Tag: Browns offense

Data Dump: Browns rise up rankings after dominating the Cardinals

Where do the Cleveland Browns rank across various metrics after their week 9 performance against the Arizona Cardinals.

In this week’s Data Dump, the Cleveland Browns are quickly rising through the ranks of the NFL after delivering a 27-0 win against the Arizona Cardinals. While the Browns are 5-3 at the halfway point of their season, the statistical analysis didn’t agree that the Browns were worthy of their record.

The return of Deshaun Watson propelled the Browns’ offense from being one of the worst in the league to a subpar offense after one game. It sounds small, but the improvement was a step in the right direction for models that assume offenses are far more important than defenses. The Browns are now on the doorstep of the upper echelon of the league according to most metrics. A few more games like Sunday from Watson and the Browns will quickly advance to the top of the NFL with the Chiefs, Eagles, and Ravens.

Sunday’s matchup between the Browns and the Ravens will pit the two top defenses in the NFL against each other. The Browns will be looking for revenge after losing their first game after rookie quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson was named the starter the morning of the game due to the aforementioned Watson injury.  The teams will be extremely motivated to prove which team is not only the best in the AFC North but among the entire league.

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Draw It Up: Breaking down two of the Browns’ most fun plays vs. 49ers

Analyzing the Browns offense as they run crunch and super snag in their victory against the San Francisco 49ers.

Kevin Stefanski, the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, is a highly regarded offensive mind in the NFL. But what is an offensive genius? Outside of comedians, it’s hard to figure out. There are tons of different criteria to judge a coach on. At the micro level, it can be based on creative play designs. Falcons’ head coach Arthur Smith gained fame with his impressive play designs. Zooming out slightly would reveal that genius revolves around personnel groupings; coaches like Ken Dorsey are highly regarded for their ability to pass the ball with an extra tight end or fullback on the field. 

Continuing to zoom out to the macro scale, discussions of strategy become more important in the discussion. The best offensive coaches are masters of disguise. Kyle Shanahan demands that every run play has a play action, bootleg, and waggle variations attached to it.

The variations force defenses to second guess what they’re seeing. The split second it takes to confirm a play for a defender is long enough to exploit that same defender. Offensive geniuses are like Chess grandmasters. Every move they make sets up an even greater move down the line. Rams head coach Sean McVay is famous for remembering every play that he has called. There are a ton of criteria that can make a coach an offensive genius, and it’s usually a combination of them that certifies a genius. Maybe a genius is simply putting players in their best spot to succeed as Dolphins’ head coach Mike McDaniel believes.

This series is meant to showcase what makes coach Kevin Stefanski so special on offense. I will be spotlighting various plays during the rest of the season in an attempt to get an answer. Today’s article will be about two separate plays. One is a run play called Crunch. The other is a snag concept with a swing screen attached to it. I will refer to the play as “Super Snag.” As nomenclature varies across the league, I want to keep the vocabulary simple. 

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Browns offensive speed package could be dynamic

The Cleveland Browns offense was successful in 2020 despite the lack of a lot of speed. Their speed package in 2021 could be very dynamic!

The Cleveland Browns offense was highly successful in 2020 in year one under Kevin Stefanski and Alex Van Pelt. Despite all the success, the Browns were often lacking significant speed on the offensive side of the ball once Odell Beckham Jr. and JoJo Natson went down for the season.

In 2020, the team brought in or promoted from the practice squad a number of speed players at the wide receiver position to try to rectify the lack of that dynamic. Alexander Hollins, Ja’Marcus Bradley, Marvin Hall, and Taywan Taylor were shots in the dark at a speed threat.

None were overly successful in the role.

Now, with Beckham Jr. and Natson back from injury and Donovan Peoples-Jones coming into his second season, the Browns have also added Anthony Schwartz to the wide receiver room.

The Browns also started using David Njoku more and more down the stretch. After picking up his fifth-year option on his contract, the former Miami tight end went from 17 snaps (23%) in week one to 49 snaps (79%) in week seventeen.

With all the speed returning to health, the increased usage of Njoku (the Browns most dynamic tight end), development of Peoples-Jones, and the drafting of Schwartz, the Browns offense now has a chance to scare people with an all speed package.

At times, expect the Browns to line up in 11 personnel, three receivers, one tight end, and one running back, which can create chaos for opposing defenses. With Beckham Jr. and Peoples-Jones on the outside, Schwartz and Njoku on the inside, and either Nick Chubb or, more likely, Kareem Hunt in the backfield, defenses will have to cover every blade of grass between the line of scrimmage and the endzone.

Last year, with only Peoples-Jones a rookie and Njoku’s snap count gradually rising, the Browns rarely had more than one speed threat on the field at any time and, often, it was their running back. This allowed defenses to crowd the line and compress throwing lanes for quarterback Baker Mayfield. While Mayfield was still successful, the quarterback will be happy to see bigger windows to throw the football in 2021.

Whether it was the deep ball to Beckham against the Bengals or the one-play touchdown to Peoples-Jones against the Titans, we have seen how explosive the Mayfield-led offense can be with speed. In 2021, the Browns can run out a speed package that could create wave after wave of excitement for the team’s faithful fanbase.

What Andy Janovich adds to the Cleveland offense

Fullback Andy Janovich might serve a critical role in the Cleveland Browns’ offense going forward.

When the Cleveland Browns hired Kevin Stefanski as their new had coach, and then acquired tight end Austin Hooper at the start of free agency, every NFL writer immediately thought of one number:

12.

12 as in 12 offensive personnel, the two tight end package that the Minnesota Vikings – and Stefanski – ran almost exclusively in 2019. Last year Minnesota used that personnel grouping on 34% of their offensive snaps, second only to the Philadelphia Eagles. Scheme writers and fantasy analysts alike had visions of Hooper and either David Njoku or Harrison Bryant being used on the boot-action and play-action designs that Stefanski used with Kirk Cousins, only now with Baker Mayfield pulling the trigger.

But another acquisition from the Browns flew a bit under the radar, yet it might end up being hugely consequential for the Cleveland offense: The trade for fullback Andy Janovich. Sure, fullbacks seem to be going the way of the dodo, as teams emphasize athleticism, spread formations and speed in today’s NFL. But the other personnel package the Vikings used heavily in 2019 under Stefanski? 21 offensive personnel, or two running backs. Only the San Francisco 49ers used it more than Minnesota, who implemented that on 21% of their plays.

What does a fullback bring to an offense? Blocking angles, the ability to quickly create four-man surfaces up front, and the ability to get the opposition to play with their base personnel, so you can then throw against them.

All things we saw from Janovich and the Browns against the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday night: