Cleveland Browns won't have a 1,000-yard rusher in 2017

The Cleveland Browns won’t have a 1,000-yard rusher, but they could have two 1,000-yard backs.

For the second year in a row under Hue Jackson, the Cleveland Browns aren’t going to have a 1,000 yard rusher. That is, unless Isaiah Crowell runs for a season-high 168 yards in the team’s finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers. For an offense that’s backbone, according to Jackson, was the running game, that’s not very good.

At the same time, if Duke Johnson accounts for 54 total yards next week, both he and Crowell will have over 1,000 total yards on the season. Crowell has 832 yards rushing and 182 yards receiving, totaling 1,014 yards for the season. Meanwhile, Johnson has run for 328 rushing yards but has 618 receiving yards, giving him 946 total yards through 15 games.

Last year, only Crowell managed to crack 1,000 total yards but the pair combined for 2,143 yards. There’s a chance they could combine for the 183 yards needed to pass that mark while both net 1,000 yards individually this year.

Johnson is leading the team in receptions (68), yards, leads the team in explosive plays (8) and touchdowns (6). The mark for receptions breaks the franchise record by a running back set by Greg Pruitt set in 1981. Johnson’s been an incredibly effective weapons for the Browns offense in the three years he’s been here.

The fact that Johnson is leading in so many categories is impressive, but it also goes to show just how inept the Browns offense has been as a whole. Seth DeValve is second on the team in receptions and yards with 33 for 395. Good for him, but not for the offense.

Despite dropping over one hundred million in new contracts on the interior of the offensive line, the Browns have just 1,611 yards rushing for the season and 358 of those are from rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer. Crowell and Johnson have 1,160 yards rushing combined, which is just 77.3 yards per game.

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Crowell has had his share of struggles this season, particularly in the beginning of the season, but he’s still averaging 4.4 yards per carry on the year. Along with Johnson’s 4.3, that’s more than enough to run the ball.

This an indictment of the focus of the offense more than anything, especially when the alternative was passing with a rookie quarterback who has struggled all season. The Browns have talented blockers up front in the running game, even with the loss of Joe Thomas for the year. In fact, that injury arguably should have made them more of a running team to reduce Spencer Drango’s exposure in pass protection.

The team’s running game has improved since the bye week, with Crowell’s production on the ground up about 50 percent. Unfortunately, that’s going from 43.8 to just 68.7, which is making the big jump from dreadful to mediocre, but when his yards per carry vault from 3.4 to 5.4, it’s pretty clear the issue lies in the attempts.

Despite the improvement, Crowell’s workload hasn’t changed. Before the bye week, Crowell averaged 12.7 carries per game. In the games since the bye, it’s still 12.7. The offensive line is doing their job. Crowell is doing his job, but the play calling hasn’t adapted. At all. This might explain why Crowell went public with his complaint for more carries.

Crowell is not a great back and this season in Cleveland is likely his last, regardless of any changes in the front office or coaching staff. The writing has been on the wall since he didn’t get the extension he wanted last year and another team will probably give him a larger offer than the Browns this coming offseason, who likely have their eyes on the upcoming draft to address the position. None of that changes the fact that Crowell has been more than effective enough to carry the load more than he has, particularly down the stretch this season when the Browns had some opportunities to win.

Kizer’s three best games came against the Detroit Lions, Cincinnati Bengals and Green Bay Packers. It should come as little surprise that Crowell ran for 90 , 95 and 121 yards in each of those games.

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This was to be the way for the offense to take pressure off of Kizer. The ability to put him in more reasonable down and distance situations to keep the defense honest, opening up opportunities for a rookie quarterback. It may not have been there earlier in the season, but it has been since the bye week and the Browns still haven’t taken full advantage.

As is all too often the case, any accomplishment by a Cleveland Browns player is accompanied by reminders of the team’s struggles and incompetence. Having two 1,000-yard backs in Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson would be an achievement, regardless of how the yards were obtained Johnson is having the most productive year of his career, his third in the NFL in as many seasons. Unfortunately, the overall rushing attack by the Browns has been insufficient, the team’s record reflects it and should be a major focus headed into the 2018 season.

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Cleveland Browns won’t have a 1,000-yard rusher in 2017

By Peter Smith | Dec 28, 2017

The Cleveland Browns won’t have a 1,000-yard rusher, but they could have two 1,000-yard backs.