Cleveland Browns: 3 keys to victory against the Bengals
By Chad Porto
Don’t abandon the play-action pass
There’s a theory in football that once you get behind too much that you have to move the ball quickly, and that means abandoning the run. Now, if you have an offense like Bill Belichick’s in New England this may work. Fast players, short routes, and a quarterback that for nearly 20 years dinked and dunked passes with ease. That’s a sheer fire way to move the ball.
Yet, if you gaining 10, 15, 20 yards a carry via the running game, why would you ever abandon it? That was part of the issue with the Baltimore Ravens game. Despite the Browns carving up the Ravens off of Jack Conklin’s rear, the Browns went into the second half basically done with the run. They tried a few times, not towards Conklin and Wyatt Teller, however, to get Kareem Hunt of all people going, but it wasn’t the same offensive calls and it didn’t produce the same results.
The reason to stay with the running game isn’t just because it’s more likely to generate big chunks of yards, which it probably is if Week 1 is any consideration, it’s that once you go away from it, the best tool in your box will be ineffective; the play-action pass.
The Browns are tailored made for it. They have big tight ends who can catch, they have an offensive line that against a game Ravens defense, was most impressive and they have the running backs you fear can each go for 200 yards on you.
Don’t abandon it. Not if you’re up by 30 or down by 30.