The Cleveland Browns have the pieces to be a great offense, but despite three fourth-quarter comebacks in as many weeks, they’ve become painfully predictable due to an inability to run the football.
It all came to a head on a rainy Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Browns bailed on the run game despite playing in conditions that begged them not to, and instead kept quarterback Deshaun Watson in the shotgun way too many times to attempt way too many passes.
New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn had an almost disrespectful plan to attack those tendencies, and it led to an ugly day all-around for head coach Todd Monken and his offense.
The Jets sacked Watson eight times during Sunday’s 17-12 win, and they did it behind an an almost unheard-of blitz rate, per Zac Jackson of The Athletic.
“The Jets blitzed Watson early and didn’t stop, and the Browns couldn’t generate enough traction on the ground or through the air to keep the pressure at bay,” Jackson wrote after the game. “Per TruMedia, the Jets recorded a 69.6 percent pressure rate and 52.3 blitz rate on Watson’s 44 dropbacks and, fittingly, ended Cleveland’s last-gasp possession with a strip-sack by Will McDonald.”
Todd Monken said the quiet part out loud about the Browns’ struggling rushing attack
As usual, Monken didn’t mince words after the game. He lamented a rushing attack that managed just 56 yards on 17 carries, not including Watson’s scrambles. In what seemed like a favorable matchup coming in, top running back Quinshon Judkins averaged 3.1 yards on 14 attempts.
Judkins had a 14-yard run early in the game and a 9-yard carry up the middle for a first down midway through the fourth quarter. But his other attempts were either stuffed or stopped for short gains. The Browns had multiple drives in the second half where they abandoned the run completely.
Monken didn’t flat-out say that the Jets’ lack of fear against the run is what led to the eight sacks, but he definitely acknowledged it as a top concern after the game.
“It’s everything,” he said of the sacks. “It’s coaching, it’s playing, it’s getting the ball out of our hands. It’s protection. It’s all of the above. It’s rarely just one person. We all have got to take a big friggin’ bite of this and work to get better.
“You’re gonna put yourself in that position when you can’t run the football,” he added, “and we weren’t able to run the football.”
Opponent blitz rate is becoming an alarming trend against the Browns this season
This might already be a trend. According to Browns reporter Daniel Oyefusi, Watson has been one of the most blitzed quarterbacks in football at 36.6%. He had been executing well against those looks prior to Sunday's game.
“The key,” Oyefusi wrote, “was New York played a lot of zone behind the blitzes, which threw off the natural timing of the passing game.”
There’s really only one path forward. The Browns can’t live in the shotgun over 72% of the time — they entered Week 5 with the second-highest rate in football, per Sharp Analysis — if they can’t keep defenses honest on the ground.
Monken doesn’t seem to have the answer right now. He mentioned the coaching, blocking, and playing as issues plaguing the overall running game operation. Other than that, everything is fine.
The clock is ticking. The competition ramps up this week with a home game against the AFC North rival Baltimore Ravens.
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