The Cleveland Browns will enter their Week 3 home opener at 1-1, and the team is already seeing promising production out of many of its talented young players. However, second-year running back Quinshon Judkins hasn’t really joined the party through two games.
While Judkins has been on the field, he hasn’t produced much. After two weeks, he has a combined 24 carries for 54 yards, breaking down to a measly 2.3 yards per carry. Starting quarterback Deshaun Watson has outrushed Judkins in both games, and fans are starting to get worried.
Some people are concerned that Judkins might be the problem, and others are convinced that the rebuilt offensive line hasn’t figured out run-blocking as a unit yet. Like most things in sports, it’s probably a combination of everything, and there’s also one more factor that should be considered.
Cleveland has a very condensed passing game through two weeks, and that likely contributes to the team’s inability to run the ball.
Browns’ rushing struggles could be connected to their compact passing game
The Browns don’t have a rushing attack right now, and they don’t have a downfield passing attack either. Look no further than Cleveland’s Week 2 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, when the offense was actually productive and Deshaun Watson had a good game.
The veteran quarterback completed 24-of-30 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns. At face value, those are good numbers, but a closer look at how they came highlights some problems the offense could run into. Nine of Watson’s passes were thrown to targets behind the line of scrimmage. Nine other attempts were within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage.
Overall, Watson attempted just one pass over 20 yards, which fell incomplete, and only six passes beyond 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. His average depth of target was 3.6 yards. Everything about the Browns' passing offense is quick, short, and relies heavily on the talented young playmakers making guys miss to pick up yards after the catch.
While Cleveland is lucky to have a group of guys who can do that, the offense isn’t stressing defenses. Opposing teams are able to play close to the line of scrimmage, without the threat of anything going over them, and that makes it easy for defenses to stop the run.
So while the Browns' offensive line definitely needs to do a better job of carving out run lanes, the group could use some assistance from the pass game. If Watson and company can’t find a way to push the ball downfield, it will likely remain tough to run the ball.
Add us as a preferred source on Google