. The place to pick on the Browns offensive line is against John St. Clair at right tackle. Chris Kelsay needs to continue his strong campaign so far to take pressure of the secondary.

Defense

Well when it rains, it pours for the city of Cleveland. Not only has the offense been borderline incompetent, but the defense might even be worse. They've allowed 29.5 points per game, which is just good enough to be the second worst in the NFL. The Browns struggle most against the run, allowing 176.6 yards per  game. That overwhelming average helps contribute to the Browns allowing 403.2 total yards per game, which is dead last in the league. Cleveland also struggles to get their defense off the field when given an opportunity to, allowing opponents to convert on 39.7 percent of all third down chances.

Defensive Line: In the 3-4 defensive scheme that the Cleveland Browns utilize, their defensive line isn't much to write home about. The defensive ends, Kenyon Coleman and Robaire Smith, are not good at controlling the line of scrimmage. The player that must step up for the Browns is nose tackle Shaun Rogers. Last year Rogers dominated in the game against the BIlls on Monday night, and it messed with both the passing and running game of Buffalo all night. The youthful offensive line of the Bills must bounce back from their terrible performance last week if the team is hopeful to win.

Linebacker: The linebacker group is led by Browns' leading tackler D'Qwell Jackson, but there's only one problem: Jackson is listed as doubtful for this weekend. So replacing him will be rookie David Veikune out of Hawaii. Kamerion Wimbley will be used as Cleveland's fourth rusher on many occasions Sunday. Wimbley leads the team in sacks with three this season, and has 21 tackles to boot. The rest of the linebacker group consists of Eric Barton at right inside linebacker and David Bowens at right outside linebacker. The key matchup will be Wimbley against Buffalo right tackle Jonathan Scott.

Defensive Backs: The pass defense has been average for the Browns so far, but that's partially correlated to teams just running all over Cleveland. Eric Wright and Brandon McDonald are the team's starting cornerbacks and can come up with a play when given the opportunity. Wright is an athletic cornerback, but it was McDonald that picked off Bills' quarterback Trent Edwards in last year's meeting. Brodney Pool as a safety has Cleveland's lone interception this season. He also has one sack and 18 tackles this season. Opposite him is off-season acquisition Abram Elam, who was part of the deal that landed QB Mark Sanchez in New York with the Jets. Elam tortured the Bills last season with big turnovers as a member of the Jets. This season he has 31 tackles and a sack.

Special Teams

Josh Cribbs has both the kick and punt returning duties for the Browns. On kickoffs, Cribbs averages 25.7 yards per return, but it's on punts where he really shines. So far in 2009, Cribbs is averaging 18.2 yards per return and brought one all the way back for a touchdown. Phil Dawson is doubtful for Sunday, so that means Billy Cundiff will be the team's place kicker. He's 3-for-3 this season. Dave Zastudil averages 45.2 yards per punt.

Penalties

The Browns are right in the middle of the league as far as penalties are concerned. They average 5.5 penalties per game for 49.8 yards.

History

Cleveland holds the advantage in the series all-time record.  Buffalo is just 5-9 against the Browns, and have lost the past two meetings in the past two seasons. The Bills last victory over Cleveland came in 2004, a 37-7 win.

Injuries

Cleveland: DOUBTFUL: K Phil Dawson, ILB D'Qwell Jackson. QUESTIONABLE: HB Jamal Lewis, S Mike Adams, G Rex Hadnot, G Floyd Womack. PROBABLE: LB David Bowens, DE Kenyon Coleman, CB Coye Francies, CB Gerard Lawson, DT Shaun Rogers, LB Kamerion Wimbley, CB Eric Wright.

Buffalo: OUT: DE Chris Ellis, LB Paul Posluszny, S Bryan Scott, S Donte Whitner. QUESTIONABLE: CB Ellis Lankster. PROBABLE: T Demetrius Bell, S Jairus Byrd, DT John McCargo, CB Terrence McGee.

Pivotal Matchups

DE Chris Kelsay vs. RT John St. Clair

OG Eric Wood and OG Andy Levitre vs. DT Shaun Rogers

OT Jonathan Scott vs. OLB Kamerion Wimbley

HB Fred Jackson vs. Cleveland's Defense

Final Thoughts

Going in to this game, there's a lot of pressure on this 1-3 Buffalo Bills squad. The criticism of the franchise is surrounding them like a wave that's about to crash. But lucky for them their facing a team that is exploitable, but the Bills must execute in order to do just that.

Executing on offense has been the obvious problem for the team so far this season, and it will continue if quarterback Trent Edwards struggles some more. If Buffalo lays another egg against a winless team, we may very well see fireworks around Western New York -- and not the good kind.

E-mail: JoeB@wgr550.com