Browns: 3 things Cleveland has to do to defeat the Texans
By Chad Porto
![Browns defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi (65) is congratulated by Browns defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson (98) after sacking Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020, in Cleveland, Ohio. [Jeff Lange/Beacon Journal]Browns 3](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2F18c8b960671e645801fb20c4c9df3974c59e5cf61c3c3c0a68ca02966bc842a3.jpg "Browns defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi (65) is congratulated by Browns defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson (98) after sacking Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020, in Cleveland, Ohio. [Jeff Lange/Beacon Journal]Browns 3")
Stop the running game
The Texans rushed 41 times last week against the Jacksonville Jaguars, with Mark Ingram getting 26 carries and Phillip Lindsay getting eight, going over 100 yards combined. David Johnson also had a few handoffs but nothing major.
While they didn’t do anything impressive running the ball, just 3.9 yards-per-carry as a team, the Texans are going to try and run on the Browns. Cleveland did a solid job last week against the Chiefs limiting their traditional ground game, and they’ll hopefully be able to do the same against the Texans.
The Texans will need to rely on Lindsey more if they want to do any real sort of damage, as Ingram has fallen off over the last near two years. He’s no longer the same player who was in the backfield for Lamar Jackson and Drew Brees, and that’s beyond obvious.
If the Browns fall apart against his rushing game, then that will truly be one of the worst-case scenarios of the year. The offensive line isn’t very good, with most of them getting poor PFF grades for week one. The only player who did play well against the Jaguars was Marcus Cannon, so expect a lot of plays ran off the Texans’ right tackle.