CLEVELAND, Ohio - While the endless quarterback carousel dominates Browns headlines, a more fundamental issue lies at the heart of the team’s struggles: a failing offensive line that has created a cascade of problems across the entire roster.
The comparison to a baseball team’s bullpen — as Kevin H., a listener to the Terry’s Talkin’ podcast, outlined in an email — provides a framework for why the Browns have become virtually unwatchable this season.
“To me, a bad offensive line is the surest way to have a bad team,” he wrote. “The team can’t run the ball, the quarterback doesn’t have time to throw, the wide receivers don’t have time to get open on routes downfield, the opposing defense can stack the box, blitzes work too often, the quarterback gets hurt, etc.
“Then because the offense can’t stay on the field or score points, the defense gets overworked, worn down and discouraged, the whole team unravels pretty much immediately, just like a blown lead late in a baseball game.”
Cleveland.com columnist Terry Pluto endorsed this analysis, appreciating the way it traced the connection between offensive line play and team-wide collapse.
“I like how he really delineated how an offensive line leads to the defense getting worked over to the quarterbacks getting hurt to all those things coming into play,” Pluto said.
The Browns’ issues upfront aren’t just about drafting and acquiring talent — they’re about coaching and development too. Pluto shared an insight from an NFL executive that further illuminates why fixing this problem isn’t as simple as signing new players.
“Your offensive line coach is like your pitching coach, because there’s not a lot of them out there, but there’s some that are, you know, difference-makers. And we saw that here with, with Bill Callahan. He was a difference maker...”
Callahan was regarded as one of the NFL’s premier offensive line coaches before leaving the Browns a couple of years ago to work on the Titans staff of his son, Brian.
Under Bill Callahan’s guidance from 2020 to 2023, the Browns’ offensive line was considered among the league’s best. His departure — along with injuries and questionable personnel decisions — has contributed significantly to the current collapse.
Analytics support this view. Browns passers have been sacked 26 times this season, and Pluto said almost half are due to offensive line breakdowns. And doesn’t account for the countless pressures and hurried throws that don’t result in sacks but still destroy offensive rhythm.
While guard Joel Bitonio has graded out at 74.1 according to Pro Football Focus, guard Wyatt Teller (62.0) and center Ethan Pocic (61.2) have not been as strong. At tackle, Jack Conklin (56.6) grades the highest of a cast that has changed and underperformed most of the season, in part because of injuries.
PFF grades every player on every play and uses a scale of 0-100, with higher grades indicating better play. PFF has explained its grades this way: 100-90 elite; 89-85 Pro Bowler; 84-70 starter; 69-60 backup; 59-0 replaceable. In other words, it’s similar to percentages with traditional letter grades in school.
The interior of the line “still isn’t too bad,” according to Pluto, but “they get killed on the tackle positions.”
The correlation is clear: Strong offensive line play enables everything else on offense to function properly. Good lines make average quarterbacks look competent and good running backs look elite. They give receivers time to get open and coordinators the flexibility to call a wider range of plays.
Most importantly, they make teams watchable — something the Browns currently are not.
Here’s the podcast for this week:
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