What is the story about?
The Cleveland Browns’ offense was still at its best in the first week of the season, as they consistently drove the ball down the field. Mistakes prevented them from having a higher scoring output. Since then, it’s been a disaster. The second game was filled with mistakes, the third game just saw them not be able to do anything (even with the late win), and then this week was right back to being mistake-filled, despite an opening drive touchdown.
Cleveland kept finding themselves in bad third down
situations, leading them to go 3-of-14 in those situations. They only had 249 yards of offense. Two years ago, Flacco could toss for well over 300 yards in his sleep. Now, nothing is working.
Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on offense for the Cleveland Browns’ Week 4 game against the Detroit Lions.
Quarterback
- Almost everyone shares a piece of the blame in this offense. We’re now a month into Joe Flacco’s second reign with the team, and gone are the wonderful memories of his 2023 run, when he was easily putting up 30+ points with ease. Now, the offense is struggling to get to 10 points.
- Head coach Kevin Stefanski is certainly right when he says that it’s not all on Flacco, and this is a team thing (including on himself). The offensive tackle situation to begin the season has to be the worst in the NFL, and the same goes for the wide receiver situation. If those issues are patched up, Flacco can lead a more competent offense. The counter argument is, “come on, if the offense is inept as is, why not use this time to gain valuable reps for a rookie quarterback?” Fair point, but, I think the team sees its upcoming schedule, knows how good the defense is, and believes there’s still a shot to get into contention.
- Flacco received a grade of 62.7 from PFF, which seems to indicate blame being placed elsewhere on offense.
Running Back
- For the second week in a row, Quinshon Judkins looked like the best player on offense by a mile. When nothing is there, he can still grind out 3 or 4 yards at a time to help shorten the distance for second or third down. He also has several bursts of 9- to 10-yard gains. It’s very encouraging, and he’s showing some good receiving skills too.
- Judkins was the Browns’ second-highest graded player on offense by PFF this week, grading out to a 71.9.
- Jerome Ford was next up with respect to reps, but he and Dylan Sampson haven’t been able to get anything going the past couple of weeks. The team still trusts Ford the most with his pass blocking reps, and apparently, they’re teaching the running backs to deliver surprising chip shots to the opposing team’s best defender.
Wide Receiver
- I have been very frustrated with Jerry Jeudy. I preached that the gameplan against Detroit should be to get him the ball early and often, and they did! He had 3 catches for 48 yards on the first drive, which helped lead to a touchdown. And then, he didn’t have a single catch the rest of the game. He fell on one route, which led to an interception and an easy touchdown for Detroit. Later on, he dropped a pass that could have made it a 20-17 game.
- If there is anything I can say, though, it’s that you know Jeudy is frustrating. I’ve been wanting to take the approach of bashing his play, but I believe he cares. He was visibly frustrated with another ball near the sideline that he couldn’t haul in, and it seemed weird at first, but I think it shows you that he’s frustrated with himself. You can hear it in the clip below, he wants to be held accountable and be a difference maker. I’m going to keep advocating for Jeudy — he’s a good route runner, has good speed, and just needs to shake the mental block he’s in.
- With Cedric Tillman exiting early with a hamstring injury, Isaiah Bond became the team’s No. 2 receiver. Even though he only had 3 catches, he showed good speed and concentration, and probably deserves the reps at this point. He was the Browns’ highest-graded player on offense by PFF, grading out to a 73.9.
Tight End
- The tight ends have been the highlights each week, but not so much against the Lions. David Njoku was held to a quiet 2 catches for 11 yards. Harold Fannin had a couple of plays where he caught a ball short and then broke several tackles to gain extra yards, but then he dropped a perfect pass on a deep ball.
- PFF’s grades to Hannin (51.6) and Njoku (48.4) weren’t kind. They didn’t excel at receiving or blocking on the day.
Offensive Line
- Wyatt Teller was the Browns’ highest-graded lineman on the day, grading out to a 65.5. However, it was a tale of two stories for him. He was the team’s best run blocker by far, getting a grade of 76.5 in that department. He was among the team’s worst pass blockers, though, getting a grade of 27.6.
- KT Leveston held his own at one of the tackle positions. However, veteran Cornelius Lucas was a disaster again, grading out to a 41.5. The run blocking wasn’t so much the issue, but it was the pass blocking. His play, and the Browns’ injuries at tackle, is the reason why they just traded for a new offensive tackle.
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