Browns trying to re-locate run game against elite Ravens defense
BEREA − The Browns’ offense has taken pride this season in their ability to run the football. For most of the season, they’ve been top-five in the entire league in doing that with running back Nick Chubb.
The problem for the Browns, though, has been games like last Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. They were limited to just 71 yards in the game, one shy of their season-low total and the third time they’ve been held to less than 100 yards on the ground.
It was a shot to the pride of the Browns’ offensive line, as much as anyone, to see the Bengals stuff their ground game that way. That’s especially true given that they had run for 172 yards in their first meeting with Cincinnati back in Week 8.
“Yeah, I think for us, it’s been back to the fundamentals this week, really focusing on your assignment each time and having that mindset where your guy’s not going to make the play,” All-Pro left guard Joel Bitonio said Wednesday. “We understand it’s football, but just get back to that mindset. You watch the tape and everybody had a play or two where it’s just like, man, we made that one block … We do one thing differently and you have a big play. That’s football, though. That’s football. That’s pretty how it is every week. But on the O-line especially being back to the fundamentals and just really focusing on each play and win your 1/11th.”
The struggles to run the ball against the Bengals came on the heels of two of the Browns’ best rushing performances of the season in their two-game win streak against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Houston Texans. They ran for an average of 181.5 yards in those two games, a return to the form they had shown when they topped 170 yards in each of the first five games this season.
There was a belief that once Deshaun Watson took over at quarterback after his suspension that it would have an impact on lightening up the box against the Browns due to his ability to run the ball. However, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said they haven’t necessarily seen different looks from the opposing fronts in the last two games, and credited Cincinnati for the struggles the Browns had last Sunday.
