CLEVELAND, Ohio - In the aftermath of the Browns’ loss to the Jets on Sunday, one play stands above the rest as a perfect microcosm of everything that’s gone wrong with the team’s offense this season.
A fourth-and-1 call with about 10 minutes left didn’t just fail – it laid bare the fundamental disconnection between what the Browns say they want to be and what they actually are.
It’s a play that Browns offensive coordinator Tommy Rees said this week that he would love to have back, and Terry Pluto and host David Campbell spent some time dissecting it on this week’s Terry’s Talkin’ podcast.
The situation was straightforward: fourth and a yard and a half. The Browns were still in the game with about 10 1/2 minutes left in the fourth quarter and trailing, 24-17.
Cleveland lined up in an empty-backfield formation with running back Quinshon Judkins flanked wide – essentially telegraphing to the Jets defense that a pass was coming.
“It’s fourth and 1 1/2, and the Jets, they don’t have to worry about the run anymore because there’s nobody back there. It’s an empty-backfield formation,” Campbell said.
That decision contradicted everything the Browns have told their fans about their offensive identity, Campbell said. After drafting Judkins, the organization emphasized their commitment to being a physical, AFC North-style team with a strong running game.
Yet at the most critical moment, when that identity could have been on display, the Browns didn’t embrace it.
At the snap, rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel stayed in the pocket. This was surprising because the Browns praised Gabriel after they drafted him for his ability to roll out and hit targets on the run at Oregon. And Gabriel’s ability to read defenses -- which the Browns said was a strong suit for him -- also failed him. He stepped up in the pocket and right into a sack, instead of rolling out and trying to buy time.
“The blocking was not actually that bad,” Campbell said, “but he looked left, the guys to the left were covered. And when you look at the film, on the right, Judkins and Cedric Tillman were both open, and had Gabriel turned, the Browns would have had the first down if he had looked right.”
“They stayed up all night during the bye week to come up with that play,” Pluto said sarcastically.
Pluto offered another alternative for the play.
“You have a fake to Judkins. You roll your quarterback out a little bit. Your tight end looks like he’s going to block. He slips out and he’s open,” Pluto said.
The Browns had run that kind of play for David Njoku in the first quarter, and it resulted in a 9-yard touchdown pass and a 7-0 lead.
For fans watching this disconnect play out in real-time, the fourth-and-1 call wasn’t just a failed conversion – it was proof that the Browns offense still doesn’t have an identity, nine games into the season.
Here’s the podcast for this week:
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You can find previous podcasts below.
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