Browns stock report: Wide receivers rise while entire defense falls
By John Suchan
Stock up: Jerome Ford
Rookie running back Jerome Ford has also been the Browns’ kickoff return specialist and has come back these last two games to put in some good production after having been injured earlier in the season. In this latest game against the Bills, Ford brought back two kicks that totaled 49 yards. His best return went for 28 yards.
Last week when Cleveland played Miami, the rookie from the University of Cincinnati ran three kicks back for 95 yards. His biggest run went for 48 yards on the opening kickoff of the game which helped put his team in great field position. That led to the Browns scoring a touchdown a few plays later.
We don’t know what Cleveland will do with their run game a year from now, but the bets are pretty high that Kareem Hunt will be gone in free agency, so the emergence of Ford in the run game could work out well for the team.
Stock down: The entire defense
The Browns defense is in meltdown mode at this point of the season. Most of that has to do with players not trusting one another, pointing fingers at each other, and putting the blame on the coaching staff rather than taking accountability for their own collective poor play.
After the latest loss, where their unit was shredded again, several players including Myles Garrett and Grant Delpit talked about their talents being wasted and of players that still don’t understand play calls that have been called.
It really is discouraging to hear players not wanting to take responsibility for their own awful performances. Neither Garrett nor Delpit has played every down giving 100-percent effort as this has been documented a lot this season.
For Delpit, specifically, the post-game comments this past week, really are a farce considering he was at fault for the blown late-game coverage against the New York Jets back in Week 2 on the 66-yard touchdown pass that helped give the Jets a chance at the miracle win. After that game, he blamed the mistake on a communication error.
#Browns Grant Delpit on how to fix the trust in run game: "In order to have trust you have to know what you're doing." pic.twitter.com/GXaKMahXCZ
— Camryn Justice (@camijustice) November 20, 2022
Cleveland’s defense is now ranked next to last in the NFL in giving up points per game at 26.9. They gave up six straight scoring drives to Buffalo in the middle of Sunday’s game.
By that point, the game was out of reach. Cleveland gave up 357 yards of total offense and once again they got run over for 171 yards. It’s the sixth game in the last seven where the Browns have been blasted by the opponent’s run game.
