Brown Diary, Week 12: On the Run
Denver 29, Cleveland 12
OK, so I’m trying to understand. I’m honestly trying. There has to be something I’m missing, some key fact that would make any of this make sense.
Let’s go over a few points:
Point 1: The Denver Broncos came into Sunday’s game with the worst run defense in the NFL. The worst. Not even close. In only 10 games, they had given up 1,600 rushing yards, more than every NFL team, including all those that had played 11 games. They were giving up an average of 5.5 yards per carry, which is a higher average than Jim Brown had over his career. The Dolphins, you probably know, ran for 350 yards and five touchdowns against them. It hasn’t been as bad since then, but it’s been plenty bad. The Jets’ Bruce Hall ran for 177 yards against them. The Bills went for 192 yards against them two weeks ago, the Vikings 175 last week.
Point 2: To reiterate: The Broncos can’t stop the run.
Point 3: The Browns came into Sunday’s game as one of the best running teams in football. They did this even though they lost the great Nick Chubb to a gruesome season-ending injury and lost both of their starting tackles. Jerome Ford, a fifth-round pick out of Cincinnati last year, has been pretty special, and Kareem Hunt can still power for some yards, and the interior of the Browns offensive line is the offense’s strength.
Point 4: Just in case you forgot: The Broncos can’t stop the run.
Point 5: The Browns were starting rookie quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson. It was DTR’s third game as a pro. In his first, he was an unmitigated disaster. In the second, he was more of a mitigated disaster until the end, when he stood tall in leading the Browns to a game-winning field goal against Pittsburgh. Everybody likes him, and his confidence, but his 42.4 passer rating suggested that the Browns might want to, at the very least, protect him and limit his exposure.
Point 6: If I haven’t mentioned this yet, my bad, but: The Broncos can’t stop the run.
On the first series, the Browns had DTR run a quarterback draw and then throw two passes. They punted.
The Broncos drove down the field to take a 7-0 lead.
On the second series, the Browns ran six plays. Four were passes. One was a four-yard run. And the last was a short-yardage gizmo with tight end Harrison Bryant playing quarterback. He promptly fumbled, the Broncos recovered.
The Broncos, fortunately, fumbled the ball back to Cleveland.
On the third series, the Browns ran on first down for 3 yards, then threw two more passes, both incomplete. If you’re counting, the Browns had now run 12 plays. Two were handoffs to a running back.
The Broncos drove down the field, 80 yards, to take a 14-0 lead.
Let me break down the Browns’ fourth drive.
1st down: DTR — incomplete pass.
2nd down: Ford runs for 19!
1st down: DTR — incomplete pass.
2nd down: Ford runs for 11!
1st down: DTR runs for 9!
2nd down: Hunt runs for 7!
1st down: DTR incomplete pass
2nd down: DTR completes pass for 9
3rd down: Hunt flies for 3 and the first down!
1st down: DTR fumbles in the weirdest way, trying a handoff; like the ball jumped out of his hands.
2nd down: DTR incomplete pass
3rd down: DTR incomplete pass
4th down: Field goal
Now, maybe it’s just me — but I seem to be picking up a trend here. It seems like whenever the Browns, I don’t know, RAN the ball, they had huge success. And whenever the Browns tried to pass, they had almost no success. This trend would not stand out so much except it is EXACTLY WHAT ANY FOOTBALL PERSON WOULD EXPECT GOING INTO THIS GAME.
In the first half, the Browns ran 34 plays. Only 14 of them were run plays, and on those 14, the Browns averaged 5.1 yards per carry.
And the second half … it just got weirder. I probably shouldn’t keep going play-by-play; it’s probably enough to say that the Browns with DTR (and then, after his concussion, P.J. Walker) at quarterback threw the ball 42 times and had running backs run the ball just 16 times (for 87 yards, a 5.4 average). But we should make special mention of the wackadoodle play that started the fourth quarter.