Cleveland has tailored an offense to perfectly fit the skill sets of its players
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Cleveland has tailored an offense to perfectly fit the skill sets of its players
There was perhaps no more disappointing team in 2019 than the Cleveland Browns. With Baker Mayfield coming off a terrific rookie season and the Browns trading for Odell Beckham Jr., people actually expected the Browns to be good for the first time in seemingly forever: Cleveland's over/under opened at 9 wins following the 2019 NFL Draft. Once the season began, it quickly became clear that the Browns had some fatal flaws.
First and foremost, the Freddie Kitchens-led coaching staff was not up to snuff. Even more crucially, the team's offensive line was just horrendous, to the point that it undermined everything the team wanted to do offensively. Mayfield was constantly under pressure, and even when he wasn't, he faded away from the defense and threw off his back foot. He regressed badly in every area, from completion percentage (down 4.4 percentage points) to yards per attempt (down 0.5 yards), while his touchdown rate plummeted (5.6 percent to 4.1 percent) and his interception rate spiked (2.9 percent to 3.9 percent).
At the end of the year, the Browns cut ties with both Kitchens and general manager John Dorsey. Cleveland hired Andrew Berry to take over the front office and Kevin Stefanski to take over coaching duties. Stefanski surrounded himself with a top-notch staff, with the most important piece being legendary offensive line coach Bill Callahan. Berry made a strong commitment to improving the personnel along that line, importing prized free agent Jack Conklin from the Titans and using the No. 10 overall pick on Jedrick Wills.
That offensive line has led the way in the Browns' offensive resurgence ...
Coming as he does from a long line of coaches who prioritize the play-action passing game, Stefanski has married these run concepts to corresponding passing plays....
the Browns run bootleg action more than almost any team in the NFL ... Mayfield is 12 of 15 for 158 yards and two touchdowns [on bootleg plays]
. His 150.2 passer rating on bootleg action is second-best in the NFL behind that of only Patrick Mahomes.
Also helping in that regard is the Browns' increased usage of empty backfield sets. Spreading the field horizontally and forcing defenses to declare their coverage earlier ....
The interesting thing here is that the Browns' passing game can and should get even better.... Mayfield is actually attempting really difficult throws .. he's got the lowest expected completion percentage in the league ...