The Browns were so close to coming back from London with a win, but couldn't make the necessary plays down the stretch to be victorious in Dillon Gabriel's first start. Here are three takeaways about the Browns' offense after consuming the all-22 film from the game against the Vikings.
3 takeaways about Browns offense from Week 5 loss against Vikings
Better answers vs man coverage (pass pro, winning routes, scheme)
Through five games, it's been apparent that the Browns have struggled mightily against man coverage. Per FantasyPoints Data, the Browns quarterbacks are putting up a league-worst 1.66 average net yards per attempt against man coverage. Additionally, they have seen man coverage on 71 drop-backs this season, the most in the league. In the 117 pass snaps against zone coverage, the Browns' ANY/A jumps up to 4.37, which is still near the bottom, but not nearly as horrendous as their performance versus man coverage.
Unfortunately, the issues with man coverage are not a one-stop fix. Cleveland has had no issues creating open solutions downfield against zone coverage (though they aren't getting to them enough), but those successes do not show up schematically versus man coverage. It feels like they could benefit from more creative wrinkles to defeat man coverage to make life easier on the players.
On top of the scheme against man seeming a bit stale, it would be remiss not to mention the pass protection issues and the lack of consistent separation created by receivers. Receivers are not getting enough time to win on routes downfield, and when they are, they either aren't winning or the quarterback doesn't get to them. All in all, the Browns need to get better against man coverage to challenge defenses to stop them from being able to show man coverage and play it so often.
Less missed assignments in the run game/ vs stunts
Cleveland has been leaning on the run game heavily this season, ranking bottom ten in pass rate over expected despite playing so many games with negative game scripts. The run game has definitely gotten a boost with Quinshon Judkins, but there are still too many examples where multiple guys are blocking the same guy or getting nobody, causing the play to be dead or much worse than it should have been (specifically with the tight ends). Luckily, Judkins seems to maximize most runs, but this team has the talent in the run game to be a unit that controls the game on the ground.
Along with the occasional lapses in the run game, defensive line games and stunts still cause issues. This is undeniably a result of shuffling so many bodies at the offensive tackle positions this year, like the missed assignments. Hopefully, these are issues that will fade away as the team gets further into the season without a ton of live preseason reps.
Quinshon Judkins is legit
While most of the discourse about the offense is how they aren't explosive enough, one obvious positive has been the dynamic performance of Judkins. The second-round pick ranks in the top half of basically every important rushing metric, including fifth in rushing yards per game among those with at least 50 rush attempts. On film, it's apparent he maximizes every touch with his vision, quick cuts, and aggressive downhill style. He also has the speed to get the edge even at the NFL level and break away big runs (like the called back touchdown on some ticky-tack holding calls).
While it was very difficult to see the team move on from franchise legend Nick Chubb, it looks like Judkins can be the workhorse back in Cleveland for the foreseeable future.