Browns’ offensive snap counts, stats, and PFF notes: Week 4

Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on offense for the Cleveland Browns' Week 4 game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Notes:

• This was another game of regression for DeShone Kizer. He’s getting ample protection, but completed just 47% of his passes. Kenny Britt didn’t do him any favors early on, but he was rocketing short passes at the feet of his receivers and just looked confused by what the defense was throwing at him all game.
• According to PFF, Kizer was pressured 14 times and did not complete a single pass on those plays. The Browns tried to make a point of him getting the ball out quicker, but the message didn’t get through enough:

When he took 2.5 seconds or less vs. the Bengals, Kizer completed 8-of-11 pass attempts. When taking greater than 2.5 seconds, he was just 8-of-23.

• To compare, PFF says that Andy Dalton averaged a very quick 1.95 seconds per pass attempt.
• The Bengals did have their second-string defense on the field when Kevin Hogan entered the game, but I think he’d led three scoring drives out of four drives total this season. It’s not even worth my breath debating whether a change should be made, though, because Hue Jackson has been extremely adamant that Kizer is 100% the starter.

Notes:

• Isaiah Crowell’s stat line won’t look good again (7 carries for 20 yards). But he had 6 carries for 22 yards early on (3.7 YPC) before the second quarter onslaught again. He got one handoff on a Shotgun draw in the second half where he was being hit before he even got the ball for a loss of two yards. There may be a lot of problems with the Browns, but running back is not one of them.
• DeShone Kizer was 9-of-10 when targeting Duke Johnson. He was 7-of-24 when targeting everyone else. Johnson was also re-inserted into the game late to finish the touchdown drive, scoring for the second time in as many weeks.
• Matthew Dayes received a couple of snaps when Hogan entered the game.

Notes:

• All of the Browns’ receivers are liabilities in the sense that no one can be trusted to just be a “solid” option. The past two weeks, Cleveland has tried giving that trust to Kenny Britt. He’s probably the best receiver at getting open, but the negatives far out-weighed the positives in this one. In the first half, he killed three drives: one with a false start, one with a slip/drop on third down, and another with the red zone interception that bounced right off his hands. Believe me, if Hue Jackson liked the other receivers on the team, Britt would not be playing as much as he is.
• Jordan Leslie suffered a hamstring injury early and did not return.
• Ricardo Louis had a little bit of redemption on the final drive of the game, including the concentration he showed on his 31-yard reception.
• This was our most popular tweet of the game:

Notes:

• The lack of utilization of David Njoku and Seth DeValve remains ridiculous. Together, they had 3 catches for 13 yards.

Notes:

• The Browns gave up 2 sacks and 8 quarterback hits.
• Per PFF, all five starting linemen gave up at least two pressures against the Bengals (13 in total). The highest-graded lineman for the game was RT Shon Coleman (86.3), who had his best game as a pro.