It took one preseason game for the Browns to find the problem that can’t be ignored: the run game has a long way to go.
Todd Monken opened his first preseason outing as Cleveland’s head coach by leaning right into what he’d been selling all camp. The Browns got the first possession, lined up in 11 personnel, and handed it to Quinshon Judkins on the first three snaps.
The message was clear. The result wasn’t.
On third-and-2, Judkins got stopped at the line by Devin Bush, and Cleveland’s opening drive ended with a quick three-and-out.
That was a pretty good snapshot of the night. Even with the Browns using their five projected starters on the offensive line, the ground game never found traction. Cleveland’s backs managed just 19 rushing yards on 11 first-half carries, and the only real spark with the starters on the field came when wide receiver KC Concepcion took a jet sweep, kept his balance along the sideline, and got to the front pylon for the Browns’ lone touchdown.
The second half didn’t clean it up much. Undrafted rookie Davon Booth picked up 50 yards on the final drive with the clock winding down and Chicago already up 34-10, but that was empty production. Strip out garbage time, Concepcion’s run, and quarterback scrambles, and Cleveland’s top four backs - Judkins, Dylan Sampson, Raheim Sanders, and Ahmani Marshall - finished with 16 carries for 28 yards.
That works out to 1.75 yards per carry, which is the kind of number that stops an offense cold.
And it gets worse when you remember that some of those runs came against Bears backups while Cleveland had its starters on the field.
“We certainly didn’t run it very well," Monken said after the game." Guys, you’re not going to score a lot if you can’t run the football.
I mean, you can’t control the game. I mean we kept ourselves in long-yardage situations and that’s going to be very difficult.
I give the quarterbacks a lot of credit for what we put them through, in terms of the down and distances we had.”
The Browns’ line situation helps explain why this looked so choppy. Cleveland has spent the spring and summer moving pieces around, and the only true constants have been Tytus Howard at right tackle and Zion Johnson at left guard. The other spots have been fluid, especially at center, where both Elgton Jenkins and Parker Brailsford have missed recent practice time with injuries.
Against Chicago, Cleveland started Spencer Fano at left tackle, Johnson at left guard, Elgton Jenkins at center, Teven Jenkins at right guard, and Howard at right tackle. Everyone except Fano came out after two series, with Monken keeping his top left tackle in long enough for Watson to finish out the first half.
Now the Browns head into a packed week that should tell Monken a lot more. Regular practices run Monday through Wednesday, then comes a joint practice with the Bills on Thursday and the preseason home opener on Saturday. With the regular season opener less than a month away, there’s not much time left for this group to start looking like a unit.
The backs have to be better, too. Judkins and Sampson combined for 15 rushing yards on eight carries, while Sampson’s only real impact came on a screen pass that he turned into a 43-yard gain.
Cleveland showed enough in the passing game to suggest some pieces are in place. But on the ground, the Browns are back at square one, and that’s the one area Monken has to fix before Bills week.
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