There are some points worth discussing in the Cleveland Browns 35-30 win over the Cincinnati Bengals Thursday Night.
1. The running backs need to be the focus of the offense
After Week 1 there was this feeling of here we go again in regards to a coach abandoning the running game. Luckily that did not leak into Week 2 as the Browns ran the ball more than they passed. Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt combined to rush 32 times for 210 yards and 3 touchdowns. Hunt even contributed in the passing game with 2 receptions for 15 yards and a touchdown. Lean on the running backs to take the pressure off the quarterback.
2. Baker Mayfield looked fine
Let’s not go overboard here, Baker Mayfield performed at an acceptable level for an NFL quarterback. The Browns were able to cater the offense to his strengths (throwing less) and were able to put him in a position to succeed. The offense was able to take advantage of a Bengals defense that is far from dominant and Mayfield was able to find open receivers. This is more of a product of scheme than player, Mayfield finding the open receiver is just the bare minimum requirement to maintain his job. What this performance really shows that is Baker Mayfield is a quarterback who can play well against bad teams and bad against good teams. If Mayfield struggles again when facing a good team that will tell everyone all we need to know about just what type of quarterback he is.
3. The defense is really bad
It is going to be a long year for the Cleveland Browns defense. Joe Burrow threw for 316 yards and 3 touchdowns in just his second career start, this one coming in a short week. Sure, the Browns were without Olivier Vernon, Kevin Johnson, and Greedy Williams, but the difference in the performance of this defense would not have changed that much.
4. The offensive performance on Thursday made what happened Sunday even more frustrating
What the Cleveland Browns did offensively on Sunday and Thursday could not have been more different and that is incredibly frustrating. Kevin Stefanski passed way too much in their loss to the Ravens and rectified that Thursday. But the fact of the matter is they could have ran this exact same offense on Sunday and that would have made people feel a lot better about this team and coaching staff. While the Browns ran plays from the Freddie Kitchens playbook in their loss, they stuck with the offense that everyone was promised under Kevin Stefanski Thursday. This offense could have look liked this against the Ravens, but Stefanski panicked and shifted to a pass heavy attack. This will be something to monitor moving forward.
