4 Browns who deserve the blame for blowout loss in playoffs

It was a magical run for the Cleveland Browns who never gave up all year despite having several reasons to throw in the towel. Injuries to Deshaun Watson and Nick Chubb should have derailed their campaign but they still found a way to make it to the playoffs with an 11-6 record.

They were unfortunately blown out by the Houston Texans but that doesn't take away from the great work they did. While we have a long offseason to figure out how this team will get better, right now, we'll spend a little more time looking back to their one-game playoff appearance. Here, we look at four Browns who deserve the most blame for the Round 1 defeat.

4. Jerome Ford, RB

On the year, Jerome Ford ended up putting up decent numbers with more than 1,000 yards from scrimmage. Despite that fact, he was inconsistent throughout the year and often spent too much time dancing in the backfield. That was again the case on Saturday. Ford finished with just 17 yards on nine carries and was often unable to make anyone miss.

Cleveland had to abandon the run early when Ford was averaging less than three yards per carry. That was the norm for him as he averaged 4.0 on the season but had nine games with less than three yards per attempt. That means the majority of his numbers came in bunches, including two 69-yard rushes that helped pad those stats.

Ford did play very well in Week 17 against the New York Jets which gave the Browns hope that they could lean on him in the playoffs. That wasn't the case which helped the Texans tee off on the quarterback all day.