Such a star demands defensive attention – which should liberate others to make plays – but he also demands touches. One is the inclusion of Beckham in the offense. Give a quarterback that many more plays unencumbered per season and they will feast. The Browns finished with the 11 th best pressure rate in the NFL a year ago, three whole percentage points better off per game. Mayfield has been pressured by defenders on around a third of his dropbacks in 2019, the eighth-worst mark in the league. In fairness to Mayfield, that lack of trust has been earned. He has happy feet in the pocket and is anticipating and expecting pressure without an iota of trust in his protection. Stick on any of Cleveland’s first three games and you notice a worrying trend: Mayfield bailing on plays early. That’s 29 spots below Lamar Jackson, another quarterback in his second year in the league – but one who attracted significantly less hype than Mayfield. There, Mayfield is 34 th sitting at minus-118, ahead of only Kyler Murray and the Miami twins. Things are even worse in terms of total value (DYAR). If you rule out the two starters from the Dolphins, a team intentionally trying to lose, Mayfield would rank as the fifth-worst quarterback in the league by down-to-down efficiency, behind the likes of Jameis Winston and Andy Dalton. He sits 31 st in DVOA among 37 qualified starters. The difference is drastic.Īnd yet it’s Mayfield who remains the biggest concern. Kitchen’s time and energy have been shifted towards everything in the building, not solely what the Browns will do on first down. Cleveland’s starting tackles are not good enough and the offense has lacked the kind of imagination that sparked 2018’s late-season surge. Transparent bids at taking accountability ring hollow in locker rooms. Don’t blame any of our players, don’t blame any of our coaches.” They were the words of a man who had spent the offseason gobbling up books with titles such as “Fault Lines: how to take ownership and succeed” and “Not I or Me: It’s We” and other such generic garbage. “If you’re looking to blame somebody,” Kitchens said of Cleveland’s early-season struggles. Kitchens, who aced his audition as offensive play-caller last year, is bombing in his first leading role. Gone are the motions and shifts and fun and games of last year. The way the team plays looks different, too. They have converted just 11 third downs all season. The passing game has been less efficient than the run-game. Cleveland’s offense is stuck at 28 th in DVOA, a measure of a team’s non-garbage time efficiency. Cleveland had their star quarterback, a roster full of high draft picks, and a smattering of impact veterans who would elevate the team towards a championship.Īnd so far, it’s been a dud. The years of doom and gloom were about to pay off. Dorsey nabbed Odell Beckham, one of the league’s top pass-catchers, in one of the great trade swindles of the decade. These were the new Browns, headed by the bluster and bravado of Mayfield and Freddie Kitchens, the team’s new head coach, and the cunning of John Dorsey, the team’s top decision-maker and a front-office lifer. The offseason served to solidify the Browns’ new-found status.
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