Cleveland Browns: 3 takeaways on offense from the loss in Indianapolis

Browns wide receiver issues continue

This was bar none the least inspiring performance by Cleveland Browns receivers this season. Not only did they have eight drops as a team, there were a litany of offensive pass interference calls that took away big plays. Not to mention the fact that the leading receiver was actually a running back.

Kasen Williams was active for the second time as a Brown and his miscommunication with Kizer led to an interception. Kenny Britt finally did something and caught a nice a touchdown despite interference from the defender. That will keep most fans off his back until at least next week.

Hollywood Higgins and Ricardo Louis continue to look more and more like Mohamed Massaquoi and Brian Robiskie, with key drops and pass interference penalties wiping out first downs.

Jordan Leslie made his NFL debut with an outstanding one handed catch, but was not seen nor heard from afterward. Weird considering that he actually caught a ball that was thrown to him.

The Browns need more guys like him. Maybe things will improve next week when Sammie Coates comes back from his hamstring injury. At least he’ll be able to drop the balls thrown behind the defense, versus Kenny Britt who only drops them for defenders to intercept.

The only saving grace for this group was the fact the Duke Johnson was the only player to make plays consistently when given the opportunity. He had only two carries for 23 yards, but one was a 19-yard touchdown. Couple that with six receptions for 81 yards and you’ve got quite the weapon in the backfield.

Next: Talking the Week 3 loss in the DPD Podcast

Hue needs to get Duke more carries in addition to his catches. He is a better runner out of the shotgun than Crowell, and is the only player on this offense with home-run capabilities. I hope to see more of Duke next week against the Bengals.