Travis Benjamin: Potential Impact on Browns-Raiders

As the Raiders prepare to take on the Browns this week, they are being forced to plan for something they may not have been expecting. After two games with a combined 6 catches for 204 yards with 3 touchdowns from Travis Benjamin, the Raiders suddenly find themselves in a position where they have to scheme to stop him. Their method for going about doing that will likely force the Browns to look elsewhere but may also open up opportunities to other players.

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Through two weeks of the season, teams have basically dared the Browns to pass on them, scheming heavily to stop the run, trusting in their ability to cover the Browns weapons and not believing their quarterbacks were good enough to beat them.

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Travis Benjamin’s raw speed and ability to track the football deep puts a hitch in this plan. Against the Jets, he beat Antonio Cromartie deep for 54 yard touchdown. Perhaps dismissed as a fluke, the Titans were victimized twice. Once on a misjudgment by Coty Sensabaugh who thought he had help he did not and was simply outrun and then later when the Browns fooled the Titans on play action, allowing Benjamin to get loose deep.

The presence of a legitimate deep threat puts added stress on the opposing defense because they may potentially need to dedicate extra resources to try to stop Benjamin as well as simply covering more ground. The Browns will try to come up with ways to free Benjamin up on the deep ball not only because of the success they have had, but because they have struggled to really move the offense in other areas.

The Raiders run a base Cover 3, so they are inclined to drop three defensive backs back covering a third of the field each with the remaining defensive back free to attack another area, whether it be a corner responsible for the flat, the strong safety coming up to cover the hook curl zone in what can be called a ‘robber’. Theoretically, the Raiders are prepared to defend Benjamin but a slight misjudgment or a lack of clarity on which defenders have Benjamin at a given time could leave them vulnerable.

The simplest way to defend Benjamin is for the Raiders to dedicate one corner to play man coverage while dropping the other corner and the two safeties back into coverage, having a defender ready to help over the top on Benjamin no matter where he goes. Whether it be playing under in a trail technique or trying to jam Benjamin off of the line, the Raiders would have a player dedicated to Benjamin while being prepared to help over the top, so that if he does beat the corner, there is someone to try to take away the deep ball.

The problem for the Raiders if they do this, they have four zones to cover or four potential men to cover and only three linebackers left to do it. Unless the Raiders change to more of a Cover 2 look to free up their other corner, they are forced to make choices and hope to fool the Browns offensively.

In the event they stay in Cover 3 with a corner dedicated to Benjamin, the Browns are facing one less player in the box on running downs, which Duke Johnson and Isaiah Crowell would be happy to see. It would also mean that they can have keep a tight end in for pass protection and be playing three on three with their remaining weapons and defenders or they can send all of their weapons out and should always have a man open, as long as the quarterback can find them quickly enough.

This puts a lot of pressure on the Raiders defensive front and especially Khalil Mack as they have to find a way to get pressure on a strong offensive line, even if Alex Mack does not appear to be 100% coming off of the broken leg. If they are able to get protection and the quarterback (whether it be McCown or Manziel) can process the information quickly enough, they should be able to find the open man and move the ball down the field.

If the Raiders are playing a straight zone, the Browns can either flood zones or try to send get receivers into the defense’s blind spots, betting on their receiver to be better than the defenders with the ball in their hands in open space. In other words, quick, short passes that require yards after the catch.

Most defenses would be inclined to try to keep the ball in front of them and tackle the pass, limiting how much yardage can be gained on the pass, but especially if Manziel is in there, they may try to fool him moving around which zones are covered, going for a turnover. In the same respect, the Raiders may occasionally gamble and not dedicate a defender to cover Benjamin, especially if they feel they have effectively frustrated him or they think the Browns are not going to try to push the ball down the field.

The emergence of Travis Benjamin, even if it ends up being just a flash in the pan, puts the Raiders in a situation where they have to scheme to stop him or risk the same fate as the Tennessee Titans, who lost almost entirely because of Benjamin. How the Raiders defend him as well as how the Browns try to create ways to free him and take advantage of the space he creates will be fascinating aspects of the game when the Browns have the ball this Sunday. It may be ultimately decide who wins.

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