Cleveland Browns: Week 11 takeaways from the offense

One-dimensional offense

The Browns rushing attack that gave us 201 yards on the ground last week was nowhere to be found this week. The Browns mustered a measly 55 yards on the ground, 22 of that coming from the quarterback position.

Isaiah Crowell had a nice 1.6 YPC with 18 yards on 11 carries. Duke Johnson, the Browns’ best playmaker, had two carries for ten yards. This is a clear indication of Hue Jackson’s failure as a head coach of this Browns team.

I understand that the Jaguars defense is very good. But that is no excuse to have your best playmaker see six total touches in a game where the offense was so bad. I have no clue as to why Hue Jackson continues to call the same designed running plays right between the guard and center. It seems like he’s almost getting them out of the way so that he can go back to his precious pass plays.

The Browns run game was so bad, that on his first interception Kizer “attempted” a play-action fake that was intended to serve as a way to keep the linebacker close to the line of scrimmage. Given that the Browns were absolutely no threat on the ground and that the fake itself was poorly executed, the linebacker never bit and ended up picking off Kizer.

Note to Hue Jackson, the only way a play-action pass works is if you actually convince an opposing team that you’re willing to run the ball. Either that, or at least tell your quarterback to sell the fake instead of letting the defense know right away that you have no intention of running the ball.

More from Dawg Pound Daily

• How the Browns could maximize Nick Chubb in 2023
• Can Deshaun Watson get to Patrick Mahomes level for Cleveland Browns?
• 3 Cleveland Browns who should see an expanded role in 2023 and 1 who should not
• Is Marcus Davenport on the Browns radar in 2023?
• 5 Free agents from Super Bowl LVII Cleveland Browns should target

Ricardo Louis continues to see extended playing time despite dropping passes in every single game, and Crowell keeps getting the ball (and swapping jerseys with the ex-Brown who talked trash about the team, but that’s beside the point).

I understand the team is bereft of talent, but a good coach finds ways to scheme their playmakers open, and I have yet to see that from Hue Jackson in any of the 26 games he’s had as head coach.

No one was chomping at the bit to take over a Rams team with a rookie quarterback that looked bad last season and really had no help other than Todd Gurley but there go the Rams at 7-3.

Sean McVay seems to be able to scheme open guys like Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp, yet we’re stuck watching Ricardo Louis and Rashard Higgins be asked to beat man-coverage while the tight ends sit and twiddle their thumbs on the sideline.

On a positive note, Corey Coleman was back this week and made an immediate but uninspiring impact in this game. It was nice to see a competent weapon out there as he led the team with six catches for 80 yards. Nothing that’s going to set the world on fire, but it can’t be worse than what we’ve seen out of Louis and Higgins.

Hot take alert: I would rather have Terrell Owens come out of retirement than to watch Ricardo Louis run another route for the Cleveland Browns.