Cleveland Browns studs and duds from first win of the season
By Randy Gurzi
Dud: The O-Line
It’s starting to sound redundant, but the offensive line is a real issue for the Browns. IN the first quarter, Baker Mayfield was having to dance around a lot to find open spaces to deliver the ball and that led to some high throws. He was sacked by Terrell Basham after completing a long pass to OBJ, which nearly stalled a drive as the Browns were forced to go for it on fourth down.
Speaking of that fourth-down conversion, a pass to Taywan Taylor, the Browns showed what the problem is with that line as Mayfield had to roll out in order to find the room to deliver a pass. That was really a common theme on the night as Mayfield was constantly having to move away from the rushers rather than being able to stand in the pocket and scan the field.
Where this really hurts the Browns, is the way it takes away one side of the field. When the quarterback is rolling to his right, it makes throws to the left a tough ask, which plays right into the hands of the defense. That happened on a second-and-12 in the second half as Mayfield went with an empty set but again had to run around and then had his pass knocked down as he was being harassed by defensive linemen.
That ball floated in the air for a while but thankfully was not picked off. Still, that could have been much worse and while it would have gone on Baker’s stat-line, it was a product of the line not protecting him.