Cleveland Browns Week 8: Studs and duds
By Randy Gurzi
Dud: The play calling
Wether it falls on head coach Hue Jackson, or offensive coordinator Todd Haley, the Browns play calling on Sunday was beyond questionable. They started the game out running a spread offense, which is exactly what they’re built to do.
In this set, they were letting quarterback Baker Mayfield get the ball out quickly to the playmakers and they even had Duke Johnson catching passes early.
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The result was two impressive drives early on. The first was their opening drive in which they moved it 66 yards on 11 plays. After a failed drive their second try, they again moved it into Steelers territory on a six-play drive that followed a Derrick Kindred interception.
What each of those drives had in common was how poorly they ended. After getting into field goal range, the formation went away from their spread set. The result was stalled drives that ended in field goals. The Browns completely dominated the first quarter, but were up just 6-0.
That led to a long touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger to Antonio Brown completely changing the game. That put Pittsburgh up 7-6, and Cleveland was never in the lead again.
It doesn’t matter who is at fault — last week Hue pretty much blamed it all on Haley and likely will again. The fact is the play calling is atrocious and something has to change.