Freddie Kitchens must admit Cleveland Browns are a run-first offense
By Dan Justik
The Cleveland Browns had great success running the football against the Bills, showing Freddie Kitchens the offense needs to rely on the rushing attack.
The Cleveland Browns offense received a boost against the Buffalo Bills when Kareem Hunt played his first regular season game in the orange and brown. Freddie Kitchens was able to work Hunt into the offense and instantly created a dynamic duo in the backfield with Nick Chubb.
The Browns featured both backs on the field at the same time, and it led to many positive plays for the Cleveland offense. The two combined for 24 carries and 146 yards, an average of six yards per carry.
Chubb was still the primary back, rushing for 116 yards on 20 carries. But it was Hunt’s blocking on Chubb’s runs that was most surprising, as Hunt helped spring some of Chubb’s explosive carries. According to ESPN’s Next Gen Stats, 113 of Chubb’s 116 yards came when Hunt was on the field.
With Kareem Hunt on the active roster, the @Browns used "Pony Personnel" (2 HB) featuring Hunt & Nick Chubb on the field together for 28 of 65 plays (43%).
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) November 10, 2019
@NickChubb21 gained 113 of his 116 rush yards on 11 carries with Hunt also on the field.#BUFvsCLE | #Browns pic.twitter.com/dTk7qf7ydd
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The effectiveness of Chubb and Hunt in the backfield together gives the Browns a schematic advantage over defenses. Both are explosive runners and because defenses do not know which back will get the ball, it puts them at a major disadvantage before the snap. Both running backs are also solid pass catchers, so they are truly a dynamic duo when paired together.
With Chubb and Hunt bow both available, Kitchens must understand that his offense should run through his running backs. The Buffalo Bills did not know how to contain both running backs, and it allowed the Browns to break off multiple chunk plays. The effectiveness of their rushing attack even made Cleveland’s play-action more dangerous as the defense had to freeze to make sure Chubb or Hunt did not have the football.
The result of having the Chubb-Hunt rushing duo helped Baker Mayfield post one of his best performances of the season. Mayfield was efficient throwing the football and was able to take shots at all levels of the field. The threat of Chubb and Hunt created openings in the defense’s coverage Mayfield was able to pick apart.
Using play-action also helped the offensive line as the defensive line could not get upfield as quickly knowing they may have to make a play on Chubb or Hunt. This gave Mayfield more time in the pocket to survey the field and deliver throws into better windows.
Chubb clearly showed he is the best play-maker on Cleveland’s offense. On almost every run, Chubb was giving himself a chance to break the big one. He is constantly providing explosive runs and is putting the Browns offense in a rhythm defenses struggle to keep up with. Once Hunt gets more time on the field, he should also bring the potential for similar explosive runs.
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Kitchens may want to rely on the arm of Mayfield and his weapons on the outside. However, Kitchens’ offense is running more efficiently when they are giving the ball to Chubb, and hopefully will with Hunt as well. If Kitchens wants to continue to give the Browns offense an edge, he needs to ride on the backs of Chubb and Hunt to provide the explosive offense the Browns were expecting to have at the beginning of the season.