Charles Roberts

With a young team and a rookie head coach you would expect some ups and downs for the Cleveland Browns this season and that's exactly what they've had.

A pair of wins, a pair of losses and plenty of questions are what the Browns are dealing with as they head into a matchup with the Oakland Raiders Sunday.

Coming off their bye week the Browns had a chance to assess their season at the quarter pole. It's hard to tell where they are headed because of the mixed signals they have sent out through their first four games.

Cleveland is 1-2 at home and won its lone road game, at Indianapolis, which has yet to win this season without Peyton Manning.

Now the Browns will play three of their next four on the road, a challenging time for a young team trying to establish an identity.

New coach Pat Shurmur has brought in the West Coast offense and is implementing it with a young quarterback in second-year signalcaller Colt McCoy. One challenge for Shurmur and McCoy going forward is stretching the field on offense as teams are starting to force the Browns to throw underneath a majority of the time.

Shurmur, who is doubling as offensive coordinator, will also have to find a healthy balance for the run game that takes advantage of the power running game of Peyton Hillis and the speed of Montario Hardesty.

On the defensive side of the ball defensive coordinator Dick Jauron will be looking to build consistancy in a unit that has been solid in two wins (35 points allowed) and bad in two losses (58 points).

It wouldn't hurt either unit if the Browns could put some pressure on opponents to start the game, but it hasn't happened so far. Cleveland has scored just three points in the first quarter this season.

Getting off to a good start after the bye week will be crucial as the Browns are going to have a rough road to travel down the stretch of the regular season. Of their final five games this season two are with AFC North Division-leading Baltimore and two with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

NFL 2011 - Cleveland Browns Facing Questions Coming Off Early Bye Week