What is the story about?
The Browns’ offense clearly didn’t get it done against the Steelers. Sometimes, you look for the ‘what ifs’ to try to make yourself (as a fan) feel a little better about the loss. Overall, it seemed like Pittsburgh had a better physicality. But I would also look to the Browns being 0-of-3 in the red zone and 0-of-2 in goal-to-go situations. And of course, generally, you can’t take 8 sacks as a quarterback and expect to move the ball consistently with success after that.
Below, we analyze the snap
counts and stats on offense for the Cleveland Browns’ Week 8 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Quarterback
- It’s hard to imagine someone having the stat line that Deshaun Watson did, and yet the offense only ends up with two field goals. But Cleveland fumbling on the opening two possessions, and also seeing their quarterback sacked eight times, tells a lot more of the story. As does the fact that they were down 27-6 in the fourth quarter, resulting in a heavier mix of passes when it didn’t matter.
- Watson was the Browns’ lowest-graded player by PFF, grading out to a 47.5. I think it was well-earned, to a degree. While Watson made some OK throws, some of the sacks came down to a lack of decisiveness. We’re also seeing that, against better defensive fronts, Watson is not able to escape for yards, something that has bailed him out at times this year. At least Watson gets to face a much easier defense in the Saints next week.
Running Back
- With Cleveland falling behind early, the ground game couldn’t become the factor that Todd Monken wanted it to be. They tried loading up with a full house formation on 3rd-and-1 on their opening first half drive, telling Pittsburgh, “we think we can get a yard when you know it’s coming.” Nope, it was killed by the defense. The same thing happened on first down from the 2 yard line, Quinshon Judkins stood no chance and was dropped for a loss of 3 yards.
- Dylan Sampson was one of the Browns’ higher-graded offensive players, grading out to a 67.4. He had 6 catches, although again, much of that came in garbage time.
Wide Receiver
- Denzel Boston nearly made a great, one-handed touchdown grab, but couldn’t get his second foot down in bounds.
- I like what someone said before — it’s not the best when Malachi Corley is getting 20% of the snaps, and yet never even gets targeted. It shouldn’t even be an element of surprise thing, but there has to be some form of ‘threat’ that maybe it’s going to be a pass play or something when he’s in the game.
- KC Concepcion only had 4 targets and 0 touches on the ground, a week after he had career highs. Jerry Jeudy also did not have a catch.
Tight End
- It was a career day for Harold Fannin, who had 10 catches for 154 yards. He did lose a fumble for the second week in a row, but remains a huge threat in the passing game. Fannin was the Browns’ highest-graded player by PFF, grading out to a 76.4.
Offensive Line
- With how many sacks the Steelers had, let’s turn to PFF to see how the unit did. RT Tytus Howard was the second-highest graded player on offense, grading to a 75.4. The third-highest? LG Zion Johnson with a 68.0. Fifth-highest? RG Austin Barber with a 65.4. C Elgton Jenkins and LT Spencer Fano did not fare the best, but it wasn’t necessarily catastrophic.
- Fano was probably the big disappointment on the day. But otherwise, it was what I’d call a mediocre day for the offensive line. They were responsible for some mistakes, but better quarterback play still could’ve made this a different ballgame.
