Browns’ offensive snap counts, stats, and notes: Week 3
Kareem Hunt ran the ball angry, with 155 yards of offense despite only playing 31% of the snaps.
By Chris Pokorny
https://www.dawgsbynature.com/2021/9/27/22696114/browns-offensive-snap-counts-stats-and-notes-week-3Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on offense for the Cleveland Browns’ Week 3 game against the Chicago Bears.
Quarterback
Pos Player Plays % Stats
QB Baker Mayfield 76 100% 19-of-31 (61.3%) for 246 yards, 1 TD. 4 rushes, 31 yards.
QB Case Keenum 5 6% 3 rushes, 0 yards.
It wasn’t the sharpest day in terms of accuracy for Baker Mayfield, but he still completed 61% of his passes. There were a handful of passes that sailed on him — ones of the lofting variety — including an early third down wheel route to RB Demetric Felton and a late third down flag pattern to TE Harrison Bryant.
Mayfield continues to use his mobility well to extend drives, and although he took a lot of sacks against the Bears, he also showed escapability to throw a couple of balls away. There were two mix-ups on fourth down in the first quarter that led to back-to-back turnovers on downs, so that’s something for the team to get cleaned up this week.
Case Keenum came in on the final series to run the clock out.
Running Back
Pos Player Plays % Stats
RB Nick Chubb 40 49% 22 carries, 84 yards (3.8 YPC).
RB Kareem Hunt 33 41% 10 carries, 81 yards (8.1 YPC), 1 TD. 6 catches, 74 yards (7 targets).
RB D'Ernest Johnson 5 6% 2 carries, 9 yards (4.5 YPC).
RB Andy Janovich 2 2% No stats registered.
This was a monster game for Kareem Hunt, who had 155 yards despite only playing in 31% of the snaps. As Baker Mayfield said after the game, Hunt ran angry on Sunday, and it led to broken tackle after broken tackle. His elusiveness was astounding. Hunt was PFF’s highest-graded player on the Browns, with a grade of 90.6.
Nick Chubb ran effectively too. His 22-carry, 84-yard effort might not seem noteworthy, but this was still a good Bears’ rushing defense that Cleveland put 200 yards of rushing offense on the board against.
Andy Janovich only played 2 snaps, as the Browns opted to go without a fullback for much of the game against Chicago’s defense.
Wide Receiver
Pos Player Plays % Stats
WR Donovan Peoples-Jones 53 65% 2 catches, 39 yards (2 targets).
WR Odell Beckham 52 64% 5 catches, 77 yards (9 targets). 1 rush, 10 yards.
WR Rashard Higgins 40 49% 2 catches, 24 yards (2 targets).
WR Anthony Schwartz 28 35% 0 catches (1 target).
WR Demtric Felton 11 14% 2 catches, 13 yards (3 targets).
Welcome back, OBJ. In his first game back from a torn ACL, Odell Beckham caught 5 passes for 77 yards, and also had a 10-yard run on a reverse. I like that the Browns only played him on 64% of the snaps. With the type of depth, talent, and personnel packages the Browns have on offense, there is no reason that Beckham needs to be out there for the entirety of the game. I didn’t think Mayfield forced him the ball too much either. I think there was an effort to get him the ball, but it was because the Browns believed in their ability to win a match-up on that particular play. Not shown in the stats is that Beckham also forced two defensive holding penalties.
Donovan Peoples-Jones only had 2 catches, but both were great toe-tapping grabs near the sideline, including one on a third-down conversion coming out of the two-minute warning in the first half.
Demetric Felton’s role increased this week, as he played 11 snaps as opposed to 3 snaps a week ago. He was targeted three times: once on a missed wheel route where he beat his man, once on a swing pass for a first down, and another time on a swing pass where a defender made a great open field tackle to stop him for no gain.
Tight End
Pos Player Plays % Stats
TE David Njoku 50 62% No stats registered.
TE Austin Hooper 49 60% 2 catches, 19 yards (3 targets), 1 TD.
TE Harrison Bryant 33 41% 0 catches (2 targets).
TE Jordan Franks 9 11% No stats registered.
It was interesting that the tight ends weren’t too involved in the passing game this week after what we’ve seen the past two games — that might have been an increased effort to keep them in as blockers.
The pass to Austin Hooper for a touchdown was placed in the perfect spot, in the only spot you could put it while also protecting Hooper from taking a big shot.
Harrison Bryant was open on two flag patterns, but Mayfield couldn’t connect with him.
Offensive Line
Pos Player Plays % Stats
OL Joel Bitonio 81 100%
OL JC Tretter 81 100%
OL Wyatt Teller 81 100%
OL Jack Conklin 81 100%
OL Jedrick Wills 70 86%
OL Blake Hance 11 14%
Jack Conklin was the Browns’ highest-graded lineman against the Bears, registering a grade of 89.1.
Cleveland allowed 5 sacks, which was a bit uncharacteristic. There seemed to be an issue with the timing of the snap on the first fourth down attempt, which led to an easy sack for Chicago. The Browns were also flagged for a handful of holding penalties. The crazy thing is that despite those “struggles,” Cleveland still put 418 yards of offense on the board, including over 200 yards rushing.
Per PFF, “The unit gave Mayfield an average of just 2.98 seconds per dropback, conceding 18 total pressures and six sacks.”
Jedrick Wills left and returned a few times, with Blake Hance subbing in as needed. It’ll be interesting to see how Cleveland handles that situation moving forward — if they continue to let Wills grind through things, or if there comes a point where they say, “Let’s sit him for a couple of weeks and get him right.”
