Do the Cleveland Browns need to use trick plays to win?

With all of the talent on the roster, do the Cleveland Browns really need trick plays in order to win? Maybe they are setting themselves up to lose.

Freddie Kitchens and the Cleveland Browns have had some success on offense, but it seems to many fans that Kitchens is overly reliant on trick plays and inopportune bombs. The Browns seem to have talented personnel, but they don’t have the points and, more importantly, the “W’s” to show for it.

The Browns are 26th in the league in points scored per game. Cleveland is also 20th in the league in total yards per game. That is consistent with the trouble they have had putting the pigskin in the end zone.

One of the strange things about the Browns is they have a high pass/run ratio. In fact, they are 12th in the league in terms of pass/run ratio at 1.46, meaning that they throw 1.46 times for every time they run the ball. They have a strong tendency to throw the ball rather than run the ball, even though the Browns have a star running back in Nick Chubb and the passing game is erratic.

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The Browns love trick plays. They have carried out four wide receiver reverses this year, with at least one more blown up by Lawrence Guy of the Patriots, who intercepted a shovel pass probably intended for Jarvis Landry on a reverse. Odell Beckham Jr. also has two passing attempts this season, one of which was successful to Landry. There are probably a few other trick plays that were called back due to penalties.

Why does the team need trick plays and deep balls to its best receiver? Sometimes when you are better than the other team, you need to keep running the same plays until, and unless, the other team proves they can stop them.

Back in the day, your humble correspondent used to like kung fu and martial arts. I wasn’t good enough to play football, but martial arts seemed like a sufficiently violent diversion that it could be considered fun. Anyway, at a tournament, there was one talented but underconfident guy, an intermediate green belt, who was making all kinds of fakes and feints to outfox his opponent. My teacher got mad watching all the complex moves and finally yelled at him, “Hey! Quit that! Just do backfist, reverse punch!” Now those who are experienced in martial arts will recognize that backfist, reverse punch is the easiest combination there is, the equivalent of left jab and right cross in boxing. Well, so the guy tries backfist, reverse punch and….POINT! Just like that. His opponent did not have the hand speed to block our guy’s punch. My teacher yelled again, “Now do it again!” So he uses backfist, reverse punch and scores again. POINT! Match over!

The lesson was the student was good enough that his opponent could not stop him, and he was making things unnecessarily complicated. Trickery and deception are used when you are not sure if you can beat the opponent, or especially if you know your opponent is better than you. The student could have lost the match by getting lost in all the bobbing and weaving and complexities of advanced kung fu, even though he had the ability to punch his man at will.

Does that remind anyone of our beloved Browns? They are able to move the ball on the ground with one of the most talented running backs in the game. That sets up play-action and the short-to-intermediate passing game. However, the Browns cannot be happy without flanker reverses, bombs into double coverage and trick plays.

It seems to this observer that Baker Mayfield has attempted to complete too many passes to OBJ when he is double covered. Drawing double coverage is a sign of respect from opposing defenses, but it also leaves someone else open. However, the team seems to believe that they need to throw deep to OBJ no matter what, so Mayfield has been throwing into the double coverage anyway.

When OBJ draws double coverage, and he has, he deserves great credit for doing so. Nevertheless, OBJ has been getting his yards and seems to be headed to an 1,100 yard season. But he might become even more dangerous if the Browns could punish opposing defenses when they decide to use double coverage on him. This team is deep. Ricky Seals-Jones, Damion Ratley, Taywan Taylor and even Antonio Callaway–when he remembers to show up– can catch footballs. If they catch the balls thrown to them–and so far they have–eventually the other teams will have to quit double covering OBJ.

Next. 3 pending Browns free agents who need to be re-signed. dark

The Browns do not need to use flanker reverses, flea flickers and long bombs as part of their standard game plan.

In particular the Browns are better than the Steelers, who visit on Thursday night.

Backfist, reverse punch, guys. You are good enough to win games if you do not make them too complicated.

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