Days removed from a brutal home-opening loss, it's time to take out the emotion and see what the Browns did well and where things went wrong. Here are four takeaways about the Browns' offense from their Week 1 game against the Bengals after watching the all-22 film.
4 Browns' offense takeaways after watching the all-22 film
Motion usage was way up
Per Browns Film Breakdown, the Browns used motion on 37.9 percent of snaps in 2024, good for 31st in the entire league. Cleveland used motion on 70.5 percent of the snaps in Week 1, which was the third most in the NFL in the first batch of games. Additionally, the Browns' expected points added (EPA) was 0.08 on plays with motion, and just -0.22 on snaps without motion.
Isaiah Bond was instantly used a ton in motion, specifically on exit motions, to spread the defense out. Using motion can help the quarterback identify the coverage while forcing the defense to adjust on the fly, and it was very refreshing to see the Browns use it to their advantage after hardly using it at all last season.
Cedric Tillman will be more than fine as the team’s WR2
Cedric Tillman’s stat line was pretty solid, as he caught five of eight targets for 52 yards and a touchdown. However, his impact and performance went much beyond traditional box score stats. The Tennessee alum was creating separation with ease against the Bengals’ secondary.
Of those with at least 25 routes run in Week 1, Tillman ranked fourth in FantasyPoints’ separation score, trailing only Tre Tucker, Mike Evans, and Davante Adams. The names directly after him were Ladd McConkey and Nico Collins, making it a group of some of the most established receivers other than Tillman and Tucker.
One of the many offensive question marks this season is playmaking beyond Jerry Jeudy and David Njoku. If Tillman continues to put on performances like he did this first week, the Browns will have little issue in that department.
Offensive line needs to create more push & be consistent
Overall, the offensive line was not good enough on Sunday, specifically in the run game. They did handle d-line twists and stunts better for the most part and showed solid pass protection in the first half, but there was little push in the run game, and they were seemingly always one guy away from making the play.
Dawand Jones didn’t grade out well at all, but he did seem to be a bit better than what PFF thought. However, he needs to be more solid during stretch runs away from his side, as well as when he’s used in space.
Route spacing and timing seems to need a bit of cleaning up
The Bengals’ defensive game plan was to keep everything in front of them and force the Browns to stack small gains or win in the run game. This played a large part in the lack of shots downfield, but there were too many occasions where the route spacing and timing were a bit off, and it seemed to ruin any chance of an explosive play.
There were some instances where it was rookie Dylan Sampson or Harold Fannin Jr. involved, which is expected, but also a few times where Jeudy and Njoku were involved. It’s just Week 1, and they’re changing the offensive style, so it’s not surprising to see some minor nuance issues. These should get cleaned up with more continuity and reps in the new(ish) offense.