What is the story about?
The Cleveland Browns’ offense was rough again, and it didn’t matter which quarterback was in the game. Week after week, the crazy thing about all of these sad displays at the quarterback position is that the Browns are actually facing some bad defenses, and they still can barely move the ball. This week, they didn’t score any offensive touchdowns — all of the points came via three fields goals and one defensive touchdown. They even began one drive at the 6 yard line, and did not score. The Browns were
2-of-14 (14.3%) on third down, and the crazy thing was that many of those scenarios were rather favorable third down situations.
Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on offense for the Cleveland Browns’ Week 11 game against the Baltimore Ravens.
Quarterback
- The blind fan in me wanted to hope that Shedeur Sanders would have a magical debut, but I still had that final preseason performance in my mind, where he kept drifting back at any sight of pressure, taking big sacks. I was braced for that to happen when he came in during the second half against Baltimore, and sure enough, I think it happened on three straight series to end the drive. It wasn’t a surprise, but it shouldn’t be an indictment on his future…yet.
- I think it’s possible the Browns could have done enough with Dillon Gabriel in that second half to win, but he didn’t do anything different in the first half than he has in his other starts. At least with Sanders, you could see a clear different in there being a guy who wants to get the ball down the field.
- As far as grades go, Pro Football Focus graded Gabriel at a 49.4, and Sanders an abysmal 27.4.
Running Back
- We saw one drive in this game where Cleveland’s ground game caught fire. We saw Judkins run for 13, 7, and 12 yards on three straight carries, and then two plays later, Sampson broke out for a 19-yard run. Those four runs accounted for more than half of the team’s rushing yards on the day, though, as this offensive line just can’t get much push.
- None of the running backs were involved in the passing game. Often, when they went out for a route, it was a basic flat route that wouldn’t have gone anywhere.
Wide Receiver
- Cedric Tillman had a couple of nice catches up the seam.
- Jerry Jeudy did a good job on one catch in the fourth quarter, catching the ball short and making several defenders miss to secure a first down.
- We didn’t see a jet sweep to Malachi Corley this week, but the Browns did do a reverse to Isaiah Bond, who used his speed to get around a defender for 8 yards.
- Gage Larvadin was in on the final series and nearly came up with a game-tying touchdown catch, but he was trying to fight through the defender’s back, and the ball was knocked away.
- Tillman was the Browns’ highest-graded player on offense by PFF, grading out to a 69.6. The fact that no one on the team reached 70 should tell you something.
Tight End
- This was the least eventful game for the tight ends all season, probably. Harold Fannin had one big catch on the final drive for 25 yards, but also dropped a short tightly-contested pass. I still think this current coaching staff is crazy for any game that goes by with David Njoku having as pedestrian of a stat line as 1 catch for 7 yards.
Offensive Line
- The offensive line was less than stellar again. Cam Robinson got injured early, which pressed KT Leveston into action. Apparently, Jack Conklin also missed 8 snaps, with Teven Jenkins presumably coming in for him.
- Wyatt Teller was fuming after the Browns’ failed fourth down play because the defender appeared to jump offsides just as the snap was happening, which allowed them to get by Teller immediately and disrupt Shedeur Sanders.
- It’s not often you see this, but Joel Bitonio was the Browns’ second-worst graded player on offense from PFF, grading out to a 48.0. The pass blocking for all the Browns’ linemen actually graded very high; it was the run blocking that was so low for everyone.
