This loss to the New York Giants is going to be a hard one one to get past if you’re the Cleveland Browns.
They were projected favorites, at home, coming off a road win, with a chance to stay near the top of the division but ultimately faltered against the hapless New York Giants. What started as well as it could have slowly turned into more of the same that we’ve been seeing with this offense. The defense held well but a pair of scores from rookie phenom Malik Nabers and the Giants gained a lead that the Browns wouldn’t retake.
Now is the time for soul searching as the team pivots to the long stretch of the schedule and division rivals the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens start to get ahead. What is unlikely to change is the use of role players as injuries continue to hit the depth chart.
Here’s what we can take away from the snap counts for Week 3 of the season.
Near/Perfect
C Ethan Pocic – 100%
LG Joel Bitonio – 100%
QB DeShaun Watson – 97%
WR Amari Cooper – 90%
WR Jerry Jeudy – 90%
LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah – 99%
S Grant Delpit – 97%
CB Martin Emerson – 94%
CB Denzel Ward – 90%
As we get deeper into the season we’ll likely see less and less full participation through games from injuries or in efforts to keep players healthy. Pocic, Bitonio, and Owusu-Koramoah continue to lead by example by never coming off the field.
The secondary found a little more consistency this week, notably with Denzel Ward returning after barely playing the previous week with a shoulder injury that did not affect him this week.
Staples
WR Elijah Moore – 81%
RB Jerome Ford – 79%
OT Dawand Jones – 78%
TE Jordan Atkins – 67%
OT Jedrick Wills – 60%
LB Jordan Hicks – 86%
CB Greg Newsome II – 65%
DT Shelby Harris – 61%
DT Dalvin Tomlinson – 58%
DE Myles Garrett – 58%
S Rodney McLeod – 54%
The Elijah Moore experiment is still in full swing and perhaps he’s enjoying more success in his new role with Jerry Jeudy as the true second wide receiver. Not only is Moore near the top of the team in snaps but he’s only one target shy of matching Jeudy and Cooper.
Jerome Ford returned to a workhorse role after D’Onta Foreman got a bulk of the carries the week prior. This interesting usage of the backs will be something to monitor as we’ll see if Ford continues to be the primary option until Chubb’s return and last week’s usage was an anomaly.
Dawand Jones continues to get plenty of work with Conklin remaining out and the new injury to Jedrick Wills Jr, who should have been a staple of this line until he was hurt a little over halfway through the game.
Most concerning, this was Myles Garrett’s lowest snap game as he continues to deal with injuries to both feet, his achilles, and thigh. He’s no longer the alpha when it comes to staying on the field as Shelby Harris led the defensive line in snaps.
Interesting/of Note
OG Zak Zinter – 51%
OG Wyatt Teller – 49%
C/FB Nick Harris – 40%
RB D’Onta Foreman – 16%
DE Za’Darius Smith – 47%
DL Quinton Jefferson – 46%
DE Alex Wright – 43%
DE Ogbo Okoronkwo – 40%
LB Devin Bush – 31%
DE Isaiah McGuire – 28%
The injury to Wyatt Teller threw all plans for a loop as the usual 100% snap count player was hurt almost exactly halfway through the game. In his place, we saw a deployment of backups in rookie Zak Zinter and off-and-on again Brown Nick Harris. With Zinter, Harris, Jones, and Hudson all playing significant snaps the Browns have been forced to empty their depth among the offensive line.
This is true on both sides of the ball as we see rotational players like Wright and Okoronkwo seeing higher snap counts following the Garrett injury. This was also the first time Devin Bush played substantial snaps at linebacker after previously appearing almost exclusively on special teams.
Cleveland will have to continue to deploy different units at a time as injuries continue to compile and those tasked with extra playing time will need to step up if the Browns want to get back to the playoffs.