Hue Jackson wants to run the ball, but can he follow through?
By Thomas Moore
The Cleveland Browns showed in 2016 they can the ball, but will they stay committed to it this year?
The Cleveland Browns finished the 2016 regular with one of the league’s better rushing attacks.
The only problem was that they did not run the ball enough.
The Browns finished second in the NFL with an average of 4.9 yards per carry, trailing only the Dallas Cowboys. But because of their ineffective defense, Cleveland was just 31st in rushing attempts at 21.9 per game as it was difficult to stay committed to the run when Ray Horton’s defense was giving up 30 points per game.
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Cleveland went about fixing the problem in the offseason by replacing Horton with defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, and reworking the offensive line by signing free agents JC Tretter and Kevin Zeitler. Those moves will allow Cameron Erving to move to his natural position at tackle, where he will compete with Shon Coleman to be the starter at right tackle.
They have also restored head coach Hue Jackson’s desire to commit to a ground-and-pound rushing attack this fall, according to clevelandbrowns.com:
"“(We) have got to run the ball more. I will be the first to tell you that. I beat myself up about that. I am a coach that likes to run the ball. We all recognize where we were in games last year, and trying to play from behind is hard, and understanding what our team was last year, feeling that you had to get off to a fast start to get ahead of a team because you knew how some things would unfold."
"“I credit our executive team for putting some linemen on our football team. Again, it starts up front. If we are going to make this big jump on our football team, it is going to be on both sides of the line. That is where you win first. Obviously, we have got to have better quarterback play and better all-around team play, but you win with big people. You win with your defensive front and your offensive line, and those guys control the game.”"
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That should be happy news for running backs Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson, who combined for 2,143 yards of total offense in 2016. Crowell, who is angling for a big contract while playing out the upcoming season under a one-year tender contract, is buying into the idea of getting the ball more, according to the team’s website:
"“I was just happy about it. I was happy about it just because I know how strongly Hue wants to run the ball. We talked about it at the end of last year. He told me we would be way better running the ball this year, and I have faith in him and I believe him.”"
We’ve heard this talk before, of course. It was this time last year that then-running backs coach Kirby Wilson was promising the Browns would have a “violent running attack.” While that was true at times, far too often Jackson chose (or was forced to choose) to let the team’s fate fall on the right arms of Robert Griffin III, Josh McCown and Cody Kessler.
It is easy to say the offense will be run heavy in June; it is another thing to stay true to that desire when opposing offenses are moving down the field with little opposition.
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The Browns did a lot to fix the problem in the offseason, and if the defense holds up its end of the bargain it will be up to Jackson to make sure he holds up his end when the team has the ball.