The Cleveland Browns' offense has been scrappy at best this season. It has taken care of business in the fourth quarter but can't seem to string together long drives, mostly due to an inability to run the football.
Over five games, the Browns have averaged 94.2 rushing yards per game, though 33.4 have come from Deshaun Watson's scrambles. The Browns aren't even giving him designed runs. He's just taking off on his own.
While being in shotgun a league-leading 77.5 percent of the time doesn't help, that might not be the only problem.
According to Browns franchise legend Joe Thomas, it all starts and ends with a string of offensive line miscues.
"We're not winning on first down. I think that's the biggest problem in the run game. When you try to run the ball on first down, you got to get four yards. You got to be efficient. One [offensive lineman] makes a mistake because it's a technique mistake, it's a footwork mistake, it's an aiming point mistake. Just the amount of mistakes that they're making from a technical standpoint up front is really what's killing the run game, and then the problem is it becomes a waterfall effect with Quinshon because now he doesn't trust the offensive line up front," Thomas said on Browns Daily.
The Browns' running game struggles might not be Quinshon Judkins' fault
The Browns' Hall of Famer must know a thing or two about blocking and offensive line play, so we'll take his word in this one. Pro Football Focus gave the Browns a 58.8 run-blocking grade through five weeks, ranking them 22nd in the league.
The advanced stats paint a similar picture. According to Sharp Football Analysis, the Browns have the highest percentage of runs met at or behind the line of scrimmage this season (56 percent). That's not on Quinshon Judkins.
Of course, Judkins hasn't done himself many favors. Even when facing light boxes, he's failed to find obvious gaps and turn the corner for his signature explosive plays. He's up to just 221 rushing yards and one touchdown on 73 attempts, an average of 3.0 yards per carry.
That said, context is needed. The Browns have relied so heavily on the shotgun formation because that's where Watson is most comfortable, and NFL defenses have adapted to the RPO, dual-threat-style quarterbacks that used to be a novelty when Watson entered the league.
The Houston Texans had a similar problem when Watson was putting up MVP-caliber numbers. His offenses struggle to run the ball because he rarely operates under center, and he's not making up for it with the big plays he used to make when in his prime.
To add insult to injury, the Browns lost Dylan Sampson, their most explosive running back, and are now also without Raheim Sanders, who was placed on injured reserve this week. Jaleel McLaughlin has a quick twitch and should get more touches to try to give this team a spark out of the backfield.
As much as the alignment doesn't help and Judkins hasn't been at his best, the running game starts and finishes in the trenches. The new-look offensive line has been better and more disciplined with more reps together, but as much as they've improved, they still have to figure out how to give their struggling running back a hand.
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