The Los Angeles Chargers came to Huntington Bank Stadium ranked as a top-tier defense allowing only 13 points per game. The Cleveland Browns offense, apart from Week 8, has failed to score more than 18 points a game, and therefore the Week 9 matchup was a test for a Browns offense that had the fanbase hopeful. Unfortunately, rather than building the momentum, the offense was humbled back to reality.
To be fair, the entire team played bad football. It was not only on the offense. However, Week 9 appeared to be just a "what if" for all those interceptions against the Ravens that were dropped. Today, they were secured, and Jameis Winston did not have remotely the game he had a week prior. Nick Chubb showed flashes of his former self and the development of Cedrick Tillman seems to be the lone bright spot for the offense.
The Browns offense, typically riddled with penalties, has significantly reduced the pre-snap penalties and holding penalties among the offensive line. Much of this can be attributed to Kevin Stefanski turning over the play-calling duties to Ken Dorsey and focusing on head coaching duties.
Read more: Kevin Stefanski makes surprising coaching change that only confuses Browns fans
The Browns' plan on offense was actually solid, and multiple times the Browns were poised to score; errors by Winston just finally caught up. While the game plan and play calling were not perfect (4th down screenplay for negative yards), the execution was poor. Winston tried to force too many throws and overthrew or underthrew receivers consistently. On one interception, Winston had a clear five to six yards to run and decided to throw into double coverage for his second interception. Below is a clear example of Winston forcing a ball into tight coverage and throwing behind his intended target.
Former Terp Tarheeb Still (@tarheebstill) had a tip-assist on an INT earlier, but grabs his first career interception off Jameis Winston to keep the Chargers in control.pic.twitter.com/7JaVcZJjkq
— Wesley Brown (@W_Brown21) November 3, 2024
To make matters worse, Cleveland's run game is not firing on any cylinders currently. While Nick Chubb has shown flashes of his former self, he's being brought down behind the line of scrimmage at an unprecendented rate. Tackles he typically avoids are bringing him down. Jerome Ford and the rest of the running back room aren't offering any type of change of pace that's keeping the defenses on their toes. Make no mistake, I do believe Chubb will return to form, but I think the Browns may be relying on him a bit much considering the extent of the injury he had last year.
Final Browns offensive statistics include: 26 of 46 for 235 yards, one TD and 3 INTs through the air. The Browns rushing statistics were even worse with 79 yards on 24 attempts for a 3.3 yard per carry average. Tillman, the promising second year receiver, for the second week in a row led the tea in receiving with six catches for 75 yards and a touchdown.
Browns offensive gameplan/play calling: C
Browns offensive execution: F
At this point of the season, none of the players will admit it, nor should they; but player development time has officially come in Cleveland. The Browns should focus on beating the AFC North, and put everything on spoiling the season for Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Cincinnati. Cleveland needs to think about life after Watson, and shouldn't settle on investing mid to late late round picks on a QB. Is Winston good enough to develop a rookie QB next year? Can DTR be a long-term backup? Is Tillman capable of being a number-one receiver? Or, do we need Jerry Jeudy and Elijah Moore for 2025?
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