Cleveland Browns: How bad was the OL vs Buccaneers?
By Joel W. Cade
The Cleveland Browns gave up eight sacks vs the Buccaneers on Friday. How much is the offensive line to blame?
The Cleveland Browns offensive line struggled to protect the quarterback Friday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. All told, Cleveland quarterbacks were sacked an alarming eight times. Outside of the actual sacks, numerous holding penalties and quarterback hits contributed to the overall abysmal performance.
Hue Jackson’s offense is based on power run and quick passing. Yet this has been the preseason of the long ball for the Cleveland offense.
Live by the long ball, die by the long ball. On Friday, Cleveland died by the long ball.
But not all the hits, penalties and sacks can be laid at the feet of the offensive line.
“It’s not just the line,” Jackson said. “It could be other things. I’m not going to get into all of those, but just know we did not function as a passing team in those areas last night.”
“Sometimes receivers need to be in the right place. Sometimes guys get rerouted and all of a sudden you might have to hold the ball a little bit here and there and sometimes the line has to strain a little bit more. But for a passing game to work, it’s not just the line. Everybody has a part of that – the quarterback, the line, the receivers.”
Examining each of the five sacks on Robert Griffin III affords an opportunity to see exactly what role the offensive line played. Among the questions to be answered is what type of performance did the offensive line put forth in pass protection? How many sacks can it reasonably argued should be laid at the feet of the offensive line?
Next: Sack 1