Dawgs By Nature
Cleveland has always been a run-heavy team, but now?
The Cleveland Browns have always been known as a running offensive team. They have had some of the greatest running backs in the history of the league, such as Jim Brown, Mike Pruitt, Leroy Kelly, Marion Motley, Nick Chubb, Earnest Byner, Greg Pruitt, and Eric Metcalf, to name a few.
Legendary head coaches such as Paul Brown, Marty Schottenheimer, Sam Rutigliano, and Bill Belichick all ran the rock down the throats of their defenders. It was Cleveland’s calling card.
When Kevin Stefanski took over as the head man in 2020, his offense ran the ball and featured the tight end. His first roster went 11-5-0 and went to the playoffs for the first time since 2002. Stefanski was named the NFL Coach of the Year. That squad pounded the ball with Chubb as the lead back, Andy Janovich was added to play fullback, and D’Ernest Johnson was Chubb’s fill-in.
But after two seasons, the fullback complement was gone. Kareem Hunt was signed to give Cleveland this one-two punch, which worked well at times but mainly took carries away from Chubb, who annually was on the cusp of capturing the NFL rushing title.
But one thing for certain: the Browns ran the ball.
With so much of the offense dedicated to the run game, all of Cleveland’s offensive linemen were hired and drafted because of their run-blocking skills.
Under Stefanski’s offense, Cleveland’s rushing attack has been ranked as follows: 2020 #3; 2021 #4; 2022 #6; 2023 #12; and 2024 #29.
Every year a decline until the bottom fell out last season. Why?
2024 is pretty easy to summarize because of the failed attempt by OC Ken Dorsey after just a single season. Cleveland started four quarterbacks and allowed 66 sacks, the second most in the league. They also surrendered 219 pressures, which became 28.66% of all passing plays.
Dorsey had issues with being on the same page as some of his offensive coaches. He didn’t want much input from his quarterbacks, and he definitely was not as committed to the run game as the Browns wanted. The West Coast-based scheme that Stefanski ran in his first four seasons as the head coach was completely gone.
These were the exact same problems that existed when Dorsey was with Buffalo and were repeated in Cleveland.
The end result dropped Cleveland from an 11-win team that had secured the highest Wild Card seed in the playoffs, to a 14-loss ballclub all in one swoop.
Going 3-14-0 really hurts. It does. And the fact that the Browns had done so much good the year before makes the plummet even more devastating.
In an interview here on DBN with Browns Hall of Fame offensive tackle Joe Thomas leading up to his Hall of Fame induction, the question was asked after going 1-15-0 the year before if the 0-16-0 season broke him.
His answer:
“I think before that season was over, I was broken mentally. The 1-15...
