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The Browns were out of their element on offense against the Broncos. When you look at bits and pieces, there were some good individual plays that the team had in the first half. Collectively, though, six points is not good enough (for when the game was still competitive).
The offense was healthy coming into this game compared to the defense, and if Cleveland was to have any chance, they needed to match Peyton Manning's production. They didn't, and Cleveland lost 34-12.
Check out the snap distributions below, and let us know what your reactions are in the comments section.
| Offensive Line | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Thomas | John Greco | Alex Mack | Shawn Lauvao | Mitchell Schwartz |
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 |
 |
 |
 |
| 100% 64/64 plays |
100% 64/64 plays |
100% 64/64 plays |
100% 64/64 plays |
100% 64/64 plays |
Thoughts: The entire starting unit played 100 percent of the snaps this week. The offensive line yielded six sacks and nine quarterback hits, marking one of their worst statistical days of the season.
| Running Back / Fullback |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trent Richardson | Montario Hardesty | Brad Smelley | Chris Ogbonnaya | Owen Marecic |
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 |
 |
 |
 |
| 67% 43/64 plays |
22% 14/64 plays |
16% 10/64 plays |
11% 7/64 plays |
2% 1/64 plays |
Trent Richardson: 9 carries, 53 yards, 5.9 average. 3 catches, 15 yards (4 targets).
Montario Hardesty: 3 carries, 14 yards, 4.7 average. 1 catch, 7 yards (1 target).
Chris Ogbonnaya: 2 catches, 2 yards (2 targets).
Brad Smelley: 1 catch, 3 yards (1 target).
Owen Marecic: No stats registered.
Thoughts: This was the type of game in which I actually fault the Browns for not taking the ball first after winning the coin flip. Our secondary was banged up, and in order to beat a team featuring Peyton Manning, you have to play a perfect game or try to show early on that your offense can match the opposition. That didn't happen, and by the second half, Pat Shurmur abandoned the running game again. The ground game was having some success up until that point. Brad Smelley saw his first action of the season, and I look forward to reviewing his plays when I look back at the tape.
| Wide Receiver |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greg Little | Josh Gordon | Travis Benjamin | Josh Cooper | Joshua Cribbs |
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 |
 |
 |
 |
| 97% 62/64 plays |
95% 61/64 plays |
62% 40/64 plays |
6% 4/64 plays |
3% 2/64 plays |
Greg Little: 6 catches, 58 yards, 1 touchdown (7 targets).
Travis Benjamin: 3 catches, 46 yards (5 targets).
Josh Gordon: 1 catch, 7 yards (3 targets).
Josh Cooper: 0 catches (2 targets).
Joshua Cribbs: 1 carry, 3 yards.
Thoughts: There was one early drop by Greg Little, but it wasn't a biggie. Other than that, Little was the team's best receiver. The other players were non-existent until Colt McCoy got a couple of balls to Travis Benjamin late. Joshua Cribbs got one play from the Wildcat, but only two plays altogether. I only remember one pass in which Josh Cooper was targeted, and it fell incomplete on a third down pass that was well shy of the sticks.
| Tight End |
|
|---|---|
| Benjamin Watson | Alex Smith |
 |
 |
| 94% 60/64 plays |
25% 16/64 plays |
Benjamin Watson: 3 catches, 47 yards (10 targets).
Alex Smith: 1 catch, -2 yards (1 targets).
Thoughts: Early on, Brandon Weeden had a couple of big pass plays to Benjamin Watson, but he also missed him on a couple of throws. When Colt McCoy got in the game, he kept throwing ducks into the turf in the vicinity of Watson.
| Quarterback |
|
|---|---|
| Brandon Weeden | Colt McCoy |
 |
 |
| 56% 36/64 plays |
44% 28/64 plays |
Brandon Weeden: 12-of-19 for 104 yards. 3 carries, 4 yards.
Colt McCoy: 9-of-17 for 79 yards, 1 touchdown. 2 carries, 17 yards.
Thoughts: It wasn't an awful day for Brandon Weeden, and early on I thought he was trying to be a bit more aggressive with his throws. Unfortunately, this was a game in which the Broncos had three lengthy drives in the first half, taking the ball out of Weeden's hands. When Weeden did have his opportunities, he had to be perfect in order to match Manning, and he wasn't. Colt McCoy...let's just say that I'm not going to trash him in the event that he needs to start against Pittsburgh.
History of Snap Counts on Offense:
-Week 1: Philadelphia vs. Cleveland
-Week 2: Cleveland vs. Cincinnati
-Week 3: Buffalo vs. Cleveland
-Week 4: Cleveland vs. Baltimore
-Week 5: Cleveland vs. New York Giants
-Week 6: Cincinnati vs. Cleveland
-Week 7: Cleveland vs. Indianapolis
-Week 8: San Diego vs. Cleveland
-Week 9: Baltimore vs. Cleveland
-Week 11: Cleveland vs. Dallas
-Week 12: Pittsburgh vs. Cleveland
-Week 13: Cleveland vs. Oakland
-Week 14: Kansas City vs. Cleveland
-Week 15: Washington vs. Cleveland