Cleveland Browns need to build as a run-first, cold weather, natural turf team

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CLEVELAND, OHIO – SEPTEMBER 22: Running back Nick Chubb #24 of the Cleveland Browns is stopped by the Los Angeles Rams defense during the second quarter of the game at FirstEnergy Stadium on September 22, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

The Cleveland Browns have a deep history of successful running backs, and being a run-first team is what the team should be built around.

The Cleveland Browns should be a run-first, play-action, cold weather natural turf team. God only knows what they were trying to do last year. They may have mistakenly used Al Davis’ playbook with the bomb-based offense of the Oakland Raiders, with Baker Mayfield in the role of Daryle “The Mad Bomber” Lamonica. The result was a team that led the NFL in interceptions. That is not Cleveland football.

The Browns were born in Cleveland, and their Karma is to play outdoors on a natural turf field next to Lake Erie, which tends to be an open window for Canadian winter weather. The Browns are Jim Brown, Marion Motley, Leroy Kelly, Greg Pruitt, Kevin Mack, Earnest Byner, Eric Metcalf and now Nick Chubb. The Cleveland Browns run the ball.

There are some very nice teams that play in a dome. The New Orleans Saints come to mind, and they have an awesome run and shoot offense with talented speedy receivers coming at you from all directions. But that is not who the Browns are.

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In football, of course, teams have to play in all sorts of conditions. But if and when the Browns are able to play meaningful home games in January, it will be cold and there will be rain, snow and wind. What that means is that the team needs to run the ball on a slow field, have a quarterback who can throw bullets into a cryogenic typhoon, and have receivers who can get open for those stinging passes at short range. Cold weather playoff football is a long lost friend, but it has not gone away. It is very, very real and the Browns are obliged to prepare for it.

For the current Browns squad, it all starts with Nick Chubb, who is arguably the best back in football, especially between the tackles. We have not seen numbers like this since the days of Jim Brown: 298 carries, 1,494 yards, 5.0 yard per carry, 36 catches for 278 yards, 1,772 yards from scrimmage. On top of that they have Kareem Hunt, who put up 1,782 yards from scrimmage in his only full season in 2017 and has a career average of 4.7 yards per game. They also, by the way, have a couple quality third down backs in Dontrell Hilliard and D’Ernest Johnson, both of whom also contribute to special teams. Yet, THIS TEAM DID NOT FINISH IN THE TOP 10 IN RUSHING YARDS LAST YEAR! Let that sink in. That is crazy, absolutely incomprehensible, but true.

So how did the Browns fail to have a top ten rushing attack? Here is another eye-popping stat: The Browns were only 22nd in the NFL in rushing attempts! The Browns coaching staff was adverse to running the ball, believing instead that success depended upon establishing a high flying passing offense with deep bombs to the wide receivers, even when the numbers showed that they were among the leaders in the NFL in throwing interceptions.

The Browns ran the ball only 42.4 percent of the time. By contrast, the arch-rival Ravens ran the ball 57.5 percent of the time, highest in the NFL. Now of course the Purple Chickens have Lamar Jackson, who is going to accumulate yardage on the ground, and Baker Mayfield does not do that. On the other hand, the Browns have freaking Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt and company. The carries are there if they elect to use them.

Incidentally, there were only three teams in the NFL that ran more often that they passed: Ravens, 49ers…..and the Minnesota Vikings with Kevin Stefanski coordinating the offense.

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