Cleveland Browns: Studs and duds from victory over Atlanta

Dud: Trick Plays

Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens called a great game against the Falcons. He had the Atlanta defense off-balance for most of the game, and put his players in position for success.

Kitchens was using different formations to create communication problems for the Falcons defense. For one drive, Kitchens had Chubb, Duke Johnson, and Hilliard all in the backfield at the same time.

But although seeing the creativity from Kitchens was nice, he took being creative a little too far. Kitchens called two trick plays over the course of the game, and both times they did not work.

On the Browns first drive of the game, the offense was moving the ball fairly easily. They were facing a 3rd and one, and Mayfield came to the line of scrimmage under center. After a couple of hard counts, Mayfield walked towards the sidelines with his arms in the air, and the ball was snapped directly to Chubb behind him. The Falcons defense was able to stuff Chubb, as almost everybody in the stadium knew what was coming.

The second trick play came when Kitchens had Hilliard attempt a pass to Mayfield down the left sideline. Hilliard showed that he is not a quarterback and severely underthrew Mayfield. The ball hung up in the air for a long time, and it allowed Falcons safety Damontae Kazee to run underneath for the easy interception.

Both times, the Browns offense was moving the ball against the Falcons defense. There was no need for the trick plays, and it took away the chance for the Browns to add points to the scoreboard. It is fine to be creative, but the trick plays were blatantly obvious and did not even come close to working either time.