Cleveland Browns: Takeaways on offense from the Week 5 loss
By Andrew Seibt
We found some pass catchers
Isn’t it wonderful what happens when a position group executes the basic pre-requisite to play the position? Watching from the skies, there was one narrative that jumped out to me that I have opined about the last four weeks.
The receivers actually held on to the football. There was one ball off of Ricardo Louis that went for an interception, but I’d be willing to couple that blame with Hogan staring down defenders and sailing the throw a bit.
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Regardless, the Browns were finally able to move the football and sustain drives. They averaged a solid 6 yards per play, up 2.5 yards from the 3.5 average against Cincinnati.
Louis led the team with eight targets, catching five for 71 yards. Easily his best game this season.
Duke was right behind him with three catches for 63 yards and a long garbage time touchdown, but Kizer also missed a wide open Duke down the seam after burning Darron Lee and drawing an illegal contact in the process.
The surprise of the day was David Njoku who seems to be Hogan’s favorite target when he comes into the game.
He caught three passes, one of which was a gorgeous one-handed grab in the end zone on Hogan’s first drive. Njoku is an athletic freak who looks to have recovered from some preseason drop issues and hopefully can become a reliable target on offense for whoever is under center this season.