After two games, the Cleveland Browns have the 31st ranked rushing offense in the NFL, averaging 65.5 yards and 2.91 yards per carry. It’s not been a case of Cleveland abandoning the run game either. On top of that, much of those rushing yards have actually come from QB Deshaun Watson. He leads the team with 60 yards rushing, while RB Quinshon Judkins has 54 yards rushing.
A boost in production could be on the way, though, starting with this Sunday’s home opener against the Carolina Panthers. ESPN’s
Jeremy Fowler was asked about fantasy football advice this week, and he immediately talked up Judkins:
Don’t be surprised if Quinshon Judkins bounces back as early as this week. Judkins has been disappointing thus far, held to 54 yards on 24 carries and zero scores. But this week the Browns get Carolina, which has allowed a league-worst 448 rushing yards through two weeks. Judkins has too much ability to be bottled up for long.
The Panthers’ run defense ranks dead last in the NFL through two games, allowing an astounding 224 yards rushing per game, and an average of 6.31 yards per carry.
291 of those yards came in the Panthers’ Week 1 loss to the Chicago Bears, in which they yielded 59 points. QB Caleb Williams ran for 65 yards, while RB DeAndre Swift ran for 124 yards and RB Kyle Monangai ran for 100 yards. Combined, they had 6 rushing touchdowns.
Even in the Panthers’ 34-3 win over the Falcons last week, they allowed 157 rushing yards, with a long run allowed of 11 yards. So they were giving up a high clip still; it wasn’t one big run that skewed the numbers.
Between the Panthers’ poor run defense and the Browns’ poor rushing offense, something has to give on Sunday.
