The Village Elliott (Kennel) noticed something I hadn't, and axed "Where is the Browns' 11th man?"
Elliott, as he always does, cited a ton of stats to back up everything he said. The most important one was that vs Dallas, OBJ and Jarvis Landry were the only true Wide Receivers who were even targeted.
Tight Ends Austin Hooper and Harrison Bryant caught 9 passes for 71 yards, while the 2 Wide Receivers caught only one more pass, so part of the explanation is right there.
Elliott also mentioned that Fullback Andy Janovich played (I think) 27 snaps.
So with Hooper playing almost every snap, and Bryant or Janovich in on the majority of the rest, how are you supposed to get a third Wide Receiver on the field...and why would you?
All this happened after #3 WR Khaderal Hodge was injured pregame (leading to a whole slew of "what about Higgins?" articles).
Elliott called the 3rd Wide Receiver the 11th-best player on Offense. He should have said the 5th best skill-player, but he'd still be wrong here:
Harrison Bryant is the 5th best offensive skill player, unless the freshly activated David Njoku is.
So nothing happened to the "11th man" vs the Cowboys. He was right there, except he was a Tight End or Fullback.
I'm a big Rashard Higgins fan myself, but in this smashmouth scheme a passcatching Tight End is more imortant than a Wide Receiver.
And how 'bout Mayfield's instant chemistry with Bryant? Is Higgins supposed to rank ahead of him because he was here first, or something? This isn't Cuba, ya know.
Along with his premis, some of Elliot's numbers were skewed, as he has Carlson still pegged as the #2 Tight End...while Bryant caught 4 passes.
Bryant appears to have passed up Carlson on the depth chart, and I'm not sure Carlson ever got on the field.
There are a bunch of misconceptions about both Carlson and Bryant. Carlson is considered the more dangerous receiver (he's a coverted WR like DeValve), so I suspect Elliot defaulted him to the "wing" TE role opposite Hooper (the blocker).
But Harrison Bryant is simply a better player, and being a converted Left Tackle is a GOOD thing. He's bigger and taller, and even shiftier than Carlson, and he averaged almost 10 YPC vs Dallas.
Still, Elliot axed some good questions and made some good points later on:
We still haven't seen the 2018 Baker Mayfield, who slung the ball to 6-8 receivers.
Elliot not only figures it's the Stefanski system, but that maybe vs Dallas checkdowns past 2-3 weren't neccessary.
I just need to mention that four receivers (not two) shared the targets and catches; 2 Tight Ends and 2 WRs, so the checkdowns went at least 3-4 deep most of the time.
Elliot supposed that later in the season (or with their backs to the wall) the Offense might "open up" more, and I concur, but:
It's looking pretty "open" to me already:
Vs the Colts' Defense, especially with Njoku back, the same attack plan makes sense.
The Colts have an answer for Hooper, but can they stop Bryant or Njoku at the same time (and how exactly DO you cover Njoku by the way *rhetorical question*)?
This Colt's Defensive Line (notably DT DeForest Buckner) is terrifying, and most intelligent analysts have zeroed in on Buckner vs Wyatt Teller as maybe THE key matchup in this game, and they're mostly right.
Buckner is 6'7". He's a basketball-player type athlete with great punch and hands (ok I'm guessing no research here):
The intelligent analysts see that Comrade Mayfield sucks vs inside pressure and think Buckner will bring Teller back down to earth and get in Mayfield's face.
It's a LOT more complicated than than that:
Teller pulls a lot here, and in straight man is a match for Buckner. In wide zone, Buckner can beat Teller and penetrate to blow things up in the backfield (if the play is to the strong side, and he reads it quickly enough).
Mayfield will only feel inside pressure from a conventional pocket anyway, and (is any of this sinking in yet?) the 2020 Stefanski Browns Offense minimizes true pass sets, even on 3rd and 8.
In point of fact, Mayfield rolls left on at least 33% of his rollouts, and is (IMO I defer to PFF) as effective on these as he is on rolls to his right.
I "get" this now:
We think of a "rollout" as a QB running left or right, laterally. A correct-hander has to do all sorts of contortions to throw while running to his left (and ditto wrong-handed QBs running to their right).
But when a QB runs backwards at first, and then loops to his left or right to run forward to either side, it works (well if your QB is a legit athlete, anyway).
I would expect more rollouts vs the Colts (even off play action) to minimize the Colts' passrush, but also (duh) lots of RUNNING...
The Colts Defense has held the teams they have played so far to 2.7 yards per carry.
Vs the Vikings, Jets, JagWIRES, and Bearss.
With all due respect to Dalvin Cook, the Browns' Offensive Line is better than all of those, and Kareem Hunt is a bigger/stronger/slower Dalvin Cook.
The Browns ran on the Ravens, and ran OVER the R E D S K I N S, whose awesome defense was expected to stifle the Browns' overrated Offense...
Why are you writing D'Earnest Johnson and his 7+ yards per carry off as a fluke?
Verily, the Cowpokers Defense sucks, but analysts go overboard with this stuff, especially when comparing BROWNS' opponents to Colts' opponents...
And listen, kiddies: The Browns healthy Offensive Line + Njoku vs the Colts front 7 minus 2 starting Linebackers = a problem vs a top 4 NFL Offensive Line, let alone the Tight Ends and Fullback and stuff.
Nevermind the blocking scheme and overall talent...okbye.
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