Cleveland Browns: Evaluating the First Quarter of the Season

After the first quarter of the season, the Cleveland Browns’ record is familiar but their path under Hue Jackson has brought a set of pleasant surprises, challenges.

Four games into the season, the Browns find themselves as the lone winless team in the league, which falls in line with the expectations for the season. As bad as the record is, the team has been in a position where they could have won each of the past three games only to fall short late. Perhaps the most important aspect of this still young 2016 season is the fact that Hue Jackson has put his indelible mark on this team, which is mostly good, but has its share of shortcomings.

Two aspects of this team stand out as improvements from the previous regime—player development and the running game.

In no small part due to prudent drafting, the Browns have a crop of rookies that look promising. The team selected 14 players in the 2016 class and 12 of them are on the active roster at this point with two on the practice squad. Yes, this can be manipulated as this organization purges the roster of players they don’t believe fit where this team is going to keep their rookies on the team, but many of them look promising in their own right.

Maybe the Browns hit the jackpot on some of these players and these guys are just good. The area where the organization looks better at player development is taking players from the previous regime and getting better play out of them.

Terrelle Pryor is the most notable example, but Isaiah Crowell, Randall Telfer, Malcolm Johnson, and Xavier Cooper are examples of players that seem to be far better under this coaching staff than the last. There could be an element of luck and timing with that. But at some point, the coaching staff simply deserves credit for player development and tailoring a scheme to better fit their talent.

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Hue Jackson’s staff should be lauded for not only creating a viable running game, but a potent one. A month into the season, the Browns are leading the league in rushing yards at 597 as a team. They are also leading the league in yards per attempt at 5.7.

Isaiah Crowell is second in the league in rushing yards with 386. Crowell and backfield mate Duke Johnson are first and second in yards per attempt among players who qualify. Crowell is at 6.4 and Johnson at 6.2 yards per carry. Last year, the Browns finished 22nd in rushing for the year, gaining 1,529 yards on the season at an average of four yards per carry.

Aside from having Austin Reiter fill in as a center in the game against Washington (now out for the season with a torn ACL) and having Randal Telfer healthy and available where he was on injured reserve last year, Jackson’s staff is getting league leading results with the same cast of characters from last year.

They even lost Alex Mack and Mitchell Schwartz to free agency and it’s this much better. This helps illustrate just how damaging it was for the Browns to lose their offensive line coach, Andy Moeller, almost as soon as the season started.

The running game is more potent and efficient. Obviously the players themselves deserve credit, but the coaching staff deserves a ton of credit for this turn around, putting them in position to succeed. 95.6 yards per game as a team last year compared to 149.3 yards per game as a team this year, all while having three different centers and three different right guards is a drastic improvement.

Oct 2, 2016; Landover, MD, USA; Cleveland Browns running back Isaiah Crowell (34) carries the ball past Washington Redskins safety David Bruton Jr. (30) and Redskins linebacker Will Compton (51) in the second quarter at FedEx Field. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /

The flip side of this is now that they have this potent running game, the challenge now for Hue Jackson is properly utilizing it. The combination of Crowell and Johnson has 542 yards rushing at almost 6.4 yards per carry, which is outstanding.

The problem is that they’ve only carried the ball a total of 85 times in their four games. Three individual running backs (Ezekiel Elliot, LeGarrette Blount, and Lamar Miller) have carried the ball more than Crowell and Johnson combined.

The suggestion that this issue can be blamed on the scores of the games is nonsense. Save the game against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Browns have lost two games by one score, lost one of those in overtime and the game in Week 4 was a one score game until there were six minutes left in the fourth quarter. Despite having three different quarterbacks and a third-round rookie in Cody Kessler, Jackson’s play-calling continues to insist that his team use an inconsistent passing game to open up a run game that doesn’t need it.

Just the past two weeks with Kessler at the helm, the Browns have called 83 pass plays (six of those with Terrelle Pryor at quarterback) to just 60 runs. The combination of Crowell and Johnson has just 49 carries in those two games. There are so many areas where Hue Jackson’s presence has been a boost to the Browns, but play-calling has been his biggest weakness. Beyond the disparity between run and pass, Jackson has moments every game where his play calls are too cute.

The Browns have seen combination of awkward trick plays that haven’t worked or bad calls for particular situations. Jackson needs to do a better job of maximizing the talent on this offense, going with what’s effective rather than trying to be creative given the talent and inexperience of this roster. At some point, one of these wrinkles might pay dividends. But so far, they’ve been almost exclusively wasted plays.

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Speaking of Kessler, the quarterback position is of course a major topic with this team. Kessler has played relatively well in the eight quarters he’s played to this point. However, nothing he’s shown suggests he’s the answer for this team currently.

Yes, Kessler should keep playing and keep getting reps even if Josh McCown or Robert Griffin III are healthy. Yes, Kessler can get better over the next 12 games, assuming he can stay healthy for all of them. Yes, he demonstrates both accuracy and the ability to work through his progressions and find opportunities. But particuarly in the second half against Washington, Kessler was exposed. Their defense made adjustments, took Pryor away, and Kessler struggled, throwing the interception and checking down constantly, even in garbage time. Kessler needs to be able to adapt better than he did in that game.

His arm strength is limited and it’s not going to get better later in the year when weather becomes a bigger factor, especially within the division. Kessler is going to need to put in substantial time and effort to improve this. For now, he is a good backup quarterback with the possibility to become a starter in a few years. The Browns need help now and it’s not on this roster currently and as competent as Kessler can look at times, he’s not enough for someone to bet their job on him.

Accountability is another area where Jackson is trying to make his presence felt, especially as it relates to off field issues. It started by flushing Johnny Manziel in the offseason and trading Justin Gilbert before the final cut down. Perhaps in part due to the 0-4 start, the team also released Armonty Bryant fresh off of his suspension for a drug arrest last Christmas. Josh Gordon’s release is processing and he’s not on the roster, but federal law doesn’t allow them to shove him out the door given his in-patient rehab.

Beyond just the guys with off field issues, the Browns have quickly removed a number of players this regime does not believe fit who they are or where they are going. No one can say that Hue Jackson isn’t doing it his way, which is important.

Unfortunately for the Browns, injuries have played a major role in shaping what is still a young season. Two quarterbacks in two weeks went down with significant injuries. The two most promising rookies, first-round pick Corey Coleman and third-round pick Carl Nassib, are each missing time with a broken hand.

Fellow rookie and fourth -ound pick Seth DeValve went down for the year with an injury. Pass rusher and second year player Nate Orchard went down for the year with an ankle injury. The Browns have been juggling players both on the interior of the offensive line and secondary to deal with various injuries.

Sep 25, 2016; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Cleveland Browns cornerback Briean Boddy-Calhoun (center) celebrates his interception returned for a touchdown with Browns cornerback Tracy Howard (right) and Browns free safety Jordan Poyer (left) during the first half against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /

Defensively, the bar was set remarkably low by Jim O’Neil last year for the Defensive Coordinator position. Not only did he put players in bad positions, he managed to alienate more than a few over the course of the season.

Ray Horton obviously comes in with more credibility. But his scheme has been relatively simple, which is a big adjustment for Horton, who overloaded young players in his last stint with the Browns. There are still some elaborate blitz packages that Horton will use because that’s who he is, but players are far more comfortable than last year under O’Neil.

Rather than being slow and hesitant because they are unsure about defensive assignments, this group is constantly playing fast and flying around to the football. They make their share of mistakes and are out of position at times, but the effort is rarely lacking.

The notable issue on defense is simply a lack of talent. This unit has some players that appear capable of being pieces of a developing unit, but there’s not a single player that offenses are afraid of or specifically have to game-plan against. Nassib might have been the most consistent front-seven player before he got injured and he’s only a rookie.

This defense is certainly not good but it also hasn’t been the reason this team has lost games the way it was expected to be. Virtually all of their defensive rankings are in the 20s, which explains just how low expectations were for them this year. That might change given how much more difficult the schedule will be as the year progresses and if attrition keeps going the way it has.

Cleveland’s run defense has stretches where it looks competent, but the pass rush continues to struggle. They’re getting more hits on the quarterback than last year, but it’s not close to where it needs to be. That is exposing a questionable secondary which is particularly brutal at corner and young at safety. The team also has no answer for opponents with a good tight end to this point.

A question that may not be answered until next offseason after the draft is how much Horton’s scheme is a product of the players at his disposal as opposed to what he wants to do. Thus far, they’ve utilized a lot more even fronts they might have originally intended.

It will be worth keeping an eye on if the Browns look to add defensive linemen with versatility in mind to be able to move them around and vary up their fronts to keep offenses off balance. Nassib is an example of a player with versatility to move around and operate in different fronts.

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Horton has almost exclusively been a 3-4 guy, so he might want to be able to get back to that with the right personnel. He’s been creative with what he’s done with this team and maybe he likes where he’s ended up, but he probably wants to be able to get back to where he’s most comfortable.

The Cleveland Browns were expected to be bad and the record reflects it. Nevertheless, they have had opportunities to win three of the four games they’ve played. Rather than being just outclassed, it’s about details, little mistakes, and simply not yet knowing how to win. As much as fans don’t want to hear it, the team is actually head of schedule. But they need more talent, consistency, and the ever elusive franchise quarterback.

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